Although the poorest and most vulnerable in the world most often live in places such as sub-Saharan Africa Asia and Latin America, where FARM STEW is focused, there are those that are very much in need all around us wherever we are. In Colorado, our FARM STEW team recently identified a poor community in the area: a low-income, dilapidated, trailer park. Since the community’s primary language is Spanish, we partnered with the local Seventh Day-Adventist Spanish church members. Our goal was not only to bring more FARM STEW to this neighborhood, but also to mobilize the small spanish church for more outreach. 

The project began with a group of church members going into the community, to survey and connect with each household, and to see what part of FARM STEW would be the most helpful to them. A few weeks later the same group visited the community, this time with invitations to three different evening classes on FARM STEW topics. 

During the week of October 10-14, our FARM STEW team met with the church members to “train the trainers,” as FARM STEW does wherever we go. Then we began going into the community for the next three days. Each night we would set up a handful of chairs, two tables, a projector screen, and a projector on the only grassy lawn in the community. People would come trickling in, 8-10 people from the community, and 10-15 church members attended each night. We held classes on the very topics they had expressed most interest in: Farming, Meals, and Rest.

At the end of the week, everyone went home with a tray full of microgreens ready to grow, a handful of healthy, nutritious recipes, and inspiration to live a more healthy lifestyle. 

We were surprised to see previously inactive church members getting excited to do more outreach in the future, and the local pastor can’t wait to follow up with several new contacts we made during the week.

You may not be living in a little village in Uganda, and you may never visit South Sudan with the message of abundant life, but chances are that the poor and vulnerable are not that far away from you, check out our e-learning course at https://www.farmstew.org/e-learning and start helping those in need today. 

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