NORQUAY, SK (November 2, 2006) – The Kernels of Hope project led by members of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Canada raised $191,000 to aid people of Liberia who are returning home following civil war in the African nation.
The amount raised more than doubles the $69,178 raised in the first year of the initiative. The funds provide seed, tools and food to Liberians to help establish sustainable agriculture on their farms, says Ray Baloun, who spearheaded the project..
The amount raised more than doubles the $69,178 raised in the first year of the initiative. The funds provide seed, tools and food to Liberians to help establish sustainable agriculture on their farms, says Ray Baloun, who spearheaded the project..
Church members in Canada and the United States “purchased” acres of Canadian land to grow wheat that eventually was sold. The Canadian International Development Agency matched the grain sales four to one to reach the final donation, Baloun says. The money is distributed through the Canadian Food Grains Bank and World Relief Canada.
Contributors paid between $165 and $200 to cover the costs of farming the land donated by three Canadian farmers. Covenanters “purchased” more than 150 acres, and the yield was especially good this year, Baloun says.
One family produced 79 bushels per acre of No. 1 CWRS wheat on 40 acres, Baloun says. “Not too many farmers have ever achieved this high of a yield.”
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