Page 14 - 2021 Dec / 2022 Jan Newsletter

Page 14 Southern Pennsylvania District

2020 Meat Canning Update

Plans are moving forward for the meat canning project of our district (in partnership with
Mid-Atlantic District) for 2022. Tentative date of April 18-21 has been set. It will most likely be
a four-day event, held once again at the Christian Aid Ministries facility in Ephrata.
To recap the 2021 project: since we were not able to do the canning this year, we
purchased (from CAM) 12,000 cans of chicken for distribution in our two districts. We also
donated $20,000 to Brethren Disaster Ministries for relief to Honduras, which had suffered two
major hurricanes in ‘21.

Here is a report of how the funds were used:

Greetings to you and all our friends from the Church of the Brethren Canning Project
who responded to help these families get back on their feet after losing their homes and
livelihood income following the damage incurred by Hurricanes Ida and Iota. These
project families were selected by each local municipality as having lost income and
homes. The laying chickens are a way to begin to have some immediate income for
each family as they received chickens who were starting to lay eggs. The chicken pen
construction was a requirement before any chickens were given out. In addition, the
families need to hatch out their own eggs and then care for the new chicks until they are
old enough to begin to lay their own eggs. At that point they return the same amount of
laying chickens and a rooster to another family in their neighborhood and help them
build their chicken pen and provide technical assistance until the chickens begin laying
eggs. This “pass on the gift” philosophy has been passed on all around the world.
Proyecto Aldea Global (Project Global Village) in Honduras has carried out over 3500
similar projects with chickens, pigs, goats, bees over the 40-year history of PAGs work
in-country.
This project is quite successful as needy, poor people do not need to pay back the
investment in cash but “in kind payment” to another needy family in their community.
Also, many poor do not have land to grow very much food, but a small chicken or pig
pen can be fit into a small space and becomes workable for a family that is trying to
become more sustainable. This project is a very simple to get more poor families to
begin thinking about income earning projects, especially ones who have very little land
to grow anything on. The world is growing very fast and available land and water
resources are becoming increasingly complicated for the many of families in the world,
especially in overpopulated areas.
Thank you, dear brothers and sisters of the Church of the Brethren for providing
these financial resources so that we could help these families become more sustainable
and have a better diet for everyone in the family, especially the children. The pictures
are of some of the families who have been helped with your support.
Blessings,
Chet Thomas
Director, Proyecto Aldea Global

(Chet Thomas is originally from the Western PA District of the Church of the Brethren and has
been living and working in Honduras for nearly 40 years.)
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