Milking for Orphans?: An Entrepreneurial Idea to Keep A Ministry Sustainable

I've been back in Ukraine just over 2 weeks working with New Hope Center in Zaporozhye.  Every day has an opportunity to be a learning experience, and I think it's best when you are living in a foreign country, doing work like we are, that you really focus on this current day, on this moment, or on the person who is right be before you right now, because this might be the only chance you have with them.

This past Thursday John Wiens, Pastor of New Hope Church, and Director of the New Hope Projects left to head back to Western Canada to do the primary fundraising for the following year that will, with God's help, provide the financial boost needed to begin the Trade School and Group Homes.

Garry Verhoog and John Wiens at the potential Trade School site

While I've told you some about the concept of the Trade School and Group Homes, I haven't told you the part of this project which makes it unique, which is a Dairy Farm.

I know you're thinking right now, "What does a dairy farm have anything to do with helping orphans?"  While generally I would agree that orphans and dairy production generally don't go hand in hand, in this instance they are carefully intertwined.  And I'll tell you the story behind why this is true.

John Wiens, came to Ukraine just over 4 years ago, with the mission to reach those who have been undervalued by society, in part, because this is the place where his Mennonite ancestors once lived.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mennonites; these people know farming.

John grew up on a farm where they would harvest grain in Western Canada, so when the idea for a trade school arose, he thought what would be a better way to keep this project sustainable than to start a grain farm.  And this is when God presented another exceptionally mission-minded individual into his life, who changed this idea slightly.

Garry Verhoog, was a very successful dairy farmer in Manitoba, Canada.  He was set to live out the rest of his life very comfortably, and to continue doing this the rest of his life, along with his family.  But God had a different plan for the coming years in his life.  Garry, who also has a Mennonite heritage, felt a calling to go to Ukraine as well, to assist small dairy farmers learn how to farm more successfully, using the wealth and skills he'd acquired after many years of hard work.

A couple of the graduated orphans getting to do some
outdoor work at the potential site of the Trade School

And so he moved to Mikolai Polye, Ukraine, a village just north of Zaporozhye, where he has lived for the past couple years teaching village farmers how to yield better results from dairy cows, and better practices in husbandry, so they can reproduce quicker, as well as providing microloans so some of these farmers can buy better materials or equipment that will can increase their profits by double or even triple.

God placed these two individuals, independent of each others' knowing, where they are right now, for a reason.  John wanted to provide orphans an opportunity to learn new skills that will provide them with career opportunities, and present them with the hope of Christ.  And Garry, also wanting to share the Gospel with others, had his dream of helping small dairy-farmers reach their potential.  Because of this, John and Garry decided, that in creating a dairy farm together, they can both achieve their goals.

The Dairy Farm will allow for Garry to instruct local villagers on how to farm more correctly and employ a number of them (in most villages, unemployment is over 50%).  And the Dairy Farm will produce enough milk to pay for the majority of the annual costs of running a trade school for 45 orphans and low-income individuals, as well as the costs of multiple group homes.  It will also provide an opportunity for 15 of those individuals to participate in a Dairy Farming track, where they can learn dairy farming as their life's work.

This is an amazing story of how people with different mission-minded goals can come together, and change each others' lives, as well as the lives of others.  The project will provide great opportunities for orphans and other low-income individuals, as well as potentially transform the lives of hundreds of people in this village, where the economy is almost entirely dead.

And so this Dairy Farm is a big part of what the fundraising for the next year will be tied to.  It is a big investment, that will have a good return over many years to come.  But it is also a risk, and an unorthodox way of doing ministry.  So be praying that God places a desire in the hearts of many to contribute towards this project, and that He gives John and Garry the wisdom as how to best manage this project.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD,

and he will repay him for his deed.

-Proverbs 19:17