Buy the Farm
On the Feast of the Reign of Christ for 2021, November 21 in the midst of the Fraser Valley flood emergency, the folks at St. Matthew, Abbotsford stayed focused on the concept that global life goes on. People in villages in Africa are hungry. Refugees in UN camps in Bangladesh need aid. Women and children still seek to be accepted as part of humanity, even though some are abused and forgotten. We addressed the disaster in our area, and helped our local neighbours, but remained committed to responding globally through PWRDF
These are the challenges to the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund. The current PWRDF "World of Gifts" catalogue caught the attention of parishioners at St. Matthew Parish, Abbotsford. The feature called "Buy The Farm" indicated that the Parish of St. Dunstan had bought the farm last year. Challenge accepted, we said we could do that.
Challenged to raise $530 for buying one farm package, in just three weeks members of St. Matthew’s rallied around and raised a total of $2120; four farm packages.
Goats will be provided in rural villages of Cuba, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Families will have meat and a bit of income. Chickens will give eggs in Colombia and Zimbabwe, protein for children. Seeds for planting in Bangladesh will restore small family farm plots. Dairy farms are being improved and made productive by Anglican Church of Canada support in various corners of the world. In the refugee camps in Kenya there are also now being made available grinders for corn to become chicken feed. New farmers will be given hope, and life, and love.
St. Matthew parishioners are grateful for this generous opportunity to share with PWRDF. We face our own local disaster needs and will be grateful to received aid from churches and other charities. This global relationship is a continuous challenge, one we all must meet. Has your parish done a fair share? Thanks be to God that we can.
IMAGE
PWRDF donation to "Buy The Farm" being presented by (l to r) Tyler Evans, Rector's Warden; Allen Doerksen, Vicar; watched by Art Turnbull, instigator; and Trish Martin, People's Warden.
Photo: Mary Lee