Meet your Farmers

During the week of July 9th through the 15th, the Growers First Foundation team of Dave Day, founder of Growers First, and Dave Klopfenstein, the Director of Growers First, will be heading up a team of Southern California volunteers that will be lending their skills out for a VBS, an educational outreach happening in Nelson Maradiaga'svillageofLas Lagunas.

The team will be organizing the groups of the estimated 250 children that will be attending from Las Lagunas and the surrounding region.

This event is a much anticipated highlight for the children of these communities and they always enjoy the interaction  that occurs when Growers First brings in outside help, especially when younger volunteers show up from theUnited Statesas will be the case with this group.

More pictures and stories to follow as this wonderful event happens......

Rito has experienced dramatic improvements in his family's quality of life over the course of his five years with Growers First, and this winter he was able pay the transformation forward to his neighbors.

Leonzo "Chavelito" Benitez, his wife Maria, and their eleven children live just a stone's throw from Rito in the village of La Cayentana. Until recently, they had been living in a home with a dirt floor. Rito, who was in the same position when we met him five years ago, wanted to help. He coordinated with Growers First and acted as foreman to install a cement floor in Chavelito's home, volunteering his time and labor to help pour the floor and leading a team of Growers First board members and their families as they assisted in the project. Rito's wife, Maria, served the group coffee in her home as they relaxed after the hard work.

In addition to helping Chavelito, Rito had the opportunity to share some of his family's heirloom seeds with a local orphanage, which will allow them to plant yellow, white, and blue varieties of corn. He is also coordinating with Growers First to use his solar drying facility as a nursery to raise organic vegetables for his community.

Nelson is proud of his coffee farm. He is a father of 5 and one of the farmers that we have partnered with in the village of Las Lagunas. He is quiet and reserved leader that works hard to keep his coffee trees in the best condition possible.

Through the education and support we have provided he has made vast improvements in the output and quality of his coffee farm. By providing micro-credit loans and buying directly from his co-op we have been able to help Nelson maximize the profit he receives from his crop. When you choose his coffee you change the life of his family.

If you have the privilege of spending a day with Zuri, your cheeks will ache from laughing and smiling. He is an enthusiastic leader in both the community of San Jeronimo and his co-op.

Growers First has had the privilege of supporting his vision of a better life for his family and community. We have trained him and he has trained others to improve the quality of their coffee crops. We have financed his efforts through micro-credit loans. And then we have given his co-op the best price for their coffee by trading directly with them.

Zuri’s hard work is paying off. Through his servant leadership his community is beginning to thrive. Your choice matters.

When we met Rito 5 years ago, he had just sold his coffee crop for $95. His house had a dirt floor and his family had no access to clean water so his kids were always sick. We could see how his family struggled to survive and how much Rito longed for a better life for them.

So we did what we could to support his vision. We helped him improve the quality of his coffee crop. We financed his efforts through micro-credit loans. And then we gave him the best price for his coffee by trading directly with his village co-op Rito’s hard work is paying off.

This year Rito made $1,500 from his coffee crop. His house has a solid cement floor and a well that provides clean water. His family is healthy. His son Selvin just started 9th grade—one of two kids from their village to have made it that far. Our friend has hope.

On our recent trip to Honduras, Dave Tosti, the Growers First photographer asked Zuri to hold his remote flash for him. Watch what Zuri does with the flash on every other attempt. Dave did not realize what Zuri was doing until later when he viewed this video.