Artel Farms in Niverville has partnered with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and MCC Canada for the second year in a row for their Grow Hope project.

Ed Barkman is a volunteer coordinator for the project mainly responsible for connecting different agencies with the farm. He says so far 140 acres have been sponsored to help Syrian families displaced from their homes. “So far Artel Farms has been generous enough to accommodate what we've been able to do in terms of sponsoring acres of production, so we have only been working with one farm.”

Barkman says sponsors are able to donate $300 for the actual costs of the crop on an acre of land, and when it's harvested by staff at Artel Farms, is sold on the regular market. The money is matched by the Canadian Government at a ratio of 4:1 and that money is sent to the recipients of this year's Grow Hope Project. Barkman adds, if all 300 acres are sponsored, it could mean $750,00 for the project.

Bruce Guenther is the Disaster Response Director for MCC, he says the money from the project will be used to support 6,000 Syrian families every month who have been displaced from their homes. “There are millions of people displaced in Syria, and we work with local churches and Muslim organizations in Syria who welcome these families. We've heard their call for help, and fortunately, we've had the resources to do that for the last four years. This money gives us a boost to sustain that support for those families.”

Henry Friesen from Niverville says he sponsors one acre per grandchild. “We have five grandchildren this year, and we want to give them a small taste of the farm and bring them out every year to tour the crops. I can't imagine what being a refugee is like, it's got to be ten times worse than anything I can imagine. So if we can do a little bit here, that's a good thing, and if I can cultivate that kind of an attitude in my grandchildren, that's a good thing.”