Farming as Mission: Mission UpReach

Donna Waldron is one of the founders of Mission UpReach. She, along with her husband, moved to Western Honduras twelve years ago, moved by the significant amount of poverty in the area and the insignificant amount of social services provided in response. The Waldrons consider themselves pioneers of sorts, moving to Santa Rosa de Copan with their two children, without a partnership with an organization on the ground. What started with a leap of faith by this small family has now grown into a thriving community with a staff of almost 85 people. 

 

Mission UpReach is incredibly multifaceted; they are involved in running a school for deaf adults, agricultural training, church planting, medical outreach, well-drilling, farming, teaching values to children in the public schools, and other forms of evangelism. They believe in the importance of individuals being transformed spiritually, economically, and physically. Donna and her husband have found great value in the individuals they’ve formed relationships with and plan for Mission UpReach to one day be solely supported by the efforts of community members. She spoke often of their desire for this ministry to be independent of her family’s work, explaining, “Our approach to missions is very different because we work towards sustainable programs. We are constantly elevating, promoting, and training so that this mission will become a Honduran run mission.”

 

Because of this passion, when the Waldrons were given a working farm of sixty acres, Donna’s husband immediately began dreaming of a way to make the farm into a source of sustainability for the mission. After purchasing an additional sixty acres of adjacent land, this gift has grown into a thriving commercial farm and a training facility that, in about three years, will produce the majority of needed funding for all programs of Mission UpReach. While this has been no small undertaking

and has required a significant investment in infrastructure, the Waldrons believe that God is working through the farm, called the Moses Project, to transform this community. 

 

The farm produces coffee, tilapia, broiler chickens, and honey. The Moses Project creates countless job opportunities and skill training, as well as a place for young men to complete their education. In Western Honduras, in order to continue school past the sixth grade, parents must pay to send their children to schools in the city. Because most families cannot afford this, many boys finish the 6th grade and immediately begin working on their family farms or looking for local employment. 

 

The Moses Project can house up to fifty young men, allowing them to complete their education, learning agricultural and technical skills, receive mentoring from ag-engineers, and participate in spiritual formation. Mission UpReach hopes that through this program, future generations of community leaders, business owners, and coffee farmers will be equipped to shape and transform Honduras. A powerful example of how mission work can address the economic and spiritual needs of individuals, the farm has the potential to sustainably create employment opportunities in this community for generations to come. 

 

If you’re interested in the work of Mission UpReach, visit their website and buy some of their coffee at subidacoffee.com.

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