A-maizing Grace Growing Project
Sale of soybeans, corn from area farm project will benefit world efforts
JILL CALLISON
jcalliso@argusleader.com
Published: 06/18/05
Churches in Sioux Falls and Canton have formed a partnership to fight world hunger.
This fall, Canton Lutheran Church and Our Savior's Lutheran Church will sell the corn and soybeans grown on 52 acres of area land and use the proceeds to help the hungry in other countries.
"This gets both urban and rural people working together for a very worthy goal," says the Rev. Marlin Haugrud Sr., who leads Canton Lutheran.
Jill Stoefen-Fisher, co-director of the "A-Maizing Grace" Growing Project, says the partnership will provide funding for food-security programs as opposed to disaster relief.
Combining churches from two different areas allows them to use their strengths, she says.
"Our Savior's is an urban church, and as a larger church, it has more cash but limited access to farming," Stoefen-Fisher says. "Canton Lutheran, as a rural church, has greater access to farmers. It seems like a natural partnership."
"A-Maizing Grace" will involve crops planted land donated by farmers and landowners, who will provide the expertise and labor for planting and harvesting.
Church funds and agribusiness donations will cover the costs of seed, fertilizer and other chemicals, Stoefen-Fisher says.
She is among landowners who donated acres for the project. Despite recent rainy weather, crops have been planted on that land, she says.
When the corn and soybeans are harvested and sold, the proceeds will go to "A-Maizing Grace." The money then will be transferred to the Food Resources Bank, a Christian, nongovernment, humanitarian organization committed to providing food security in the developing world through sustainable, small-scale agricultural production.
At that point, the U.S. Agency for International Development will match the funds raised locally, and the doubled proceeds will be given to Lutheran World Relief.
No organization involved in the process uses the funds for any administrative purposes, Stoefen-Fisher says.
"It's a neat project because it just does so much to help people in Third World countries," Haugrud says.
Initially, some Our Savior's members were a little reluctant to commit to the program because it sounded too good to be true, says the Rev. Les Svendsen, the church's senior pastor.
"We were reluctant to pull our $15,000 that we had budgeted for Lutheran World Relief. But once we got assurances that Lutheran World Relief is part of it, and they encourage us to do this because it multiplies the resources, I think it will just get better."
Bob Lier, co-director from Canton, says rains delayed some planting, but all crops should be planted by week's end.
Reach reporter Jill Callison at 331-2307.