In the spring of 2004, St. Thomas’ began supporting the Basic Grains Project, a micro-finance project, of San Mateo Parish in El Cerron, Honduras. Working directly with the Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s Diocesan Committee on Honduras, the Outreach Committee contributed funds to a woman owned and operated grain storage facility in the town of El Cerron.

How did this partnership come to be?  Honduras has been a companion diocese to the Diocese of Washington several times, most recently from 2004 to 2007.  Three years ago, Bishop Allen, the Bishop of Honduras, visited Washington to promote various projects in Honduras, foster dialogue as well as partner relationships between parishes in the Diocese of Washington and Honduras.  One of the projects promoted by the Bishop was the Basic Grains Project.  In response to this call St. Thomas’ Parish, through the Outreach Committee, took on the Basic Grains Project of San Mateo Parish.

From there, the Outreach Committee donated $3,000 in seed money to the Basic Grains Project to build grain storage silos and buy grain from the subsequent harvest to house until it could be sold again for a profit when demand was high but grain supply low.  Our decision was an easy one.  The women of San Mateo Parish were determined to provide a better life for their families and do so smartly using the resources in their community and with the support and guidance of Episcopal Church. In the summer of 2005, Tom Sinclair, a former St. Thomas’ parishioner and I traveled to Honduras with Diocesan Committee on Honduras to meet and spend some time with the people of El Cerron and to learn first hand about the grains project.  When we arrived the first silos were just being built and we spoke with the women who had conceived of the project, and how the idea of storing the grains for sale at a later time, when prices are high, would help to bolster the economy of that town.

The basic grains project has been extremely successful and has been held up by Bishop Allen as a model of self-sufficiency for rural towns and congregations.  The treasurer (and head) of the project, Maria Consuelo Hernandez, reported in July that the project now “has eight silos for storing grains: seven with a capacity of 3,000 lbs each and one with a capacity of 1,200 lbs (total 22,200 lbs).”  In fact, during the first year of operations while only operating at less than capacity – the project still made a profit.  In the fall of 2006, St. Thomas’ together with Church of the Ascension in Silver Spring donated an additional $6,000 to support the next phase of San Mateo’s Basic Grains Project.  These additional funds enabled them to purchase more grain to fill existing silos as well as expand the silo project to neighboring villages.

The Outreach Committee is planning to organize another work trip to Honduras in the near future. If any of you are interested, please contact Melissa Barrett at mlb707@gmail.com.

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