Double Harvest Update

Double Harvest Update

The Double Harvest Christian mission founded by the Van Wingerden family provided vital medical care, food and shelter in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti. Prior to the earthquake, Metrolina’s founder Tom Van Wingerden spent a week each month in Haiti serving the mission. Since he died in December, more than $2 million was raised by our industry to help with the relief and recovery efforts.

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“Someone from the family has been down there every week since,” says Tom’s son, Abe Van Wingerden. “We have volunteers lined up through the end of the year. The focus has shifted from help and recovery to reconstruction. Volunteers are helping to build homes the right way.”

A shipment of 18,000 fish has replenished Double Harvest’s tilapia farm. “We bring fish to the communities with oil, beans and rice, so people can sustain themselves instead of us feeding a thousand people a day,” Abe says. “We haven’t spent the $2 million yet and there’s a lot we can do. Every child in the school is adopted for $30 a month. Double Harvest is still an agricultural mission project. We did the rest because we had to. Our mission is to help people help themselves.”

For more information and to support the cause, visit DoubleHarvest.com. You can also keep up with the progress by becoming a Double Harvest fan on Facebook.

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