It's been approximately 45 years since the members of the Crossborders Community Project near the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border and the community of Kola, Man., have been raising funds for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
Hundreds of thousands of bushels have been harvested through the Crossborders Grow Projects over the decades, dating back to the early 1980s when the Foodgrains Bank officially began, thanks to Don Neufeld and his father, Art, and the call on their lives to support the Foodgrains in the Kola area.
Since 1983, the Foodgrain Bank members, supporters and project partners have devoted their efforts to end world hunger. However, the story starts long before that, in the mid-1970s, when Canadian farmers were looking for a way to share their abundance with those who were hungry in faraway lands.
Kola area farmers, Don and Jan Neufeld, take the lead on the Kola Grow project, with Don as project coordinator. The 262-acre field of canola was planted fairly early this spring to get as many people out on harvest day as possible.
Each year, the harvest brings the community together to celebrate another successful year of raising money for the Foodgrains Bank.
However, it was Don's father, Art Neufeld, and his uncle Harry, who first became involved with the Foodgrains Bank.
They owned an 88-acre piece of land right on the border between the two provinces, as well as another piece in Saskatchewan, near the town of Fairlight, SK.
The two pieces were farmed together, hence the name Crossborders.
Don was 16 years old when he planted his first crop. His dad, Art, was the local pastor of their church and had a deep passion for the Foodgrains Bank right from the beginning, even though he himself was a contractor, not a farmer.
Art made sure Don would set aside that one specific field for the Foodgrains Bank, but this young farmer wasn't so keen on the extensive work that didn't seem to offer many rewards.
And even though his dad would encourage him to seed that Foodgrains field first, Don has sheepishly admitted that he would leave it to the end. "I would say to my dad, 'The last time I looked, nobody from Africa was coming to help me plant this field'. And my dad would mumble under his breath, 'Oh ye of little faith,' as he would walk away from me. And this would make me so angry!"
This went on for over 20 years!.
When Don's father suddenly took ill in August of 2003 during the harvest season, Don and Jan took over the organizing of the combines, the meals and the volunteers.
When Art passed away shortly after, it was a shock to the entire family. It was found out some time later that Art had contracted West Nile Virus, being the second documented case in Manitoba.
Don says the next spring was a bit of a relief for him when it came to spring seeding. He was no longer being pestered to plant the Foodgrains crop.
A dream from God to keep going
But a vivid dream turned things around, and Don felt his own personal call from God to continue the grow project in a dream.
In his dream, he saw a massive group of people as far as the eye could see ...the people were crying and hungry, asking him ‘Who is going to feed us?’
Don and his wife, Jan, agreed they had been called to champion the Kola grow project for the Foodgrains Bank. And so, for the past 25 years, Don has seeded that field first.
Through the years, changes were made, and the Crossborders Community Project was planted on Hellen Koop's half-section. When she passed away, the Crossborders committee was given first dibs on purchasing the land, and so the community of Kola secured their land for all future crops.
"Well, now I have four guys from South Africa working for me," shares Don. "It is absolutely astounding to me that people would come from halfway around the world and are now involved in this Foodgrains Grow Project, and they're just as much on board as I am! It's come full circle," he adds.
"Now we have people from South Africa involved in this project, when I said 45 years ago that the last time I looked, nobody from Africa that was coming to help me," he adds.
