Second Tuesdays – Floresta

This month’s Second Tuesday ministry is Floresta, a Christian nonprofit organization that’s committed to reversing deforestation and poverty in the world by transforming the lives of the rural poor.

From its website:

Deforestation is a problem of growing significance all over the world. It is especially acute in tropical countries. All of us are affected by this problem, but no one more than the rural poor who make their living in and around the forest.

There are nearly a half-a-billion subsistence farmers worldwide. Constantly fighting starvation and utterly dependent on their environment for survival, they are often trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and deforestation.

Threatened by land which no longer produces, rains that no longer come, and springs which are dry, they clear the forest for agriculture or sell charcoal to survive, further degrading their land.

One of the things that makes Floresta special is that we don’t just focus on treating the symptoms of environmental degradation and poverty, we work to solve the root causes. The second half of our mission statement, “We teach, we plant, we create enterprise and we share the gospel” reflects the four primary tools we use: Community Development, Innovative Agriculture and Forestry, Credit, and Discipleship.

Floresta currently has ongoing community development programs in Haiti, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Tanzania. It also has a Plant-a-Tree program, where $1 will enable Floresta to plant a tree and see it to maturity.