winter 2011

At this year’s Planting Hope in this issue

Gala, the Missions Pastor at Features

Solana Beach Presbyterian

Hope Is Keeping Them Home 2
Gala Success! 3
Haiti Recovery Update 6
Church, Tom Theriault, gave
Departments
an introductory reflection and Holiday Gift Catalog
Director’s Corner
4
5
offered a prayer to kick off Breaking News 5-6

the evening. His words were so

inspiring that Plant With Purpose
decided to interview Tom and
develop his testimony into an
article. The following story
inside recounts his friendship
with people in Oaxaca, Mexico
and what they taught him over
the past ten years.

Formerly known as Floresta USA

 Hope is Keeping Annual Gala Plants Hope
them Home
An Interview with Tom Theriault
for the Rural Poor
Thank you to everyone who prayed for
Missions Pastor at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church
and supported this year’s Planting Hope
Gala! This year’s event raised $235,000
and we are so excited about this outcome.
During the Fund A Need auction we raised
$144,000. These much needed funds will
go toward fuel-efficient stoves in Tanzania,
women’s empowerment programs in Thai-
land, and food security in Burundi. They will
go toward water cisterns in Mexico, soil
conservation in Haiti, and savings and loan
group trainings in the Dominican Repub-
lic. Additionally, thanks to the overwhelm-
ing response we received during the Trees
Please auction, 15,950 trees will be plant-
ed in Haiti. This is in addition to the near-
ly 240,000 trees we have already planted
in Haiti since the earthquake. We also had
eight new village sponsorships pledged!
Thank you to those of you who prayed
for and supported this critical fund rais-
ing event. Because of your support, farm-
ers will be able to feed their families, raise
their incomes, restore health to their com-
munities, and grow in their knowledge of
God’s love and grace.

There is an African proverb that
says, “Your ears are your father’s
friends; your eyes are your own
friends.” This loosely translates to
“seeing is believing”. This saying
rings true for Tom Theriault, who
has witnessed the transforming
power of the gospel, particularly at
work in the lives of the rural poor.
Ten years ago, Theriault’s church, Solana
Beach Presbyterian Church (SBPC), decided
they wanted to address the poverty they
saw on their street corners. Most of the peo-
ple they saw were immigrants from Mexico
who had presumably crossed the border
illegally and were now living in poverty.
They got to know some of them and came
to understand why they were on our street
corners. Hope had driven them north to find
work to feed their families back in Mexico.
The church wanted to do more than put a
band-aid on the problem. They wanted to
address the problem at its roots to find a
long-term solution.
SBPC approached Plant With Purpose, an
organization they had supported for years.
Plant With Purpose suggested a partnership
in Oaxaca, Mexico - a place that has the high-
est emigration rate of any Mexican state.
Upon further research, SBPC discovered
why Oaxacans were leaving their homes.
With land depleted by deforestation and
counterproductive farming practices, these
hard working men could no longer support
their families. Hoping for a better future,
they risk life and limb to cross the border.
Looking for a long-term solution, SBPC
teamed up with Plant With Purpose by sup-
porting the community of El Porvenir in Oax-
aca. When Theriault first visited, he noticed
barren hillsides with people trapped in a cy-
cle of extreme poverty. He learned that the
community made a meager living by selling
charcoal to city dwellers to use as fuel wood
for cooking. Desperate to feed their families,
the farmers cut down more and more trees
on the dry hillsides for charcoal, destroying
the land and further entrenching themselves
in poverty and environmental degradation.
SBPC became involved with creating oppor-
tunities for the community. Theriault says
that their church became friends with leaders
in the community, and it was out of this trust
that they were able to work together. Theri-
ault saw outcroppings of God’s love as the
villagers transformed their lives by planting
trees, creating fishponds, and constructing
cisterns to catch precious rainwater. SBPC’s
Vacation Bible School raised money to start
flocks of sheep, which produced wool twice
per year. The women from SBPC visited the
community and collaborated with the wom-
en there to think of creative ways to gener-
ate income. Together they came up with the
idea of creating pine needle baskets and
many other craft items, which the women
now sell in their local markets. Theriault said
it was inspiring to see these industrious and
inventive Oaxacan women play a key role in
the revival of their community.
On his church’s fourth visit to El Porvenir,
they noticed a difference in the attitude of
the people. “We saw a sign at the entrance
of the village that read, ‘Welcome to El Por-
venir, where there are opportunities,’” said
Theriault. “El Porvenir literally means “the
future,” so it was exciting to see people with
a renewed hope for their future.”
Theriault spoke to one farmer who said, “With
the help of our friends to the North, we now have
hope. We are on our feet and producing things
ourselves.”
With the renewal of El Porvenir well underway,
Plant With Purpose suggested that SBPC shift
the partnership to a nearby village called Loma
Chimedia. Facing similar hardships as El Pov-
enir, the community’s goal was to revive their
land, their Mixtec language and culture, and the
Mixtec traditions of environmental stewardship.
They also wanted to stop migration and keep
people home in Oaxaca.
Now, five years later, the community is flour-
ishing. They have constructed greenhouses to
multiply their vegetable crops, cisterns to store
precious rainwater, and eco-latrines and eco-
stoves to improve health and reduce harm on
their surrounding environment. Last summer, a
village leader told the SBPC team that in the past
three years not a single Oaxacan has left Loma
Chimedia for the North.
Upon reflection, Theriault says, “Over the years,
we became friends with the people of Oaxaca.
I have seen with my own eyes how the gospel
of Jesus transforms people, communities, and
the environment that supports people and com-
munities. Hope is no longer driving them north.
Hope is keeping them home. It makes my heart
rejoice!”
If you or your church is interested in spon-
soring a village in Oaxaca or any of the plac-
es Plant With Purpose works, please contact
our office at:
(800) 633-5319
or email Doug Satre at:
doug@plantwithpurpose.org.

2 Formerly known as Floresta USA www.plantwithpurpose.org 3

 Gifts With a Purpose
What do you give to the person who has everything? How about a gift given in their honor
to help bring hope and wholeness to a rural community! This year, Plant With Purpose
is having an online holiday village market. You can shop for animals, trees, eco-items
such as stoves, cisterns, or latrines, family gardens, micro credit loans, and resources
for community Bible study groups. Find the perfect alternative gift for your family and
friends by visiting www.plantwithpurpose.org/gifts. Or, check the “gift” box on the en-
closed remit envelope and check which items you would like to donate. Then go to www.
plantwithpurpose.org to download a gift card that you can print out and send to those
special people in your life.
Plant
Trees
Deforestation and poverty are devastating
global problems that can’t be solved in iso-
lation. Desperate to feed their families, poor
farmers are driven to cut down trees for imme-
diate survival despite the horrible disasters that
result: farms become wasteland, springs dry
up, flooding and landslides ensue, and the land
is utterly depleted for future generations. Do-
nating trees will help farmers and their families
improve the quality of their soil, protect vulner-
able hillsides from erosion and mud slides, and
ultimately restore their land. Trees are powerful
tools that can transform the lives of the poor.
$10 - Plant an orchard (10 trees)
$25 – Plant a hillside (25 trees)
$50 – Plant a grove (50 trees)
$100 – Plant a forest (100 trees)
The Sower Issue #91
The Sower is published quarterly
by Plant With Purpose.
4
4 Formerly known as Floresta USA
Fuel-efficient
Stove
Buy a Fuel-efficient Stove for $30
Fuel-efficient stoves help families and
the environment. In most of the develop-
ing countries where Plant With Purpose
works, women cook food and boil water
over an open fire inside their homes, forc-
ing them and their children to inhale un-
healthy amounts of smoke each day. Imag-
ine an open campfire in your kitchen! For
$30, Plant With Purpose will provide a fam-
ily with a cleaner burning stove. By reduc-
ing wood use by 50%, these stoves prevent
deforestation and also reduce diseases and
death caused by smoke inhalation. For just
$30, you can make a significant impact on
the health of the planet and the rural poor.
4903 Morena Blvd. Ste 1215
San Diego, CA 92117
Ph: (800) 633-5319
Fax: (858) 274-3728
Email: info@plantwithpurpose.org
www. plantwithpurpose.org
Director’S CORNER
By SCOTT SABIN, Executive Director
Here are some
examples of
alternative gifts and
their life-changing
benefits for rural
communities:
Family
Garden
A whirlwind. That may be
the only way to describe
2010. On January 12th, the
Plant a Nutritious Family Garden for $50
earthquake in Haiti turned
Malnutrition is a serious problem in the areas
most of the country upside
where Plant With Purpose works, and this gift
down, and gave us march-
of a family garden will make a huge difference
ing orders for the rest of
in the quality of life for an entire family. Your
the year. You can read elsewhere in the Sower
gift of $50 enables Plant With Purpose staff to
help set up a garden and train a mother and
about our ongoing response, but I am incred-
her family to diversify their diet, better use the
ibly proud of our team and the way they rose
to the occasion, and continue to this day, sac-
limited space available for growing food, and
improve the fertility and production of their
rificing to help rebuild the country.
land. Plant With Purpose also helps these fam-
Elsewhere our programs made enormous
ilies market their products at local markets and
in other cities. The extra money generated at
strides, expanding to new communities (we
are now working in 237 villages globally) and
markets allows mothers to pay for school fees
planting over 1 million trees. Thousands of
for their children and provide better health for
bio-intensive vegetable gardens were plant-
their families.
ed, hundreds of wood-saving stoves were con-
structed, and hundreds of loans were made.
New cisterns now provide clean water in doz-
ens of communities. Many lives were trans-
formed with new opportunity, new hope, and
Editor-In-Chief: Kate Nare
kate@plantwithpurpose.org
new faith. We took steps to incorporate a new
type of credit program in our work, the Village
Savings and Loan Associations, and we com-
Please consider including Plant With
pleted our first year of working with USAID in
Purpose in your wills and bequests.
Tanzania to connect organic vegetable growers
with appropriate markets for their produce.
Here in the US, my book was released in
February, and we received unprecedented
publicity in national publications and media.
We also completed an ambitious new stra-
tegic plan, which anticipates expansion in-
to five new countries while continuing to im-
prove the work we are doing in our current
projects. We believe that the work we are do-
ing is some of the most effective in the world
for solving the upstream causes of poverty.
We realize we could do none of it without
God’s grace and the active partnership of
people like you. Yet we are far from finished.
There is still so much to be accomplished - so
many lives to touch. With that in mind, please
consider a year-end donation, or consider
using our online gift catalogue to help with
your Christmas shopping this year (www.
plantwithpurpose.org/gifts).
Thank you!
Scott Sabin
Executive Director
breaking news
Visit a Village
Every year Plant With Purpose supporters
have the opportunity to travel to the com-
munities where we work to see our life-
changing work first-hand. This year’s trip
dates are as follows:
Dominican Republic:
April 28 – May 3, 2011
Haiti:
August 21 – 27, 2011
Oaxaca, Mexico:
October 19 – 24, 2011
Please contact Doug Satre at
doug@plantwithpurpose.org or call
(800) 633-5319 if you are interested in
participating in a vision trip.
Blog Buzz
Wondering what the latest news is at
Plant With Purpose? Stay in the know by
signing-up to receive blog posts to your
email inbox! You will hear inspiring testi-
monies from the farmers we work with,
as well as information on how you can
get involved.
Visit www.plantwithpurpose.org/blog to
keep up with the blog buzz.
Tending to Eden
Named a Finalist
in the Christianity
Today Book of the
Year Awards!
Tending to Eden: Environ-
mental Stewardship for
God’s People written by
our Executive Director,
Scott Sabin, is a finalist
in the Christianity Today
book of the year awards!
We are very honored and
humbled by this nomination. Please help
us spread the word about this wonder-
ful book by telling friends and family (it
makes a great Christmas gift!) or by shar-
ing the book’s creation care Bible study
with your small group or church. Tending
to Eden is available on Amazon.com
through our website, www.plantwithpur-
pose.org.
www.plantwithpurpose.org 5
 “We want to plant trees everywhere Village restore their land and improve their liveli-
hoods. Instead of barren fields, farmers
around our community; we are
Spotlight:
produce an abundance of nutritious crops.
Instead of becoming further entrenched in
dreaming of a forest! We know that
poverty, families start small businesses that
if we can do this, the young men of
our community will find hope and Huai Wai, allow them to pay for food, healthcare, and
school fees. Instead of being backed into a
opportunity here, rather than having
to look for work in the sugar cane Thailand corner, families are equipped with options
and opportunities.

fields of the Dominican Republic,

or for food in Port au Prince.” From You can help the people of Huai Wai to trans-
form stories of desperation and heartbreak

Ronald, Heartbreak into stories of victory and hope by partner-

Community Leader, Fonds Verettes, Haiti
to Hope
By Aly Lewis, Grant Writer
Some of the darkest stories I’ve ever heard
Breaking News have come from Northern Thailand. Stories
ing with Plant With Purpose to sponsor Huai
Wai for only $30 per month. And, if you sign
up for a recurring donation, your gift will be
matched for the first year!
Visit www.plantwithpurpose.org or call
(800) 633-5319 to learn more about
sponsoring a village.

Haiti Earthquake Recovery Efforts of human trafficking and child sex slaves.
Stories of people profiting from and prey-
ing on families so desperate that they would
As the one-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti approaches, we are encour-
choose to sell one child to save the rest. Sto-
aged by the progress we have witnessed in the lives of our Haitian brothers and sis-
ries of desperation, hopelessness, and ex- restore hope to these communities. Bassett’s
ters. Since January 12th, 2010, we have distributed 118,740 pounds of bean seed to

Partners With Purpose:

ploitation. Stories that break my heart. Southern California stores in San Marcos,
over 2,700 families and employed over 6,000 farmers through our “Cash for Work”
Chula Vista, Temecula, Irvine, and Fountain
program who planted nearly 240,000 trees and constructed over 360 miles of soil
conservation barriers. This progress is encouraging, but there is still much work to be
When I first read about the people of Huai
Wai, a village Plant With Purpose works
Bassett Furniture of Valley all have Plant With Purpose posters in
their windows, and customers are encour-

Southern California
done. With the help of generous donors such as yourself, we will continue to plant
with in Northern Thailand, my heart broke. aged to plant a tree for only $1.00. Huffman
trees and construct erosion barriers to conserve soil, improve crop yields, and pro-
Fleeing conflict and oppression in the Bur- said sometimes customers will say they have
tect farmers from further disaster by restoring their land. So far we have raised over
mese Shan State, these Palaung hill tribe been to Tanzania or Oaxaca, so there is an au-
$1 million, and we hope to maintain this momentum. Please join us in continuing our
members resettled in Huai Wai. Despite tomatic connection.
recovery efforts in Haiti by donating online at www.plantwithpurpose.org or calling
their newfound freedom and safety, life is
our office at (800) 633-5319.
not easy in Huai Wai. Villagers suffer from Bassett is also committed to environmental
chronic hunger and poor health as they issues. According to Huffman, all employees

IMPORTANT Tax Deduction Reminder struggle to produce enough food from
their overworked and barren land. As they
The end of 2010 is almost upon us! If you are planning on making a donation and hav- run out of options, the people of Huai Wai
ing it count toward your 2010 income tax return, IRS Publication 526 states the timing resort to cutting trees to provide for their
of your donation must be as follows: families, paradoxically destroying their pri-
mary source of sustenance and creating a
• Check: The envelope in which the check is mailed must be POSTMARKED by or on
December 31st. vicious cycle of poverty and environmental
destruction. Marked by such poverty, dis-
• Credit Card: Your card must be PROCESSED by or on December 31st, even if you
placement, and desperation, families be-
don’t pay your bill until January.
come vulnerable to exploitation as they are
• Stock and Securities: When electronically transferring appreciated stock or securi- forced to make difficult and often unthink-
ties, the date of donation is the date Plant With Purpose RECEIVES the stock in our able decisions just to survive. But the story
account. Please allow at least 5 days from the time you initiate the transfer. doesn’t end there.
For more information on how to donate stock and/or the benefits of donating stock,
Plant With Purpose is working upstream
please feel free to call our offices or email Kristen Tucker, Director of Finance & Admin-
to address the root causes of poverty and
istration, at kristen@plantwithpurpose.org.
deforestation that force so many hopeless
families in Huai Wai into desperate situa-
If you have any questions, please contact our offices by either calling (800) 633-5319 or
tions. Projects such as home gardens, fish
emailing info@plantwithpurpose.org. Office hours are 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Pacific Time.
farms, water projects, and community sav-
ings and loan groups empower farmers to
Hope is in short supply in Mng’ende, Tanzania
where environmental degradation, a shortage
of water, and a lack of economic opportunity re-
sults in chronic hunger and malnutrition. Simi-
larly, in Rio Plaza, Mexico there is little rainfall
and, as a last resort, people make a meager liv-
ing by selling charcoal to city dwellers to use as
fuel wood for cooking, cutting down the trees
they depend on for survival.
These issues resonated with Rick Huffman,
President of Bassett Furniture of Southern
California, when he first heard Executive Di-
rector of Plant With Purpose, Scott Sabin,
speak a couple years ago at a Barnabas group
meeting. At the time he was looking for an or-
ganization for Bassett to support, and Plant
With Purpose seemed like a good fit.
“We wanted a way to give back to the commu-
nity, and Plant With Purpose’s mission of heal-
ing the land and the people made sense to us,”
said Huffman. “We have many Hispanic fami-
lies working for us, so there is a natural connec-
tion to Mexico. And being a furniture company
we support Tanzania’s reforestation projects.”
Since then, Bassett has committed to sponsor-
ing the villages of Mng’ende and Rio Plaza in an
effort to reverse the vicious cycle of poverty and
receive training on the importance of envi-
ronmental preservation, and Bassett honors
this mission by using reputable lumber yards
and receiving their latex and foam materials
from quality factories who practice and value
sustainability.
Plant With Purpose would like to thank Bas-
sett for their commitment to providing long-
term, sustainable solutions to bring pros-
perity and dignity to rural communities in
Tanzania and Mexico. Because of their sup-
port, lands are being reforested and families
are able to feed their families, start business-
es, and have hope for a better future.
If you are interested in learning more about
Plant With Purpose’s corporate sponsorship
opportunities, please call Doug Satre at (800)
633-5319 or visit www.plantwithpurpose.org.

6 Formerly known as Floresta USA www.plantwithpurpose.org 7

 Plant With Purpose Non-Profit Org
4903 Morena Blvd. Suite 1215 U.S. Postage
San Diego, CA 92117 Paid
Ph: (800) 633-5319 Permit 751
Fax: (858) 274-3728 San Diego CA

Email: info@plantwithpurpose.org
www.plantwithpurpose.org

Give the Gift that

Keeps on Giving
Details about Plant With Purpose’s Holiday
Online Gift Catalog Inside…

Planting Hope Gala

a Success
Annual Fund raising Event Plants Trees and
Hope in the Lives of the Rural Poor

Floresta is now Plant With Purpose!