2015 6 Nov Dec TheMarketplace

November
December
2015
Where Christian faith
gets down to business
Disaster training:
How MEDA staff
keep safe & healthy
Yarn shop thrives
with well-knit owners
Waging war on
climate change
“Undercover boss”
takes to the road
1
The Marketplace November December 2015
Roadside stand
Transformed by the stock market
Behind the walls of California’s San
Quentin State Prison, Curtis Carroll
discovered the stock market and it
gave him a new lease on life.
Homeless for much of his youth,
Carroll fell into a gang and began
committing crimes. Now 37, he’s
been in prison for 20 years for a robbery attempt that ended in a murder.
One day he stumbled on
the financial section of the
newspaper. He asked
a fellow inmate about
the stock market and was
told “that’s where white
people keep their money.”
Intrigued, Carroll learned to
invest in penny stocks and did well
enough to keep going.
Today he pores over Forbes and the
Wall Street Journal and through friends
and family on the outside invests in
the stock market. Even in prison he
feels like he’s on the same playing
field as high-profile investors. “I can
pick the exact same companies,” he
says. “I can’t buy as many shares,
but technically we’re just the
same.”
Carroll also advises fellow inmates and correctional
officers. Every Thursday
night, he and a group of outside volunteers teach a class
on personal finance, investments and money management.
Prisoners typically are
released with $200 and little
to no financial knowledge or
resources.
Carroll tells them he isn’t
giving them any kind of surefire formula but rather “I’m
just teaching you to plan.” He wants
them to know that life after prison
doesn’t have to lead back into whatever they were doing before.
One of his goals is to make
money to give back to the community. “When I look at how Bill Gates
and Warren Buffett give 90 percent
of their wealth away, I think, what
better way than to go back
and help the things I’ve
destroyed?” — National
Public Radio
Epitaph. He didn’t
plan for a career in
business, but that’s what
happened when Alex Tilley
designed a high-quality hat (shown)
to wear on his sailboat. When it
became the rage of outdoor folk
everywhere he built it into the Tilley
Endurables line of travel garments
and accessories. This year, at 77, he
sold the company and let slip how
he wants to be remembered. “On my
tombstone, I’d like to have: ‘A good
Digital fat. Fast food is a favorite
villain in the obesity epidemic, but
now it seems you can get fatter even
faster by ordering your burger fix
from a screen. McDonald’s of Canada
plans to introduce digital kiosks so
customers can easily order from 30
hamburger options with five choices
of cheese. Such convenience comes
at a price to both wallet and waistline. Not only will a premium Angus
True Blue & Guac set you back more
than a regular Big Mac, but you
may also eat more. North American
outlets are hoping to duplicate the
experience of France, where digital
customers spend (and eat) 30 percent more than if they bellied up to
the counter. Why? Digital patrons
apparently feel less rushed and end
up ordering more food. And they can
also pay instantly with plastic, which
is also a known spending booster.
Worst for the girth, though, is that
ordering by kiosk can reduce inhibitions. Avi Goldfarb, a marketing professor at University
of Toronto’s Rotman School
of Management, says people
order higher-calorie items,
such as more pizza toppings,
when ordering digitally.
“They’re essentially not embarrassed,” he says. (Globe &
Mail Report on Business)
Sigh. It has been reported
that Warren Buffet, CEO
of Berkshire Hathaway,
starts his day by reading six
periodicals: The Wall Street
Journal, Financial Times,
The New York Times, USA
Today, Omaha World-Herald
and American Banker. We
can only assume The Marketplace is number seven.
— WK
Cover photo of MEDA
staff engaged in first
aid and security training
by Steve Sugrim
The Marketplace November December 2015
man who built a better hat’.”
2
In this issue
Tackling climate change, here and abroad. Page 16
Departments
22 Roadside stand
24 Soul enterprise
21Letters
22News
Volume 45, Issue 6
November December 2015
The Marketplace (ISSN 321-330) is
published bi-monthly by Mennonite
Economic Development Associates at
532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS
67114. Periodicals postage paid at
Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in
U.S.A. Copyright 2015 by MEDA.
Editor: Wally Kroeker
Design: Ray Dirks
6
Keeping safe
9
Medics-in-training
13
A well-knit group
16
Here comes the sun
18
View from the
loading dock
The “new normal” in global humanitarian work
has changed dramatically. New threats like
kidnapping and terrorist acts call for heightened
vigilance and lowering one’s “risk profile.”
MEDA’s overseas staff never know when they’ll
encounter injury or illness while working in
out-of-the-way places. That’s why they all take a
course in remote medical response and first aid.
Eight women, brought together by creativity and
a love of knitting and crocheting, are modeling
a thriving ownership format at the Reverie Yarn
Shop in Goshen, Ind. By Kirsten L. Klassen
Entrepreneur Doug Wagner had long been enamoured of wind and solar power, though the market seemed dominated by heavy-hitters. Then he
got his chance to stick a toe in the water.
Ed Nofziger enjoyed making doors, but he also
loves driving a big truck. So when he stepped
down from corporate leadership he stepped up
— to the cab of a Volvo rig with a 53-foot trailer.
Change of address should be sent to
Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste.
201, Lancaster, PA 17601-4106.
To e-mail an address change,
subscription request or anything else
relating to delivery of the magazine,
please contact subscription@meda.org
For editorial matters contact the editor
at wkroeker@meda.org or call (204)
956-6436
Subscriptions: $25/year; $45/two years.
Postmaster:
Send address changes to
The Marketplace
1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste. 201
Lancaster, PA 17601-4106
Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), whose
dual thrust is to encourage a Christian
witness in business and to operate
business-oriented programs of assistance to the poor. For more information
about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026.
Web site www.meda.org
Visit our new online home at www.marketplacemagazine.org, where you can
download past issues, read articles and discuss topics with others, all from
your desktop or mobile device.
3
The Marketplace November December 2015
iStockphoto © jeffmilner
Restoring dignity
with social enterprise
In tough times,
faith helps
Not that our faith depends on it, but new research suggests
that religion can help people cope with economic adversity.
It can lower depression, help maintain optimism and provide
social support to people left swirling by the shifting economic
sands.
A German study of 5,500 newly unemployed workers
found that people who frequently went to church reported
being more satisfied with their lives than non-attenders. They
also managed to bounce back faster.
“This study asked whether religious attendance buffers
the psychological impact of unemployment. The answer is
yes,” said researchers in the Journal for the Scientific Study of
Religion.
A Polish study also found that frequent church attendance and strong religious beliefs were linked with less
depression and greater life satisfaction, leading researchers to
declare that “religiousness acted as a protective factor.”
Similar findings were reported by American researchers
who found that people who went to church regularly and
believed in an afterlife had less psychological distress when
they encountered financial hardship.
None of this should be surprising. Researchers are quick
to note that religious communities can provide the buffer of
friendship and support systems that soften harsh financial
blows such as joblessness.
Another factor is the sense of being part of a community
that affirms one’s self-worth beyond job status or affluence.
Now here’s a church with a wide-ranging mission.
Metro Community in Kelowna, B.C., describes
itself as “committed to caring for the most vulnerable.” The Mennonite-related ministry operates
social enterprises that “help to restore the lives of
those who have lost their dignity or the opportunity
to work. Through a professional but forgiving work
environment, we aim to instill confidence and skill.”
Among its services:
• Metro Moving Crew, which prides itself in offering affordable, reliable and uncomplicated moving services, especially for low-income
people and those on the brink of homelessness. “While skilled in residential and corporate
office moves, what distinguishes this hardworking team is their willingness to take on the
work that many other companies won’t,” says its website. “Packing, moving and in some
cases storing someone’s belongings is often all that is required to keep a person off the
streets.”
• Metro Laundry wants to offer people a second chance to rebuild their life while developing a professional skill and trade. It provides a full range of cleaning services, with pickup and delivery, using eco-friendly processes.
“The days of charitable organizations seeking to survive on hand-outs, grants and donations alone are coming to an end,” Metro Community says. It believes “social enterprise can
help restore dignity to the lives of those who have been marginalized and no longer believe
they can be a viable part of the workforce, and to develop a sustainable and competitive
market-operating business that is professional in operation.”
• Metro UP Financial Asset & Literacy Foundation helps low-income people control their
finances so they can move forward in life. Its Matched Savings Program helps participants
learn how to manage personal finances while providing an opportunity to save money toward
continuing education or starting a small business. Dollars & Sense provides financial literacy
education on topics such as budgeting, credit, spending, assets and debt management.
The church also operates the Wild Goose Coffee Bar, where low-cost specialty coffees
help the congregation develop strong community relationships. Culinary Ink promotes mobile food cart entrepreneurship to help develop sustainable revenue models.
The Marketplace November December 2015
4
Still brewing peace
Remember this cover story from 2013? It featured
Coffee for Peace, a company formed in the
Philippines by Mennonite
missionaries Joji Pantola and
her husband, Dann. They
wanted to “brew peace” by
providing meaningful work
for coffee-growing families in
a high-conflict zone of their
country. They found that business can be a helpful partner
in achieving social goals.
As the Pantolas recruited
local producers, many of
whom were former guerrillas, the concept flourished;
families earned more income,
built homes, developed their
communities and managed to
establish claims to tribal lands.
Their efforts did not go
unnoticed. The company has
been selected for a peace award
by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“They liked our program of integrating peace and reconciliation in our business approach,” says Joji, who is CEO.
Coffee for Peace now works with more than 800 families,
providing a good price for their coffee and empowering
them with sustainable livelihoods, while also promoting a
green footprint. It also “acts as an avenue for dialogue for
at-risk individuals to avoid conflict by building awareness
on peace and reconciliation through targeted training and
community building programs.”
Smile when
you answer
Can people hear you smile over the
telephone?
Ann Kroeker’s first job out of college was administrative coordinator for
a start-up church. One of her tasks was
to keep the supply cabinet stocked.
This meant trips to the office superstore to buy pens, file folders, printer
cartridges and staples.
Then she’d sit by the phone and
take calls, she writes in The High Calling, where she now is content editor.
She made sure to smile when answering, following
the urging of a church leader who ran a successful
business. “I tell all my secretaries to smile when
they answer the phone. Callers can hear it through
the phone,” he insisted. “They can hear your smile.
Try it.”
Kroeker may have been dubious at first, but she
became a believer. “People loved it,” she writes.
“I realized I conveyed the first impression of the
church, and I wanted our church to genuinely beam
with delight at each precious person who called. So I
kept smiling.”
Business
nobility
“Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing
wealth and improving the
world. It can be a fruitful
source of prosperity for the
area in which it operates,
especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential
part of its service to the
common good.” — Pope
Francis
Overheard:
5
“Hope is a verb with its shirtsleeves rolled
up.” — Environmentalist David Orr
The Marketplace November December 2015
Keeping safe
Robust protocols and training help MEDA staff
respond to a rising global risk profile
S
cott Ruddick doesn’t like
phone calls in the middle
of the night. They can only
mean trouble. So when he
awoke with a start and heard the
voice of a MEDA staffer in a middleeastern country he was on full alert
in a hurry.
The staffer had noticed a pickup
on the street near MEDA’s office.
Inside were two men with a video
camera, taping people as they walked
into the building. As she approached,
they sped off.
Ruddick was immediately
alarmed. He knew that videotaping
of potential targets is a tactic employed by criminal gangs planning
robberies and kidnaps. The men’s
target may not have been MEDA; it
might have been a bank in the same
building. Either way, trouble has a
Worse than Highway 401
M
EDA president Allan Sauder quips that the most hazardous part
of remote travel used to be getting to the Toronto airport along
hectic Highway 401.
“Today, the world has changed and development workers face multiple real risks,” he wrote recently to supporters. “Our work means truly
sharing risk with the poor both through financial investment and working alongside them.”
He cited ways by which MEDA seeks to reduce danger.
1. Low profile. MEDA avoids unwanted attention by its choice of
vehicles, clothing and communication style.
2. Local partners. Entrée into communities is through solid partnerships with local organizations and private sector players. These partners
are already established locally, have a good track record, speak the language, and understand local concerns and ambitions.
3. MEDA staff. We hire predominantly local staff who share our values and understand the motivation and culture of our local partners and
clients.
4. Security teams. MEDA deploys a full security team in the riskiest countries. This unarmed team of professionals assesses security risks
on an ongoing basis, ensures that staff and partners comply with our
security policies and procedures, communicates constantly with staff in
the field, and briefs travellers on risks, protocols, emergency numbers, instructions regarding airport pick-up, and how to access emergency health
and evacuation services.
5. Headquarters security staff. MEDA’s director of security services
oversees security and safety for MEDA’s work around the world, supported by a global security advisor who visits MEDA projects regularly to
review protocols.
6. Training, training, training. All staff are trained and retrained on
security issues and protocols, general safety precautions, and first aid. ◆
The Marketplace November December 2015
6
way of spreading.
“We responded immediately,”
says Ruddick. “We notified staff, and
went into heightened security protocols, locking down and having staff
work away from the office.”
Who knows what might have
happened. In any case, being “situationally aware” prevented a potentially hostile incident.
Ruddick is MEDA’s director
of security services, charged with
keeping staff safe. He’s well-suited
to the task. He knows the world of
development, having spent a number of years as both a development
consultant and as MEDA’s director of
internal support services. His background includes an MBA, certifications in security management and
advanced remote medical aid and 10
years in law enforcement.
One of his key tasks is to embed
a security mindset among MEDA
staff. That includes getting staff to
understand dramatic new shifts in
the risk landscape.
“I’ve been an aid professional for
15 years, and in that time I have seen
the risk profile shift upwards significantly,” he says. “The stats show a
global increase in security incidents
involving aid and humanitarian
workers, year over year, for the past
10 years. Risks from criminal action,
terror attack, kidnapping, sexual
violence, road traffic accidents and
epidemic illness all continue to rise.”
He’s not just talking in the
abstract. “MEDA staff have been
involved in enough serious incidents
that we are seeing that risk first
hand.” Each month he’ll handle a
variety of security incidents: residential break-ins, stolen laptops, threats,
hostile checkpoints, even being
robbed at gunpoint.
Being well-prepared means having robust protocols.
For much of its 62 years, MEDA
has had little need for security policies. When it began working in areas
of higher tension (Afghanistan, Libya,
Yemen, Pakistan), it formulated security procedures and guidelines, which
have been in place since 2010.
Ruddick oversees numerous procedures to protect staff as they travel.
He takes his work very seriously and
can become stern when staff do not
follow the security systems in place.
“Our system and protocols provide the
framework to allow our staff to work
safely,” he says. “SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) as they are called,
cover a wide range of tasks, including
safe road transport, cash handling,
hotel safety, and communications.”
A key component of his job is
providing security oversight for staff
travelling internationally. MEDA staff
log a lot of miles, travelling to project
sites and to work on short-term consultancies. Last year, staff took 377
trips, totalling 3,248 days working in
overseas locations.
Each staff member logs their
upcoming trips in a system called
TravelTracker. “TravelTracker is much
more than just an administrative
tool,” Ruddick asserts. “Once you
enter your travel, it triggers us to
review the locale(s) you are going
to, to assess any recent risks and put
measures in place as warranted.”
Each locale MEDA works in is
assigned a risk ranking. This ranking
determines the level of security oversight that is provided. Staff travelling
to higher-risk locales attend a mandatory security briefing with Ruddick
prior to travel. Their daily schedule
is tracked closely, through detailed
itineraries and check-ins. Security
bulletins regarding developments in
the travel locale are distributed.
Each new project undergoes a
security assessment and contextualized systems are developed, specific
to that locale. “A different locale re-
“Situational
awareness” is vital,
like noticing a busy
street is suddenly quiet.
quires a different approach,” Ruddick
says. “For programming in Ghana,
for example, the dangers are not so
much crime-related but more likely
risks from environmental factors or
road traffic accidents.”
He routinely reminds staff
in Kabul, a German aid worker
was kidnapped as her vehicle approached the gate of her compound.
Armed men smashed a window and
removed her to a waiting vehicle.
MEDA currently has no staff in
Afghanistan but the proximity to a
longtime location was sobering.
• In Kenya, where MEDA has a
new project underway, security forces
thwarted a terror attack on a city mall
when they captured two suspects
with explosives. MEDA staff were
warned of the heightened risk environment and urged to avoid venues
associated with western interests.
• In Morocco security forces
apprehended five terror suspects in
three regions and seized weapons
and explosives.
• In Bangladesh an Italian aid
worker was killed by a gunman on
motorcycle while jogging in Dhaka’s
diplomatic quarter. He ran a food
security project for a Dutch development group, and had been tracked
for some time to determine his routine and routes.
“The risk profile (for development professionals) has increased,”
says Ruddick. “There are greater
risks, of greater complexity.” (See
“Kidnapping” sidebar)
Ruddick is big on encouraging
“situational awareness” — being
alert to subtle changes in the surroundings that could portend danger,
such as a usually busy street sud-
to minimize time spent near potential targets linked to nations at the
forefront of counter-terrorism efforts. The anniversary of
September 11 called for
a special warning to be
vigilant around U.S. and
other western-linked facilities as there had been
terrorist threats.
He regularly reports
incidents in countries
where MEDA works or
has worked recently,
such as the following
from the last few months:
• In Kabul, Afghanistan, gunmen attacked
a party of expatriates
and killed several forEmbedding a security mindset: MEDA’s director of
security services Scott Ruddick
eign guests. Elsewhere
7
The Marketplace November December 2015
denly becoming quiet. Staff are urged
to watch for signs of surveillance:
seeing the same stranger in several
places; being followed, either on
foot or by vehicles; office inquiries
by strangers; and suspicious “wrong
number” phone calls.
He says he gets most nervous
during the first few weeks and last
few weeks of someone’s assignment.
New assignees, like interns, may
have little experience, while people
ready to leave often lose their situational awareness.
Everybody in MEDA who
If gunfire erupts, taking refuge behind metal car doors won’t be enough to
protect against an AK-47, Mike Simpson tells his class.
Simpson, far right, takes the group outside to explore the potential ballistic
protection offered by natural and architectural features.
Kidnapping: “The new normal”
T
he threat of abduction looms high for anyone doing international
aid work.
Kidnap attempts among aid organizations are stunningly more
frequent than you’d think.
“It’s the new normal,” says MEDA security director Scott Ruddick.
Globally an aid worker is abducted every nine days.
It can be lucrative. The United Nations estimates that Islamic State
(IS) took in $35 to $45 million from ransoms last year.
Some groups kidnap to make money; others for political reasons or
sexual gratification.
An estimated 90 percent of kidnappings are planned, experts say.
Typically a kidnap group will scope out three to five possible subjects.
Most aid organizations (including MEDA) have no-ransom policies. ◆
The Marketplace November December 2015
8
travels internationally is required
to take security and first-aid training (see following article). Security
topics range from basic procedures
to pyrotechnics, handling crowds,
dealing with stress, and understanding the physical effects of being in an
insecure environment.
Thirteen staff attended a recent
course in Waterloo, Ont., led by Mike
Simpson who works with an organization called Risk Visibility. A former
soldier in Canada’s armed forces,
he has worked in numerous hostile
environments and specializes in assisting aid organizations.
During the one-day security
section he spends considerable time
laying a groundwork for risk assessment. Specific strategies of dealing
with road transport, hotel safety,
firearm attacks and collateral gunfire
will come later. For now, he says, “we
want to convey a prevention mode.”
A good part of that is contextual
analysis, which means examining religious aspects, economics, geo-politics
and various external issues, such as
the presence of other NGOs in the
area who can provide refuge if needed, as well as “actor mapping,” which
means knowing who is out there.
Being an aid worker does not
exempt anyone from danger, Simpson warns.
Yet, he is no fan of barbed wire
and armed guards. Agencies need to
strike a balance between “deterrence”
and “acceptance,” he says. Creating
protective barriers (like stern guards
at the door) reduces local acceptance. Acceptance, meanwhile, provides its own safety factor, of sorts,
and thus increases deterrence.
Simpson takes the group outside
to a park-like setting to demonstrate
how natural and architectural features (brick walls, wooden barriers)
can offer the best ballistic protection
from gunfire. He shows how thin
car doors offer inadequate protection. “An AK-47 can penetrate all this
metal,” he says. He wants to convey
“Being an aid worker
does not exempt
anyone from danger.”
a realistic sense of what protects and
what doesn’t.
The vehicle demonstration leads
naturally to a discussion of roadblocks.
“If you see a blockade ahead, try to
find an alternative route,” he says. “Do
not try to charge a roadblock.”
The best advice is to let the
driver do the talking, even if an argument develops. “Do not step in. Do
not play the brave westerner. This is
not the time to channel your inner
Jason Bourne. If your possessions are
demanded, give them up.”
Kidnapping of aid workers
has quadrupled in the last decade,
the class is told.
“The vast majority of kidnaps are
planned, involving substantial preparation and surveillance of potential
targets,” says Simpson. “Risk can
be lowered with simple tactics that
make one a harder target.” He offers
several tips to staff attending the
course to mitigate their risk.
Varying one’s work schedule and
the routes taken to the office or lodging can help lower the risk profile
and frustrate attempts, he says.
“Be discreet in sharing information about work, residence and
personal matters. Keep a low profile,
and avoid overt displays of your
nationality or that you work as a
development professional. Don’t post
stories or photos on social media
while in country, wait until you get
back home.”
One of the best precautions
against danger, Simpson says, is to
“take yourself off the radar.” ◆
MEDA security at a glance
Security management
1. A head office based director of security is responsible for all security and safety programming; reports to the chief operating officer.
2. A security management committee meets monthly to review
security issues and protocols and provide guidance for security systems
development.
3. A crisis management team meets quarterly; manages all crisis incidents in MEDA’s operations.
Risk assessments and security strategies
1. Each program undergoes a risk assessment that provides a foundation for contextualized security protocols and contingency plans.
Staff training
1. Staff capacity is built through training in security skills and first
aid/CPR in a development context.
Security bulletins and warnings
1. MEDA subscribes to security warning services that provide alerts
of immediate and emerging risks in locations where we work.
2. A 24-hour staffed hotline is available in case of emergency. ◆
Medics-to-be?
At MEDA, Job One is to alleviate poverty,
but sometimes injury can get in the way
A
woman in southern Ontario lived to see another day
because of MEDA’s first-aid
training.
When Helen Loftin, vice president of economic opportunities, took
the training upon joining MEDA she
had no idea how useful it would be.
Returning from Pakistan with a
stopover in the Abu Dhabi airport,
she was heading for her gate when
a man called frantically for help. His
mother had collapsed and was lying
on the tile floor, bloody froth seeping
from her mouth. She was not breathing and had no pulse.
“No one was jumping in to
help,” says Loftin. “So I did.”
9
Her mind raced as she summoned her first-aid lessons to mind.
“Can I do this? Where are the medical practitioners?”
She locked her hands and began
performing chest compressions on
the woman, who soon revived and
began to breathe.
Paramedics finally showed up
after 20 minutes and transported the
woman to hospital. Loftin spoke with
the man and his wife and offered to
contact family members when she
reached Toronto.
Much later, the woman’s evergrateful son contacted Loftin and
reported they were back in Ontario
and the woman was receiving conThe Marketplace November December 2015
tinued medical care.
Photo by Steve Sugrim
MEDA staff don’t often face
such dramatic episodes while going
about their work, but in remote areas
you never know what you might
encounter.
Generally, traffic accidents are
a main cause of injury and fatality
among people who work for nongovernment organizations (NGOs).
In developing countries, roads are
often in poor shape. Traffic laws can
be nonexistent or unenforced. Police
are limited in rural areas.
Whatever the reason for injury,
whether a road mishap, collapsing
bridge or other disaster, staff need to
be prepared. For that reason MEDA
requires staff to take basic first-aid
and security training in case something happens while working off the
Ethan Eshbach of MEDA’s office in Lancaster, Pa., practices the right form of
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). resuscitation.
The Marketplace November December 2015
10
beaten path or while accompanying
a tour. Staff are also issued a 170page Safety & Security Field Book to
provide ready reference to medical
and security issues.
The most recent training session
was held in Waterloo, Ont., in late
September. It consisted of one day of
first-aid training and one day of security training (see previous article).
Thirteen MEDA staff participated,
plus one from another international
aid agency.
The first-aid section was titled
Remote Medical Response and First
Aid in A Development Context. It
was taught by Scott Waters, a certified emergency medical technician
with specialized experience and
training in remote medical aid. The
course included first-aid strategies
for providing initial response medical care in locales where immediate medical care may be difficult to
access, as well as possible treatment,
stabilization and extended care for
up to 24 hours.
Waters, who is also certified
to teach Red Cross first aid courses,
tells his class that the all-important
first step upon encountering a casualty scene is primary assessment
and basic life support. “You have to
size up the scene — what happened?
Always focus on you and your safety
as you try to help others.”
Staff are taught as much rudimentary first aid as can be crammed
into a single day of training. They
learn various types of “rescue carries” — how to drag people out of
an injury scene without worsening a
spinal injury.
They learn how to check vital
signs, how to clean a wound and
help the victim avoid shock.
Using mock dummies they practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR).
They are shown how to stop
bleeding from impalement, laceration, punctures and scrapes, plus the
use of medications such as QuickClot.
“Put firm direct pressure on a
its symptoms (vomiting and profuse,
watery diarrhea which can lead to
severe dehydration). Accordingly,
they were urged to choose water from
safe sources, avoid ice, ensure food
has been cooked thoroughly before
eating, and pay attention to hygiene.
As a general principle, staff are
encouraged to follow basic commonsense strategies such as regular
vaccines and handwashing, which
Waters calls the “single most effec-
tive way to prevent infection.”
In addition, the staff safety
manual suggests avoiding public
gatherings. “During a pandemic, governments may cancel public events,
but even if they don’t, you should
probably stay away from them. Any
large gathering of people in close
proximity creates a high-risk situation.... Social distancing, deliberately
limiting contact with people ... is a
reasonable precaution to take.” ◆
Photo by Steve Sugrim
bleed,” says the instructor. “Five
minutes will often do it, unless it’s
arterial.”
Then there’s a quick demonstration of applying a tourniquet to
stop blood flow from an arm or leg
wound and a word about the importance of employing a windlass, a
lever that can be twisted to tighten
the tourniquet and amplify pressure.
Students are told to not panic if a
limb is severed. “Amputations aren’t
always catastrophic. They don’t always bleed as much as you’d think.”
Waters volunteers to serve as the
demo model as students take turns
practicing how to treat limb fractures
with emergency slings and splints.
Staff are taught as
much basic first aid as
can be crammed into a
single day of training.
The trainers carefully outline the
possible contents of a medical kit
and an emergency “go bag” to make
it possible to aid survival for up to 72
hours in a dire situation. Suggested
contents include a compass, rations,
water purifying tablets, waterproof
matches, flares, cleansing wipes,
rubber gloves, tape, dressings, even
a roll of sturdy tooth floss that can
be used as string or sutures. Students
are told that MEDA reimburses up to
$150 for acquisition of a go-bag and
medical kit.
A relative newcomer to
remote first aid is pandemics, as seen
in recent deadly outbreaks of Ebola
and cholera. Last year a MEDA partner in Sierra Leone lost a staffer who
transported an Ebola-infected nurse
to hospital and caught the disease
himself.
More recently, an outbreak of
cholera claimed several lives in various regions of Tanzania. MEDA staff
were alerted to how cholera spreads
(contaminated food and water) and
Instructor Scott Waters offers up a leg to demonstrate how to treat limb fractures with an emergency splint.
11
The Marketplace November December 2015
Spicing up the value chain
MEDA joins longtime partner to help
Haitians boost nutrition and income
M
aybe you’ve
generating activities that
seen them
provide food security and
peddling
stable incomes.
wares in
Fonkoze enlisted
a Haitian market, sellMEDA to help them
ing things like peanuts
strengthen their develand red peppers along
opment approach using
the street. They are like
market-based developthe 1,500 marginalized
ment and facilitation that
women who are getting a
offers sustainable opporhelping hand from MEDA
tunities for farmers and
and its longtime partner,
rural people. This portion
Fonkoze Foundation.
of the project, called CLM
Fonkoze has been helping
Plus, promotes financial, economic
women in rural areas of Haiti’s Cenand social inclusion of these most
tral Plateau to boost family nutrivulnerable women, encouraging their
tion by growing crops to feed their
long-term integration into agriculfamilies and sell any excess. The two
tural markets that will provide them
crops that are the focus for this prowith stable and reliable incomes.
ject are peanuts (also called groundIn addition, Fonkoze in partnuts), a major crop in Haiti and an
nership with their project partners
important source of protein, and red
including MEDA intends to docupeppers, a staple of many Caribbean
ment the project’s experiences and
stews and soups.
outcomes in order to inform the national policy and strategy discussions
The overall project is called
regarding extreme poverty and food
Chemen Lavi Mayo (CLM), which in
security in Haiti, says Kara Klassen,
English means Pathways to a Better
MEDA’s project manager.
Life. Worth $4.5 million, the four-year
(2015-2019) initiative is funded by the
Overall outcomes will be tracked
Swiss Agency for Development and
by indicators such as the percentage of
Cooperation (SDC).
clients who become
While Fonkoze
food secure; percenthas been impleage of children of
menting this proCLM members who
gram since 2007,
attend school; and
helping marginalthe percentage of
ized women with
women who develop
some assets, skill
at least two sustainbuilding, and menable sources of revetorship and support
nue. MEDA’s segment
to rise out of povwill carefully track
erty, the goal of the
the degree to which
SDC-funded project
women become acis to help 1,500
tive and sustainable
ultra-poor women
players in the peanut
and their families
and hot pepper value
Vendors like these are a familiar sight in Haiti’s markets. Many women
to operate incomechains. ◆
like them will be getting a helping hand toward a stable income.
The Marketplace November December 2015
12
A well-knit group
Unique ownership model helps Goshen yarn store thrive
by Kirsten L. Klassen
Photos by Tyler Klassen
N
ear the end of 2012,
wool sweaters by the women
word got out that
in the Soup of Success program
the only yarn store
in Elkhart. We accept a lower
in Goshen, Ind.,
profit margin because we want
was closing. One of the ownto support the program.” This
ers of Ewe-Nique Knits, Sher
program is an intensive eduGunden King, was interested
cational and business training
in creating a new business
course for women who want
that would reach a broader
to improve their situations and
clientele. That’s when seven
gain greater self-sufficiency.
women who loved knitting and
In addition to supporting
crocheting became business
local causes, the owners liked
partners, joining with King to
the idea of having a business
form the Reverie Yarn Shop.
and sharing responsibility. “A
Many of these women didn’t
lot of people say they don’t
know each other.
Rose Widmer, a retired pasknow how eight women can
tor, and Kelli King, former Goswork together. We each have
hen College director of alumni
our area of expertise and
relations, were the exception.
responsibility — what we are
The two had daydreamed about
most excited about. In meetings,
running a gift shop together
we brainstorm about where to
before the opportunity arose
go next. We have a real camaat Reverie. Toraderie and
gether they find
enjoy working
the gifts Revtogether. We
erie offers —
don’t want to
vintage items,
take over the
children’s gifts,
rest. As part
Polish potowners, we’re
tery, and home
motivated by
decor — in
what’s best
for the store,”
addition to the
Widmer said.
yarn.
Trish
“We like to
Habegger, an
buy from local
artists. We
owner and
look for quality
retired muitems that will
sic teacher,
last, that the
said, “There
customer will
are things we
like to give,”
don’t agree on.
Widmer said.
Someone will
feel strongly
“We sell handfor an issue
made mittens
Lynn Linn (left), Carol Histand (standing) and Barb Nelson Gingerich (right) partici— or against
made from
pate in a knitting group that meets at the store.
13
The Marketplace November December 2015
Co-owner Melissa Bebout-Schmitz demonstrates a hook used in Tunisian crocheting during a class she teaches.
They weren’t afraid
to make mistakes.
“You’re going to buy
yarn that doesn’t sell.
It’s okay to fail.”
it — and that will sway us. We have
a constant communication with each
other, constant back and forth. And
a willingness to be present to each
person’s needs and wants.”
“It’s just fascinating to me that it
works so well emotionally, financially, and creatively. I didn’t know these
women,” Habegger said, getting tears
in her eyes. “Now they are some of
my best friends.”
One contributing factor to the
shop’s success is likely that the
group is not afraid of making mistakes. Habegger credits Gunden King
with helping them accept this early
on. “Sher told us, ‘You’re going to
make mistakes. It’s okay. It happens.
You’re going to buy yarn that doesn’t
The Marketplace November December 2015
Wanda Weaver (left) and Wanda Campbell discuss Tunisian crocheting during a
Reverie class.
sell. It’s okay to fail. Just try something different next time.’”
Gunden King also approached
Marci Burdick, senior vice president
at Schurz Communications, to share
in the ownership. Burdick, like Gunden King, is largely a silent partner,
but her business acumen and love of
knitting made her an ideal addition
14
to the team. She works one day a
month in the shop.
Widmer’s husband, Dave, has
also worked in the shop from the
beginning, setting up their computerized inventory system. He serves
as the shop’s chief operating officer,
taking care of merchandise inventory, as well as office supplies.
Most of the owners work
one day a week in the store — and
all of them attend a monthly business meeting. A smaller group meets
once a month to choose yarn, calling
themselves the “yarnies”: Habegger, Melissa Bebout-Schmitz, Maggie
Schnaars, and Linda Altenhof. “We
choose what will best serve our customers’ needs and wants,” Habegger said. “We try to stay current on
trends, fashions, and techniques to
inform our choices.”
In addition, the store offers classes
on knitting and serves as a meeting
place for women who want to knit
together. Habegger teaches a year-long
class where participants learn skills
that build on the previous lessons.
“So much happens in the group,”
she said. “A lot of the students are
women who have been widowed. They
come to get out, or be with other people, or simply to learn to knit. They’ve
said it’s been a real healing process
for them. I never expected that.”
Recently Habegger agreed to
teach a class for a few women who
had suffered a stroke. “It was a total
learning experience for me, too.
Some of them had limited mobility in
their hands. I had to ask myself how
I can make this easy and possible for
them. In the midst of their struggles,
they want to give and be creative.”
“Knitting is a gift
twice over. The first is
working with a fiber
you love, and the
second is finishing a
gift to give someone.”
clients served by the center.
The owners’ philosophy of giving back to the community is also
demonstrated when they invite their
clients to make caps for premature
babies or people undergoing chemotherapy. “We offer to collect the caps
and deliver them to the hospital. We
have also arranged evenings where
we provided snacks and donated yarn
so people could come into the shop
and knit together,” Widmer said.
“Knitting is a gift twice over,”
Bebout-Schmitz, who also works
at the Goshen Public Library, teaches
a knitting class at the Center for
Healing and Hope, a clinic offering
free health services. She volunteers
her time and the shop donates the
yarn so expecting mothers can learn
how to knit something special for
their babies. A translator helps overcome language barriers since Spanish
is the first language for many of the
Most of Reverie’s owner group: Front row, from left: Melissa Bebout-Schmitz,
Marci Burdick and Trish Habegger. Second row, from left: Kelli Burkholder King,
Maggie Schnaars, Rose Widmer and Linda Altenhof.
15
Habegger said. “The first is working
with a fiber you love, and the second
is finishing a gift to give someone.”
Habegger began knitting in 2004
when she wanted to make her daughter Beth a poncho to take to college,
something to keep her warm while
studying. Previously comfortable
with crocheting, she learned knitting
for this project — and loved it.
But for Habegger, the act of giving
away something she’s made has a
deeper meaning. “When you create
a piece of art like a quilt or a knitted
item, it’s not a permanent piece of art.
It’s like music, it’s transient. That can
be troubling. You put all the time into
it and you know it’s not going to last
forever. You want to tell the person,
‘Treat it like an heirloom.’ But you have
to let it go. Sometimes that’s a struggle.
“It’s like the totem poles I saw
on a recent trip to Alaska. They were
made as a tribute to a family member. They were beautifully painted,
but they are never repainted. There’s
no repair done when the wood
cracks. The totem carries memories
of being transitory. It’s not going to
last forever. This carries over to your
philosophy of life and death, reminds
you that this too will pass away.”
The life of a yarn store, too, may
be transitory on a grand scale. For
now, though, the only yarn store in
Goshen is open for business because
of the commitment eight women
have to each other, to the joy of creativity, and to their community. ◆
Kirsten L. Klassen is a writer in Elkhart, Ind.,
who occasionally crochets scarves for fun.
The Marketplace November December 2015
Here comes the sun
Waging war on climate change can be
a good test of entrepreneurial chops
Y
ou might not think birds,
bats and ancestral burial
grounds would figure into
renewable energy. But for
Doug Wagner these have been part of
the due diligence process as he built
a new power company from scratch.
A seasoned entrepreneur, he
was no stranger to the intricacies of
permits and land deals, but starting
a wind farm posed a new learning
curve.
For one, he had to arrange an archeological assessment to ensure no
ancient cemetery would be disturbed
by the presence of turbines.
“And for the first two years the developer has to count and report how
many birds and bats die from flying
into the rotating blades,” he says.
Then, too, there are the scare
tactics of people who, for one reason
or another, oppose new renewable
energy initiatives (see sidebar).
But Wagner has learned to take
it in stride as he’s built Saturn Power
Inc., in New Hamburg, Ont.
ting into a business that was dominated by heavy-hitters.
What helped tip the scales was
the creation of Ontario government
subsidies that made the wind and
solar business more inviting to small
players.
“I had been enamoured seeing
wind turbines across Ontario,” he
says. “Here was a chance to do something. I wanted to do one project.”
Within months he had launched
Saturn Power Inc. with a goal to
“provide clean, sustainable renewable energy solutions through longterm partnerships that will drive
growth.”
Entrepreneurship runs in
Wagner’s veins. As a teenager, he
and his brother tapped maple trees
on their family farm near Baden,
Ont., and sold the syrup. Then he
rented some nearby land and began farming on his own, using his
father’s equipment.
Later he spent 20-plus years as
owner and operator of Alpine Plant
Foods, a fertilizer business. When he
sold the company in 1996 he opened
an investment office.
He’d long had an interest in
renewable energy. It concerned him
that half of all the oil used in the
world has been consumed in only a
few decades. But it wasn’t easy get-
The first project was a
10-megawatt wind farm in the
Chatham-Kent region of southwestern Ontario, an area of plentiful
wind. It featured five wind towers 90
The Marketplace November December 2015
16
He’d been enamoured
seeing wind turbines
across Ontario. Here
was his chance to put
a toe in the water.
metres high, then the tallest in the
province. (Today’s towers can exceed
100 metres, roughly the length of a
football field). This was enough to
power 3,500 homes.
Wagner was pleased to have a
toe in the water. Not many companies his size had accomplished this
much.
He enlisted a partner who knew
wind power and recruited 22 local
investors.
While the wind farm plodded its
way through the inevitable thicket
of permits and approvals, Saturn
expanded into solar generation in
eastern Ontario’s Ottawa Valley,
where sunlight is abundant.
Today Saturn Power Inc. has 12
employees. “We’re mainly a developer but also an independent power
producer,” says Wagner, who serves
as president.
Besides its wind farm, Saturn
Power has three solar projects in
operation, two of which it developed
for others and one which it operates
on its own. Each consists of 40,000
solar panels located on about 80
acres of land.
The newest is the 10-megawatt
David Brown Solar Park Project
completed this spring near Ingleside,
Ont. It is expected to produce 16.8
gigawatt hours of energy annually,
enough to power 1,800 households.
“As a privately owned Canadian company, we’re proud to have
successfully participated in the war
on climate change, in a market that
has been dominated by large multinational corporations,” Wagner said
at the time. “It demonstrated once
again Saturn’s ability to complete
a quality renewable energy facility
from greenfield to commercial operation.”
Saturn has also supplied small
solar energy systems to farmers, who
typically own at least some underutilized land that doesn’t contribute
to the bottom line. “The founders of
Saturn Power both grew up on the
farm and understand the reality of
business,” says the company’s website (www.saturnpower.com). “With
our help, we can turn your no crop
land into cash crop land by harnessing the sun and generating clean,
renewable solar energy.”
The latest project
provides enough
energy to power
1,800 households.
Despite successes, renew-
able energy is still a relatively small
player in Ontario. The proportion
of electricity produced by wind and
solar is still in the low single digits.
Electrical demand took a hit when
major industries were lost in the
2008 recession. Further shrinkage
has occurred as better energy conservation has lowered consumption.
Beyond Ontario, Saturn has two
10-megawatt solar projects under
development in the state of Oregon
and has a large project in process in
Turkey, which has its own program
to promote renewable energy and
has the added benefit of paying in
U.S. currency.
“Energy consumption there is
growing four to five percent a year,”
Doug Wagner: Investing in energy that’s clean and renewable
says Wagner. “We got in on the
ground floor. When we went in a
year ago the whole country had less
solar installed than Saturn had done
in Ontario.”
When completed, the 20-megawatt project will be the country’s
largest. More projects there are possible as Turkey becomes more active
in the war on climate change. ◆
Disarming fears
H
ow could something so “clean” generate opposition?
There are those, for example, who fear wind turbines can
cause health problems such as stress and insomnia. Never mind
that a 2014 Health Canada study found no link between turbine noise
and any illness or chronic condition. Numerous similar findings have not
deterred a vocal minority of opponents, though Doug Wagner notes that
such complaints have eventually died out in Europe where wind energy
has a longer history.
In the meantime, though, “it can be hard to get neighbors on board.”
Every time a new project is approved, an appeal is inevitable, says
Wagner. And under current laws, an opponent does not have to live near
a turbine to launch an appeal, no matter how frivolous.
“In Ontario, no one has ever won an appeal, but it still adds an additional risk,” he says. “Moreover, the court can assess costs against you,
even if you win.”
Solar energy, seemingly so benign, also has its opponents. Some critics fear green energy drives up electrical costs for everyone, even though
in Ontario less than one percent of energy is solar and three percent is
wind.
David Suzuki, Canada’s leading environmentalist and not always
seen as a friend of business, defended renewable energy producers in
an article in New Scientist magazine titled “The Beauty of Wind Farms.”
While he concurred that environmental assessments were needed before
beginning projects, he said renewable energy through wind farms should
be encouraged because global warming was hurting the planet. “A blanket ‘not in my backyard’ approach is hypocritical and counterproductive,”
he wrote, saying later, “If one day I look from my cabin’s porch and see
a row of windmills spinning in the distance, I won’t curse them. I will
praise them. It will mean we are finally getting somewhere.” ◆
17
The Marketplace November December 2015
The view from
the loading dock
After years of executive leadership Ed Nofziger loves
getting behind the wheel and seeing customer service
from the other end
W
owned a trucking firm in Morton, Ill.
“I got a lot of tips from those
guys,” he says.
When his main business was
Nofziger Door Sales in Archbold,
Ohio, he enjoyed hauling his own
doors and doing additional trucking
on the side, such as transporting furniture for neighboring Sauder Wood-
hat do you do when
you’ve built a thriving
company, passed daily
management on to the
next generation, but still have plenty
of fuel in the tank? For Ed Nofziger,
67, longtime owner of Haas Door in
Wauseon, Ohio, the answer was easy
— hit the road.
Literally.
Nofziger’s love for
trucking goes way back
to before he got into the
overhead door business.
He’s had his own trucks
since the early 1980s and
enjoyed hobnobbing with
trucking veterans from
the MEDA fraternity like
Vernon Erb, owner of Erb
Transport in Elmira, Ont.,
Dwight Hartman, a truck
dealer in Harrisonburg,
Va., and the late Maurice Stahly who
One of two business cards the “undercover boss” likes to use.
The Marketplace November December 2015
18
working. On the way back he’d carry
equipment like garage door openers
from east coast suppliers.
“I always enjoyed trucks. I’ve got
a PhD in trucking,” he quips.
In 1995 he purchased Haas
Door (see sidebar), which has grown
steadily over the 20 years it has been
owned by the Nofziger
family. It produces both
commercial and residential
doors for 300 customers
around the country and
parts of Canada. “Our
long-time customers are
in Big Ten country,” says
Nofziger. This includes
Iowa, Illinois, Indiana,
Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio,
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin), with newer growth
in the Carolinas, Florida, Ontario
and western Canada. The company
employs 270 people.
Today Ed and Carol’s son Jeff is
president of Haas Door. Ed is chair
of the board and Carol is treasurer.
Their middle son Jon owns the
Nofziger Door dealership in Columbus, Ohio, and their youngest son
Joel is a psychiatric nurse in Seattle.
While some people in Nofziger’s
shoes might feel retired, Ed still
shows up pretty much every day. “I
like to make sure the place is clean
from the outside,” he says. “I push
snow and drive my tractor — I’m a
gofer,” he laughs.
audience. “He enjoys taking his truck
across the country, delivering garage
doors and meeting the dealers first
hand. You can imagine the impact it
has when the owner (of the company)
shows up in a semi to drop off a load
at the dealership.”
Not every customer knows
that their loading dock is getting a
visit from the “undercover boss.”
“I’m there in jeans and grubbies, hustling materials at the back
of the van,” says Nofziger with a
chuckle. “I’m likely dirty and grimy
and greasy. They’re in their business
suits.”
If they know it’s Nofziger, they
may come back to say hello. Some
even stick around and help for a little
When it comes to driving
truck, Nofziger is no gofer. One of
his business cards proudly identifies
him as “part time truck driver.” He
checks regularly with the dispatcher
His unique perch gives
him a look at how the
back-end is performing
and how they can do
better.
and frequently climbs into a big Volvo tractor with a 12-speed automatic
transmission and a 53-foot trailer and
hauls product around the country.
“I make maybe one trip every
other week,” he says.
These can be short or long. In a
recent four-month period he put on
11,000 miles traveling to Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New York, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
When Nofziger was given a Citizen of the Year award by his Archbold, Ohio, community, Kent Nafziger,
VP of Sales & Marketing, provided an
overview of his employer’s career in
the overhead door business. Despite
honors such as being named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000 and an
industry service award in 2009, “Ed’s
true passion has been, and continues
to be, driving semi,” Nafziger told the
Nofziger makes a trip every other week, putting on 11,000 miles in one recent
four-month period.
19
The Marketplace November December 2015
Ed and Carol Nofziger and their son
Jeff (president) at the Haas Door facility in Wauseon, Ohio.
Mentoring and
the Golden Rule
I
n a Marketplace article in 2000, Ed Nofziger traced his family’s involvement in garage doors over more than half a century. His father,
Dennis, opened Nofziger Door Sales in Archbold, Ohio, in the 1940s.
Ed joined the firm in 1969, and a few years later he and his wife, Carol,
purchased the company.
Then Haas Door came up for sale in 1995. Nofziger was interested.
An installer becoming a manufacturer was like a business version of David and Goliath. He knew he had something unique to offer the industry
— a manufacturing company based on the values and relationships that
had sustained his family’s business over many years.
He bought Haas Door and moved it to Wauseon, Ohio. He opened for
business in 1996, making sectional overhead doors of steel or aluminum
filled with urethane insulation. He invested in a highly automated stateof-the-art roll forming line that made a wide array of door models. He
kept expanding to keep at the front of the industry.
Nofziger’s faith values remained visible. During two terms on the
MEDA board of directors (1989-1997) he enjoyed the related aspect of
mentoring which he sees as a form of Christian mutual aid and which he
carries on with others.
Another faith value was the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12). As a manufacturer, he always sought to treat installers the way he wanted to be
treated.
And taking a turn on a highway rig is one more way to extend the
Golden Rule to customer service. ◆
The Marketplace November December 2015
20
while and then go back to their office.
“Some employees have said,
‘He’s never done that before’,” says
Nofziger.
Would he recommend this to
other manufacturers who happen to
like driving truck?
“It’s my style of management,”
says Nofziger, who always enjoyed
meeting customers and relating to
them. “I’ve walked in their shoes as
a dealer. There’s a lot I can observe
and suggest.
“It gives me a contact with the
customer without interfering with
our own sales staff. Our outside
salespeople walk in the front door,
I walk in the back door. It helps me
understand our customers.”
It also, he says, helps him make
sure that the company’s back-end is
performing properly. Are his people
loading the trucks right? How can
they do better?
“I’m always looking at how we
can do better with the logistics of
this thing.”
Kent Nafziger says Ed’s visits
to customers’ loading docks have
improved quality control as the company seeks to minimize damage in
transit. A direct result has been changes to how they wrap their product
for transport.
“Ed can take pictures with his
phone to show where problems arise
and how to fix them,” says Nafziger.
“He can interview the guys unloading the truck, take a short video,
and e-mail it back so we can show it
on a big screen at our morning meeting. It brings our people right onto
the loading dock.”
Adds Carol Nofziger, “He really
enjoys visiting with the dealers, and
they love it, too. He sure loves making the customers happy.” ◆
Letters
Enlisting church members
After reading an article published in The Marketplace
(“Enlist your church,” March/April, pp. 10-11), I invited
the pastor of my local church to do something similar
and he liked the idea, and started a monthly interview,
during the service, to people from our congregation with
some of these questions:
• tell us about your work/career?
• what led you to do what you’re doing today?
• how do you integrate your faith or relationship
with Christ into your work?
• what do you hear God telling you most about your
work place?
• how can we pray for you and your work, work
place?
The first interview happened in late September and
we have scheduled two more in October and November.
— Oscar Cardozo, MEDA Montréal
Helpful, challenging
I have found your last issue of The Marketplace particularly helpful and challenging.
In the article about “Der Dutchman” the statement,
“Adding non-family directors, who can ask the tough
questions, was one of the best things we ever did” was
relevant to a company I’m involved in.
I was delighted with some of the mission statements
some well-known companies have.
The 10 top reasons to love MEDA reinforce my commitment to the organization.
Your review of the video “Going on vocation”…
made me want to watch it to see where I could use it.
— Don Kroeker, Winnipeg
21
The Marketplace November December 2015
News
Bracing brew helps
growers, youth groups
What better way to enjoy good coffee
than to know you are helping growers in Peru and Mennonite youth
groups at home. Coffee distributor
Menno’s Best, which operates out
of Goshen (Ind.) College, concluded
its first year with strong sales figures
and a significant benefit to participating youth groups.
Besides selling 5,331 bags of
organic coffee purchased from 1,740
Peruvian growers, the unique program raised $26,695 for Mennonite
youth groups attending the 2015
Mennonite convention in Kansas City.
Youth groups sold bags of the
direct-trade Peruvian coffee, known
as “just java for the journey,” which
was grown by small-scale farmers
that Goshen College students have
worked with during the college’s
Study-Service Term (SST) in Peru’s
mountainous Chanchamayo Province.
The beans were harvested and
shipped to Goshen where they were
roasted and sold at the college coffee
shop, Java Junction.
As an incentive for churches, a
contest was created to award prizes to
the top-selling youth groups. Coffee
bags were personalized with a “blend”
label specific to each church. The two
top selling youth groups were College
Mennonite Church in Goshen, and
Hesston (Kan.) Mennonite Church,
both of which sold about 500 bags.
“It was an easy fundraiser for us,
being so close to the college,” says
Daniel Yoder, youth pastor at College
Mennonite Church. “Our church has
connections in Peru through the college, so it was a no-brainer. Our stu-
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faculty position in the Department of Business and
Economics beginning mid-August 2016. PhD in Management or Doctorate in Management (D.M.) or terminal degree in a related field of business or leadership; teaching
experience in business, management, marketing or leadership; strong affinity for the
values espoused by EMU that draw from its Anabaptist/Mennonite heritage; evidence
of scholarship and/or practice in the field; cross-cultural (international) experience
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responsibilities (typically four courses per semester total) include primarily undergraduate courses in the Department of Business and Economics, and possibly one
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The Marketplace November December 2015
22
dents were able to see that this was a
much bigger thing than just us.”
Buyers could purchase 12-ounce
bags (either whole or ground) directly from youth groups at church
or online. Youth groups received $5
from each $12 bag. The rest covered
the cost of the beans, shipping, roasting and packaging. ◆
Signs of progress
on global food front
This is no time to take the foot off the
gas pedal but there are indications of
improvement in global nourishment.
British-based journalist Carl
Mortished reported recently that the
global food supply is approaching
glut status.
“The price of food is plummeting
around the world,” he wrote recently
in the Globe & Mail Report on Business. “Everywhere there is abundance.... More food is being grown
on less land than ever before.”
Global grain stocks are said to
be at a 29-year peak. Prairie silos are
full and wheat prices are down 20
percent.
Mortished says this is the fourth
year global grain production has
exceeded consumption.
Geo-politics plays a role, but other
factors such as better technology, higher-yielding grains and more efficient
land management cannot be discounted, says Mortished, adding “It’s been
lovely for consumers but tough for
farmers as breakfast gets cheaper.”
He notes that population growth
is stabilizing around the world,
which reduces pressure on the food
supply. Currently, some 795 million people lack sufficient food for
a healthy and active life, according
to the United Nations’ Food and +
The high cost
of being poor
Everyone knows (at least those connected with MEDA) that providing
affordable financial services to the
global poor is a big step toward their
achieving a stable livelihood. That’s
why MEDA has worked so hard over
Continued from page 22
Agriculture Organization. That’s an
improvement of 216 million people
from 25 years ago.
From 1997-1999 the FAO classified 22 countries as suffering from
chronic undernourishment. “Today,”
Mortished says, “the number has
fallen to just five: Haiti, Namibia,
Zambia, Central African Republic
and North Korea.” ◆
the decades to bring credit and banking services within reach.
Fewer people know how deeply
the issue affects impoverished people
here at home.
“Life is expensive for America’s
poor, with financial services the primary culprit,” The Economist magazine says in a recent issue.
Simply writing a check can be out
of reach for low income people who
may not be able to afford a regular
bank account. If they need to send a
check they may have to get a money
order, which could cost $7 at a bank or
$1.25 at a post office (if one is nearby).
The magazine says eight percent
of American households do not have
bank accounts, making it tougher
23
to cash a paycheck. Using a credit
union or other outlet can cost two to
five percent. If they need a loan, a
payday lender might charge interest
exceeding 300 percent. “Nearly half
those who borrowed using payday
loans did so more than 10 times in
2013, with the median borrower paying $458 in fees,” the magazine says.
Many low income folk can’t benefit from mobile banking because far
fewer of them use smartphones. And
a quarter of such households do not
use the internet, so they lose out on
finding lower prices.
A key implication of “the cost of
being poor,” the magazine says, is
that “inequality is much worse than
income figures alone suggest.” ◆
The Marketplace November December 2015
Another business solution to poverty
Weaving in Tlamacazapa, Mexico,
watercolor by Ray Dirks
The Marketplace November December 2015
24