Beth Mooy to speak at NC People for Peace meeting on May 19

On Monday, May 19, Newaygo County People for Peace will host retired Fremont educator and world traveler Beth Mooy at 7 p.m. in the Community room of the Fremont Area District Library.

Mooy will share her experiences in Kenya and Madagascar, where she visited growing projects sponsored by The Foods Resource Bank, a Christian organization that responds to world hunger.

FRB empowers people in the United States to raise money to assist sustainable food growing projects in developing countries. More than 1,000 farmers and thousands of others in this country have made a difference for those who are hungry. Fremont has been involved with FRB since the year 2000 and 17 local farmers, with support from local churches, interested individuals and community business leaders, have contributed nearly $200,000 to this project.

Built on volunteerism, the FRB program provides 100% of the crop income for overseas programming. USAID grants totaling $3.1 million have also been awarded to FRB and more than $6.2 million have been used for programs overseas which help to eradicate hunger. These monies have positively affected the lives of more than 700,000 people at a cost of less then $5 per person. During this calendar year FRB supported 50 programs in 30 countries, ben-efitting more than 50,000 families.

The organization’s focus is to provide training and tools that the people need to grow their own food. The beneficiaries are smallholder farmers, their families and their communities around the world in developing areas where hunger is a serious problem. FRB provides the resources for people to grow their own food and establish food sources that are sustainable. It allows poor people to feed their families and to market crops to raise money to help educate their children.

Mooy, who taught in Fremont for 17 years and in England for 10 years, attended an FRB informational meeting in 2002 as a representative from St. John’s Episcopal Church. She has traveled to Kenya and Madagascar to visit growing projects sponsored by FRB and will share pictures and details of these experiences on Monday, May 19 at 7 p.m. at the Fremont Area District Library Community Room. The public is invited.