Acre

 

     Once in a while you meet someone who makes you proud to be a fellow human being; a person so remarkable in the way that they care for others that you feel glad to be around them. Jas Singh of God's Little Acre is just such a person. Today we went to the farm he runs, as part of a field trip for our daughter's grade 5 class at school. The teacher wanted the students to experience a charitable farm as part of their learning about social responsibility. God's Little Acre was the perfect location for the kids to start learning about what some folks are doing to help others. It has been in the local news lately as it has needed volunteers to help with its burgeoning harvest. I had read about it and felt that I wanted to be a parent driver on this field trip just so I could see what this place was all about. The concept is simple; it's 30+ acres with a small market where produce is sold to cover seed costs. What I hadn't counted on was my reaction to this project. Jas's desire to feed the hungry of our community with the harvest of the land he leases is a noble undertaking. The way he talks to students though is what really caught my interest. He spoke to the kids in a straightforward way with a basic message: You can do whatever you want to do, just make sure that you really want to do it and you can make it happen. I'm paraphrasing of course, but that was essentially it. He stressed the importance of community, of people helping people to make things happen. God's Little Acre is a testimony to exactly that. We spent a couple of hours harvesting carrots. It was pretty easy, even relaxing. We were able to feed a couple thousand folks a couple of carrots each with what we picked today apparently. I can hardly wait to go back. I think God's Little Acre is going to become one of my favourite places....