A few weeks ago, we had a visiting priest at our parish. He was a missionary who works in Kibeho, Rwanda, and he told us about the people he serves there. The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear “Rwanda” is the horrible genocide of 1994, which resulted in the systematic massacre of over 800,000 people in less than 100 days. And to many, it seemed that the international community ignored what was going on there.
Today, Rwanda is striving to rebuild its economy, with coffee and tea production being among its main sources of foreign exchange. Still, nearly two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line. The average per capita annual income is just $510.
“Father Les” filled us in on what was going on in the Marian Fathers’ mission in Kibeho, and it was interesting, but I really perked up when he mentioned that they had the support of the Green Bay Packers!
After Mass, I talked to Father Les and asked him about the Packers’ connection. He said, “I really don’t have time to explain right now, because I have to leave to get to another Mass, but the information is on our website.” He gave me a card, and I went to the Internet.
What I found out on the website was minimal, so I did some digging and found a couple of news items that gave me quite a bit of information about a movement called the Seven Loaves Project. Seven Loaves was founded in December 2009 by a guy named Ron (JR) Schoenfeld, who owns the Chives Restaurant in Suamico, to support villages in Rwanda, Africa, by giving training in bread-baking and small-business skills.
Schoenfeld took a trip to Rwanda in 2009 with a group for a humanitarian project that fed 4,000 villagers. While he was there, JR fell in love with the country and its strong, hardworking people. He met Father Leszek Czelusniak, director of the Marian Missions Kibeho-Rwanda, who gave JR a tour of his compound and school. Father Les said his dream was to have a bakery.
‘The kids love bread, and they only get it about once a year,” Father Les told him.
It was then that Schoenfeld was inspired to work with the villagers to create wood-fired bread ovens to produce healthy, nutritious breads using both imported and local grains. He also envisioned the development of small-business and vocational skills for the people of the villages.
Back home, Schoenfeld, who was the Packers’ executive chef for seven years, began looking for supporters for his project to feed thousands of Rwandans. Generous donations from Coach Mike McCarthy and his wife, Jessica, quarterback Aaron Rodgers (who also lives in Suamico), and the Green Bay Packers Foundation gave this effort the jump-start it needed. Together, they donated over $100,000 to get Schoenfeld’s project off the ground.
Mike McCarthy said, “Ron’s vision with the Seven Loaves Project is very inspiring, and its mission will help many people by providing enduring skills. Green Bay is made up of many fine and caring people, and to be able to support a member of our community who is doing very meaningful and needed work in a disadvantaged part of the world is a privilege for us.”
Thus began the Seven Loaves Project. The idea is simple. “Give a man a loaf of bread and he eats for a day. Teach a man to bake, and his village eats for a lifetime.”
The grassroots project provides a training program, training facility and green, energy-efficient wood ovens to communities and/or individuals. The first training center to be built was at the Marian Formation Center in Kibeho, where Father Les says they proudly display a large Packers Super Bowl poster, and a lot of the kids wear Packer jerseys. He said they bake and sell bread six days a week.
If you’d like to join Aaron, Mike and the Packers, visit the website (www.SevenLoavesProject.net). You can make a tax-deductible donation online or you can send a check. Checks should be made payable to Seven Loaves Project, 2315 Cathedral Forest Drive, Green Bay, WI 54313.
Doesn’t it make you proud of our Pack?
