Stories
Discover real-world stories of communities overcoming poverty and deforestation! Plant With Purpose, a Christian non-profit, shares examples of environmental sustainability and stewardship from all around the world. These stories show us how faith, resilience, and sustainable practices transform people’s lives as well as their environment. As rural families overcome poverty and heal the planet, embrace empowerment, renewal, and hope.
About Our Work, Tend
A Plan to Help Congregations Thrive
In Parts One and Two of this blog series, we shared how Plant With Purpose’s journey toward U.S. church engagement was shaped by listening carefully to the church. Through research, interviews, and pastoral feedback, one truth became clear: churches are deeply committed to discipleship and outreach, but they are stretched thin and wary of anything […]
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Mexico
Lucrezia: Creating Community-Wide Transformation in Puebla
In times of scarcity, people often turn inward—focused on surviving, providing for their families, and getting through each day. Poverty can be isolating. When resources are limited, shame and loneliness can take root just as quickly as hunger. This is why one of the most powerful transformations within Plant With Purpose program watersheds is not […]
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Haiti, Updates
The challenge of working in Haiti in 2026
Plant With Purpose works in some of the most difficult places in the world where people live — places where environmental degradation, poverty, and instability often intersect. Our mission is to help communities build resilience and hope in the midst of those challenges. In recent years, life has grown harder across many of our program […]
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Ethiopia, Living Sustainably
Ato, Ethiopia: "We planted these seeds together"
When Ato’s Purpose Group in Ethiopia’s Ziragn watershed started working, its members didn’t anticipate just how far the small group would go. Their beginning was modest, with neighbors gathering to learn together. They started planting a few seeds on communal land, and seeing what might grow. For Ato, a committed member of the group, those […]
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Tanzania
Sarafina, Tanzania: “Without the group, this dream would have taken a very long time.”
“Before joining Plant With Purpose, I was a wife doing small activities around my house, and I depended mostly on my husband,” shares Sarafina. She and her husband, in their sixties, raised three sons, one daughter, and now have two grandchildren. Life, she said, felt predictable but limited. “I thought it was normal, maybe that […]
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About Our Work, blog
Why are incomes growing at Plant With Purpose?
Around the world, rural families face the interwoven challenges of poverty, degraded land, and limited opportunity. Plant With Purpose partners with these communities to restore both the land and livelihoods, cultivating resilience that begins with the soil and extends to the soul. At the heart of this mission lies a remarkable outcome: participants’ incomes rise […]
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blog, Tend
Creation Care for Churches: Tending to the Life of the Church
In part one of this blog series about the Plant With Purpose Journey toward U.S. Church Engagement, we discovered that strengthening the church has always been part of our mission. With a Lilly Endowment grant in hand, the Plant With Purpose team set out to help U.S. churches connect the dots between discipleship and creation […]
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About Our Work, blog, Tend
How does Plant With Purpose Work in the United States?
Every so often, a question finds its way into conversations among our supporters, partners, and friends: Does Plant With Purpose work in the United States? After all, we’ve served hundreds of thousands of people across Mexico, Haiti, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and the Dominican Republic—helping rural communities overcome poverty […]
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blog, Our Response
Co-Investment Over Handouts: Plant With Purpose’s Model
The Difference That Changes Everything At Plant With Purpose, we’ve seen again and again that the way we give matters just as much as what we give. Two approaches may look similar from the outside. Sharing seedlings, offering training, or providing materials. Beneath the surface, however, they shape communities in very different ways. A handout […]
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Haiti
Esther, Haiti: "I had so many challenges to overcome"
When Esther looks out over the land in her community in Haiti, she can see the difference that love, faith, and care have made. But for most of her life, that transformation felt far away. “Before I joined my Purpose Group, things were not good for my family and me,” Esther remembers. “Life was difficult, […]
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DR Congo
Bizima, DR Congo: "I share my experience with other farmers"
In the Kiliba watershed of the Democratic Republic of Congo, smallholder farmers face a daily struggle to provide for their families. Decades of soil degradation, low agricultural productivity, and limited access to training have made it difficult for many households to achieve food security. Among these farmers is Bizima, a 47-year-old father of seven, including […]
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Haiti, Uncategorized
How Partnerships Build Community in Haiti
Since 1997, Plant With Purpose has witnessed farmers in rural Haiti changing their lives and their communities by partnering with one another. One of the goals of bringing people together is to revive a traditional Haitian practice called Konbit – a form of community cooperation where neighbors gather to help each other with agricultural tasks. […]
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About Our Work, Haiti, Mexico, Thailand
Before and after the A-Frame: The power of a remarkable tool
This instrument, being used in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is an important tool in Plant With Purpose's mission to restore rural ecosystems. It is called an A-frame. The tool itself is simple, easy to construct, and inexpensive, making it ideal for the settings where Purpose Groups operate.
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Dominican Republic, Haiti, Updates
Update: Hurricane Melissa’s Impact on our Caribbean Partners
Over the past week, our hearts and prayers have been with our partners and participants in the Caribbean as Hurricane Melissa brought heavy rainfall, flooding, and strong winds to the region. Many of our supporters have reached out with concern for our teams and the families we serve in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and […]
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About Our Work
Loaves, Fish, and the Power of Collaboration
When I was hired nearly 33 years ago, I knew relatively little about community development, reforestation, or nonprofit management. I had little cross-cultural experience and had spent one unfortunate summer working on a farm in Oregon. However, my time as a Navy officer taught me how to work as a part of a team and how to rely on others with more detailed technical knowledge than my own. I knew that my skills alone were not enough to sustain our work—I needed to collaborate with other experts...
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