ECHO Field Trip

            For my third field trip I went to ECHO (Education Concerning for Hunger Organization). It is a non-profit organization that has been running for over 50 years. There are 20 full time paid staff and the rest is completely run through volunteers. ECHO is all about new and improved ways of growing crops so that they are better and able to survive in habitats that would not normally be able to house plant life. ECHO is based in Florida and that is where they test their ideas and is able to recreate the living situation for the plants so that they know what can grow where and how to improve its growth. People from all over the nation come to ECHO to learn the ways of growing in hope of being one of the many sent to many other counties to show the natives how to grow crops and help them provide for their family both with the actual crop and profit from the crop. Since ECHO is a nonprofit organization they are constantly having to find new ways to stay self-sufficient. They run on the entrance fee, $5, volunteers, and donations. The environmental issues that ECHO deal with is vast, they are out here trying to recreate habitats to then find a way to produce not only a plant but a fruitful plant that with be great for harvest. The climate change also is a burden on ECHO but they have also found solutions for that as well. I was able to talk to Tim who is the Tropical Fruit Nursery Manager while I was on my tour. I thought about interviewing the tour guide we had at the end of the tour, but thought Tim would have some good insight for me. I asked Tim where he was from and he said he went to school in Minnesota, so I then asked him what he thought about the great Florida weather. He said as warm as it was it was good for the plants to have that much sun light and though it may be a challenge if it wasn’t he would be out of a job. I then asked him how he got involved with ECHO and he told me he was an intern in 2001 until 2002 when he left for Central Africa to work over there and use what he learned from ECHO. If I wanted to become involved in finding solutions to feed the hungry I could easily try my hardest to get into the program the ECHO runs with volunteers. They teach these volunteers how to produce crops in all sorts of environments and echo systems. What they are doing at ECHO is providing for millions of people because they are going off the age old saying, you can give a man a fish and fed him for a day or you can teach a man to fish and feed him for life. ECHO is not just giving these people aid by giving them food for a few moths, they are giving them seeds that will continue to provide food and they are teaching them how to plant these seeds in the environment they are in, some even without soil. I think what ECHO is doing is a start to feeding the billions of people in the world. They are providing a great deal of service to those people in need and giving them more than food but a way to provide for their families. We as a world need to stop worrying solely on our country but rather we as a world. We rely on other countries for many things that we would need to be able to continue to survive and if we do not help those in need that provide that who will provide it for us.