House of Raeford’s non-profit organization, FLOCK, is partnering with some of Columbia’s inner-city children, by donating a new farm tractor to help start Eze (pronounced “Easy”) Farms.

There was a presentation of the BCS Tractor to Ezekiel Ministries at Eze Farms on last Saturday.

Ezekiel Ministries helps provide after school and summer programs and operates in the Downtown Columbia area.

The organization approached FLOCK and asked for help starting Eze Farms.

The idea is to engage young people in a way that challenges multiple areas of learning and working. Eze Farms will teach these inner city students every aspect of agri-business, including cultivating crops, managing a working farm, developing a customer base and selling what it produces.

“Our desire is to positively impact young people, spiritually and beyond. They may be out here planting physical seeds, but we believe and we pray that God will be planting spiritual seeds and be planting seeds of wisdom that they will be able to use as they grow older,” said Tripp Register, one of Ezekiel Ministries Mentors and Eze Farms Facilitator.

“Ezekiel Ministries is awesome,” said Chuck Underhill of FLOCK. “We are always excited to see how organizations like Ezekiel continue to impact young people’s lives right here in our community. Teaching agri-business here in South Carolina is a powerful tool that will equip these young people with skills to be highly successful in the future.”

Eze Farms has big plans for the 1.5 acres they will cultivate, including an extensive list of offerings. The hope is to have a farm side stand and allow the students to interact with customers, selling the produce throughout the year.

Register said he hopes to see the first available harvest in spring 2017.

The church and the community need to be responsible for the children growing up in that community.

We want our youth to grow into young men and young women who know how to succeed,” Director at Ezekiel Ministries Josh Whitlock said. “Partners like House of Raeford FLOCK are essential and we are beyond grateful for their interest and investments. This is just another example of their commitment to making our community better.”

For more information about Eze Farms, please call 803-240- 3872 or check out their web site at www.ezeministries.com

Ezekiel Ministries exists to share the love and truth of Jesus to families in inner-city Columbia. They

provide tangible help in the areas of education and family literacy. Ezekiel’s two main programs are an

after-school program and a mentoring program for under-resourced children in Downtown Columbia.

Their long term goals are to strengthen the family structure and help families break the cycle of generational poverty. We focus on academics, character development, spiritual wellness, and teamwork.

House of Raeford operates a plant in West Columbia and a facility in Batesburg-Leesville.   FLOCK is an arm of House of Raeford, Columbia Farms. FLOCK works with food banks, feeding programs, churches, schools, outreach ministries and a variety of other organizations within the geographic area around their facilities by contributing product, monetary donations, volunteers and prayer support.