The Embrace the Vision Farming Initiative vision and mission is to help fulfill the overriding mission of Faces With Names by:

• Providing nutritious food for orphaned and vulnerable children and the families who care for them through Embrace Child Care Ministries. 
• Creating a stand-alone farming initiative that feeds orphan and vulnerable children and foster families who care for them. This initiative will ultimately be operated and run by Ugandans in the local community.
• Raising the level of agricultural competency and the capacity of the local communities, families, and organizations within the reach of the FWNI Farming Initiative by demonstrating agriculture best management practices. This will reduce hunger and poverty in local communities.

The funds needed per year, which includes two planting and harvesting seasons is, $20,000.

This includes funding to properly prepare the farmland through tilling and harrowing the fields, purchasing quality hybrid seed and fertilizer and paying the farm manager, Field of Hope representatives and local workers to weed the fields as they grow and then harvest them when ready. 

Our ultimate goal is to increase the overall production of food from this land, so the farm operations will be self-sustaining, and will no longer need outside investments.

Executive Summary

We are seeking a more holistic approach to feeding the children in conjunction with Embrace Child Care Ministries. Embrace already owns quality farmland that, if farmed with quality equipment and using modern, culturally appropriate agriculture methods, could provide enough food to feed orphan and vulnerable children and perhaps more, in a self-sufficient way. Compared to purchasing food, this is a more complex, but more compassionate and ultimately more empowering direction.

This would have the benefit of:

• Providing food with known quality levels to children.
• Assisting the children’s home with extra income, should a harvest yield much greater capacity than can be consumed or stored.
• Providing jobs for local people in the community in a discipline that will greatly benefit all involved.
• Starting a business initiative that will ultimately transfer to Ugandans.
• Providing an avenue where help from an outside western organization is ultimately no longer needed and allowing Ugandans to support Ugandans.
• Introducing appropriate agriculture methods to a community that will highlight to local farmers what is possible with modern agriculture techniques

The management team of the FWNI Farming Initiative exists of:

Steve Swigert
Steve is an agricultural consultant from the US with 40+ years of experience dealing with farm management issues. After 25 years consulting with the Noble Foundation, Steve retired to spend six years developing the agricultural operations utilizing the 65,000 acres of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma. Presently, Steve is in ministry serving the customers and employees of Great Plains Kubota. Steve has spent the last 10 years working on several projects in Uganda that include providing food for the 3000+ orphan children at Watoto child-care facilities, while at the same time raising the agricultural skills levels of the Ugandan people.

Mike Hafner
Mike retired from John Deere Company after 39 years of service. He is one of the Co-Founders and the former Executive Director of Field of Hope, an agriculture development nonprofit founded in 2011.

Mike’s work with Field of Hope included setting up a large, church-operated drip irrigation garden for vegetables and fruits as well as assisting a church ag ministry in expanding their mechanization outreach. Drip irrigation gardens were implemented in four other orphan care centers to help feed children at the centers. Work has included partnering with an agriculture training development provider to produce a full complement of teacher’s guides for the four years of ag secondary education. Leadership development of Ugandan talent is a passion for Mike. Field of Hope has begun offering scholarships to qualified Ugandan students.

Eric Mills
Eric serves as the President of Faces With Names International. He holds a Masters of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary and is an ordained pastor. Eric also serves as the US Pastoral Director for Orphan Sunday & Stand Sunday with the Christian Alliance for Orphans.
As a result of the adoption journey, Eric and his wife pursued bringing their daughter home from China. Eric’s role as an Outreach Pastor has provided an opportunity to work directly with those serving orphans in China, Burma, Nepal, Zambia, and Swaziland. That work allowed the start of an orphan care ministry at their church; God began to stir their hearts toward a greater role in the orphan care movement.
As a result of all these experiences, Faces With Names International was launched, with a mission to help orphans and widows move beyond a life of survival and allow them to thrive, to fulfill their God- given purposes. The vision of FWNI is intended to be personal for every individual; it says, “To allow you the opportunity to care for orphans and widows in their distress.” Eric’s heart and desire is to provide practical, holistic, and sustainable strategies to give a hope and a future to all we serve.
Eric and Susan currently reside in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, with their son, Reagan, and daughters Katelyn and Hope.