Entrepreneur takes leaps of faith to become a ‘Mennonite called into business’
It has happened more than once. Someone approaches social entrepreneur Leon Kehl with the name of a highly qualified person who needs help getting a start in Canada. Kehl has learned these nudges often have “God’s fingerprint all over them,” so he takes a “leap of faith” and hires the person. “People come into my…
When change is your only option
When the pandemic hit in March, Chris and Laura Mullet Koop, who own and operate Elmwood Farms Inc., were profoundly impacted. Their farm, located in Jordan, Ont., in the designated green belt area on the Niagara escarpment, is an egg production and grape-growing enterprise, started by Chris’s family in 1932. The farm has seen many…
Mediating in the church
As a lawyer for more than 40 years, Wayne Plenert has seen his share of interpersonal conflicts in the secular world. But, now retired and a member of Northgate Anabaptist Fellowship of Dawson Creek, B.C., he believes that conflicts also are inevitable in faith communities and are too often destructive, with damaging fallout. His interest…
Sourdough spirituality
Baking bread is more than just a business for Joel Kroeker. It’s also a way to further important conversations. With a deftness that comes from repetition, he slides another two loaves of bread into the oven. By the time he finishes for the day he will have baked 20 loaves and mixed another batch of…
Watch: Raw Carrot at Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church
A social enterprise run partially out of Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont. was in the spotlight recently. CTV News broadcast a short segment about the Raw Carrot earlier this month. A collaboration with Mennonite Central Committee Ontario, the Raw Carrot employs people on the Ontario Disability Support Program to make gourmet soup that is…
Coffee and community
Five years ago, Brock Peters dreamed of an affordable coffee shop where everyone in the community would feel comfortable going. “Sometimes, when I walked into coffee shops in the city, I felt like ‘I’m not cool enough to be here,’ ” he says. A couple of years later, the 29-year-old Winnipegger decided to put his money…
Catering to immigrants
Walk into Pacific Flooring and Imports in Abbotsford, and customers will see a seemingly unlikely combination of laminate flooring, spices, international foods and charcoal for barbecues. But, as proprietor Hans Goertzen says, the biggest selling item is yerba maté, a South American herbal tea popular with many Mennonites. Packages of the maté are prominently displayed…
Getting back to the garden
Nestled in the bend of the Brokenhead River at the very end of a country road is a small Christian community trying to live responsibly and faithfully. Four family units are shareholders of this 58-hectare piece of land that was formerly a commercial strawberry farm. Ploughshares Community Farm was incorporated in 2006, one of the…
Faith, business welded together at Haul-All
If you visit a national park, you see them. If you work at winter construction sites, they keep you warm. If you were at the 2010 Olympic Games in Whistler, B.C., they took care of your garbage and recyclables. You might run across them anywhere in Canada or the United States, in Colombia or Venezuela…
