Come join the over 10,000 people a year from all over the world who tour or visit ECHO, Florida’s TOP international charity since 2013 and among the TOP international charities in the world. WHAT is it? ECHO works to reduce hunger and improve lives worldwide, including SW Florida. It is a pipeline for sharing information, ideas, techniques, methods, plants, seeds, books, materials, solutions, and sustainable agriculture for people all over the world, and its headquarters is less than ½ hour drive from us.
On this 2-hour walking (with frequent stops) or riding in carts, fascinating guided tour you will see the most creative working farm you have ever experienced. Along the way you will find unique demonstrations, plants, and techniques useful to farmers and urban gardeners in developing countries. Do you know how city dwellers without land or soil grow with wick gardens? Do you know that as many as 14,000 people die DAILY from contaminated water, and that 900 million people lack access to safe drinking water? You will see a simple, easy method being taught that determines water’s safety. The Western world is good at sending such things as tractors, but when a part breaks, it may take the village 2 years to get the money for a new part, another 6 months for more for them to receive the part—and then, no one knows how to install it. ECHO experiments with materials that any village in Africa or elsewhere have on hand, which is used to make simple tools to give an improved technology. More than 90% of crop food varieties have disappeared from our farms globally. 75% of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and 5 animal species. ECHO introduces people to 350 different seeds of almost lost food varieties, sending the seeds to villages, and teaching effective farming methods for that village’s particular growing condition. Information is shared with over 6000 subscribers to the Environmental Development Notes online. The members are from 165 countries and the info is provided in 76 languages. Tickets are $10.50 each for seniors, and must be purchased by March 1st. This is much more than another dance or dinner; this is an awakening, an extremely interesting afternoon that you won’t soon forget or regret.