Enterprising for orphans
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on July 24, 2017 5:50 AM
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Ann Abel and Christie Smith laugh as they package and weigh pecans for the non-profit Farrell Farms. The company relies heavily on volunteers to keep up with orders, with all proceeds going to support an orphanage in Bolivia.
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Volunteers Myrna and Henry Meador fill bags with candied peanuts at the Farrell Farms packaging center. The non-profit, operating out of a former cotton gin on the outskirts of Goldsboro, raises money for the K.W. Methodist Children's Home in Bolivia.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Frank Farrell poses for a photo in the room where he works most, the kitchen, where he candies pecans and other nuts for his non-profit, Farrell Farms. The former O'Berry Center director now spends his retirement raising money for K.W. Children's Home in Bolivia.
Never underestimate the power of a community with a heart for virtual strangers on the other side of the world.
Dr. Frank Farrell, former director of O'Berry Center until retiring in 2009, may have led the charge to support an orphanage in Bolivia, but says he could not have continued the mission without volunteers from his church and others who have stepped up.
Farrell's association with Kory Wawanaca Children's Home began during a mission trip in a remote village of Bolivia. He visited the impoverished area with others from Pine Forest United Methodist Church but has continued making trips on his own several times a year since.
In 2015, the children's home experienced an upheaval amid allegations of abuse and neglect, with Farrell investigating at the behest of the board.
"We concluded that it was true and fired all the staff," he said. "At one point, I was the only staff in the home of 14 kids. But the board, in December 2015, decided to no longer provide management for the home or funding for the home.
"I did not want that to close. I had known some of these kids since they were 7 or 8 years old."
Farrell, along with his wife, Glenda, decided to try to restore it and provide funding.
"We started a non-profit, K.W. Methodist Children's Home, and use it as a vehicle to raise money to support the home," he said. "It's an approved project of the United Methodist Church."
The first year was a struggle, he said, but led to a business opportunity this past September -- making and selling nut-based snack products.
"We have incorporated a second group, Farrell Farms," he said. "It has exploded.
"We cook thousands of pounds of pecans a month. Right now, we're generating about half of the income of the orphanage."
The majority of the products are pecan-based with a smattering of almonds, cashews and peanuts thrown in. They create nearly three dozen different items for sale, from honey-glazed pecans and peppercorn cashews to a dark chocolate pecan toffee called "Scrumptious" and a Tex-Mex spicy pecan and peanut mix that have become especially popular as a bar snack.
They also use as many local products as possible -- local honey, pecans and peanuts.
Farrell, 66, is the main cook, spending the bulk of his days at the former cotton gin just down the road from his former O'Berry office.
"I normally come in at 7, 7:30 and leave about 10 o'clock at night," he said.
He credited a local farmer with offering up the building space to the effort for free. The main overhead is purchasing nuts for the products.
"Bruce Howell doesn't charge us any rent. We're all volunteers. We pay our own expenses," he said. "Every penny we make goes to the orphanage.
"Right now, we're sending about $5,000 a month. That's a little more than 50 percent of the budget. We're the only support for the home. If we don't do this, the home closes."
The children's home received special licensing to accommodate ages 6 to 18, primarily so that siblings can remain together, Farrell said.
The important thing is to create a family atmosphere for them, and the potential for a better future. One way they do this is by allowing children, once they turn 15, to enroll in a vocational program of their choice.
"We want them to thrive, not just survive," he said. "We want them to become independent adults. You don't just send a kid out when they turn 18."
The home is doing amazing things, he said, but none of that would be possible without his group of volunteers.
Madison Hankal, pastor of Pine Forest, said it was not a hard sell for his congregation to get on board with the fundraising effort.
"No. 1, Frank and the teams that have been going to Bolivia had already set up relationships with the home and the teachers," he said. "Part of a Sunday school class sponsored a child, but now they're engaged, now they're kind of invested.
"He's kind of inspired our church to think about this is kind of a new way of sustaining ministry and mission outreach."
Henry Meador and Jimmy Wells call it a labor of love.
"The church supports the project and I support the church," Wells said.
Holt Teague volunteers on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. but sometimes finds herself there hours later, she says.
"I stay as long as there's something to do," she said. "I had two sons and a daughter-in-law who went to Bolivia many years ago.
"Frank has been a personal friend for many years, and I know his passion for what he does, and I like to share in that passion."
Betty Wells, who manages the nearly 40 volunteers that serve, says it is amazing how many enlist, even though many have never been to Bolivia or the children's home.
"But they know Frank, and they have been inspired by his contagious passion for this mission," she said, gesturing to a wall bearing photos of some of the children. "Once you come down here and see those pictures on that wall -- all those smiling faces -- it's just wonderful to give."
Ideally, the effort would expand even more and be a community endeavor.
"We need more partners to help us sustain this," said Farrell, who sees the fruits of the labor firsthand, still traveling to Bolivia four or five times a year.
"I see the results in the kids and the lives we're changing," he said. "I have known a lot of the kids for years. They're not just kids in an orphanage. To me, they're my family."
For more information on the effort, or the products, visit FarrellFarms.
com, call 919-583-4366 or email Frank.Farrell2@
gmail.com