We are beginning our Second Decade!

Issue # 1 was published in December 1981. At the time I thought, "Where will I ever find enough of the right kind of information for another issue." That first issue went to 35 people. This issue goes to about 2,500 people in 110 countries.

The decade began humbly. In addition to myself, ECHO was staffed by my wife Bonnie (as a volunteer), one intern, and sometimes a few faithful volunteers. Every question answered or receipt acknowledged was done personally by myself on a typewriter. (Today we have 5 permanent staff members and 5-6 interns. Volunteers donate over 5,000 hours of time each year. Office work is now facilitated by 7 computers and 5 printers.)
Soon our tiny overseas network began sending in technical questions. To help with answering, twice a week Bonnie would take a stack of books to a store six miles away to copy the pages I had selected. (The photocopier that we purchased a few years ago will soon have made half a million copies.)
When the ministry was new, we were unsure what the need overseas would be. I remember calling my intern during our first vacation to see whether any overseas mail had arrived. At first we received perhaps 20 letters a month. (So far this year you have collectively requested 1,483 trial seed packets, 524 Technical Notes and asked 267 questions for which answers had to be specially prepared. My Assistant Director, Scott Sherman, spends perhaps 75% of his time corresponding with our network.)

The occasional visitors who came by for a tour sat around our kitchen table to see our first slide presentation projected onto the freezer door. We called it the "appropriate technology projection screen." (Now ECHO has become somewhat of a tourist attraction. So far this year well over 3,000 visitors have come for the 3 weekly tours for the general public or on special group tours. They start by viewing the new slide program in an air-conditioned visitor reception center.)

Some years we lost most of our tropical plants to "unexpected" freezes. The most important plants are now protected in 4 greenhouses.
After our first year, one missionary asked if he could spend a few weeks at ECHO studying before going overseas. This year alone we've seen folks stopping by for a day, a week or even for several months of hands-on study on the farm in preparation for work in Uganda, Zambia, Papua New Guinea, Haiti, Niger, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Philippines, and Mexico.

God has greatly blessed our first decade. Now we are evaluating ways to be of even greater service to you in the next 10 years. We have several ideas. However, we are determined to not jeopardize the quality of our present set of services in order to add new ones. So you will not see many new initiatives until we can afford another technical staff person. Our facilities are so tight that right now we would have no space for another person if he/she were here. But this will change in January when we more than double our size by purchase of an adjoining 7½ acre farm and house. This gives us more space for visitors as well as offices.

A special "fringe benefit" for those who work at ECHO is that we have gotten to know and now count as friends so many of you. ECHO only has an impact on the world as we are able in some way, great or small, to help you to have a more effective outreach. ECHO's staff and Board of Trustees is committed to do all that we can, with God's help, to help you to be an even greater blessing to a hurting world in the coming decade.