Michael Elola lives in the Bay Area of California and has been volunteering with Extollo for more than 11 years. He and his family have made numerous trips and have been huge supporters of Extollo and the work being done in Haiti. Michael and his wife, Natalie, own The Lucky Garden Dublin Garden Supply & Hydroponics and they have put their love of gardening and agriculture to use in Haiti! Agriculture and Labor Day is celebrated every May 1st in Haiti and we couldn't think of a better way to honor this day than to hear from Michael himself.
Over the past 11 years I have been blessed to be able to volunteer in Haiti teaching and building in the construction field working for Extollo. As part of my footprint, where ever I work at a site I like to build a vegetable garden.
As my personal journey developed from construction to agriculture my interest in how I can help the people of Haiti changed along the way. Extollo International has embraced my vision of how I can best help the local community by teaching them how to grow their own food. 28% of Haiti‘s jobs are in the agriculture industry.
I feel that Extollo‘s vision “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, you feed him for a life-time" integrates well with my vision of teaching a man to GROW. Over the past few years I have been able to teach classes at Extollo’s training center on Aquaponics, compost, and how to be better stewards of the land.
At Extollo campus we have a garden and a compost program that we are just getting started. It will work great as a demonstration for classes along with providing food for the staff and residents.
My vision is to plant a seed in everyone’s heart that would enable them to provide for themselves and be better stewards of the land.
Check out the Garden Project Video