ABOUT THE BURNETTES: Ellen and Rick Burnette, along with their colleagues, are addressing food insecurity in the farmworker community of Immokalee, Florida through Cultivate Abundance, a nonprofit that they founded in 2017, with Ellen serving as Executive Director. Rick directs Cultivate Abundance’s programming and technical initiatives, while also serving as field personnel with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) Global Missions. From 1994-2009, the Burnettes established and directed the Upland Holistic Development Project, an NGO that continues to address food insecurity and related issues among migrant communities along the Thai-Myanmar border. Between 2009 and 2013, the Burnettes helped to establish the ECHO Asia Regional Impact Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand with Rick later serving as the Director of Agriculture, and Ellen as the Retail Manager, at the ECHO Global Farm in North Ft. Myers, Florida from 2013 to 2017. You can learn more about their efforts at their website here. |