OUR TEAM IN CANADA
Roland Poirier, Nutritionist
YFT Community Development Committee, Farming
President, Nutra-Fix Inc.
Roland shares his passion for farming and natural health solutions both in his business and in developing countries.
As a past President of a Future Farmers of America local chapter, Roland believes strongly in education, leadership training, and hands on vocational training as taught by the FFA, in order to create sustainable business development overseas.
Roland’s hobbies include hunting, hiking, canoeing, and spending time in his maple sugar bush. Leading international missions as well as serving his local church as an Elder and one of the worship leaders, are important to Roland in order to continue building relationships and growing in faith.
Theresa Poirier
Secretary/Treasurer, Nutra-Fix Inc.
Chair, YFT Marketing & Mobilization Committee (including Media Management)
Theresa’s experience in the high tech sector, as an Executive Assistant, Office Manager and Web Master has provided her with the skills needed both in her business, and her personal life.
In business, Theresa and her husband Roland, own and operate “Nutra-Fix Inc.," providing probiotic supplements to customers in Canada and the US. Theresa handles the office and computer work for the company.
In her personal life, Theresa’s training and experience is helpful in assisting YouFeedThem with the website, posters and other graphics as needed. In addition to spending time with her family, Theresa enjoys social get-togethers with friends, crocheting, and traveling.
Bob Elliott
Retired sub-station electrician from Hydro Ottawa
Chair, YFT Community Development Committee, Projects and
Advisor to Partners in Hope, Tanzania
Married for 38 years to his wife Dianne, Bob is father to 3 married daughters and grandpa to 6 adorable grandkids. Bob’s life is full, the original “Bob the Builder” and a MacGyver at heart, he is always giving a helping hand or fixing something that is destined for the landfill.
After meeting the Poiriers a few years ago and seeing all that has been accomplished with You Feed Them, Bob felt called to become more involved with the organization.
With the skills he acquired while working on his Uncle's farm many years ago, Bob could see the benefits of introducing sound farming practices that have already seen incredible results in one of the local Villages in Kenya. Encouraging such practices and applying new ones will enable the local villagers to become self-sustaining, as well as bringing wholeness to the village itself.
Bob's experience with project management has been vitally important in assisting with projects such as the well and the church build in Mwalwigi, Tanzania.
Dianne Elliott
Advisor to Partners in Hope (PIH) Tanzania and
Liaison with The Great Commission for their support of PIH
Dianne has been happily married for 38 years to Bob and together they have raised three beautiful daughters. Dianne was an at home mom while the girls grew, allowing her to work in the schools and be active in their Parent Council. Being at home also gave Dianne the privilege to care for aging parents, and all that entails with end of life care.
As the children grew, Dianne started two successful small businesses and worked at that for many years. She was also very active in the local church, working with the young adult population as well as planning large events. Now that her husband has retired, she has joined him and they enjoy doing many things together.
All of these life experiences have given insight into the many different aspects of life that are complimentary to what You Feed Them is trying to accomplish in the African Villages they are part of. Dianne welcomes the opportunity to use her gifts of marketing, organization and the care of women and children, through education, and small business, to further the development of these incredible individuals who are working so hard to become self- sufficient.
OUR TEAM IN AFRICA
We met Pastor Silas Owiti-Oduor in 2008 while he was here in Canada, and learned about the village of Yogo where he's from. Fifty percent of the children in the community were dying from water-borne diseases, malnutrition, lack of medicine, AIDS and other illnesses. Silas met us through a mutual friend, Lynn Fraser, who had seen the poverty first-hand when she visited Kenya. We spoke about the need for a community farm and the need to raise awareness here in Canada.
Shortly thereafter, a group of people went with Silas to his village of Yogo. Land was purchased for the farm and when the group returned home, You Feed Them was started and everyone began to spread awareness and raise funds to support the people of Yogo and surrounding community.
Pastor Silas has also grown the small church in Yogo to 10 churches in the community, and is now a Bishop spreading the good news across radio waves in Kenya. We are thankful that we've had the privilege to meet Silas, and to witness the dedication that he has to help the poorest of poor.
To read more about how Yogo has been transformed, with the school, with utilities such as clean water, electricity and now even wifi, as well as the vital sustainability of a farm that provides for the community, visit our Yogo page, or select it under the "Villages" menu.
Our Field Partner in Tanzania is Pastor Titus Mashalla - seen here with his wife, Happiness, and their three children, Shawn Titus and Evelyn.
Some of the YFT Canadian team members met Pastor Titus in 2010 during an initial YFT mission trip. We also visited the village of Bukwimba in Tanzania in 2014 where Titus had started his own You Feed Them Farm and registered Community Based Organization in partnership with the local church. The farm flourished under his leadership.
In 2018 Pastor Titus and his family felt led to move to another remote village in Tanzania called "Mwalwigi" to lead people to Christ, start a church, a farm, and a YFT team. Given the contacts Titus made with the YFT team in Canada, as well as other churches in Canada, Titus began to build up the sustainability of the village and surrounding community.
In 2018 a YFT team also visited the village of Mwalwigi to introduce Titus to new team members and meet the beautiful people of the village and tour the community to understand the challenges and needs.
Since Titus has moved to Mwalwigi, the church has grown from 25 people to over 200, baptized all members, and is continuing to teach his community about Jesus, help with the projects underway such as the well, the needs of the Albino children, the agricultural projects, and the new church build!
Visit our "Mwalwigi" page by clicking here or under "Villages" from the menu above, to learn more about Pastor Titus and the village of Mwalwigi.
CONTACT US
To reach any of us on the YFT team, or to answer any questions you might have about what we do at YFT,
please email contact@youfeedthem.com OR use the following email form to get in touch: