Give Back
Lost Paradise Organics owners, Josh and Yeins, believe firmly in helping people in need and contributing to local community Non-Profits that help to achieve betterment for our society in a compassionate way, with no distinctions. Among their projects, their main objective is helping children in need in the American continent by providing essential needs like food, clothing, and school supplies. And to a fuller extent, parties are also prepared for the kids.
Many children who benefit from these projects are from native indigenous tribes confined in very remote reservations. There is a deep sense of solidarity within the company's vision that directs Yeins and Josh into finding solutions to better these children's lives. As part of their ideas to accomplish this, they started their first agriculture project a few years ago, consisting of building hydroponic greenhouses in schools to bring awareness and reconnect them with agriculture. The main idea for the hydroponic systems installed was to see fast production results to stimulate their sincere desire towards the practice. The space in the rural areas allows for a more organic and regenerative approach.
The pilot programs involved six schools. Josh and Yeins built hydroponic greenhouses and supplied items to start a garden (from seedlings to fertilizers). Also, a supporting expert that visited weekly or monthly according to their needs. The project included a prize to the school that produced more vegetables at the end of the year. At the end of that year, all the schools had terrific results, and there were three schools with outstanding vibrant veggie gardens! They added salads and vegetables to their lunches! Teachers were very excited, along with some of the parents that actively participated from the beginning. The purpose is to reconnect the new generations with the land again and teach the best food production practices that better their quality of life and sustain local economies more holistically.
How It All Started?
We walked into a school in Latin America, in the middle of the vibrant green tropical forest. We were up for a visit, to see the little ones, the innocent children, and the teachers —they were welcoming. While we introduced ourselves, they were quick to invite us in for lunch—we accepted but not before telling them what we were doing there. We had some groceries to help with their current feeding program; they were grateful. As we started to gather with the kids at the table and all the plates began to come out, we asked: "and what are we having today?"— they explained that they faced a daily challenge. They struggled to prepare a more balanced complete meal for the kids since public funds were scarce. The meal was a chicken soup that day, made with only one chicken equally distributed amongst twenty-two kids. We decided that we didn't need any and started to bring our contributions inside. Many of these rural schools host children that walk down through mountains and cross rivers with the only hope of not just getting educated but having this one school meal that the system provides for them- mostly for free- but certainly not enough. Standing with them that day, we knew that we were to do something significant in our lives to help them, and we committed to bringing that dream to reality. The goal is alive today even more than when it all started in the year 2000. It's a lifelong commitment to bring joy and spark hope in these children's lives. We have many more of these projects in mind, and in the hope that this will come to a reality as we grow, sharing them with you is our thank you for supporting our family-owned company.
Sincerely, Josh and Yeins Chestnut
