Henhouse: An Employment Readiness Solution
Under the leadership of David Ozment, and over a dozen Cullman community partners, The Foundry Ministries has created a new poultry social enterprise to help fund our ministry. The enclosed poultry “henhouse”, located at The Foundry Farm, is the future home of 500 laying hens.
At The Foundry Farm men are provided with the unique opportunity to gain employment readiness skills that they would not receive elsewhere. These skills include tending crops, clearing property, building and land maintenance. Participants will have the opportunity to care for animals and gain an understanding of social enterprise.
Once the hens are delivered, program participants will be assigned to care for the animals. They will learn valuable skills like distributing food and water, collecting the eggs, and maintaining the health of the birds. Skills like these aren’t just valuable for teaching participants to work again. They learn to take pride in ownership, see the value of their work, and provide a service that others will benefit from.
Running a henhouse is incredibly practical. The Foundry will collect thousands of eggs that will be used to feed the participants in our programs. Participants will also learn the Poultry trade, which is in great demand in the Cullman community, and they will be prepared for employment in that industry upon graduation.
We are overwhelmingly humbled by the amount of community support this project has received. The amount of resources, time, and money our supporters have given honor us and the participants in our program. This would not have been possible without friends like you. Thank you.
We are thrilled to journey on this new endeavor! We believe this opportunity will give men recovering from addiction the opportunity to learn a valuable skill while they are healing from the wounds of their past.
