Ralph Broetje had given up on the cherries. They hadn’t produced for four years. Ralph and his team of workers were pulling out their chainsaws when he had an idea: “Maybe we should give the cherry trees to ministry,” he said to his wife, Cheryl. “They’ll be the first fruits of the season that we give away.” The next year the cherries flourished.
A decade later, the branches are heavy with ripe fruit. The 50-acre crop is good this year in quality and size. The workers pick quickly, knowing all profits from this crop will be given away and that they’ll decide where the money will go.
“They get to choose. Should it be Brazil? Africa?” asks Sanjay Broetje (pronounced BRO-chee), who works for his parents’ business, fittingly named First Fruits of Washington. Last year, the workers chose to donate nearly $400,000 from the First Fruits’cherry crop to World Vision’s work with children in Africa who are affected by HIV/AIDS.
Besides, cherries, Broetje Orchards grow many different varieties of apples
This supplier is located 250 miles from our Seattle warehouse
Prescott, WA
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