A few of Linfield’s business students recently banned together, aiding the Adelente Mujeres organization.

Seniors Danny Brown, Heather McClellan and Greg Schockelt, junior Robby Richardson, and sophomores Kathie Byers and Aziza Jappie worked alongside business professor Michelle Nelson,  creating marketing materials to connect local Latino organic farmers with customers.

The Adelente Mujeres organization, located in Forest Grove, Ore., works to give low-income Latina women and their families education and encouragement to financially support themselves and their families.

Nelson’s entrepreneurship class basically worked as middlemen for Adelente Mujeres, passing along information to local companies about La Esparanza Farm, the
organic farm for Latino farmers, founded by Adelente Mujeres.

“We developed two different brochures for the program, which help connect Latino farmers to distributors in the area,” Schockelt said.

The organization is fairly young, being founded in 2002 by Bridget Cooke and Sister Barbara Raymond. Cooke and Raymond, who work with other local organizations, noticed that there is a lack of Latina women who participate in work outside of their homes.

“I like organizations which are about helping people help themselves,” McClellan said. “It’s exciting for me that they help teach people English.”

Adelente Mujeres started by providing English classes for Latina women and daycare for their children. It then
expanded to help with business plans, youth organizations for teenage Latina girls and organic farming.

“It is still in the stage where it is small enough that you can tell that everyone is connected, like a small family,” Schockelt said.

Their mission, as stated on their website, is: “the holistic education and empowerment of low-income Latina women and their families. We encourage all participants to believe in themselves, to commit to personal growth, to express solidarity with others and to love and respect the Earth.”

Schockelt enjoyed working with a non-profit organization for once, he said.

“The goal [for profit organizations] is to see how much profit you can make, not how much good you can do with it.”

By contrast, the goal for non-profits is, “doing well by doing good,” Schockelt said.

So far, the organization has a few contacts in the area, along with a few local eateries.

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Meghan O’Rourke/Opinion editor
Meghan O’Rourke can be reached at [email protected]