410 Bridge: Living Seed Program

For families in rural Kenya, livestock can mean the difference between generational financial stability and absolute poverty. Once families have the environment and understanding to raise sheep, goats, or cows, they can create their own businesses to sell livestock products and breed their animals to expand their herd.

Through 410 Bridge’s Living Seed Livestock Program, families have access to training and are gifted an animal to start their journey. 410 Bridge is able to keep costs low for the families and only requires them to cover 20 percent of the cost of training plus the cost of initial vaccinations. Families also agree to gift their firstborn animal to another family in the community—doubling the program’s impact.

The Living Seed Program is part of 410 Bridge’s commitment to indigenous sustainability. Once established, they want all their programs to be able to continue without them and be supported by the community itself, not international funding. They’ve seen the Living Seed Program begin to revitalize local economies, dramatically increase household income levels, and grow livestock survival rates by 73 percent.

Beyond just the practical benefits, they’ve seen this program impact hearts as well. By sharing with one another, neighbors have embraced generosity and deepened their relationships. And as communities have grown in trust and openness, they’ve seen many participants begin to ask questions about faith and make decisions to follow Christ.

Through your generosity in the Be Rich campaign, 410 Bridge was able to hire a full-time livestock coordinator in Kenya to manage the program, expand it, and make it even more effective.