Daniel Leon, a member of GCI’s New Hope Christian Fellowship in Los Angeles and veteran of GCI camps and mission trips, has partnered with Hayden Betts to form D&H Tractors. The work of this volunteer organization was profiled in a Pasadena News Now article (see below) and mentioned in The Garden, an Academy Award-winning documentary film (see the film trailer at www.dandhtractors.org).
D&H Tractors is building a tractor that will be used by the South Central Farmers Co-op. This group of community farmers/gardeners previously farmed a 12-acre tract in South-Central Los Angeles. There hundreds of inner-city families gained self-reliance, produced food for their families and learned lessons of hard work and community unity. Sadly, the co-op lost access to the garden when the property was sold. However, 120 acres of land became available to the Co-op in Shafter, California, some 100 miles north of Los Angeles. This property cannot be farmed effectively without machinery; hence, Daniel and Hayden’s vision to build and then donate a working tractor for the co-op’s use.
Daniel and Haden are building the rather sophisticated tractor from scratch. They have partnered with local businesses to acquire (and sometimes build) the parts. They are also using donated space and equipment to assemble the tractor. So far, they have spent hundreds of hours on the project.
