SACRED: Saving Agave for Culture, Recreation, Education, and Development

AT NO COST TO YOU, GET FUNDING FOR SACRED: Saving Agave for Culture, Recreation, Education, and Development WHEN YOU:
Buy a Home / Sell a Home / Lease Commercial Property

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Buying, Selling, & Leasing Can Help Save Agave Culture

Saving Agave for Culture, Education, and Development (s.a.c.r.e.d.) is investing in impoverished rural Mexican communities to not only improve their quality of life, but glean their ancient wisdom that could help solve massive world problems, like climate change. As a member of Investing In Communities®, Saving Agave for Culture, Education, and Development can receive funding as a result of any brokered real estate transaction – home sales, home purchases, or commercial leases. It won’t cost you anything to use this platform, but through it you can support their work as they enrich Mexican communities, and in turn learn from them and give them a voice in some of the most heated international debates.

Troubled by the inaccessibility of books for entire Mexican communities, Lou Bank was moved to take action in 2011. Serving Mexican communities that make agave spirits as part of their livelihood, he founded s.a.c.r.e.d., to host tastings and support campaigns that benefit these communities. Their most notable campaigns involve replanting agave, building libraries, earthquake relief, and saving Arroqueño.

Replanting Agave

In the deserts of Mexico, water and cash-yielding crops can be hard to come by. That’s why Lou  and his team have partnered with local communities to help them grow agave, which requires much less water than other crops.  Getting a person to start growing agave commercially can be as simple as introducing them to the plant or just supplying them with the seeds and support  to start replanting agave. A critical component of the program’s success has been providing the new farmers with a ready market for their harvest.

Building Libraries

For many people living in rural Mexican communities, a single book can cost about two weeks wages. Living apart from the literate, technological world, these communities were forced to fall back on alternative methods of making less efficient, but higher quality products. When Lou  began to discover the stores of old wisdom in these communities, he realized that they were sadly lacking the literacy to share their knowledge with the outside world. That’s why he launched campaigns to start building libraries, allowing them to share their knowledge with a world that could greatly benefit from hearing what they have to say. 

Earthquake Relief

September, 2017, featured some devastating earthquakes in Mexico. With high death tolls and extensive property and infrastructure damage, some communities lacked the resources to rebuild. S.a.c.r.e.d.. stepped in and funded repairs, and continues to raise funds for earthquake relief. 

Saving Arroqueño

Unlike grain crops used to make alcoholic beverages, agave can take years or even decades to become productive. The Arroqueño variety of agave takes especially long and can only be harvested by disrupting its reproductive patterns. This has put the plant in extreme danger. One Mexican farmer regretted dedicating some of his land and resources to this crop because of the long lead time;  Lou Bank and his team raised funds and replanted the crop elsewhere. While saving Arroqueño, they enabled that farmer to still make a profit.. 

Your Purchase, Sale, or Lease Helps Bring Literacy to Rural Mexico

At no cost to themselves, anyone who cares about helping impoverished communities can turn virtually any brokered real estate transaction into funding for Saving Agave for Culture, Recreation, Education, and Development. For example, the purchase or sale of a $300,000 home can result in about $1,300 of free funding. You can support s.a.c.r.e.d.’s mission of helping and learning from rural Mexican communities when you use IIC’s free platform to make arrangements with an agent you already have in mind. Or use IIC to find and choose among real estate agents that are appropriate for the specifics of your residential or commercial real estate needs. Ready to start?