From Served to Serving: Why the PEACE Farm Is Now Accessible to All

Twenty years ago, Carl’s life tragically changed forever. Twenty years later, God is still using that tragedy to transform other people’s lives for the better. One of those transformations has been the PEACE Farm at Saddleback’s Rancho Capistrano Campus, which thanks to Carl’s hard work, is now accessible to people with physical disabilities — something near and dear to Carl’s heart.

20 YEARS AGO

Carl vividly remembers the day he received the phone call that no parent ever wants to receive. His 17-year-old daughter, Kali, had been in a car accident and was hospitalized. She was in the hospital for two months before she could open her eyes. Her spine had been separated from her brain, leaving her unable to speak and with very limited mobility. 

“It was the lowest moment of my life,” Carl said. “I really didn't want to live anymore at that moment.”

Carl and his wife have been taking care of his daughter full time ever since. He acknowledged that it has been hard, but the limited ways his daughter can communicate make the work worth it. He says she still lights up when he walks in the room, even though she hasn’t spoken a word in 20 years. 

“It was some pretty dark times,” he said. “But the Lord eventually showed me that, ‘You know what? As much as you want to fix everything, you can’t fix everything, Carl. Some things you can’t fix. And this is one of those things.’”

20 YEARS LATER

The PEACE Farm provides Saddleback’s grocery distributions with fresh produce grown on campus at Rancho Capistrano. 

“The food distribution system that Saddleback Church has for feeding the community has done an incredible job,” Carl said. “The fact that they can use this food that was grown with love to feed the people in our community — what a blessing is that?!”

This year, Carl worked with the PEACE Farm team to make the farm accessible by constructing aisles, filled with a wheelchair-friendly soil, in between the planters. This makes it possible for volunteers in wheelchairs to serve at the farm. Carl said he wants to help in any way he can, but that creating opportunities for  people with disabilities is especially rewarding.

“I've been through a big hurt here, with my daughter,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. “I wouldn’t wish that on anybody to go through that with their kids, but my prayer is that through this experience if I can help even one person to survive something like what I’ve been through … then it’s worth it. And the PEACE Farm has been an incredible blessing to help serve the Lord and make an opportunity for people to get out here and help participate and be part of the story. That’s huge.”

To learn more about getting involved with Saddleback’s PEACE Farm or grocery distributions, click here.