The miracle of what happens here in the Madera Vineyard is that you have thousands of unskilled, untrained volunteers who miraculously finish a job here. And we're able to send hundreds of tons of raisins to go to help feed the poor and needy all over the world, both in our welfare system and in humanitarian relief. 100% of this crop is going to be donated. It's going to go to hurricane victims, earthquake victims, tsunami victims, somebody that needs some food. Raisins are a healthy commodity. They ship well; they store well. I'm the only paid employee here. Everybody else that comes here is volunteers. In the end of August we come out and harvest 80 acres of grapes, and we lay them down on the ground and dry them. We also prune the vineyard. We come out and do suckering, and then actually pick them up and put them in tractors. This is fourth generation that's been out here. Our family's been out harvesting since 1964. I love being able to come out to the vineyard. Every single time you come around, it's like, "Oh man, the vineyard's around again." But, you know what? It always is a great experience. Christ taught "Do unto others as we'd have them do unto us." And if I was in a situation if I needed help and I couldn't provide for myself, I'd definitely appreciate the help. For the Kellogg family, this has been a longstanding tradition. Ever since I was eight years old, my father started bringing me out, and I wanted to continue that with my children. My seven-year-old, it's her first year out here and she's doing great. The buckets get a little heavy for her, but she's just happy to be here, and she's loving it. Most people who come here realize and recognize that they are serving their brothers and sisters around the world. In Matthew 25, it tells us that when you've done it unto one of the least of your brethren, you've done it unto me. And so, very literally, if we are doing this work to help somebody, it's as if we were doing it for the Savior Himself. That's what He taught us. I can't believe people actually get up at 6 o'clock in the morning to come and get really, really dirty. But it's such a great feeling to be all serving together. You'll see doctors, engineers, architects, members of the community that are high-standing, and they come over here and you see them picking grapes like any brother.

I grew up thinking that you take what you want, you don't give back anything that you don't take. Seeing people like this, it changed my life. The Church has its welfare system set up so that we grow raisins here, somebody else grows apples, somebody else grows peaches, somebody else wheat, dairy, beef. And we have our own internal welfare system, that if some of our members are out of a job, or need help, they can go to the bishop and he'll help them with food and whatever, and he'll ask them to come out and work at my farm. So it's kind of a pay-it-forward type of a system. I used to come out here to the vineyard and work and never with the thought of someday I would need to receive the work that takes place here. A couple years ago, I was going to school and got laid off from work, so we were able to take advantage of the bishops' storehouse and get some food and get some raisins. Since that time that we received help, we totally changed our way of viewing things. We became more compassionate, and we made a point ourselves to come here and give service and help in any way we can. You know, obviously there's a lot of different welfare-type programs that exist. And I think what really sets the Church apart from other programs is that it's free, but you kind of come back and you do work. The great spirit of the vineyard is that you're serving others. It's a completely selfless act in coming here. One year at Christmastime, on Christmas day when I came out to feed the dogs, the Spanish ward was here from Madera, and they were out here pruning. Some of these people are working seven days a week, and the only day they had off in three or four weeks--and the only day they would have off for another four or five weeks-- would be Christmas Day. And yet, they came out because they had an assignment at the vineyard. They gave up their Christmas to come work in the Lord's vineyard.

And in talking with them, they said it was their gift to the Christ child, El Nino, to come and serve Him on His day, on His holy day of Christmas. And that, to me, about more than anything else, encapsulates what this vineyard is all about, and the spirit of people who come here.