About Vista Hermosa Foundation

Our mission

As a private family foundation, our mission is to “Serve, Encourage, and Educate Children and the Under-Served in their Spiritual, Community, and Human Development.”

We draw our name from the Vista Hermosa community, which was birthed out of the call of Broetje Orchards to serve children in need.

Our history

We started out as a nonprofit childcare center. As families came to the farm in search of work, they were separated from extended family members and had no safe places to leave their children during the day. Providing childcare services on site served a two-fold purpose: bringing peace to working parents who knew their children were safe; and offering a nurturing learning environment for children to grow and flourish, and to fulfill God’s dream for them in the world.

In 1990

Ralph and Cheryl Broetje built the Vista Hermosa community, complete with housing, convenience store, community center and chapel. When the first residents moved into the brand new homes, they held a contest to choose the name for their new community. They chose Vista Hermosa — ”beautiful view” — acknowledging the spirit of the place, grounded in a feeling of safety, peace, and tranquility.

Over the years, this community has been home to thousands of children and families and has served as a model for how to nurture long-term healing and reconciliation in people’s lives.

In 2018

We moved out of the Vista Hermosa community to Pasco, WA, and transferred most of the community programming to the new farm owners. We continue to carry the legacy of that place with us as it guides how we invest in partners working in communities around the world. We ask: