He Has the Gift of Creating Wealth

If you’re over 35 and you’ve eaten a McDonald’s burger or salad, there’s a good chance you’ve eaten lettuce packaged and sold by Howard Long’s companies.

Howard still remembers a turning-point day in 1985, when he walked a group of McDonald’s executives into a lettuce field and showed them the innovations—and the quality—he could deliver. At the time, he was only a regional supplier. But that day changed everything.

“I’m showing ’em the difference—hard lettuce and our lettuce,” Howard recalls. “Ours is soft at the middle, so you don’t have that hard, bitter flavor.”

“They told me, ‘Well, Howard… can you do the whole country?’” he says. 

“I said, ‘Yeah, I could do the whole country.’ And just like that… now I’m the lettuce man.”

That deal made Howard’s company—Coronet, a powerhouse in international lettuce processing. And when McDonald’s went international, Coronet followed, supplying fresh produce to stores in the UK, France, and China.

“We got over there because we had lettuce that no one over there could produce,” Howard says.

At its peak, Howard’s produce empire spanned the globe—with production plants on multiple continents and more than 2,000 employees. But Howard doesn’t tell that story as a self-made triumph. He says God was the source.

“In Deuteronomy it talks about… God says to some He has given the ability to create wealth,” he says.

“Very early on in my twenties,” Howard adds, “especially when I got in the business, I felt that I was given the gift to create wealth.”

From the hills of West Virginia to the boardrooms of international business, Howard believes creating wealth comes with responsibilities.

“Find the ministries that are pushing… salvation, building for the harvest, feeding the poor,” he says.

“And that’s one of God’s commandments—to feed the poor,” Howard adds.

“When you are giving to CBN,” he says, “and Operation Blessing is doing the same thing…”

For more than 50 years, Howard and his wife Wendy have faithfully supported CBN and Operation Blessing, helping bring hope and relief to people in need.

“I stumbled across The 700 Club,” Howard remembers. “Pat was preaching and doing a wonderful job of presenting the gospel.”

“And the more I watched Pat,” he says, “the more it became important to me that he got the financial help.”

Howard’s giving also helped support major milestones—like the construction of Regent University.

“There was no building there when we started,” he says.

“There’s about four or five hundred of us standing outside the lots,” Howard recalls. “And he’s preaching about… God had given him a vision to build a school.”

“And the Holy Spirit told me to give him money,” Howard says. “So I think I wrote the largest check I’d ever written.”

He adds, “You would be doing the right thing by giving money to Regent today.”

Howard says his legacy isn’t only about success and philanthropy—like CBN, it’s about making Christ known.

“CBN is still every day preaching the gospel and saving souls and calling people to accept Jesus,” he says.

“I would encourage you—look them up online… even visit them,” Howard adds. “You’ll find a hallowed piece of ground with people who honestly love God—love Jesus.”

Psalm 41:1 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor; the LORD will deliver Him in time of trouble.” When you partner with CBN, you do more than just give to the poor. You provide hope and the love of Christ through life-giving surgeries, food and clothing programs, humanitarian aid, and so much more! Become a CBN partner, and help transform lives in the name of Jesus Christ! Join us now!