Friday, June 24, 2011

Office staff takes on challenge to build homes in Haiti

A large piece of cardboard, with cartoon-like images of a curvy street and houses made of pastel fabric is not something you’ll see in a world-famous museum. But this work of art, affectionately referred to as “the neighborhood,” is so much more. It represents compassion, creativity, and the desire to make a difference in the lives of people three time zones and 3,000 miles away.

American Capital Group, located in Irvine, Calif., is an equipment finance company that has been in business since 1995. ACG leases computers, trucks and capital equipment to other businesses. Looking for a way to give back, the company decided to change its mission statement during a leadership team retreat last year.

“Our mission is to deliver innovative equipment financing solutions that enhance the lives of our customers, employees and community,” said Burke Wiedel, a Controller, with ACG.

It’s the ‘community’ portion of the statement, he says, that led them to Food For The Poor and the goal of raising enough money to build 20 homes for families recovering from the Jan.12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

“Our Chief Executive Officer, Carl Heaton, is a devoted Christian and desires to partner with Christian run organizations that help others in their areas of need. So the task was to find a charity with a high percentage of funds that go to its services. After looking at numerous charities, ACG’s President, Josh Splinter, chose Food For The Poor because of the incredibly high percentage of funds that go to actual services, and the impact of providing homes to struggling families,” said Wiedel.

ACG has paid for the construction of four houses, which are represented in “the neighborhood.” The staff of 21 employees meets regularly, and for certain thresholds in leased equipment funded, a portion of a house goes up in the “the neighborhood.” The foundation is added at threshold 1, the walls at 2, and the roof is placed on the house at 3. Then a check for $3,200, which is the cost of a home in Haiti, is mailed to Food For The Poor.

“It’s amazing what a team of people can do when they set their minds and hearts toward helping others in need,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “We cannot fix the problems in Haiti by ourselves, but I am so proud to say hundreds of families have been relocated out of the tent cities thanks to the loving generosity from people like those at American Capital Group.”

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.foodforthepoor.org.

Contact
:
Wanda Wright
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
wandaw@foodforthepoor.com

Father Chuck’s legacy transforms lives in Haiti and Nicaragua

Have you ever been hugged so tightly you could feel the other person’s heartbeat? Embraces full of gratitude welcomed Monsignor Francis X. Schmidt and residents from the Philadelphia area to villages in Haiti and Nicaragua that they have helped to transform with the relief and development organization Food For The Poor.

“We, working with Father Chuck’s Challenge in partnership with Food For The Poor, are performing important corporal works of mercy,” said Msgr. Schmidt. “God blesses us with very generous donors to help very poor but very grateful beneficiaries.”

Msgr. Schmidt’s first group journeyed by boat to Father Pfeffer’s Fishing Village in Baussan, Haiti, on May 25 to inaugurate the 30 two-room home coastal fishing village. Along the conch shell-lined beach, crowds of thankful villagers waded in the shallow water to greet the travelers with song and dance. In addition to building much needed homes in Baussan, the group also represented donors who funded the income-generating fishing village project in the community.

“What I like about Father Chuck's Challenge and Food For The Poor is that they commit to places, and they stick with those places for extended periods of time to transform lives,” said Eugene ‘Gene’ Halus, Jr., Associate Professor of Politics at Immaculate University in Pennsylvania. “That's what I saw in Haiti, and why I'm happy to keep raising funds for Father Chuck's Challenge and for Food For The Poor.”

Father Pfeffer’s Fishing Village is just one of the 33 fully operational fishing villages Food For The Poor has built along destitute coastal communities throughout Haiti. Fishing villages are a prime example of the effectiveness of self-sufficiency projects. The cooperative is supplied with boats, motors, fishing tackle and safety gear, refrigeration equipment, a storage facility and, most importantly, training for the fishermen. The fishermen are then able to fish in deeper, more bountiful waters and catch larger, more profitable fish. The entire village benefits from this enterprise because many of the villagers buy fish wholesale in order to sell them retail, while others sell the cooked fish to local residents.

During the June 6-10 trip, group members witnessed how donations from their parish communities were able to provide families with safe, sturdy housing, sanitation facilities, access to clean water, schooling and healthcare, in addition to the supplies and resources necessary to raise chickens.

Since 2007, Msgr. Schmidt also has supported projects in Nicaragua in honor of Father Chuck Pfeffer, a priest who was beloved by the community. Through the construction of 525 two-room homes in Nicaragua, Father Chuck’s Challenge provides a constant reminder to all who knew him about the importance of addressing the needs of the poorest of the poor – especially the young.


Fr. Chuck’s Challenge Projects in Nicaragua include:

-Fr. Pfeffer’s Village, 100 homes and St. Eleanor Health Clinic, in Bijagual
-Fr. Chuck’s Challenge II, 200 homes (Frances’ Village and Father Michael McGivney Village) and Holy Family Health Clinic, in La Rica
-Fr. Chuck’s Challenge III, 100 homes (San Estefano Village and San Augustin Village), in El Tuma-La Dalia
-Fr. Chuck’s Challenge at San Ramon, 50 total homes (San Patricio Village) and San Patricio School, in San Ramon

Msgr. Schmidt is currently fundraising to build the remaining 25 homes in Pantasma. The project consists of 100 homes and development projects. In Nicaragua, a donation of $3,200 provides a destitute family with a permanent two-room house with a latrine. Proper sanitation is essential to the health and welfare of a thriving family and helps prevent life-threatening illnesses.

On this month’s trip, the group revisited the once impoverished community of San Ramón, Nicaragua, located 9 miles outside of Matagalpa. The purpose was to inaugurate 50 furnished homes with access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities, a two-room schoolhouse, a community center, a reforestation project and an animal husbandry project. Each family will receive a chicken coop, one rooster and two hens so that they can expand their stock of chickens for meat and eggs, which will supply the family with much needed protein and an additional source of income.

During the ceremony, the Mayor of San Ramon honored guests when he said, “You have led our people to the promised land.” A 25-year-old member of the community also spoke at the inauguration to express the villagers’ gratitude for their new homes. She reminded the crowd “that the one who mocks the poor offends the Creator. You have not mocked us, but delivered us from plastic homes to new safe ones.”

To support Father Chuck’s Challenge, please make checks payable to Food For The Poor, Inc. and include the special source code “SC # 74186” so the money can be properly allocated. Donations can be mailed to Food For The Poor, Inc., 6401 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, FL 33073. All gifts are tax-deductible. Online donations can also be made through the charity’s secure Web site at www.FoodForThePoor.org/fatherchuckschallenge.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Contact:
Jennifer Leigh Oates
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
jennifero@foodforthepoor.com

Monday, June 20, 2011

Students build homes in Haiti, creating a legacy

At the same time Haitians came together to elect a new president, a government teacher in California challenged high school seniors to combine their talents through their curriculum to erect safe, permanent houses for destitute families in Haiti. Since the fall, two groups of students at Valencia High School in Santa Clarita have partnered with the international relief and development agency Food For The Poor, to move destitute Haitian families out of unsafe housing and unsanitary living conditions.

"The opportunity to participate in raising money for a family in Haiti really brings joy to my heart," said Justin Hirano, a senior at Valencia High School. "I raised money by singing and playing my guitar at a park on one of my free weekends for a few hours. Before I knew it people were putting dollar bills into the guitar case."

Playing a guitar in the park was only one way the 74 students chose to raise money this spring to change a family’s life in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. Money earned kissing chihuahuas, selling homemade lollipops, lemonade and baked goods was combined to give the gift of a new home with sanitation. The students raised a total of $3,682, so family also received rice and beans for one year, a small-business project for income, school supplies for two children, and clothing and shoes.

“Knowing that my little fundraising did so much for a family in need has had me thinking a lot about doing more for the people in Haiti,” said Camilla Maalouf, a senior at Valencia High School. “Definitely over the summer I will talk to some of my friends and family about going there to help build houses and/or whatever else is needed to help out.”

Government teacher Greg Hayes learned of Food For The Poor’s house building initiative while listening to a KKLA-FM 99.5 FM Los Angeles radio segment. Now, only a few months later, photographs of the two beneficiary families standing in front of their new Food For The Poor homes hang in Hayes’ classroom.

“Once they saw the first picture [from Haiti] it was unbelievably humbling and heartwarming to them,” said Hayes. “Some had never done anything like this before in their life.”

Hayes’ students were in disbelief when they realized how their collective donations had changed the fortune and future of a family in Haiti.

“When Mr. Hayes showed me the picture of the family that we provided the house for, it was an eye-opening experience for me,” said Emily Tuffey, 17, a senior at Valencia High School. “I didn't realize what we had actually done until I saw the picture, and I was so proud of our class. I had mentioned to a family friend that my Government class was raising money for Food For The Poor and she immediately wanted to donate all she could to the program.”

“This program truly opened my eyes,” said Kelsey Sepehri, 18, a senior at Valencia High School. “With only a little effort I was able to raise money for a family that was less fortunate.”

In March, David Duncan, a senior at Valencia High School, died suddenly. At graduation, the students decided to dedicate one of the two homes they helped build in Haiti in Duncan’s memory. Both of Duncan’s parents teach at Valencia High School.

A donation of $3,200 can build a home with a latrine and shower stall for a destitute family, providing them with access to proper sanitation, privacy and a secure place to call home.

To involve your school or church group in Food For The Poor’s mission call 1-877-654-2960, ext. 6988 or e-mail churchschool@foodforthepoor.org.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Contact:
Jennifer Leigh Oates
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
jennifero@foodforthepoor.com

Join SwipeGood today and your first donation will be doubled!

Give hunger a one-two punch with SwipeGood, a service that rounds up and donates the spare change from your credit card purchases to Food For The Poor! Sign-up by this Friday and SwipeGood will MATCH your first month's round ups, instantly DOUBLING the number of hungry children you'll feed.

On average, SwipeGood users round up $18 in spare change each month. So, if you sign up by June 24, SwipeGood will match your $18 and send $36 to Food For The Poor feeding programs -- enough to feed a hungry child for an ENTIRE YEAR!

Here's how it works:

1. Go to http://www.foodforthepoor.org/swipegoodmatch
2. Click the orange "Get Started" button
3. Create an account or log-in with your Facebook account
4. Enter your credit or debit card information
5. Set a monthly donation limit if you want
6. Start shopping and incorporate giving into your everyday life!

Please join SwipeGood today and help us defeat hunger by changing lives every time you shop!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Rebuilding schools, renewing hope in Haiti

The sounds of school bells ringing and children chatting away as they hurry off to class soon will be returning to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It’s been 17 months since a massive 7.0 magnitude quake tore apart the earth there, destroying everything and everyone near its epicenter, including 80 percent of the schools.

In May, the ground shook again, but this time it was from the use of heavy machinery clearing sites for schools. Food For The Poor is building the Jean Marie Guilloux primary and secondary school, the first of four schools slated to go up in and around Haiti’s capital.

The two-level building will have a total of 16 rooms including, six classrooms, an administrative office, and a canteen on the first level. Six more classrooms, a library with a computer lab, plus a music room will make up the second level. Each classroom will accommodate 40 students and a teacher. All of the new schools will have a walkway with a canopy and stairway, along with a water well and septic system.

There will also be a grassy courtyard to provide students with a secure place to relax or play in between classes. Each school is being built with pre-fabricated earthquake resistant materials. The schools are also designed to resist a Category 5 Hurricane, which is a storm with wind speeds above of 155 mph. More than 3,400 students will benefit from the construction of the four new schools.

“This is a blessing for Haiti, especially in Port-au-Prince because we lost so many students that day, along with their many dreams,” said Lesly Clervil, Food For The Poor’s Haiti Project Manager. “The rebuilding of these schools will bring back hope and pride to the children.”

Shortly after the devastation, many devoted teachers and countless volunteers, determined to help students return to a sense of normalcy, made makeshift classrooms from tents and scraps of fabric. These classroom settings often were under trees, or in open fields away from the potential danger of falling debris. Desks and chairs were put together from whatever salvageable materials they could find.

“After seeing this, we knew we had to help,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “Getting the children back into safe buildings, with the proper desks and adequate supplies, became one of our top priorities. I am proud to say that goal is being fulfilled. We must provide Haiti’s children with the educational tools needed to prepare them for future success – self-sustaining success – to one day rebuild a beautiful and better Haiti.”

According to the charity’s project manager, each school will take approximately two months to construct. Now that the debris has been cleared from the site, and the concrete foundation has been poured, completion of the first school is expected by the end of July.

“Words cannot express the excitement we feel for the thousands of school-aged children in Port-au-Prince who will now be able to take advantage of a good education and the immense gratitude for all whose generosity and hard work are making this dream a reality,” said Mahfood.

Last November, Food For The Poor celebrated the opening of a school in Petit Goave, the first school the charity opened after the earthquake.

The new schools are
:

• Jean Marie Guilloux, 12 Classrooms
• St. Francois D’Assise, 12 Classrooms
• Marie Clarac, 16 Classrooms
• George Marc, 21 Classrooms

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.foodforthepoor.org.

Contact:
Wanda Wright
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
wandaw@foodforthepoor.com

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Food For The Poor celebrates 25 years in Haiti

When Food For The Poor first began its work in Haiti, the organization was responding to a cry for help for those living in subhuman conditions in the country’s largest and most dangerous slum, Cite Soleil located in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Five containers of rice were delivered in 1982 to prevent families from starving. By 1986, when Food For The Poor was licensed to work in Haiti, the charity delivered $4.1 million in aid.

Since then, the relief and development work has not ceased. The long tenure of Food For The Poor in Haiti made it possible to respond quickly and efficiently last year when the country was faced with the double challenge of a devastating earthquake and an outbreak of cholera. In 2010, Food For The Poor shipped 205 containers of goods worth $188 million to Haiti.

“We believe that every human being deserves the simple dignity of having sufficient food, clean water, adequate shelter, an education, medical attention, and the opportunity to become self-sufficient. Nowhere is that more true than for the people of Haiti, who have a special place in our hearts,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “I take this opportunity to thank all of our donors who have supported so many projects throughout Haiti over these 25 years.”

To date, Food For The Poor has built more than 15,000 homes in Haiti, and is focused on self-sufficiency projects:

•Fishing villages and aquaculture projects are providing residents with new food sources, and entire communities with a gainful source of income.
•There are 33 fishing villages in full operation in a variety of coastal locations, and 10 villages are being planned for development in 2011.
•40 tilapia ponds have been completed throughout the country. Another eight
tilapia ponds and five pangasius (Basa) hatching ponds are under construction, with various future sites being considered for aquaculture projects.
•More than 20 Food For The Poor projects in Haiti are geared toward production of other food products – chickens, goats, cows, fruit trees, and vegetable farms.
•By the end of 2010, Food For The Poor had distributed more than 350,000 fruit trees. In addition to helping small sustenance farmers, these projects help villages set up community farms where residents can enjoy harvests of peppers, corn, and other healthy vegetables.
•Animal husbandry projects provide individual families with their own animals to breed and consume – predominantly goats, chickens and cows. In addition, farms are being established to raise strong, healthy animals to perpetuate the distribution process.

Food For The Poor’s vision for 2011 includes plans to continue rebuilding Haiti. Its goal is to provide 5,000 more housing units, install at least 120 water wells with pumps, and supply 30 additional solar-powered water filtration and chlorination systems to help in the fight against cholera and other water-borne diseases.

“Nowhere is our optimism for Haiti more evident than in our building of schools. Education will be key to a better future,” Mahfood said. “We have raised enough funds to start rebuilding four large schools this year that were destroyed in the earthquake.”

Those schools are Marie Clarac, George Marc, Jean Marie Guilloux, and St. Francois D’ Assise all of which are in Port-au-Prince. They will accommodate 3,400 students.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.foodforthepoor.org.

Contact:
Kathy Skipper
Food For The Poor
Director of Public Relations
(954) 427-2222 x 6614
kathys@foodforthepoor.org

Friday, June 3, 2011

Food For The Poor celebrates 20 years of service in Guyana

Thanks to the continued support of Food For The Poor donors, the third-largest international relief and development agency in the United States will celebrate two decades of service to Guyana’s poor on Friday, June 3. Food For The Poor began working in Guyana in 1991, delivering food and other basic items to Guyana’s poor.

Since then, the Florida-based nonprofit has expanded its services in Guyana to meet the growing needs of the country’s impoverished residents. Inflation and a high unemployment rate create a daily struggle to survive for Guyana’s poor.

“Few people are aware of the tremendous poverty that exists in Guyana, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “I would like to thank Food For The Poor-Guyana’s staff for working diligently and efficiently to ease the plight of Guyana’s poor – one person, one family at a time.”

Through its offices and warehouse in Georgetown, Food For The Poor staff works closely with partners throughout Guyana to provide food, medical supplies, vocational training equipment, school furniture and other goods to those most in need. Food For The Poor strives to help ease the struggle of Guyana’s poor by providing nourishing meals at its feeding centers, by building homes for those without adequate shelter, and by providing for the daily care of hundreds of orphans. In addition, Food For The Poor installs numerous water and sanitation projects, offers skills training programs and animal husbandry operations, in addition to the distribution of critically needed relief supplies.

In 2010, Food For The Poor sent more than $53.2 million in aid to Guyana. More recently, Food For The Poor delivered more than 480 computers to outfit schools, orphanages and technology centers throughout Guyana. The workstations will help students improve their reading skills and, for many, will provide their first experience with computer technology. Additionally, 10 marching band sets, each containing 40 instruments, have been distributed to schools in Guyana.

During the past several years, Food For The Poor has constructed six Amerindian Villages in Guyana. The most recent project, Lake Capoey, in Essequibo, consists of 50 two-room housing units with sanitation, installation of a water system, a community center, nursery school, a solar powered computer center, and 2,000 broiler chickens. This has been accomplished through the generosity of Joe and Judy Roetheli and their Roetheli Lil Red Foundation.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.


Contact:
Jennifer Leigh Oates
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
jennifero@foodforthepoor.com

Six villages and counting, thanks to a dedicated parish

For 13 years, Father Richard Martin, pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Burke, Va., has worked side by side with Food For The Poor to help transform the lives of hundreds of families who once lived in deplorable conditions in Haiti.

On Friday, May 27, Fr. Martin presented Food For The Poor’s CEO/President Robin Mahfood with another generous check. Nativity Parish’s 2011 Lenten collection will be used to build 100 new homes in its seventh village. “Nativity Village in Mazere” will be located in Cap-Haitien.

“Food For The Poor has delivered aid and so much more to those who are desperate for help, and together we make a difference,” said Fr. Martin, Church of the Nativity. “I want to thank all of you for being shepherds. All of you are caretakers and shepherds. What would Food For The Poor be without its shepherds?”

In 1998, Fr. Martin’s church built its first “Nativity Village” consisting of 27 homes in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with help from Food For The Poor. Since making that commitment, every year for more than a decade, Nativity has taken on additional projects to ease the suffering in the Caribbean nation. By the end of 2010, that first project at Canapé-Vert grew to six complete “Nativity Village” developments. Now, there are more than 800 houses in various parts of the country.

“Here at Food For The Poor, we are very thankful for Fr. Martin and his compassionate parishioners. Because of their loving kindness, many lives in Haiti have been changed and will continue to be changed for the better,” said Mahfood. “What a tremendous blessing Nativity has been to us.”

Since February 1999, Nativity parishioners have accompanied Fr. Martin on mission trips to Haiti, to see for themselves the fruits of their generosity. As he celebrates his 45th anniversary as a priest, he will continue the tradition, and will head back to Haiti with volunteers from his parish this summer for the ground breaking of “Nativity Village in Mazere.”

“This village will provide so much more than just 100 new sturdy homes with sanitation,” said Jim McDaniel, a Nativity parishioner and Food For The Poor staff member. “There will be a water filtration system, a community center for vocational training, and agricultural projects – this way the people can grow their own crops and generate revenue to become self-sustaining.”

Last June, 13 parishioners from Nativity Parish traveled to Cap-Haitien with Food For The Poor to visit “Nativity Village at Chastenoye,” where 50 homes were built for 50 families who were relocated from Shada. This Cap-Haitien slum is an inhumane place with no clean water; a place where the smell of garbage, along with the smell of burning trash fills the air.

Click on links for a look back at Nativity’s 2010 mission trip to Cap-Haitien, Haiti:

Part I: Church of the Nativity mission trip

Part V: Church of the Nativity mission trip

Part VII: Church of the Nativity mission trip

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.foodforthepoor.org.

Contact:
Wanda Wright
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
wandaw@foodforthepoor.com