Government of Taiwan Donates 110 Containers of Rice to the People of Haiti

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 12, 2012) – Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) will donate 110 containers of rice, the equivalent of 2,200 tons, to the people of Haiti in November, through the nonprofit Food For The Poor. The generosity of Taiwan’s MOFA donation is magnified by floods, droughts, and crop failures that continue to cause food costs to rise globally.

In developing countries, families typically spend 80 to 90 percent of their income on food, as opposed to Americans who spend about 9 percent. Escalating food and fuel prices mean destitute families are not able to buy as much food for their families as they once were, and cases of malnutrition, especially in children, are increasingly common.

“This rice is an answered prayer,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “On behalf of those Food For The Poor serves, we are grateful to the Taiwanese government for their lifesaving donation. The volatile situation with the increasing food and fuel prices have stretched our charity's ability to get food and other supplies where they are most needed.”

Food For The Poor will distribute the donated rice to sponsored programs, one of which is Food For The Poor’s feeding center in Port-au-Prince. Approximately 15,000 hot meals are cooked and distributed from this location six days a week.

Taiwan’s First Lady Chow Mei-ching and daughter, Lesley Ma, have served rice donated from the people of Taiwan to Haiti’s destitute at this Food For The Poor feeding center. The mother-daughter humanitarian team eagerly rolled up their sleeves to serve the steaming rice and stew to the needy families.

This is the second year Taiwan’s MOFA has worked through Food For The Poor to send containers of rice to Haiti. In 2011, Taiwan MOFA stepped up to help with a donation of 40 containers of rice, which is approximately 800 tons.

Food For The Poor, named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as the 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 ministry 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.