Boca Raton gala one week away

Grammy Award-Winning Reggae Star to Perform in Boca

	Grammy-award winning reggae artist Shaggy, and The Hot Shot Band, will perform at Food For The Poor’s 20th annual Building Hope Gala, Feb. 6, 2015, at Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida.
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COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Jan. 30, 2015) – It’s only one week until Grammy-award winning reggae artist, Shaggy, and The Hot Shot Band will perform at Food For The Poor’s 20th annual Building Hope Gala, Friday, Feb. 6, 2015, at Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida. Shaggy is currently up for another Grammy Award with his reggae album, “Out of Many, One Music.”

Mary Wong, President of the Office Depot Foundation, will be recognized as Food For The Poor’s 2015 Ambassador For The Poor at the gala for her philanthropic endeavors throughout the community. This year’s theme is old Hollywood glamour.

In time for Valentine’s Day, one of this year’s sponsors, J.R. Dunn Jewelers, in Lighthouse Point, Florida, will offer gala attendees an exclusive way to contribute to build critically needed houses for destitute families in Haiti. For a $100 donation at the event – with only 100 chances available – one guest will win a $5,000 shopping spree at J.R. Dunn Jewelers.

Attendees at the 20th annual Building Hope Gala will be invited to create a charitable legacy by pledging to build Food For The Poor houses for people in desperate need of adequate shelter in the area surrounding Pon Batay, Haiti. A gift of $3,200 will move a destitute family from their dirt-floor makeshift shack, into a permanent home.

“I would like to thank Shaggy, Mary Wong, and the Building Hope Gala committee members and sponsors for their dedication to build a tremendous amount of homes in Haiti at the gala’s 20th anniversary,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood.

Bidding on silent auction prizes such as artwork, electronics, jewelry, vacations, golf and dining packages also offer opportunities for guests to shop and support the cause. Silent auction prizes at the gala will range from a five-night stay at the beautiful Couples San Souci Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, to the opportunity to be Sheriff for a Day with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Live auction prizes will also be available exclusively to attendees. In addition to a ride in the clouds for two aboard the Goodyear Blimp based at the Pompano Beach Airpark; and a seven-day stay at one of Interval International’s member resorts; Chef Ron Duprat, a star on the reality TV show “Top Chef” has offered to share his passion for cooking to help build homes in his homeland of Haiti. At the Building Hope Gala, attendees can bid on a 12-course dinner for 25 guests prepared by the French-trained executive chef at the home of the winning bidder.

For additional information regarding the Building Hope Gala, including sponsorship opportunities and tickets, available at $250 per person, please call 888-404-4248 or visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/boca.

The Building Hope Gala Chairwoman is Rene Turner-Mahfood, and additional committee members include Wedler Alexandre, Carlos Bodden, Matthew Bryant, Becky Carlsson, Ronda Ellis Ged, LaMae Klos, Susan Krassen, Julie Mahfood, Tashia Rahl, Kara Seelye, Deborah Shapiro and Renee Stetler.

Gala sponsors include Club Managers Association of America, Dennis Charley & Associates, Blackbaud, DKB Trade Concepts Inc., Gregory's Fine Jewelry, Harcourt M. & Virginia W. Sylvester Foundation, Innovvaire, J.R. Dunn Jewelers, Leslie L. Alexander Foundation, McFFe Group, MOR Printing, Oceans 234, Office Depot Foundation, Premier Aircraft Sales, Seaboard Marine, TD Bank, Teemlink Ltd., The Calmark Group, The Levitetz Family Foundation, Trinity Direct, United Healthcare and The Boca Raton Observer.

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 95 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Shaggy to Perform at Gala

Grammy award-winning reggae star Shaggy to celebrate gala milestone

	Shaggy (left) talks with Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood. Shaggy, a longtime supporter of the South Florida based-nonprofit, will perform at the 20th annual Building Hope Gala Feb. 6, 2015.
Related Item: Reserve Your Seat

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 29, 2014) – Come build homes and provide hope for Haiti with award-winning reggae artist, Shaggy, at Food For The Poor’s 20th annual Building Hope Gala, Friday, Feb. 6, 2015, at Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton. Attendees will be invited to create a legacy by pledging to build critically needed houses in Pon Batay, Haiti.

“Shaggy is a true friend of Food For The Poor,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood. “Thanks to Shaggy, the determination of Building Hope Gala committee members, and the South Florida community, Food For The Poor is positioned to build even more homes to commemorate the gala’s 20th anniversary.” 

Shaggy a longtime supporter of the South Florida based-nonprofit Food For The Poor, will perform at the 20th annual Building Hope Gala. Shaggy’s philanthropic giving is based on the premise that “to whom much is given, much is required.”

“The gift of a safe, secure home is a tremendous blessing for a family who lives in a crumbling one-room shack, and does not know where there next meal will come from,” said Mahfood. “A home offers more than shelter to a destitute family – it offers hope.”   

Since inception, Food For The Poor has built more than 91,000 housing units for people desperately in need of adequate shelter. A gift of $3,200 will move a destitute family from their dirt-floor makeshift shack in Pon Batay, into a permanent home. The community’s dire living conditions are compounded by the lack of clean drinking water in the area. Pon Batay residents must walk miles to the nearest community to fetch water from a well.

Supporters who donate a Food For The Poor home in advance of the Building Hope Gala will be entered into a drawing to win two tickets to New York Fashion Week in September 2015. The winner and guest will travel to New York in style, wearing custom-made dresses, selected by an A-List wardrobe stylist. Hotel and airfare accommodations are included in the package. Each home donated between Nov. 1 and midnight on February 5, 2015, will generate an entry for the drawing. The winning ticket will be pulled during the gala.

At the event, attendees will be able to bid on additional silent auction prizes, such as electronics, jewelry, vacations, golf and dining packages at Boca West Country Club, 20583 Boca West Drive, Boca Raton, Fla. 33434. This year’s theme is old Hollywood glamor.

The Building Hope Gala committee has organized a pre-event party on Nov. 13 at Shop DNA, Royal Palm Place, 1000 Plaza Real S., Suite E, Boca Raton, FL 33432. A portion of the proceeds from sales will be donated to Food For The Poor. Lea Black, from the cast of The Real Housewives of Miami Season 3, will attend the event. Please call Hillary Wallace at 888-404-4248 to request an invitation.

For additional information regarding the Building Hope Gala, sponsorship opportunities, and tickets, available at $250 per person, please call 888-404-4248 or visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/boca.

Committee members include Wedler Alexandre, Carlos Bodden, Matthew Bryant, Becky Carlsson, Gregory Fried, Ronda Ellis Ged, Erin Heit, Susan Krassen, Julie Mahfood, Rene Mahfood, Dan Overbey, Tashia Rahl, Candace Rojas, Kara Seelye, Dr. Deborah Shapiro, Renee Stetler and Max Tucci.

Gala sponsors include Leslie L. Alexander Foundation, Boca Raton Observer, Club Managers Association of America, Dennis Charley & Associates, Inc., Gregory’s Fine Jewelry, Oceans 234, Seaboard Marine, TD Bank, and Trinity Direct.

Shaggy won a Grammy for his album “Boombastic,” and was nominated for “It Wasn’t Me,” “Intoxication,” “Hotshot,” and “Summer in Kingston.” Shaggy has sold more than 20 million albums and has had seven number-one albums. Shaggy has also had eight number-one hit singles.

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 95 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Compassionate Palm Beach Philanthropists Unite to Build Homes

Palm Beach philanthropists Robert G. and Arlette Gordon (Grand Honorary Chairpersons) joined Elizabeth Bowden (Gala Chairwoman) and Paul Marino (Event Chairman) on stage at Food For The Poor’s eighth-annual Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures gala on Jan. 30 at The Breakers, Palm Beach.

Food For The Poor’s gala began with a superb wine tasting reception with selected wines compliments of Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., and Republic National Distributing Company. Throughout the reception, unique wine selections, jewelry and exotic escapes were among the varied silent and live auction prizes.

Once in the ballroom Arlette Gordon thanked Patrick Park and Nathalie Fernandez for graciously committing to be the charity’s platinum benefactors. She then mentioned Silver and Gala benefactors by name, thanking them individually for their support to build critically needed homes in developing countries.

Silver benefactors include Elizabeth Bowden, Florence DeGeorge, Robert G. and Arlette Gordon, and Howard and Michele Kessler. Gala benefactors include Helen Bernstein, Stanley and Helene Karp, Charlotte Kimelman, Henry Fong and Mary Virginia Knight, Anneliese Langner, Hermé de Wyman Miro – The International Society of Palm Beach, Patty Myura – Eleanor Reeves Foundation, and Ari Rifkin.

After Arlette Gordon briefly reminisced on their friendship and travel excursions, Bowden attributed her becoming a supporter of Food For The Poor to Arlette Gordon.

“Living on this beautiful island, it is hard to imagine the horrific living conditions that exist in Haiti,” said Bowden. “More than a million Haitians were displaced immediately following the earthquake, and they struggle daily to find food, safe drinking water and shelter. By supporting Food For The Poor’s “Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures” gala, you, too, can help provide permanent housing for those who have nowhere to call home.”

The Breakers Executive Chef Jeff Simms described the five-course menu that featured each of The Breakers’ restaurants, and mentioned the specially selected fine wines that were chosen to enhance each course. Robert Gordon’s epicurean reputation is known throughout Palm Beach, and for many years he has been recognized as one of the area’s most generous philanthropists and past Bailli-Confrérie de las Chaines des Rôtisseurs.

“Food For The Poor is one of those charities that does not just send money,” said Robert Gordon. “They make sure the supplies reach those who need them the most. Food For The Poor is a good steward with donations – more than 96 percent of all donations go directly to programs that help the poor.”

Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director, began by thanking the Gordons, Elizabeth Bowden and Paul Marino for all they have done through the years to introduce Food The Poor to the Palm Beach community.

Aloma recalled how a few days before last year’s event he returned from the devastated country of Haiti. As of December 2010, he said Food For The Poor had shipped 1,465 tractor-trailer loads of food, water, medicines and other lifesaving relief aid valued at $205 million to Haiti. More than 1,589 permanent two-room homes with sanitation units and access to water have also been built to house displaced earthquake victims. Members of the crowd applauded when Aloma said the $20.7 million dollars collected as Haiti emergency earthquake relief funds by Food For The Poor had been spent by the end of October 2010.

Then Aloma introduced Ray Mou, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Miami (Taiwan), the gala’s Grand Benefactor. He described Mou as a wonderful man and poet.

“Half a century ago, between 1949 and 1965, Taiwan received nearly a $1.5 billion loan and grant from the United States to reconstruct its economy after World War II,” said Mou. “Now, as the twenty-fourth largest economy in the world we are no longer a recipient state. We actively lend a helping hand to people in need. The ultimate purpose of our humanitarian diplomacy is to promote humanity and to ask for nothing back in return. We wish we could do more to help the Global Village.”

Mou said the Taiwanese did not hesitate to help following the earthquake in Haiti. Joint initiatives between Taiwan ICDF and Food For The Poor include feeding the destitute, and the in-country production of food through agriculture, farm-raised fish and livestock breeding – self-sustainable initiatives that teach people how to earn a living. In 2010, Taiwan ICDF donated 1,250 tons of rice to Food For The Poor.

During the live auction, Curt Fonger, master of ceremonies and CBS WPEC Channel 12’s weeknight anchor, rallied the crowd in support of Food For The Poor’s mission. Auction prizes included exotic vacation destinations such as Hong Kong and Montego Bay, Jamaica. The third item to be auctioned was one of Oprah Winfrey’s Favorite Things. A donor gave the Philip Stein, diamond-bezel watch to Food For The Poor, so monies raised could assist with the charity’s house building effort.

Earlier in the evening, Aloma thanked attendees for their gift of presence, telling the audience that every dance helps to wipe away tears; every course helps bring back people on the verge of despair; and every sip of wine gives people back the ability to dream. The performances by La Mystique enthralled guests and filled the dance floor.

Gala sponsors included American Nicaraguan Foundation, Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., Russ Reid Company, Republic National Distributing Company, and TerraGroup.

For additional information regarding the Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures event, please call 1-888-404-4248 or visit the event page online.

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. We provide 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
954-427-2222 x 6054
jennifero@foodforthepoor.com

Food For The Poor’s Boca Raton Gala to Build “Dreams Across the Sea”

South Florida residents are invited to attend Food For The Poor’s Boca Raton Gala Dreams Across the Sea at the Boca West Country Club on Saturday, Feb. 5. Proceeds will be used to meet the dire housing needs of developing countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.


“Abdol and I are honored to support the international humanitarian efforts of Food For The Poor,” said Cathy Moabery, event co-chairperson. “We are excited to chair this annual event, an evening of building hope and dreams across the sea.”

Master of ceremonies for Dreams Across the Sea is Emmy Award-winning newscaster Calvin Hughes. Hughes co-anchors ABC Local 10’s 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news with Laurie Jennings. Immediately following the Jan. 12 earthquake, Hughes traveled to Haiti to report how nonprofits such as Food For The Poor were striving to improve lives and living conditions throughout the country.

“Less than an hour and a half plane ride from South Florida, there are Third World countries with unimaginable levels of destitution,” said Rene Mahfood, event co-chairperson. “We are blessed to live in the United States, where we have opportunities and the necessary resources to help those who have literally nothing.”

Dreams Across the Sea will feature an elegant cocktail reception, live music, an exclusive silent auction, house rally, dancing, and a memorable dinner with friends. Bidding on silent auction prizes offers opportunities for guests to donate to the cause at the same time. Prizes include exclusive art and collectibles from the Caribbean and Latin America, designer jewelry, vacations, golf and dining packages.

During the charity’s 16th annual Boca Raton gala live house rally guests are given the opportunity to donate funds to build much-needed permanent housing for destitute families. By providing simple, sturdy homes, the nonprofit can change the lives of entire families by giving them the security of a safe place to live.

Food For The Poor will honor South Florida residents whose generosity and dedication to the organization have been inspirational. Food For The Poor’s 2011 Ambassadors for the Poor honorees include Altadis USA Inc. (Monte Cristo Relief Org.), Broetje Orchards, GOYA Foods of Florida, Lawrence Hambach, Hospital Corp of America, Alfredo & Theresa Pellas, Publix Super Markets Inc., Royal Caribbean International, TD Bank N.A., and Whole Foods Markets.

The event co-chairpersons are Cathy and Abdol Moabery, and Rene and Francis Mahfood. Committee members include Rhonda Gluck, Julie Mahfood, Pamela Matsil, Natasha Singh, Patricia Wallace and Traci Wilson.

Event sponsors include Aljoma Lumber, American Nicaraguan Foundation, Bernuth Agencies, Inc., Dennis Charley & Associates, Inc., Dusco Doors, Japs-Olson, Haiti Shipping Lines, MSP, The Pereira Family, Quadriga Art, Inc., SEACOR Holdings Inc., Seaboard Marine Ltd., and TD Bank, N.A.

For additional information regarding the Dreams Across the Sea event and tickets, available at $225 per person, please call Kathy Leggatt at (954) 427-2222 x 6646, or visit the Web site www.foodforthepoor.org/boca.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the United States, 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.