School in Jamaica dedicated in honor of Palm Beach Philanthropist

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Jan. 17) – Students enthusiastically waved letters that spelled out the word “Thanks” to welcome Food For The Poor representatives and the charity’s 2012 Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures Event Chairman to the Robert G. Gordon Memorial Bluefields Basic School dedication ceremony on Jan. 12 in Jamaica.

The school project, named in honor of Robert G. Gordon, will serve more than 100 students each year and was constructed with funds raised at the 2012 Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures Gala.“Robert’s love of life was large,” said Paul Marino, the 2012 Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures Gala Event Chairman. “It was through his efforts and years of dedication that we were able to build an entire community in Bluefields, Jamaica. We cherish it in his memory.”

The Palm Beach community has worked to transform Gordon’s Village in Bluefields, Jamaica, since 2007 by establishing a self-sustaining fishing village in the community. Over the years, the groups raised money to replace dilapidated shacks with more than 125 permanent houses, construct a school for more than 100 children, build a fish processing facility, and provide residents with access to clean water and sanitation.
Food For The Poor’s 10th annual Palm Beach Gala, Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures,will be Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, at The Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach. Proceeds from the gala will fund the expansion and renovation of Bluefields Health Centre in Bluefields.

The Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures Gala will open with an exquisite wine tasting reception sponsored by Dreyfus, Ashby & Co. and Republic National Distributing Company. Unique wine selections, jewelry and exotic escapes to such places as Hong Kong are among the varied prizes in the silent and live auctions. The evening culminates with a 4-course gourmet dinner with wine pairing.

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.

Palm Beach Philanthropists Support Food For The Poor’s Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures gala

Food For The Poor’s eighth annual Palm Beach gala, Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures will be held Sunday, January 30, 2011, at The Breakers, Palm Beach. The annual event is chaired by distinguished Palm Beach philanthropists Robert G. and Arlette Gordon (Grand Honorary Chairpersons), Elizabeth Bowden (Gala Chairwoman), and Paul Marino (Event Chairman).

With a passion for both culinary achievement and charitable giving, Grand Honorary Chairpersons Robert and Arlette Gordon and Gala Chairwoman Elizabeth Bowden, invite you to become involved in this philanthropic cause and transform lives of poverty and suffering into ones filled with hope and thanksgiving. Proceeds will be used to build desperately needed homes for destitute families in developing countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.

Food For The Poor’s gala will begin 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 are among the varied silent and live auction prizes. Specially selected fine wines will be chosen to enhance each course and to highlight the executive chefs and restaurants of The Breakers. Additionally, Broadway-inspired performances by La Mystique are certain to enthrall guests.

Patrick Park and Nathalie Fernandez have graciously committed to be the charity’s platinum benefactors. Silver benefactors include Elizabeth Bowden, Florence DeGeorge, Robert and Arlette Gordon, and Howard and Michele Kessler. Gala benefactors include Helen Bernstein, Stanley and Helene Karp, Henry Fong and Mary Virginia Knight, Anneliese Langner, Hermé de Wyman Miro – The International Society of Palm Beach, and Ari Rifkin.

Ray Mou, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Miami (Taiwan), has been named the gala’s Grand Benefactor. 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.

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

Master of ceremonies for Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures is CBS WPEC Channel 12’s weeknight anchor Curt Fonger. Fonger is an avid philanthropist, who has supported Food For The Poor’s mission for many years. Immediately following the Jan. 12 earthquake Fonger reached out to Food For The Poor to ask how he and the Palm Beach community could help the people of Haiti.

For additional information regarding the Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures event, benefactor levels, and tickets, available at $450 per person, please call 1-888-404-4248 or visit www.foodforthepoor.org/palmbeach.

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.