Gift from America’s Heartland is a legacy for Haiti

Thanks to the kindness of strangers, hundreds of children in Haiti soon will be benefiting from a loving donation made by the Chippewa Valley Bean Company to Food For The Poor.

Located in northwestern Wisconsin, the bean company has been a loyal donor to the ministry for more than seven years and now is committed to providing a life-long legacy by helping Food For The Poor to build schools in the Caribbean nation.

“We believe that helping children to receive an education is the surest way to break the cycle of poverty,” said Cindy Brown, of the Chippewa Valley Bean Company. “Given the great need for schools in Haiti, we’ve decided to use our contributions to help provide a place where children can receive both an education and a nutritious meal.”

Food For The Poor feeds millions a day in the 17 countries it serves – more than 400,000 a day in Haiti alone. In Port-au-Prince, 15,000 hot meals are served six days a week at the Food For The Poor feeding center. Beans and rice, an excellent source of protein, provide the foundation for nutritious meals.

“This is one of the most meaningful gifts Chippewa Valley could have given us,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “It is our determination to build and re-build as many sturdy school structures as possible, so that the children can have a sense of normalcy while the adults work on rebuilding their homeland.”

For more than 40 years, the family owned Chippewa Valley Bean Company and its growers have produced premium quality kidney beans. It is the only kidney bean processing plant in the Wisconsin area still under its original ownership.

Food For The Poor, the 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 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.

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

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