Boca Grande meets goal in Pierre Payen and changes lives

Boca Grande Friendship Village, a picturesque community that’s nestled between majestic mountains, dozens of fruit trees, a river, and an ocean has transformed the lives of hundreds of people in Pierre Payen, Haiti. Thanks to the caring residents of Southwest Florida’s Boca Grande community, pastel colored houses now sit in a valley that was once occupied with mud huts.

“Boca Grande has been a tremendous blessing for many families in Pierre Payen, but most importantly, they’ve restored hope and the desire to dream again into the lives of so many,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “To help the residents of Friendship Village to become even more self-sustaining, Boca Grande completed their second phase earlier this year, which included a nine-room basic school, 22 more homes with sanitation and cisterns, two solar-powered street lamps, 150 more fruit trees and a cow farm.”

The Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee was working through Food For The Poor to build homes in the Artibonite Region of the country long before the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake in 2010. Later that year, 40 double-unit homes equipped with kitchenettes, sanitation and 200-gallon plastic water cisterns to collect rain water were constructed. A water treatment system for the entire community, 500 fruit trees, an animal husbandry project, a community chicken farm, a community center with a solar-powered system to provide electricity, and a five-room vocational school were also provided.

“I had to stand all night when it rained in the past. I had no place to lie down because of the mud inside the house. Now, I can sleep when it rains and not get wet,” said one Friendship Village resident. “No one in the past would let their kids even come to the village because it was considered too backwards. Now, everybody comes to visit us,” said another.

Ben Scott, chair of the Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee, has now turned his focus toward Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince, and the town of Michaud. Progress is taking place, but not fast enough for the hundreds of thousands of earthquake victims who are still living in tent cities nearly two years later. It has become the goal of Boca Grande to build as many homes as possible, with the help of Food For The Poor, for earthquake survivors.

“Our next project will begin in February 2012,” said Scott. “There are more than 500,000 people who are still homeless, but we have to focus on helping one family at a time.”

Michaud is a small, impoverished town with approximately 10,000 residents and was once considered the backyard of Croix-des-Bouquets. It sits in the middle of farmlands, which land owners used to cultivate sugar cane for the Haitian American Sugar Company in the mid-80s, before its closure. Today, residents rely upon seasonal agriculture for survival, mainly millet and some sugar cane, which they sell in the marketplace.

Boca Grande’s goal through Food For The Poor is to provide 40 families in Michaud with 40 double-unit houses, which will include sanitation units and water tanks. Each family will also be given two solar-powered lanterns; four solar-powered street lamps will be installed in the community in 2012.

Scott, along with donors of the Pierre Payen project and Food For The Poor staff from the Coconut Creek office will be traveling to Haiti the week of Nov. 14 for the dedication of the village and the nine room basic school.

Committee members include: Ben and Louise Scott, the Rev. Gary Beatty, the Rev. Jerome Carosella, the Rev. Read Heydt, George and Lois Castrucci, Patricia Chapman, Ray and Iliene Corcoran, Charlie and Florita Field, Lou and Corie Fusz, Stephen and Susan Jansen, Tom and Nancy Lorden, Colvin and Madelaine McCrady, and John and Pauline Mendez.

Food For The Poor, 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.

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

One Boca Grande Thanks Another For a New Life

The leader of the Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee and the Haiti Project Manager for Food For The Poor brought a message of gratitude to those attending the March 2 event in Boca Grande.

"Merci, merci, merci…thank you so much for impacting, changing, transforming, restoring, for giving life," said Delane Bailey-Herd, Haiti Project Manager for Food For The Poor. "The residents of Boca Grande Friendship Village in Pierre Payen, Haiti, say 'Next to God, there is Boca Grande, Fla.' I know you cannot even imagine that in such a short space of time you have made such an amazing, eternal impact in one community."

Ben Scott, chair of the committee, traveled to Haiti on Feb. 14 to meet the residents, walk through the concrete block, two-room homes, watch classes in action, and taste the fresh, clean water that means life and health in the country. More than 200 mothers, fathers and children have moved from homes made of mud and sticks into 40 sturdy homes in the village.

“When we met here last year, we weren’t sure what would happen when we shared our plans to raise money for a village in Haiti. I’m here today to report to you that we did raise the money, and in seven months we did build the village we said we would build,” Scott said.

Now, building on last year’s successful mission to change lives in Haiti, the Boca Grande committee is launching the next part of its campaign. Plans for the second phase go directly toward helping people become even more self-reliant with more homes, a school, and a cow farm.

The Boca Grande Friendship Village consists of:
• 40 double-unit concrete homes with kitchenettes. Each house also includes sanitation, and a 200-gallon plastic water cistern to collect rainwater.
• A water treatment system with the capacity to process clean water for the entire community.
• 500 fruit trees, including mango, avocado and citrus
• Animal husbandry, with one goat for each family
• A community chicken farm
• Community Center
• Solar charging system to provide the community center with electricity
• A five-room vocational school

“It is easy for me to thank you for all of these things,” Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor, told the group in a taped message. “However, how can one thank you for the other things you have given them that are not quite so material, that are not so palpable. How can I thank you for the dignity you have given, the hope that you have given, the faith which you have reinforced with your love for them?”

Those gathered responded immediately to Scott’s call for help with a second phase. Many wrote checks on the spot, and Scott said checks have continued to arrive each day since the event. Scott said he is eager to work on the next important elements of the village.

“The committee thought it was really important to focus on the school in this next phase,” Scott said, before showing the gathered crowd a short video of the cramped, noisy, makeshift classrooms that children must endure each day to try to get an education. “Let’s see what we can do.”

Committee members include: Ben and Louise Scott, the Rev. Gary Beatty, the Rev. Jerome Carosella, the Rev. Read Heydt, Tom and Linda Aley, George and Lois Castrucci, Patricia Chapman, Ray and Iliene Corcoran, Charlie and Florita Field, Lou and Corie Fusz, Stephen and Susan Jansen, Audrey Knapp, Tom and Nancy Lorden, Bruce and Barbara Stirling and David and Mary Jo Wilson.

To watch a video on Scott’s visit to the village and presentations from the March 2 event, please visit YouTube.

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 in 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
Public Relations Director
954-427-2222 x 6614
kathys@foodforthepoor.com

"This is Life," Leader Says on Visit to Boca Grande Village

When Ben Scott walked into Boca Grande Friendship Village in Pierre Payen, Haiti, on Valentine’s Day, he was struck first by the hope and confidence he saw in the eyes and faces of the people who live there. “They are a community, they have a leader, they are content,” he said. “This is life.”

Scott, chairman of the Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee, traveled to Haiti on Feb. 14 to meet the residents, walk through the concrete block two-room homes, watch classes in action, and taste the fresh, clean water that means life and health in the country. More than 200 mothers, fathers, and children have moved from homes made of mud and sticks into 40 sturdy homes in the village.

Building on last year’s successful mission to change lives in Haiti, the Boca Grande committee is launching its second phase of the campaign. The committee’s fundraising event will be on Wednesday, March 2, at 6 p.m. at the historic Power House Boca Bay Pass Club. Everyone living on Boca Grande is invited to attend the cocktail reception and learn more about how the village already is changing lives, as well as plans for future growth.

The 25-person committee joined forces months before the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, and their resolve was further strengthened when they learned of the devastating impact the quake had on Haitian families. Since then, the country has faced an outbreak of cholera and a late-season storm that threatened the million-plus people still living in tents.

The Boca Grande Friendship Village consists of:
• 40 double-unit concrete homes with kitchenettes. Each house also includes sanitation, and a 200-gallon plastic water cistern to collect rainwater.
• A water treatment system with the capacity to process clean water for the entire community.
• 500 fruit trees, including mango, avocado and citrus
• Animal husbandry, with one goat for each family
• A community chicken farm
• Community Center
• Solar charging system to provide the community center with electricity
• A five-room vocational school

“Seeing the people in classes gave me the best feeling,” Scott said. “There were about 40 men in the plumbing class. I talked to one man who doesn’t have a job, he has to walk to get there, and he wants to learn a trade because he is sure that there is a future for him in rebuilding Haiti. I could tell that he felt sure, confident that this is going to come out for the good.”

Plans for the next phase go directly toward helping people become even more self-reliant. At the March event, the committee will raise money to continue to build out the village with more homes, a school, and a cow farm.

“How appropriate that we traveled to Haiti to visit the Boca Grande Friendship Village on Valentine’s Day,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “The Boca Grande community has poured out its heart to the people of Haiti, and what a blessing it was to stand with Ben Scott and see what a difference one idea and a dedicated group of individuals can make.”

To watch a short video from the village and hear a thank you from Executive Director Aloma, please visit Food For The Poor on YouTube.

To find out information about the event on March 2, please call Ben Scott at 941-964-9848 or Kathy Leggatt at 1-888-404-4248.

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 in 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
Director of Public Relations
954.427.2222, ext. 6614
kathys@foodforthepoor.com