Olympian Leads Food For The Poor 5K Walk/Run to Feed Record Number

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 29, 2012) – Approximately 700 South Floridians gathered at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach on Saturday, Nov. 17, to stomp out hunger alongside Olympic medalist Yohan Blake. Food For The Poor’s 5K Walk/Run For Hunger raised enough money to feed 1,500 destitute children and their families in the Caribbean and Latin America for a year.

Blake, a Jamaican Olympic Gold and Silver medalist and Jason Martinez, co-anchor for WPLG-TV ABC Local 10 Morning News and Local 10 News at Noon, handed out bottles of WATA brand bottled water and motivated participants across the finish line. The racers ranged between 8 and 78 years old.
 
“I know what it is to be hungry and so I respect what Food For The Poor is doing,” said Blake, one of the world’s fastest sprinters.

Thanks to the charity’s low administrative ratio and purchasing power, Food For The Poor can feed a family of four for $14.60 a month. Donations to this effort are accepted at www.FoodForThePoor.org/walk.

The fastest male was Kevin Channer with a time of 17:45.2. The fastest female was Ann Rodriguez with a time of 24:12.2.

Additional race results are available online at http://tinyurl.com/cx9ctuy.

Cans of food donated by 5K Walk/Run participants and a check to purchase turkeys were presented to “Big Mama,” Essie Reed, founder of Team of Life nonprofit, to benefit needy families in South Florida in time for Thanksgiving.

The 5K Walk/Run was presented by Winn-Dixie.  Event sponsors included Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, Bru’s Room, The Consul General of Jamaica, Corner Bakery Cafe, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Humana, Kona Ice, KPA Promotion, Muffuletta, PNC, Polyglass, Runners Edge, Sun-Sentinel, TeamReliv, The WOW Factory, Tijuana Flats, WATA, Wells Fargo and World of Beer.

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.

The WOW Factory Supports Food For The Poor’s 5K Walk/Run For Hunger

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 8, 2012) – On Friday, Nov. 9, The WOW Factory will give thanks and donate 20 percent of the $20 admission fee to Coconut Creek-based nonprofits, including Food For The Poor. Come register for Food For The Poor’s 5K Walk/Run For Hunger and play unlimited video games from 5 to 8 p.m. at The WOW Factory, 5891 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, Fla. You will have a great time while benefiting the charity.

"The WOW Factory appreciates all that the Coconut Creek-based non profits do for our community," said Tom Head, owner of The WOW Factory. “Come out and have an amazing, awesome, fun and all-around entertainment experience with games and attractions for all ages on Friday and we will donate 20 percent to support their good works.” The WOW Factory has more than 50 games and attractions, including Laser Tag, Ballocity, Adventure Climbing Wall, Sky Trail Elevated Ropes Course, Lazer Frenzy and video and redemption games. Food For The Poor will also have representatives available at the event to help register participants for the walk/run.

You can also register or make a donation to stomp out hunger alongside Jamaican Olympic medal winner Yohan Blake on Saturday, Nov. 17, at 7 a.m. at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach, Fla. While on the website, take advantage of free fundraising tips designed to help you reach your fundraising goal by sharing your ideas with family, friends, co-workers and contacts.

Cost of registration is $20 for adults and $15 for children ages 6-10. There’s no fee for children 5 and under. The registration cost includes a T-shirt for the first 1,500 who sign up. There will be refreshments, live music, balloon artists, face painters and more at this family event. Registration on the day of the event starts at 6:30 a.m., the walk/run begins at 7 a.m. and the awards ceremony is at 8 a.m.

Proceeds from this year’s 5K Walk/Run will assist in feeding destitute families throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. A generous donor has agreed to match every dollar raised with an additional dollar’s worth of food.

Participants are also encouraged to bring cans of food to the 5K Walk/Run to benefit needy families in South Florida. Requested Thanksgiving-themed sides include canned corn, sweet potato, green beans, pumpkin and cranberry sauce.

“We want to help spread Thanksgiving blessings to needy families in our community, too,” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor’s President/CEO. “With local food pantry shelves practically empty, we want to be able to bring the community together to address the need."

The 5K Walk/Run is presented by Winn-Dixie.  Event sponsors are Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, Bru’s Room, The Consul General of Jamaica, Corner Bakery Cafe, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Humana, Kona Ice, KPA Promotion, L.A. Fitness, Muffuletta, PNC, Polyglass, Runners Edge, Sun-Sentinel, TeamReliv, The WOW Factory, Tijuana Flats, WATA, Wells Fargo and World of Beer.

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.

Teddy bears headed to Haiti, Jamaica, carry legacy of love

A South Florida man is carrying on his late wife’s legacy with his gift of 1,500 teddy bears to the international relief and development agency Food For The Poor. The charity will ship the bears to children living in extreme poverty in Haiti and Jamaica.

In February, when Jerry Gamble lost his wife, Jean, to heart failure, he was grief-stricken after 53 years of marriage. He knew that her bear collection was important to her, so he turned his grief to action to find good homes for the bears she sometimes called her children. He researched different groups and decided to give most of them to Food For The Poor to help brighten the lives of children living in destitute conditions.

As he sorted through the bears to bag and box them up for the children, he reminisced about the Saturday garage sale trips with his wife that ultimately resulted in thousands of bears.

“We always went together to the garage sales. She knew bears, I didn’t,” Gamble said. “It started when she saw two little bears lying in a driveway, waiting for the trash pick-up. I don’t know when her brain kicked in and she decided to collect them. It started to get a little crazy.”

Gamble built special wooden risers for his wife’s “bear room” and the collection continued to grow as her children made gifts of bears to her, and she continued to find and refurbish bears that had fallen onto hard times. The result of their 15 years of bear rescue will be a big load of love to children who have never had their own toy, or known the comfort of a plush bear in their arms as they fall asleep.

“Mr. Gamble has no idea what a blessing of love these teddy bears will be for these children who have so little, and who are so grateful to know that someone cares,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “He might never meet these children, yet they will feel the love he has for them.”

Food For The Poor supports more than 3,800 children in 95 orphanages through its Angels of Hope program. Many more children are helped through schools and feeding programs.

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.

Contact:
Kathy Skipper
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6614
wandaw@foodforthepoor.com

Food For The Poor, Jamaican Diaspora Seek Closer Ties for South Florida Caribbean Communities

On Thursday, Nov. 18, Food for the Poor, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Jamaica, and the Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board for Southern United States, will host an afternoon of thanksgiving and tour of the headquarters for Caribbean community diaspora organizations in South Florida.

The afternoon will begin with Thankful Thursday service followed by a panel presentation from Food For The Poor executives and field officers on best practices and resources for meeting the needs of the poor in the Caribbean. The event will be from 1 to 4 p.m., and will end with light refreshments and networking.

“Food For The Poor has a longstanding history and relationship with nations of the Caribbean. With the Thanksgiving season upon us, we wanted to share our blessings and lessons learned over the years in responding to the needs of the poorest of the poor,” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor's President/CEO. “Diaspora community organizations have much to share and learn from each other in fostering our best response to disasters and to other areas of need in the respective countries of the region.”

Consul General Hon. Sandra Grant Griffiths said that the Consulate of Jamaica felt impelled to participate in such a gratifying and useful exercise. “The focus on effective, humanitarian assistance and human development management is fitting and always timely,” she said. “The particular vulnerability of our geographic region requires that we “as communities” become better equipped to be our brothers’ keepers.”

The commitment to improve access to education is a key initiative of Food For The Poor, and the session will focus especially on how the South Florida community can make the future brighter for thousands of children.

“The Caribbean community continues to grow exponentially across America. It is critical that community organizations build capacity and foster community partnerships to respond to the needs of their local diaspora communities and also to the needs of our respective countries of heritage. Food For The Poor epitomizes this example of organizational excellence. We have much to learn for the benefit of our communities,” stated Marlon Hill, Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board member for the Southern United States.

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.