Haiti Clinic Revived

Rockford Residents Celebrate the Expansion of Their Biggest Village Yet in Haiti

	Andy and Florette Sokulski want to save as many lives as possible and have extended the fundraising for Food For The Poor’s Our Lady Of The Poor Medical Clinic in honor of their daughter, Julie Sokulski Hesser.
Related Item: Email Your Support of the Clinic

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Sept. 29, 2014) — Nine months of operational costs at Food For The Poor’s Our Lady Of The Poor Medical Clinic at the Bernard Mevs Hospital, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, will be covered, thanks to a Chicago couple intent on honoring the memory of their daughter. The Sept. 10 fundraiser in Streamwood, Illinois, was the ninth year the couple has gathered generous friends to help the poor.

Dedicated to saving as many lives as possible, Andy and Florette Sokulski have asked that fundraising in honor of their daughter, Julie Sokulski Hesser, be extended through the end of the year.

Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma and Food For The Poor Haiti Project Manager Delane Bailey-Herd spoke at the event and thanked attendees for their support.

“The compassion you show tonight will save lives,” said Aloma. “The majority of the clinic’s beneficiaries live in makeshift shacks, and struggle to earn a living. When the poor come to Our Lady Of The Poor Medical Clinic, they have full assurance that they will receive superior quality medical treatment.”

Thousands of patients benefit from and rely on the lifesaving medical services offered at this Food For The Poor sponsored clinic. The clinic’s AIDS Pediatric Care Center provides the poor with quality outpatient services, emergency treatment, diagnostic services through its state-of-the–art laboratory, surgical procedures, pharmaceutical products, and long-term chronic disease management.

“The lifesaving treatment patients receive at Food For The Poor’s Our Lady Of The Poor Medical Clinic is transformational,” said Bailey-Herd. “The clinic is an oasis and safe haven for babies that are born with malformations and need immediate medical attention. Here, they are loved and cared for, and given second chances.”

Since 2011, event proceeds have been used to modernize the Haiti hospital by building operating and recovery rooms, and purchasing new equipment. In 2012, Andy and Florette traveled to the Bernard Mevs Hospital to meet the hospital’s surgeons, and to see how patients benefited from their projects. Share in the Sokulski’s experience by watching their video at www.foodforthepoor.org/julie.

To make a donation to help cover the clinic’s monthly operational costs, please call 888-404-4248 or email carolc@foodforthepoor.com.

“When we face struggles, anxieties, joys and sorrows in our lives, it is good to know God has sent us help, and good people to laugh, support and have some fun as well,” said Florette Sokulski. “So much in this world is temporary, but friendships founded in Christ can be a lovely source of comfort and joy.”

When Andy and Florette lost their daughter at the age of 32, they were inspired to help others by Julie Sokulski Hesser’s strength, faith and courage during her final days. They began raising money in 2006 with Father Medard Laz and members of the Holy Family Catholic Community in Inverness, Ill., to create a living legacy in honor of their daughter through Food For The Poor projects.

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.

A Legacy of Hope

Loss of a Child Inspires Legacy of Hope in Haiti

	(L to R) Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood, Paul O'Connor, Florette Sokulski. Remembering how Julie could not even swallow water at the end of her life, her parents wanted proceeds from a past benefit dinner to provide clean water to children in Haiti.
Related Item: Contact Carol to Support the Hospital

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Aug. 12, 2014) — A Chicago couple committed to preserving the memory of their late daughter is encouraging others to help raise money to improve the lives of the destitute through Food For The Poor.

The ninth annual benefit dinner established to celebrate the life of Julie Sokulski Hesser will be Wednesday, Sept. 10 at The Seville Banquet Hall, 700 S. Barrington Road, Streamwood, Illinois.  Proceeds from this year’s event will be used to cover the monthly operating costs of Bernard Mevs Clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

“Julie was resilient, and she was tough – like the Haitian people,” said Florette Sokulski, outside the pastel orange and green Haiti hospital in 2012. “Even in her worst, painful days, and those lasted about seven years, she would always say, ‘I just want to help somebody.’ And now I see how she is helping.”

When Andy and Florette lost their beloved daughter at the age of 32, they were inspired to help others by Julie’s strength, faith and courage during her final days. They began raising money in 2006 with Father Medard Laz and members of the Holy Family Catholic Community in Inverness, Illinois, to create a living legacy in honor of their daughter through Food For The Poor projects.

Since 2011, proceeds from the fundraiser in Streamwood have been used to modernize the Haiti hospital by building operating and recovery rooms, and purchasing new equipment.

“This is the best we have now in Haiti,” said Dr. Jerry Bitar to Julie’s parents. “I want to say first thank you for what you do. Not for us but for the poor people in Haiti.”

The Bernard Mevs Clinic’s Pediatric Care Center provides the desperately poor with quality outpatient services, emergency treatment, laboratory diagnostic services, surgical procedures, medications, and long-term chronic disease management. The clinic also offers services and resources that promote prevention and wellness care among women and children affected by HIV/AIDS. Through educational awareness programs, the hospital makes heathier lifestyles available to patients and the community at large.

“By serving the poorest of the poor, they are saving lives,” said Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director. “The poor need all types of surgeries, and if it weren’t for the doctors and the staff at the Brevard Mevs Hospital they would be sentenced to simply die at home. They cannot afford to go to a private hospital or to pay anything at all. So they come here with full assurance that they are getting superior quality medical treatment.”

Aloma is the evening’s keynote speaker. Master of ceremonies for this year’s benefit dinner is former WGN Radio newsman Lyle Dean. The evening also will feature a silent auction and dinner with friends and members of the surrounding communities. Bidding on silent auction prizes will offer opportunities for guests to shop and support the cause.

For additional information about sponsorship opportunities and tickets, please call 888-404-4248 or email carolc@foodforthepoor.com.

“The loss of a child is written in the heart in indelible ink,” said Aloma. “But by doing something like this, it brings new life into the world. It really honors the person who has gone to the Lord, and it really gives comfort to the parents to know that their loved one’s passing has brought hope and life to so many others in her name.”

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.

Haiti Hospital Gets Well

	The group visited several water projects in Grand Boulage, Haiti, that were built in partnership with Water-Life-Hope and Food For The Poor.
Related Items: View Photos from the Trip Dreams Across The Sea Reservations

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (June 4, 2014) – Inside the pastel orange and green courtyard of the Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the hospital’s top surgeons greeted members of Food For The Poor and Water-Life-Hope. The group traveled there to celebrate the life of a Decatur, Georgia, nurse, through the inauguration of the hospital’s new water well and cistern.

“You are more than welcome, and it is a great thing you are doing here,” said Edward Buckley, to the twin Haitian surgeons, Dr. Jerry Bitar and Dr. Marlon Bitar, who were dressed in scrubs and on their way to perform surgery.

Thanks to the generosity of Atlanta residents, the hospital now has access to clean water. Previously the hospital had to truck in clean water for the doctors and patients, and in some parts of the hospital there was no running water at all.

“It never would have occurred to me that a hospital would not have access to water,” said the Rev. Greg Tallant, the Episcopal priest at Holy Trinity Parish in Decatur.

A sign across the street from the hospital in front of the water projects reads, “… dedicated to Susan Parry, nurse and healer of many.” 

“She took care of many patients during her long career,” said Buckley, who credits Parry for organizing the best nursing staff to care for him. “She brought me back to the land of the living. I feel a huge debt of gratitude to her.”

“I felt immediately the link between her life and this project,” said Richard Parry, Susan’s husband, and parishioner at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Atlanta. “I was deeply touched.”

Like the Bitar brothers, Susan was a major voice in healthcare. During her distinguished career at DeKalb Medical Center, she served as head nurse on several floors. After a brief retirement, she returned to DeKalb Medical Center as chief nursing officer and Vice President for Patient Care Services. After finally retiring in 2005, Susan served on the board of DeKalb Medical Center, and organized the Healthcare Ministry at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in downtown Atlanta.

On December 28, 2013, Susan succumbed to the complications of a stroke suffered earlier that year.

“Susan was a consummate nurse who cared deeply about her patients, one of whom was Ed Buckley,” said Richard Parry, who is a Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Agnes Scott College, in Atlanta. “She was very sensitive and responsive to the suffering of others; nothing could be more appropriate to her memory than the dedication of this project.”

On their recent May 20-23, trip to Haiti, Atlanta attorneys Buckley and Amanda Farahany posted daily blog entries and photos online, in an effort raise awareness about living conditions in the country.
“The clean running water for the hospital allows for the care from the youngest of the patients to the oldest,” blogged Farahany, a partner at Barrett & Farahany, LLP. “Bernard Mevs recently graduated Haiti’s first class of professionally trained EMTs, who are operating Haiti’s only coordinated rescue service from the hospital in ambulances donated by the City of Miami Beach.”

Travelers included Melissa Barrett (student at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio), Benjamin Francis Barrett III (student at Georgia State University in Atlanta), Edward Buckley (Decatur), the Rev. William Thomas Deneke (Decatur), Amanda Farahany (Atlanta), the Rev. George Maxwell Jr. (Atlanta), and the Rev. Greg Tallant (Avondale). 
The group also visited several potential water project sites for Water-Life-Hope and Food For The Poor’s 2014 Dreams Across The Sea. 

“For it is our belief that the right to clean drinking water is the most fundamental of human rights, for without clean drinking water we cannot fully exercise our other God-given rights,” said Buckley, President of Water-Life-Hope and Dreams Across The Sea committee member. “For example, a child can’t enjoy her right to education with parasites roiling in her belly because she does not have clean drinking water.”  

Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma traveled to Haiti with Buckley and the group.

“We are so grateful for what Ed has done, because not only has he worked tirelessly, even through illness, he has been a catalyst to inspire others to help bring clean water to Haiti,” Aloma said. “Witnessing firsthand the work he has accomplished in that country is something I won’t forget.”

Food For The Poor’s 7th annual Caribbean-themed Dreams Across The Sea, presented by The InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta in Atlanta, Ga., will be Friday, Oct. 24. Paul Goodloe, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, will serve as master of ceremonies. The event will feature a cocktail reception with passed hors d'oeuvres and a coffee and dessert bar, live music, dancing, a silent auction and giveaways.
For additional information, or to purchase tickets, please call, 1-888-404-4248, or visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/atlanta.

Dreams Across The Sea Co-Chairmen are Chris Curry and Saurel Quettan. Additional committee members include Dr. Paula Nelson Adesokan, Scott and Kari Bardowell, Raymond Bazile, Verlyn Britton, Edward Bruno-Gaston, Edward Buckley, Renee Corey-Lubin, Rev. Lebon Faustin, Gina Fraiser, Nekeidra Frederick, Jean Hanges, Michele Jean, Loveless Johnson III, Pascale Jones, Sylvia McClure, Nnena Nchege, Dr. Jason Regis, and Garvin Stewart.

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.