UPS work in DR

	The community of Rancho Nuevo is in dire need of potable water. The majority of the residents there are currently getting their drinking water from local springs, a water source that looks clean, but is contaminated with life threatening bacteria and parasites.
Related Item: See Photos of the Projects

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Dec. 20, 2013) – UPS is helping to improve the lives of dozens of families in the Dominican Republic with the international relief and development organization Food For The Poor.   

The UPS project will provide for the installation of a 12,000 gallon concrete water tank, which will house and pump clean well water for the tiny community of Rancho Nuevo, near Puerto Plata, and the construction of a 3,000 square-feet greenhouse in Batey Antonci, Monte Plata.

Helping families to become self-sustaining by way of agriculture is a key strategy of Food For The Poor. The greenhouse in the farming community of Batey Antonci will produce 2,400 pounds of fruits and vegetables four times a year, providing the community with a year-round supply of nutritious foods and agricultural training. This greenhouse project will be operated by local farmers, which will be a source of employment for many of the town’s residents.

“Food For The Poor began working in the Dominican Republic 13 years ago and is committed to breaking the cycle of poverty in the Caribbean country by creating opportunities for people to help themselves,” said Robin Mahfood, President and CEO of Food For The Poor. “It is important to educate those in the farming communities on how to plant, grow and harvest a better crop for a self-sustaining food source, and as a source of income.”

The greenhouse facility also will have a drip irrigation system fed by a water reservoir and underground supply lines, which will be installed by Food For The Poor.

The community of Rancho Nuevo is in dire need of access to potable water. The majority of the residents there are currently getting their drinking water from local springs, a water source that looks clean, but is contaminated with life-threatening bacteria and parasites. Many of the children suffer with diarrhea and a variety of waterborne health problems as a result.

Food For The Poor’s development team has determined it will take 30 days to install the water project.  Once the water tank is fully operational, piping installed from the tank will run water lines to as many homes as possible or to a community location, providing clean water with the twist of the faucet.

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.

       

School campaign celebrates Jamaica’s golden anniversary

Jamaica, the Caribbean's third-largest island, will be celebrating 50 years of independence from British rule on Aug.6, 2012. To mark this golden anniversary, Food For The Poor is launching the “Jamaica 50 Campaign” to build 50 schools in 50 months. The initiative will work like this:

- In August of 2012, the first school will open, and then a new school will open each month for the next 50 months.
-Food For The Poor will replace a school that has been targeted by a community that’s been deemed as an unfit space for children to learn.

Music is often what comes to mind when speaking of Jamaica, but education has always been a seed deeply planted into the minds of the Jamaican people. The Caribbean nation has experienced its share of economic hardship – many parents cannot afford to pay school fees, buy books, school supplies or uniforms necessary to send their children to basic school. Many of the nation’s school buildings are dilapidated or in desperate need of repair.

“It is important for those who have decided to leave Jamaica to pursue their dreams in Canada or the United States to remember their homeland, the homeland of their parents, their grandparents,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “The best gift of all is the gift of knowledge, and those who are in a position to help can do so by providing the children of Jamaica with safe and inspiring places to learn.”

This is a monumental, but exciting commitment by Food For The Poor to build these schools for children ages 3 to 6 years old. The ministry is looking forward to working with its donors on making this project between Jamaica, the United States and Canada a lasting legacy for generations to come.

The basic schools or Early Childhood Institutes are the backbone of the educational system in Jamaica because it is where young children develop their character, and get the educational foundation needed to advance to primary school, which is equivalent to an elementary school in the United States.

Each basic school constructed will have an office, sick bay, kitchen, bathroom/sanitation, and one large classroom that can be subdivided into three learning spaces. There’s an average capacity of 40 students per school, but depending on the size of the structure, up to 100 students could be attending one school at a time. There’s typically one teacher and a teacher’s assistant in the smaller schools, and three or more in the larger schools.

Food For The Poor will share photos of each new school, along with a description of the school before it was replaced, its students, the teachers, the community and how the new school has affected that community. Supporting “Jamaica 50 Campaign” is an opportunity for Food For The Poor and our donors to celebrate the past, and the future of an independent Jamaica. To view additional photos of Jamaica schools rebuilt by Food For The Poor, please visit the "Jamaica 50 Campaign" Flickr photo album.

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

Thanks to 13 strangers, homes are being built in Honduras

Just three months after a group of 13 strangers from varied backgrounds traveled to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with Food For The Poor, the group has generated enough donations to build a double-unit home.

The new home funded by the group will be built in the Santa Barbara region later this summer. The group wants to build three more double-unit homes and will need to raise $9,600 to make this dream a reality for three more families in desperate need of sturdy housing.

With many families in the mountain region of Santa Barbara living in makeshift dwellings, the construction of even one home can become a community event. The group experienced happiness after they completed Efigenia Ramirez’s 400-square-foot house in April. Ramirez’s neighbors gathered and clapped with joy when Food For The Poor presented her with the key to a new home for herself and her family of 11.

“When we take groups on a mission trip, it’s primarily for them to meet the people who are benefiting from their generous donations, for them to see for themselves how their gifts in kind and monetary contributions are being put to use,” said Food For The Poor’s Executive Director Angel Aloma. “The fact that the mission group on their first ever ‘Journey of Hope’ to Honduras committed themselves to building homes for the people they met there is truly wonderful.”

Food For The Poor began serving in Honduras in 1999, soon after Hurricane Mitch devastated the Central American country, and has built more than 3,000 homes to date, providing thousands of families with sturdy houses. The concrete block houses are built on a cement foundation and have porches, windows, bathrooms and are topped with a sturdy zinc roof.

Because of the Honduras House Matching Program, Food For The Poor is now able to construct a double-housing unit for each family selected to receive a home. This program was developed to address the critical housing shortage in Honduras. Funds are earmarked for a house matching project, meaning that for each single-unit home that Food For The Poor builds, another single-unit home will be built. Therefore, every $3,200.00 donated will result in the construction of one double-unit home, consisting of two bedrooms, one living room, and a bathroom.

To help with the project, please visit the mission group's Champions For The Poor page.

Chicago-area lawyer Susan O’Neal, who was one of the mission trip participants, recently was featured in an American Bar Association Journal photo.

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