Haiti earthquake

	Christella, 14, who lives in Grand Boulage, Haiti, now has access to clean drinking water that's being pumped from a well provided by Food For The Poor donors. Since the 2010 earthquake, Food For The Poor has installed 71 water filtration units that purify 710,000 gallons of water each day, and drilled 257 water wells. Together, these projects provide a safe water source for more than a million people.
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COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Jan. 9, 2014) – Making the transition from surviving to living has not been easy for those who endured the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, but it is happening.

Lucienne, 39, and her four children are one of those families. They were forced to live in a tent city after the earthquake destroyed their home, a small business and presumably claimed the life of her husband, who has not been seen since the earthquake. Today, Lucienne and her children have a new life, a new home, and new dreams – thanks to Food For The Poor and its generous donors.

“As the fourth anniversary of the earthquake approaches, and the world remembers the more than 250,000 people killed on that fateful day, it is equally important to remember the survivors,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “With the help of compassionate donors, the lives of thousands are being impacted in a positive way, thanks to Food For The Poor and a number of great organizations that are committed to helping the people of Haiti to rebuild their lives and homeland.”

The international relief and development organization Food For The Poor began working in Haiti in 1986. With nearly 28 years of faithful service within the country, the organization has been able to work efficiently and continuously towards the earthquake recovery effort.

Since the 2010 earthquake, Food For The Poor has:

• Built 4,364 permanent two-room concrete block homes with water and sanitation components.
• Built and restored 30 schools in the Port-au-Prince region.
• Shipped 4,076 containers of gifts in kind and purchased items, including rice/soy meals, medicine, medical supplies, school and dorm furniture, tile, shoes, hygiene items, household items, cleaning supplies, and construction supplies.
• Installed 71 water filtration units that purify 710,000 gallons of clean water each day, and drilled a total of 257 wells.
• Signed an agreement with Haiti’s Fonds d’Assistance Economique et Sociale (Fund for Economic and Social Assistance) to build 1,000 homes in the northern corridor with earthquake and hurricane resistant materials.

An estimated 1.3 million were left homeless after the earthquake in 2010. Even though housing conditions have improved, today there are more than 170,000 Haitians still living under tents in hundreds of camps according to the (IOM) International Organization for Migration. These camps are dehumanizing, dangerous and are a breeding ground for waterborne diseases.

Food For The Poor is committed to building sturdy and secure homes for as many families in need as possible, supplying communities and schools with a clean water source.

Click here to meet some of the people you’ve helped and to continue your ongoing support in the recovery effort. 

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.

        

Food For The Poor focused on aid, efficiency

Just a few days into 2010, one of the largest disasters in modern history devastated Haiti. In response, the leading provider of aid to Haiti, Food For The Poor, sent 1,461 tractor-trailer loads of food, water, medicines and other lifesaving relief aid valued at $188.9 million. While Haiti dominated headlines for much of the year, the nonprofit continued to send supplies to the other 16 countries served in the Caribbean and Latin America.

In total, the nation’s third-largest international relief and development agency provided more than $1 billion in aid to the poor in 2010.

According to Food For The Poor’s 2010 Annual Report:

- Food For The Poor held its operating expenses under 4 percent -- ensuring that more than 96 percent of donations go directly toward programs that help the poor.

- More than 23.2 million pounds of rice, 11.5 million pounds of beans, 2.9 million pounds of canned foods, and 24 million pounds of other life-sustaining foods were delivered to the hungry.

- The charity built 9,460 housing units – bringing the total to more than 71,123 since 1982. In Haiti alone, Food For The Poor built 1,589 permanent two-room homes with sanitation units.

- Food For The Poor sent 672.5 trailers of medicines and medical supplies and 79 trailers of educational supplies.

- Food For The Poor continued to provide clean water, build schools and clinics, and support nursing homes and orphanages.

- The charity gave hope to thousands through 50 fishing villages in Haiti and Jamaica, tilapia ponds, by planting fruit trees, and by providing animal husbandry and agricultural programs. Thousands of women are learning life skills in hundreds of training centers.

Food For The Poor, the third-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 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:
Jennifer Leigh Oates
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
jennifero@foodforthepoor.com

Charity Spends Tens of Millions in Relief for Haiti

Since the Jan. 12 earthquake left Haiti in dire straits, there have been many reports of what’s not being done to meet the country’s needs. News about the Caribbean nation slowed to a crawl soon after the quake and resurfaced only when the cholera outbreak and Hurricane Tomas threatened to take what little the Haitian people have left. According to the Associated Press, more than 1,300 people have died from cholera, and more than 23,000 are sick.

“Our generous donors allowed us to respond immediately and consistently with aid to Haiti,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “We stated from the outset that housing, clean water and sanitation would be priorities in helping the people. That was affirmed again when we learned of the cholera outbreak. We have delivered, with support from our donors and with God’s help we have delivered, and we will continue to walk with the Haitian people every step of the way.”

Food For The Poor’s relief efforts in Haiti have been substantial.

• As of mid-November, Food For The Poor has sent 1,287 containers valued at $175 million in relief to help the people in Haiti. These containers included food, water, and water filtration systems, medicines, building supplies, tools, boots and hygiene kits in response to the cholera.

• The $20.5 million Food For The Poor raised for Haiti emergency earthquake relief had been spent entirely on those efforts by the end of September. The funds were used for purchasing food and other critical items that were not donated, as well as for shipping containers of relief to the country. Some of the relief money went toward building emergency sanitation facilities as well as providing clean water sources.

Since the first days after the quake, Food For The Poor has worked to alleviate suffering and the rebuilding of the lives of the Haitian people.

• Nine months after the earthquake, Food For The Poor had sent more than $155 million worth of aid to Haiti. The charity accelerated homebuilding in the earthquake-ravaged country, and had built more than 1,500 permanent two-room homes outside of Port-au-Prince.

• Six months after the earthquake, Food For The Poor had sent more than $100 million worth of aid to Haiti. That aid was sent in many forms and has transitioned over the weeks and months from emergency relief to relief/rebuilding actions.

1. The charity shipped 845 tractor- trailer loads of goods, including:
-361 containers of food and water
-35 containers of medical supplies
-449 containers of various relief supplies

2. Completed 45 water projects.

• Three months after the earthquake, Food For The Poor delivered 530 tractor-trailer loads of food, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, building materials and other goods. As of May 31, Food For The Poor had spent $10.7 million in cash outlays. As of June 24, 779 containers of goods were delivered to Haiti, valued at $120.5 million.

1. Food For The Poor provided millions of meals from the rice, beans, canned goods and water shipped into Haiti.
2. The agency installed latrines near tent cities where several thousand people were sharing fewer than a dozen portable toilets.
3. Food For The Poor installed solar lights near the latrines in tent cities and other communities to provide a higher level of safety for the people living nearby.

“There is a great deal of opinion and misinformation about how aid money is being spent – or not spent – in Haiti,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “While we cannot speak for other organizations, we can say with full transparency that if donors have entrusted Food For The Poor with money to be used in Haiti, it has gone to that country, and it has gone without delay. It is simply wrong to use outdated figures and lump all aid organizations into one pile, as some are doing, without the necessary research and reporting.”

The same rapid response Food For The Poor took during the earthquake crisis was activated when news of the cholera outbreak reached Food For The Poor.

Less than 48 hours after the first cholera cases began arriving at hospitals the week of Oct. 18, Food For The Poor deployed and installed five solar- powered water filtration units that each can purify up to 10,000 gallons of water a day. To date, Food For The Poor installed 30 water filtration units in the Artibonite region where the cholera outbreak started.

Critical items needed for cholera relief:

• Medicines, including antibiotics and oral rehydration salts.
• Hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste and other personal care items to help stop the spread of cholera. Approximately 31,000 personal care and hygiene kits were shipped.
• Blankets for more than 46,600 people.
• Powerade and Pedialyte.

To see video of Food For the Poor’s rapid response at the start of the cholera outbreak, visit YouTube.

Food For The Poor, the third-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 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.

Food For The Poor Preparing Haiti for Hurricane Tomas

Ten months after the merciless Jan. 12 earthquake killed hundreds of thousands and left the core of the Caribbean nation in ruins, and three weeks after a deadly cholera outbreak killed several hundred and sickened thousands, Haiti is facing down another potential disaster – Hurricane Tomas.

Weather experts are forecasting Hurricane Tomas will reach Haiti sometime between Friday and Saturday. With more than 1 million people still living in tent cities in and around Port-au-Prince, Food For The Poor is working quickly to provide aid.

“Stop and think about this situation; you have more than 1 million men, women and children living under tents. They have no protection whatsoever from the wind, rain and potential mudslides this storm is expected to bring,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood. “A hurricane is the last thing Haiti needs right now, but we can’t give up on the country and its people. We will do our best to help them to recover from these back-to-back disasters.”

Because the organization has been working in Haiti for more than 24 years, it was well-prepared to respond to the cholera outbreak last month by sending dozens of pallets of personal hygiene kits, emergency water, rehydration salts, and blankets.

Since the earthquake, Food For The Poor has shipped 1,241 containers of goods valued at $168 million and has built more than 1,500 concrete block two-roomed homes with sanitation units.

Right now, Food For The Poor is in a race against time to collect much-needed supplies: evaporated and condensed milk, canned mackerel, canned corn beef, canned chicken, sardines, Spam and Vienna sausages with an expiration date six months or longer; Powerade, Gatorade and Pedialyte; hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste, feminine personal care items and diapers. Food For The Poor is not accepting clothing, shoes or water; the organization obtains trailer loads of these items from donors.

Please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/hurricane or make a $10 donation by texting “HAITI” to 25383.

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.

Food For The Poor Installs Water Filtration Systems to Aid Prevention of Cholera

Food For The Poor’s 24-year tenure in Haiti has aided the nonprofit’s immediate response to the spread of cholera. As the threat of disease has loomed over Haiti’s recovery from January’s destructive earthquake, Food For The Poor remained committed to investing in sanitation and water projects throughout the country.

“Where Food For The Poor has installed water treatment systems prior to this crisis we have not heard of a single reported case of cholera,” said Daniel Rouzier, the Chairman of Food For The Poor-Haiti, who is coordinating Food For The Poor’s in country response.

The strategy of providing long-term solutions through water filtration systems and permanent housing has benefited regions where Food For The Poor works. The filtration systems each can treat up to 10,000 gallons of water per day and reduce waterborne diseases by removing suspended pathogens. Water filtration units are operational in Poirier, Desdunes (2), Dokozel, Villard, Petit Reviere, Poteneau, Descarreaux, Marchands Dessalines, and Gros Chaudière.

“We have mobilized a good number of doctors and nurses to visit vulnerable areas,” wrote Father Duken Augustin, who partners with Food For The Poor in Cap-Haiten, Haiti. “We continue to fight. Please keep us in your prayers.”

Infected persons, seeking medical help have traveled south to the capital and north to Cap-Haitien, creating the potential for countrywide contamination – to the point where the neighbor country, the Dominican Republic, has closed its border.

Access to clean water is a matter of life and death for the people of Haiti. Food For The Poor moved quickly to install 10 solar-powered filtration units in Haiti’s affected Artibonite region and mobilized the distribution of bottled water by the container. Water Missions International in partnership with Food For The Poor has helped to install the water filtration units. An additional 10 water filtration units will be air freighted and installed in the Artibonite region, for a total of 20 since the cholera outbreak.

“Cholera and malaria do not kill people in First World countries where there is access to medicine,” said Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director. “In Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, destitute children are often emaciated and their immune systems are compromised. If the disease is not contained, the problem could expand well beyond its current bounds.”

Pit latrines and sanitation blocks that include both toilets and shower stalls are critically needed to prevent the spread of dysentery, cholera and malaria. Food For The Poor’s permanent homes are constructed to meet these standards.

“Water from the rivers, where the majority of the people find water to drink, bathe, cook and wash, is the same river where animals drink, bathe and defecate,” said Aloma.

Critical items being sent are:

• Medicines, including antibiotics and oral rehydration salts. These will be airlifted.
• Hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste and other personal care items to help prevent spread of disease. The distribution of prepositioned supplies in the Port-au-Prince distribution center has been initiated. Approximately 31,000 personal care and hygiene kits were shipped from the Coconut Creek distribution center on Friday.
• Blankets for more than 46,600 people. Shipment left Food For The Poor’s Coconut Creek distribution center today.
• Powerade and Pedialyte.

To learn how to help, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/emergency.

Food For The Poor, the third-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 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.