Food For The Poor Thanks Its Donors and Volunteers

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 22, 2013) – In honor of National Volunteer Week, April 21-27, Food For The Poor celebrates its donors and countless volunteers for the integral roles they serve in caring for the destitute.

“Food For The Poor recognizes that all its donors are crucial to the charity’s mission of saving lives,” said Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director. “Volunteers are continual sources of action and change, because they share their genuine enthusiasm and fundraising causes with friends and family members.”

Two years ago, Food For The Poor donor Kevin Carges spoke to members of the Global Solidarity ministry at Church of the Transfiguration in Pittsford, N.Y. After describing how he and other volunteers from the group Eight 4 World Hope partner with Food For The Poor to fund schools in Jamaica, the Transfiguration group was inspired to partner with Food For The Poor to build a community of 20 two-room homes in El Salvador. In February, members of the Transfiguration group traveled to El Salvador to paint five of the homes, and meet the beneficiary families.

For another supporter who lived with cystic fibrosis, what started as a school project and mission trip to Jamaica led his parents to create a Champions For The Poor website in his memory. To honor their son Ben Tolmei’s spirit, his parents are raising money to build a home in Jamaica. In June, they will travel to Jamaica to personally hand the keys to the new home to a family.

In addition to shelter, other supporters are raising awareness and money to install water wells, as well as build schools, clinics and soy product factories.

Ideas of how you can make a difference:  

• Become a Champion For The Poor:
  Food For The Poor’s personal fundraising program encourages donors to create their own personalized web pages for causes close to their hearts. There are ten distinct categories; Birthdays, Anniversaries, Weddings, Graduations, Individual Causes, Group Causes, In Loving Memory, Faith-based, Rebuild Haiti, and Businesses Giving Back.


• Become a volunteer ambassador:
  Present Food For The Poor’s mission at events in your local community. Training is provided.
  
  
• Volunteer, organize or attend an annual event:
  Host a Party With A Purpose to benefit Food For The Poor, or volunteer at a fundraiser.


• Involve Your Church, School or Community Organization:
  Students from elementary to college can find creative ways to raise funds through events on campus and within their communities. Start a Students For The Poor chapter at your school or host an All-Nighter for the Poor to increase awareness of malnutrition and to fund self-sustaining solutions to alleviate hunger in developing countries.
  
  
• Become a corporate volunteer:
  Get involved in fundraising, and travel to the countries we serve to do hands-on projects.


• Planned Giving:
  Donors are able to help others while making prudent and beneficial financial choices for themselves and family members.


• Employer Matching Gifts:
  Food For The Poor encourages donors to ask their employers to match charitable donations.


• Request a Speaker:
  Food For The Poor’s Speakers’ Bureau arranges speaking engagements for churches, organizes church and school mission projects, and manages national outreach 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.

Local teen is one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers of the year

Samantha Kerker, a junior at Atlantic Community High School, has been recognized by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards as one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers for 2012, out of 26,000 applicants nationwide.

The 17th annual event took place in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, May 6, where Kerker received a $5,000 scholarship, an engraved gold medallion, a crystal trophy for her school, and a $5,000 grant from the Prudential Foundation, which she plans to donate to the international relief and development agency Food For The Poor.

“I still have tears pouring down my eyes from winning,” said Kerker. “I am so proud to be able to represent my school and my community on a national level.  I am honored to win this award from Prudential.” 

Kerker was bitten by the philanthropic bug at the age of 15. That’s when she chose to forgo her desire to buy a car when she turned 16 to fulfill the dream of homeownership for a destitute family she had never met. Investing money she earned since the sixth-grade in tie-dye materials and clothing, she enlisted the support of family and friends to sell her goods. In December 2010, Kerker and her mother Sindee traveled to Nicaragua with Food For The Poor to see her dream fulfilled. That’s where she got to meet the family who received the house she fundraised to build.

Inspired to do more, Kerker partnered with Food For The Poor and has spent the past two years spreading awareness about the severity of poverty in developing countries. She met with Florida State Representative Bill Hager and former Palm Beach County superintendent of schools, Bill Malone, to discuss the formation of Students For The Poor chapters in Palm Beach County high schools.

The Boca Raton resident was also named Florida’s top high school youth volunteer in 2012 for her initiative to start Students For The Poor chapters in Palm Beach County high schools. Students For The Poor is a unique student outreach effort initiated by students and developed by Food For The Poor. Chapters are based on high school and college campuses throughout the United States.

“All of us here are so very proud of Samantha,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “It’s so encouraging to see the gift of giving being planted into the hearts and minds of the young people who are participating in our Students For The Poor chapters. With their help, we can continue to work toward breaking the cycle of poverty.”

To support the building initiative of Palm Beach County’s Students For The Poor chapters, tax-deductible donations can be made through the charity’s secure website at www.FoodForThePoor.org/students.

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

Food For The Poor says “thank you” to its volunteers

In honor of National Volunteer Week, Food For The Poor is taking time to thank its devoted donors and countless volunteers for all that they do on behalf of the poor.

“Our volunteers cover all age brackets. They dedicate their time to filing papers, to building homes and schools, to formal affairs and various events,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “They play an instrumental part in our day-to-day function at our headquarters in Coconut Creek, Fla., but most importantly in the countries where we serve, to help many to have the basic necessities of life.”

National Volunteer Week, April 15-21, is about encouraging individuals to get involved and to create change. As Food For The Poor celebrates more than three decades of service this year, the organization appreciates its volunteers and needs their generous commitment now and in years to come.

Here are a few examples of how you can make a difference for families in the Caribbean and Latin America, in most instances, without even boarding a plane:

• Become volunteer ambassadors:
Present the Food For The Poor mission at events in your local community.
Training is provided.
• Help organize emergency food drives:
In times of natural disasters, Food For The Poor needs help collecting supplies to send to those suffering from the effects of storms and other catastrophic events.
• Volunteer at annual events:
Food For The Poor needs volunteers to help with 5K Walk/Run fundraisers.
• Become a student volunteer:
Students from elementary to college can find creative ways to raise funds through events on campus and within their communities.
• Become corporate volunteers:
Get involved in fundraising, and travel to the countries we serve to do hands-on projects.

If you have a heart for the poor, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org and click on the ‘How to Help’ tab for ideas on how you can make a difference as an individual, group or as a corporation.
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.

To learn more, please visit www.foodforthepoor.org.

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

Soft, Stuffed and Special...Teens Donate Thousands of Toys to Charity

Lions, tigers, and every imaginable creature ever turned into something soft and snuggly were collected by two South Florida teens on a mission to put smiles on the faces of children in Haiti who have lost so much.

“With everything that has happened in Haiti, it seems like the kids there don’t have much to smile about,” said Kristin Temple. “I didn’t want to ask people for money, so I thought slightly used stuffed animals would be a good idea.”

This idea of collecting the toys took root in the mind of the 16- year-old, she said, after watching the movie Toy Story 3, where the lead character, Andy, gives away his beloved toys. So two months ago, Temple got to work, and got permission to hold drives in Boca Raton at the Ascension Catholic Church where she worships, the Publix where she works, and at Cardinal Newman School in West Palm Beach where she’s a junior.

Temple’s 17- year-old classmate, Christopher Olowin, also played a vital part in this project. He turned it into a family affair when he enlisted the help of his younger sister, who attends All Saints Catholic School in Jupiter. Olowin says that group of preteens collected 668 stuffed animals toward the cause.

“I am sure the tent cities can be a scary place at night for the young children who live there. Kids should not be afraid to sleep at night, and I am hoping these stuffed toys will provide them with a feeling of some security,” said Olowin.

After the duo collected more than 3,400 stuffed animals, Temple contacted Food For The Poor and the charity was happy to accept these toys on behalf of the children of Haiti.

“It’s amazing what young people can do when they really set their mind to it,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “The need in Haiti is so great on so many levels, and something as simple as a stuffed toy can do wonders to lift the spirits of that nation’s youngest victims.”

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
Public Relations
(954) 427-2222 x 6079
wandaw@foodforthepoor.com