WLRN Campaign Helps Feed Children in Haiti

At a time when soaring food and fuel prices are threatening nonprofits’ ability to get lifesaving food to the poor, Friends of WLRN is reaching out once again to help Food For The Poor. When radio listeners support WLRN through the station’s fund drive, Friends of WLRN will in turn donate a portion of the proceeds to feed hungry and malnourished children in Haiti.

Friends of WLRN has dedicated its fundraising time from 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16, to 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, to help Food For The Poor. For every $100 committed by listeners who call to support the station during that time, Friends of WLRN will donate $18 to feed a hungry child in Haiti for six months. Through the station’s generosity in two campaigns last year, more than 1,300 children were fed for six months through Food For The Poor’s feeding programs.

Wagner Previato, Director of Marketing and Membership for Friends of WLRN, called last year’s campaigns a success for both the station and for the children, and is hoping for additional support this time for Haiti as the country continues to endure crisis after crisis.

“The South Florida community and supporters of our public radio station responded generously when we mentioned that a portion of their contributions would be going directly to feeding children in Haiti through Food For The Poor,” said Previato. “Our partnership with Food For The Poor helped mobilize our efforts in making a gift that nourishes Haiti’s most vulnerable citizens, and supports 91.3 WLRN’s news coverage of Haiti and all other local news stories.”

In Haiti, more than half of the population, including two-thirds of the children, suffers from malnutrition. About 76 of every 1,000 children die before reaching their fifth birthday.

“This past year, we’ve experienced a lot of crises, and each one has further hurt the poor, but this convergence of rising costs threatens the provision of the most basic relief – the shipment of simple, life-sustaining foods,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “If you are helping the destitute, you must first start by providing food that will give them life and allow you to build from there. This will challenge all of us. We are so very grateful for the support of Friends of WLRN and 91.3 WLRN, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.”

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:
Kathy Skipper
Food For The Poor
Director of Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6614
kathys@foodforthepoor.com

One Boca Grande Thanks Another For a New Life

The leader of the Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee and the Haiti Project Manager for Food For The Poor brought a message of gratitude to those attending the March 2 event in Boca Grande.

"Merci, merci, merci…thank you so much for impacting, changing, transforming, restoring, for giving life," said Delane Bailey-Herd, Haiti Project Manager for Food For The Poor. "The residents of Boca Grande Friendship Village in Pierre Payen, Haiti, say 'Next to God, there is Boca Grande, Fla.' I know you cannot even imagine that in such a short space of time you have made such an amazing, eternal impact in one community."

Ben Scott, chair of the committee, traveled to Haiti on Feb. 14 to meet the residents, walk through the concrete block, two-room homes, watch classes in action, and taste the fresh, clean water that means life and health in the country. More than 200 mothers, fathers and children have moved from homes made of mud and sticks into 40 sturdy homes in the village.

“When we met here last year, we weren’t sure what would happen when we shared our plans to raise money for a village in Haiti. I’m here today to report to you that we did raise the money, and in seven months we did build the village we said we would build,” Scott said.

Now, building on last year’s successful mission to change lives in Haiti, the Boca Grande committee is launching the next part of its campaign. Plans for the second phase go directly toward helping people become even more self-reliant with more homes, a school, and a cow farm.

The Boca Grande Friendship Village consists of:
• 40 double-unit concrete homes with kitchenettes. Each house also includes sanitation, and a 200-gallon plastic water cistern to collect rainwater.
• A water treatment system with the capacity to process clean water for the entire community.
• 500 fruit trees, including mango, avocado and citrus
• Animal husbandry, with one goat for each family
• A community chicken farm
• Community Center
• Solar charging system to provide the community center with electricity
• A five-room vocational school

“It is easy for me to thank you for all of these things,” Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor, told the group in a taped message. “However, how can one thank you for the other things you have given them that are not quite so material, that are not so palpable. How can I thank you for the dignity you have given, the hope that you have given, the faith which you have reinforced with your love for them?”

Those gathered responded immediately to Scott’s call for help with a second phase. Many wrote checks on the spot, and Scott said checks have continued to arrive each day since the event. Scott said he is eager to work on the next important elements of the village.

“The committee thought it was really important to focus on the school in this next phase,” Scott said, before showing the gathered crowd a short video of the cramped, noisy, makeshift classrooms that children must endure each day to try to get an education. “Let’s see what we can do.”

Committee members include: Ben and Louise Scott, the Rev. Gary Beatty, the Rev. Jerome Carosella, the Rev. Read Heydt, Tom and Linda Aley, George and Lois Castrucci, Patricia Chapman, Ray and Iliene Corcoran, Charlie and Florita Field, Lou and Corie Fusz, Stephen and Susan Jansen, Audrey Knapp, Tom and Nancy Lorden, Bruce and Barbara Stirling and David and Mary Jo Wilson.

To watch a video on Scott’s visit to the village and presentations from the March 2 event, please visit YouTube.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the United States, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries in 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:
Kathy Skipper
Food For The Poor
Public Relations Director
954-427-2222 x 6614
kathys@foodforthepoor.com

Families Reunite for Annual House-Building Trip in Jamaica

To celebrate the importance of family and helping others, 41 Americans journeyed to Jamaica, Feb. 18-21, to give the gifts of presence and shelter to the destitute. In two days, equipped with hammers, paint brushes, and compassion, the group completed the construction of 13 double-unit homes in Jamaica with the international relief and development organization Food For The Poor.

“Each time we return from a Food For The Poor home-building trip, we feel we have connected more deeply with the poor, and feel enlightened and enriched as a result,” said Chris Davitt. “These trips bring us closer to our children, to the poor, and to the others who participated.”

The annual trips offer parents the opportunity to demonstrate to their children the importance and benefits of being good stewards and team players. Since 1999, this group of committed donors has raised money to build homes and schools with Food For The Poor, improving the health and living conditions of many throughout Jamaica and Haiti.

Food For The Poor is committed to building permanent homes in developing countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. For $3,200, Food For The Poor can build a home with sanitation to replace a crumbling shack made of scraps that leaks when it rains. In 2010, Food For The Poor constructed a total of 9,460 new housing units with concrete foundations, locking doors, windows, and a zinc roof with hurricane straps.

“On behalf of those Food For The Poor serves, thank you for your generosity and continuous support,” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor’s President/CEO. “Through your example you have done more than restore dignity to the destitute, you have inspired your children to continue your family legacy of giving to the least of our brothers and sisters.”

“Even though I have toured with Food For The Poor many times, I always return reminded of the vital importance of the charity’s work,” said Craig Ruppert. “The impoverished in Clarendon, Jamaica, treat us like we are family, which is just one reason we want to continue to return.”

In 2010, the mother-daughter and father-son humanitarian teams worked collectively to build and paint Cockpit Basic School in the Cockpit District of Clarendon, Jamaica. This year the group returned to the school, where they were warmly greeted by smiling students holding banners of thanks.

Other activities included the preparation and distribution of meals to the homeless at a street feeding initiative, walking the inner city streets of southwest Kingston to witness the harsh reality of life in a developing country, and to see firsthand the difference Food For The Poor projects make in the community, including a self-sustaining fishing village.

“It is hard for most people to understand the word poverty until they come face-to-face with destitution in developing countries on a mission trip,” said Mahfood.

This year, more than half of the group was high school or college age. Participants from Connelly School of the Holy Child in Potomac, Md., brought with them a scarf to share their school spirit. The school’s crest was on the royal blue, gold and white scarf, as well as the school’s motto, “Compassion, Joy, Zeal, Actions Not Words.”

Some of the other education institutions also represented were: Arapahoe High School (Centennial, Colo.), Catonsville High School (Catonsville, Md.), Exeter High School (Exeter, N.H.), Madison High School (Denver, Colo.), Mamaroneck High School (Mamaroneck, N.Y.), Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (Olney, Md.), St. John’s College High School (Washington, D.C.), The Academy of the Holy Cross (Kensington, Md.), The Community College of Baltimore County (Baltimore, Md.), Thomas S. Wootton High School (Rockville, Md.), and Washington and Lee University (Lexington, Va.).

House-building travelers included: Luke Andersen, Jim Bloomer, Conor Bloomer, Chris Callahan, Bridget Callahan, Chris Davitt, Christopher Davitt, Emmet Davitt, Brian Davitt, Ingrid Davitt, Allie Davitt, Jack Devine, Emma Devine, Maury Devine, Rick Dolfinger, Sean Dolfinger, Mary Donatelli, Maggie Donatelli, Annie Donatelli, Elsa Friis, Suzanne Friis, John Hollingsworth, Kate Kerner, Craig Leddy, Kate Leddy, Patty Long, Sarah Long, Battista Orcino, Dominic “Nicky” Orcino, Dan Ossing, David Ossing, Patty Pescrille, Lindsey Pescrille, Bob Quakenbush, Will Quakenbush, Craig and Patty Ruppert, Wooly “Rita” Ward, Becky Ward, Joe Zell, and Kevin Zell.

You can learn more about Food For The Poor’s mission trips by viewing the YouTube video, calling 1-800-427-9104 ext. 6216 or by e-mailing missions@foodforthepoor.com.

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

During Lent, don’t just give something up — GIVE comfort to the desperate poor

“We didn’t eat today,” Philomise whispered inside her mud hut in northern Haiti. “Yesterday, we got a little something from a neighbor.” When her children ask why there is no food, Philomise tenderly encourages them to try to sleep so they won’t think about their hunger. The woeful mother then sits up, waits and prays for her husband to return with any sign of hope.

“Can you ease my suffering?”

Every day, Philomise Phanor asks God this heart-rending question. She is a mother paralyzed with anguish and stress over not being able to feed her children. Her despair has seized her emaciated body and soul. Philomise’s spirit has no rest.

Suffering plagues this family’s life. But you have the power to ease her pain. You can bring relief to this suffering mother in need.

Through your compassion, destitute mothers like Philomise will be reminded that they are not alone. Your gift for lifesaving food will bring relief and comfort to those who have nowhere else to turn. Please share your love by giving a gift today.

Please text “Save” to 25383 to make a $10 donation to Food For The Poor!

Please text “Save” to 25383 to make a $10 donation to Food For The Poor!

Haitian Man turns Fishing Boat into a Lifeboat

Imagine this scenario – it’s the dead of night, you’re in a tiny fishing boat, your body is rebelling against you due to the symptoms of cholera, and your only chance for survival is a three-hour ride in the rough waters from a small island to the mainland.

This is what it was like for 42 men, women and children during the onset of the cholera outbreak in Haiti. The outbreak started last October in the Artibonite region, and when reports of cholera reached the international airwaves, fear of it spreading to the tent cities focused attention on the capital of Port-au-Prince. More than a million people left homeless by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake were now in the line of fire of this waterborne illness, which can kill a person within hours if left untreated.

However, it was the residents on the small island of Ile de la Gonâve, located in the waters in the cradle of Haiti, who were sick and suffering at the start of the outbreak. Because no medical treatment was available, and no one even knew the cholera had spread beyond the mainland, the situation on the island was beyond critical.

But out of the darkest tragedies, man-made or natural, stories of triumph sometimes come to light. One of those stories is that of Saul Ancelo, who was born and raised on Ile de la Gonâve in Chardonet, a dot of a town not that far from the tiny island of Petite Gonâve, which is between Ile de la Gonâve and Leogane on the mainland. Ancelo is 35, and still calls Chardonet home with his wife and two children. A fisherman by trade, he had no idea that he would literally become a fisher of men.

“So many people were getting sick, and so fast. Many didn’t know what was happening or even how to stop it. There were stories of those with cholera being abandoned by their families and left to die on Ile de la Gonâve because they were afraid of getting sick,” said Ancelo, through a translator.

Putting his livelihood and even his life on the line, Ancelo took it upon himself to use a yellow motorized fishing boat, donated to the fishing village La Gonâve on Petite Gonâve to rescue the cholera victims. There are currently 33 active fishing villages in cities and towns along the coastal regions of Haiti, including the one on the tiny island. These villages, funded through donations, and built by Food For The Poor, provide deep-sea fishing for food and income for fishermen like Ancelo and residents in neighboring communities.

Armed only with a fishing boat and sheer determination, Ancelo transported the sick and those on the edge of dying across the waters to Leogane. He made more than two dozen trips back and forth sometimes with several patients onboard the boat named “Edward.” He even made crossings at night in the rough waters, which was an extremely dangerous journey.

“This is not a man of means, the little money he had, he spent it all to buy fuel and the oil needed to power the motorboat to ferry people to and from mainland Haiti to get medical treatment,” said Robin Mahfood, CEO/President of Food For The Poor. “Saul is a real-life hero, he truly is. Because of his bravery lives were saved, and only God knows what would have happened to the population on Ile de la Gonâve if he didn’t act.”

Because this life threatening disease is no longer being captured by the cameras of the media doesn’t mean it’s gone away. To date, since the outbreak, more than 4,500 people have died, more than 230,000 have been reported sick, and according to the United Nations the death rate in rural areas remains alarmingly high.

With these statistics, one doesn’t have to be a medical expert to understand that a clean water source and a home with adequate sanitation are life-saving necessities. Since the cholera outbreak, Food For The Poor has installed 30 solar-powered water filtration units in the Artibonite region, with the help of Water Missions International. Since last year’s earthquake, the charity has built nearly 1,900 homes with sanitation units in Haiti, more than 300 of these since the new year.

“The best way to combat cholera or any form of pestilence is to get the people left homeless by that devastating quake out of the tents and into permanent houses,” said Mahfood. “Cholera is a terrible disease that causes its victims to have uncontrollable diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration. It can be deadly, so we’re going to do all that we can to try to stop it.”

Ancelo’s acts of kindness didn’t end with the initial boat rides. Once the residents of Ile de la Gonâve received medical treatment and recovered from their bout with cholera, Ancelo ferried them back to their home on the island. Miraculously, all 42 survived, and after staring death in the face – they will live to tell the story of how a man on a fishing boat helped to give them a second chance at life.

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

Soaring Food, Fuel Prices Pose Double Threat to Poor

Workers from Food For The Poor often find families in developing countries who have not eaten for three or four days. Either there is no food available at all, or they have no money with which to buy even a small bag of rice. Now, because of soaring food and fuel costs, their food sources will be further threatened.

Floods, drought, and crop failures are pushing food costs to crisis proportions. The World Bank reports that food prices have gone up 29 percent in the last year. On top of that, rising oil prices are increasing transportation costs. U.S. consumers will feel it soon, and over the next eight to 10 months, but for the truly poor in developing countries, the impact will be immediate and have dire consequences, including possible death.

“This past year, we’ve experienced a lot of crises, and each one has further hurt the poor, but this convergence of rising costs threatens the provision of the most basic relief – the shipment of simple, life-sustaining foods,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “If you are helping the destitute, you must first start by providing food that will give them life and allow you to build from there. This will challenge all of us.”

Americans spend about 9 percent of their salaries on food, but for those in developing countries who live on pennies a day, that percentage can be 80 to 90 percent. The impact on the truly poor can be devastating.

Food For The Poor can feed a child for $36 a year, but its ability to provide food efficiently to the most needy is threatened by double-digit percentage increases in food prices from the past year, as well as the forecast from suppliers that food prices will double or triple by the end of 2011. Shipping costs are forecast to increase 60 percent, further complicating relief actions.

“This volatile situation with the food and fuel prices will stretch our charity’s ability to get food and other supplies where they are most needed,” Mahfood said. “Everyone will feel the pinch, but no one more than the destitute. We are asking for everyone’s help in giving what they can to prevent more suffering. It is times such as this when we remember the importance of the widow’s mites, and how she shared with the poor out of her own need.”

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the United States, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries in 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:
Kathy Skipper
Food For The Poor
Director of Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6614
kathys@foodforthepoor.com