A Florida Man’s Fight for Life Transforms Lives in Jamaica

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Aug. 8, 2013) – Never give up! It is a popular expression that is often over used and underappreciated. But anyone who has ever met 30-year-old Steven Walker would understand the power of these three little words and why this Jacksonville man is so passionate about life, the people of Jamaica and Food For The Poor.    

Walker has traveled to Jamaica several times in recent years with his mother, longtime Food For The Poor donor, Barbara Gilbert. His most recent trip was his first visit back to the Caribbean island since having both of his legs and both of his hands amputated due to a bacterial infection last spring.

“I wasn’t quite sure how the people in Jamaica would respond to seeing me again, this time without my limbs, but I have to say everyone has treated me with incredible kindness and respect,” said Walker. “I got to participate in a lot of projects on this trip, but I really enjoyed visiting the different orphanages, especially the ones that are caring for severely disabled children. That was very special for me.”

Another thing that touched him was the surprise dedication of the finished Celebration of Life School and a computer lab. It was constructed in Steven’s honor for the many students he has tutored over the years.  Steven and his mother also were surprised with a performance by a group of children from ‘Barbara’s Village’ and students in the Musical Band Youth Program who received instruments for the Jeff’s Band initiative, which was spearheaded by Gilbert through Food For The Poor.  

“It’s been said when you are a blessing to others, blessings will always return to you. Before this tragedy happened with Steven, Barbara had been giving of her time and resources to truly serve the poorest of the poor,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “When most people would have given up on everything, her tenacious spirit and that of her son persevered, thanks to the countless prayers and well wishes from family, friends, staff and strangers. Steven’s recovery is truly a miracle.”

Gilbert says all of her visits to Jamaica are great, but this latest trip with her son, along with her mother, Patricia Ware, is one she will always remember. After visiting Jamaica for nearly a decade she is often asked, what keeps her going back?  

“For me, the poor of Jamaica is a lifetime commitment,” said Gilbert.  “I am only doing what we are all supposed to be doing, and that’s giving love and trying to plant seeds of hope, which is what I am all about.”

During the weeklong visit, Walker and Gilbert, along with volunteers from Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas and Florida, built a new home for a mother and her three daughters in Spanish Town. Walker, a soft-spoken person, displayed sheer delight while assisting the contractor at the building site, and especially when the family received the keys to their new home.

“Before my illness, I would have described myself as being somewhat introverted,” Walker expressed, while reflecting back on the week on the last night of the trip. “After my amputations, I had my moments when I felt depressed about my situation, but I soon snapped out it because no one wants to be around someone who is sad all the time. So I choose to make the most out of my situation and to help as many people as I can along the way.”

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.

Honor Mom, Give Gifts That Make a Difference

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 25, 2013) – This Mother’s Day, make Mom proud by giving her a gift that lifts a family out of poverty in her honor. In developing countries, mothers often are the sole providers for their families and earn less than $2 a day. Share with Mom the joy of giving a poor mother the opportunity to quell the hunger pangs of her precious child by providing food for 12 months through Food For The Poor’s gift catalog.  

For $43.80, Food For The Poor can feed a child for a year. Imagine the immense burden you will lift from the shoulders of mothers who, when food is scarce, sacrifice their own meager portions so that their children will survive.

Food For The Poor’s gift catalog epitomizes the spirit of giving and offers a wide variety of gifts – from a goat for $90, or a solar-powered handheld light kit for $125, to providing a community with a lifesaving water pump for $205. 

“Just as a mother’s selfless love for her child multiplies over the years, so too the gift of farm animals multiplies, equipping hardworking families with food, income, and a real sense of hope,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor.

This year, Food For The Poor also encourages you to share your mother’s favorite saying or best advice online at www.FoodForThePoor.org/mom from April 26-May 9. Three winners will be chosen at random on May 10 and a dozen free roses will be delivered to each of their mothers on Mother’s Day, May 12. Be sure to “like” Food For The Poor’s Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/FoodForThePoor.

View a full selection of gifts that provide hope for the future at www.FoodForThePoor.org/catalog.

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.

Louisville Residents Don Derby Hats and Heels to Stomp Out Poverty

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 24, 2013) – More than 150 Louisville residents dressed in Derby fashion to support Food For The Poor’s High Heels & Hats 1-mile stroll on April 20 at The Summit. Proceeds from the event will go toward programs that help alleviate poverty in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Awards were given to Alisa Zanetti for the Highest Heels; April Porterfield for Biggest Hat; and Michael Parrish for Most Fabulous Guy in Heels. This year’s winners wore 6-inch high heels, and a 31-inch Derby hat.

Fundraising will continue through May 31. Prizes will be awarded to the top individual fundraiser and the top fundraising team. Guests also had the opportunity to enter a drawing to win a MINI Cooper. The winning ticket will be pulled Thursday, May 16.
To make a donation or view event photos, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/highheels.

On behalf of Food For The Poor, High Heels & Hats was presented by The Summit and sponsored by Crush Boutique; DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse; Earth Fare; Martini Italian Bistro; Splendid Events, LLC; Starbucks; The DNR Group; Zoёs Kitchen; and media partners 94.7 FM WFIA and Louisville Magazine.

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.

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.

Food For The Poor is Proud to Partner with TOMS

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 18, 2013) – Food For The Poor is proud to partner with TOMS to provide new shoes to children in some of the most impoverished areas of the Caribbean and Latin America. Children were so excited at one of the initial shoe distributions in Honduras that they stormed the beach to help unload boxes of TOMS Shoes from boats that had just arrived. Hoisting the boxes on their shoulders and hauling them in wheelbarrows, the children raced to the school, hoping to be first in line.

“One child was so overwhelmed by the newness and cleanness of the shoes that he did not want to put them on,” said Juan Ramon, the Cortes chapter coordinator for Cepudo, Food For The Poor’s Honduras in-country partner. “Eventually, he did put them on, and he was so proud of them.”

Even though it was a Sunday, the children dressed neatly in their school uniforms to receive their new pair of TOMS. TOMS Shoes were distributed at four schools in the poor coastal communities of Puerto Cortes, Honduras. There is no reliable electric or water source in the area, and the only available transportation is by horseback or on foot. Some children do not attend school because they do not have adequate shoes to wear. In addition, without proper footwear, children’s feet are vulnerable to cuts, injury and soil-transmitted infections. For these reasons, it is especially important that children have shoes to protect their feet.

“In developing countries, something as simple as a pair of new shoes makes a huge difference in the lives of these children,” said Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director. “The TOMS Shoes that were distributed to these grateful children will continue to play an active role in the children's health, educational attainment, and self-esteem for many years.”

Through TOMS’ One for One®™ movement, new shoes will be distributed to children repeatedly as they grow. A pair of new shoes, in addition to meeting the basic needs of a child, increases their confidence, leading to better opportunities through an increase in the child’s school attendance.

“We have been able to help 100 percent of the students in the area, according to government records,” said Ramon. “This is a historic event for us and for the area. We have never been able to distribute such a large quantity of aid, and reach so many people at the same time. So far we have distributed new pairs of TOMS Shoes to more than 100 selected schools.”

Food For The Poor’s partners help with everything from self-sustaining aquaculture farms to feeding nutritious meals to school children.

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.

In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in a village in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet.  Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One™. Since then, TOMS has evolved from a shoe company to the One for One company, and is now addressing an entirely new need around the world in addition to shoes through eyewear.

Find Your Stride and Help Educate Children: 5K Walk/Run to Raise Funds for Hope For Haitians

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (March 25, 2013) – Hope For Haitians will be joining forces with Food For The Poor for their second annual 5K Walk/Run For Education fundraiser. This family themed event will feature live music, balloon artistry and face painting; a perfect opportunity for anyone at any fitness level to help raise awareness and funds for much needed school supplies and uniforms for children in Haiti.

The event will be on Saturday, May 11, 2013, at 8:30 a.m. at the Kane County Government Center located at 719 South Batavia Ave. in Geneva, Ill. Please visit www.HopeForHaitians.org to register your team and start your fundraising. Registration includes a T-shirt and is $25 for adults. The event is free for participants 17 and under. 
For more information on the 5K Walk/Run For Education, please contact Theresa Kegley at 1-815-847-0656 or email theresa@hopeforhaitians.org.  Registration starts at 7 a.m., the walk/run begins at 8:30 a.m. and the awards ceremony is at 10 a.m.
The course is USA Track and Field certified and timed.

For every $50 raised by participants their name will be entered into a grand drawing for two tickets to a White Sox game. Participants who raise $250 also will be entered into a drawing that includes gift cards, gift baskets and many more wonderful prizes.

Event sponsors include: Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet, Volkswagen and BMW, Paddle & Trail, Kane County Chronicle, S&S Activewear, Dr. Dickens, Mason and Kissel Dentistry, Dick Ponds Athletics, Fresh Market, Kohl’s, Savant, Eggar Insurance Agency, Inc, and St. Charles Bank and Trust.

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.

Water, Water everywhere, but is it Safe to Drink?

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (March 18, 2013) – For the poorest of the poor in the Caribbean and Latin America, access to clean water is virtually non-existent. Thousands of families in the countries we serve need safe, clean drinking water. Sadly, for many in the rural communities, their only source of water comes from a watering hole, river or a stream. These waters may appear clean, but they are often harboring harmful and potentially deadly bacteria.

International World Water Day is set aside each year as a means of focusing attention on the importance of fresh water and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. As World Water Day celebrates its 20th year on March 22, Food For The Poor will launch its fourth annual Water Weekfundraising campaign, March 18 through March 25. During this weeklong donation drive, the charity is seeking to raise money for water filtration units, water wells and pumps.

“Food For The Poor understands the vital importance of providing the villages we build with access to clean water and proper sanitation. Many of the very young and the elderly die from preventable waterborne illnesses such as dysentery, cholera and parasitic infections,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “The theme for this year’s World Water Day is ‘International Year of Water Cooperation’ and by supporting Water Week 2013 you will be helping to provide a community with safe drinking water. It only takes a little to make a big difference.”

Over the past decade, Food For The Poor has completed more than 1,475 water projects, which include wells, cisterns, tanks, distribution systems, and water treatment units in the countries the organization serves. Thanks to generous donors and a partnership with Water Missions International, since the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Food For The Poor has installed 60 water filtration units that purify 600,000 gallons of water each day, and drilled 136 wells in Haiti. Together, these projects provide a safe water source for more than a million people. 

Can you imagine trying to live just one day without clean water or anything to drink? Sadly, this is the daily reality for Choupette, a 10-year-old Haitian girl. Choupette leaves her home early each day and treks down a rocky, treacherous mountainside to fill two one-gallon containers with contaminated, dirty water.  Please click on the following link www.foodforthepoor.org/quest to view a short video of Choupette's daily quest for water, and to learn how you can help quench her thirst and the thirst of those within her community.      
                                       
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.