Food For The Poor, Jamaican Diaspora Seek Closer Ties for South Florida Caribbean Communities

On Thursday, Nov. 18, Food for the Poor, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Jamaica, and the Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board for Southern United States, will host an afternoon of thanksgiving and tour of the headquarters for Caribbean community diaspora organizations in South Florida.

The afternoon will begin with Thankful Thursday service followed by a panel presentation from Food For The Poor executives and field officers on best practices and resources for meeting the needs of the poor in the Caribbean. The event will be from 1 to 4 p.m., and will end with light refreshments and networking.

“Food For The Poor has a longstanding history and relationship with nations of the Caribbean. With the Thanksgiving season upon us, we wanted to share our blessings and lessons learned over the years in responding to the needs of the poorest of the poor,” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor's President/CEO. “Diaspora community organizations have much to share and learn from each other in fostering our best response to disasters and to other areas of need in the respective countries of the region.”

Consul General Hon. Sandra Grant Griffiths said that the Consulate of Jamaica felt impelled to participate in such a gratifying and useful exercise. “The focus on effective, humanitarian assistance and human development management is fitting and always timely,” she said. “The particular vulnerability of our geographic region requires that we “as communities” become better equipped to be our brothers’ keepers.”

The commitment to improve access to education is a key initiative of Food For The Poor, and the session will focus especially on how the South Florida community can make the future brighter for thousands of children.

“The Caribbean community continues to grow exponentially across America. It is critical that community organizations build capacity and foster community partnerships to respond to the needs of their local diaspora communities and also to the needs of our respective countries of heritage. Food For The Poor epitomizes this example of organizational excellence. We have much to learn for the benefit of our communities,” stated Marlon Hill, Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board member for the Southern United States.

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.