“In our view, the right to clean drinking water is the most fundamental human right we have,” said Buckley, who for eight years has partnered with the nonprofit Food For The Poor to drill and install lifesaving water wells throughout Jamaica and Haiti. “The water wells that have already been installed in Haiti have made an extraordinary difference to the people in the communities they serve.”As the rainy season approaches, the Associated Press reports that Haiti may experience a surge in cholera cases. An outbreak of the waterborne disease has killed nearly 7,000 people and sickened a half-million. When the cholera outbreak was confirmed in Haiti in 2010, Buckley donated a water filtration unit to help prevent the spread of the waterborne illness. Each water filtration unit has the capacity to purify 10,000 gallons of water a day.
Photos taken during the trio’s travels to remote villages in Haiti with Food For The Poor will be on display at the art gallery as guests sip wine selections from Cellar 13 Wine Merchant. Through their journeys, they experienced how access to clean, safe drinking water is the first step in revitalizing parched communities.
“I thought that it would be worse, but in many ways, it is better,” said Farahany in December after her first trip back to Haiti since the devastating 2010 earthquake. “There is still great poverty and most don't have access to running water, but there is a lot of progress too. I saw communities of people who have taken the helping hand and have lifted themselves up.”
Attendees will be asked to donate toward the cost of a water system in the village of Grand Boulage, Haiti or to build a community center in Vialet, Haiti. To support these initiatives, and provide a village in Haiti with the gift of clean water, and a community center, donations can be made online through the charity’s secure website at www.FoodForThePoor.org/water-haiti or www.FoodForThePoor.org/JusticeAtWork.
An anonymous donor will match up to $50,000 in donations to complete the installation of the Grand Boulage water system. Buckley and his supporters have funded the construction of more than 100 artesian wells throughout Haiti. Each well provides an average of 5,000 people access to potable water.
Event sponsors include Barrett & Farahany, LLP, Buckley & Klein, LLP, Cellar 13 Wine Merchant, and The Art House Gallery Atlanta.
Food For The Poor, the 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 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. 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
No comments:
Post a Comment