Food For The Poor was honored as Business of the Year by the South Florida Business Journal on Thursday night. The international relief and development organization was named in the nonprofit category.

The Business Journal awards recognize excellence and outstanding performance in the South Florida business community. Scores of nominees were reviewed by the panel of judges, which included the newspaper’s editorial department, representatives from business schools in the region, past honorees and prominent business leaders.

In announcing the award, the South Florida Business Journal wrote, “Food For The Poor provided the poor with long-term, sustainable solutions to poverty, in part through several micro-enterprise programs that help the poor help themselves.”

Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma accepted the award for the charity.

“Tonight, we accept this award on behalf of the little boy who, watching his brother eat a bowl of rice, said, ‘Today is not my day to eat,’ ” Aloma said. “We accept it on behalf of the mother of four in Guatemala who spends her days with her children in a dump looking for small items to sell or even to eat. Food For The Poor accepts this award on behalf of the man who has labored in the garbage dump for 42 years, and confesses to us that he has lost even the power to dream. Thank you for helping us save their lives, and to restore their dreams.”

As the agency celebrates its 30th anniversary, Food For The Poor has set a goal in 2012 to build 12,000 homes, dig 1,200 water wells, and ship 1,200 containers of food to help those suffering within the 17 countries it serves.

“We give the poor tools to be able to take care of themselves, People don’t want aid; they want to be able to earn a living,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “We had no idea how far the ministry would take us. All these years later, we still look at our mission the same way: We save lives one person, one family at a time.”

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.  For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.


Contact:
Kathy Skipper
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6614
wandaw@foodforthepoor.com