All-Nighter Empowers Students, Unites Campuses, Fights Hunger

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 18, 2012) – In South Florida, students at Broward College (BC), Florida International University (FIU) and the University of Miami (UM) are organizing campus events to commemorate World Food Day in partnership with the international relief and development organization Food For The Poor.

“I am eager to work with this organization to help raise funds for Guatemala through All-Nighters for the Poor,” said Javonia Robinson, a freshman majoring in public relations at BC’s South Campus. “No matter how different our geographic regions or cultures, we all affect one another in a major way.”

On Thursday, Oct. 25, BC South Campus will host A Taste of Guatemala from noon to 2 p.m. for $5 a plate. At 12:45 p.m., history professors Edward Cornejo and Rudy Jean-Bart will lead a discussion on the historical and current economic and political issues in Guatemala. Participating groups include ENC1102, ASPIRA and Phi Theta Kappa. Plan to enjoy traditional Guatemalan dishes and a slice of flan with your friends in the Southern Breezes Café in Building #68 at 7200 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines, Fla.

FIU’s Student Alumni Association is organizing All-Nighter events to take place Friday, Nov. 9, at the Biscayne Bay Campus in North Miami and Modesto A. Maidique Campus in western Miami-Dade County. That same night BC North Campus’ Caribbean Student Association (CSA) will host their All-Nighter. UM’s CSA and Butler Center for Volunteer Services and Leadership Development will schedule the campus’ All-Nighter in either November or December.

Students are encouraged to promote these campus events via social networking sites, and to register online at www.AllNighterForThePoor.org.
The goal of the All-Nighter program is to encourage students nationwide to host events on their campus to increase awareness about malnutrition and to fund self-sustaining solutions to poverty – such as tilapia ponds and animal husbandry projects – to alleviate hunger in developing countries.

“Throughout the world there are people that are not as fortunate as we are,” said Pratima Ramdeo, BC North’s CSA President. “CSA wants to give these families in Guatemala the privilege of not having to worry about where they'll get food to feed their kids or even themselves.” 
Funds raised during the 2012 All-Nighter for the Poor will provide destitute families in Guatemala Everything for Families with Nothing, including:
• Safe and secure homes with sanitation
• Rice and beans for one full year
• School supplies for two children per household (including books and uniforms)
• Clothing and shoes
• A self-sustainable project for a source of income and nutrition.

The campus that raises the most funds will have a street in the new Food For The Poor village named in its honor.

Are you ready to change the world? To learn more, visit www.AllNighterForThePoor.org. For more information, please call 1-877-654-2960, ext. 6069 or email moniques@foodforthepoor.com.
Funds from past events have gone to life-saving projects, such as:

• All-Nighter I (2009):   Funded the Harvesting Hope For Haiti Tilapia Farm in Delogner, Haiti. It is a four-pond tilapia farm, with each pond accommodating up to 7,000 fish.
• All-Nighter II (2010):  Funded the Renewing Hope Tilapia Farm in Fond Des Blanc, Haiti. This four-pond tilapia farm has a submersible pump powered by solar panels.
• All-Nighter II (2010):  Funded the Renewing Hope II Tilapia Farm in Cuperlier, Petite Goave, Haiti.
• All-Nighter III (2011): Funded a pangasius farm in Haiti.

“The farm in Delogner alone can provide about 1,800 pounds of fish every four months,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “This is vital protein in a country that so desperately needs nutritious food. In addition, the farm provides work for villagers who cultivate and harvest the tilapia, and then use the fish to barter for necessary goods.”

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.