Haiti Hospital to Get Water

	Brenda Wood and Garvin Stewart.
Related Items: See Photos from the Event Donate to Help Build Hospital Tour the Hospital

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 17, 2013) – Hundreds of Atlanta-area residents attended Food For The Poor’s 6th annual Caribbean-themed Dreams Across The Sea Gala, presented by W Atlanta-Midtown, Saturday, Sept. 28, to deliver life saving medical resources and clean water to Haiti.

“Making a difference is one of the greatest privileges we enjoy,” said Saurel Quettan, a gala co-chairman. 

Brenda Wood, co-anchor for 11 Alive News and The Daily 11, served as the gala’s master of ceremonies. The Emmy-award winning anchor conveyed to guests the critical importance of raising money to update the water and sanitation systems at Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The hospital has to truck in clean water for the doctors and patients, and in some parts of the hospital there is no running water at all. In a country that has lost approximately 8,300 lives to cholera since 2010, clean water is critical to minimizing the spread of infection and improving the overall healthcare at the hospital.

Food For The Poor also supplies Bernard Mevs Hospital with high-tech diagnostic equipment, hospital beds, and pharmaceuticals. The hospital’s top surgeons, Dr. Jerry Bitar and Dr. Marlon Bitar, have committed their lives to serving the poor.

“They are doing a great job,” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor’s President/CEO, in a video that shows the hospital’s needs and work.

Guests also enjoyed an elegant evening of exceptional dining and live music. Bidding on silent auction prizes, such as electronics, jewelry, luxury vacations, golf outings and dining packages, offered another opportunity for guests to support the cause.

Afterward, the guests participated in a water rally to raise money for the project to provide clean water for some of the hospital’s youngest and most vulnerable patients.

Dreams Across The Sea Gala Co-Chairmen are Saurel Quettan and Garvin Stewart. Additional committee members include Dr. Paula Nelson Adesokan, Scott and Kari Bardowell, Verlyn Britton, Treza Brooms-Johnson, Ed Buckley, Chris Curry, Gina Frasier, Nekeidra Frederick, Jean Hanges, Sheryl McCalla, Sylvia McClure, Marie-Ann Perez, Dr. Jason Regis, and Michelle Wattley.

To make a donation to bring access to clean water to the Bernard Mevs Hospital, please call 888-404-4248 or visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/atlanta.

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.