ABC Anchor to Emcee Gala

	TV anchor Jorge Estevez will serve as master of ceremonies for A Celebration of Hope gala.
Related Items: Reserve Your Seat See Photos of Ganthier

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 10, 2013) – Jorge Estevez, anchor for WFTV Channel 9 and WRDQ Channel 27, will serve as master of ceremonies for Food For The Poor’s  A Celebration of Hope gala presented by Rosen Shingle Creek and Rosen Hotels & Resorts in Orlando on Saturday, Oct. 19. Estevez traveled to Haiti with Food For The Poor to report on the charity’s rebuilding efforts after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Similarly, two groups of Orlando residents have journeyed to Ganthier, Haiti, in the past five months to witness firsthand the need. Proceeds from the gala will be used to replace the dilapidated mud-and-stick huts in Ganthier with sturdy Food For The Poor homes.

“This area is remote and utterly desolate,” said Dr. Lynne Nasrallah, who serves on the Food For The Poor Board of Directors and as the gala’s Chairwoman. “The closer the van got, the more my heart ached for the inhabitants. Here, I felt like I had arrived in the deepest bowels of Haiti. The huts are primitively made out of mud, clay, twigs and discarded plastic materials. These huts offer no protection from the wind or the rain. Many, many children were scantily clothed or totally naked and mostly covered in dirt. The children ran up to us and crawled into our arms.”

One of the mothers they met lives with her five children. They sleep on a dirt floor and often have nothing to eat. All night long, the older children vigilantly attempt to swat the bugs off the smaller children. Their hut and few worldly possessions are at constant risk of flooding. During storms, the local families must evacuate to higher ground. The school is the community’s best option for shelter, even though the structure’s exterior walls do not reach from floor to ceiling.

“We are so very lucky in this country,” said Kay Rawlins, Director of Community Relations for Orlando City Soccer Club, after she returned from the recent trip to Haiti. “We have way more than we need, or use; and we should be a good neighbor and help these communities that are not so very far away.” Rawlins and the other Orlando-area travelers were in disbelief that people could survive the harsh conditions in Ganthier.

A Celebration of Hope gala attendees will be invited to help build critically-needed houses for these families during the charity’s live house-rally. For additional information regarding A Celebration of Hope gala, sponsorship levels, and tickets, available at $175 per person, please call 1-888-404-4248 or visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/orlando.

At the gala, Dwight and Lisa Saathoff will be honored as the 2013 Ambassadors For The Poor for their continued commitment to build critically-needed houses for families. Their passion to help the destitute also has had a profound impact on their son Patrick, 16. Last summer he chose to travel on a mission trip with Food For The Poor instead of vacationing in Hawaii. 

The gala’s presenting sponsor is Rosen Shingle Creek and Rosen Hotels & Resorts. Gala sponsors include Almar Travel, Greenburg Trauig, Jallad Family Insurance, Marriott Spirit to Serve in Central Florida, Newsome Melton LLP, Pan American Grain, Provinsure, and S1-Safety 1st Drug Testing.

A Celebration of Hope gala executive committee members include Anibal and Maritza Beltran, Jason Gingras, Cynthia Hawkins, Rebecca James, Marie Morales Johnson, Dr. Anis Khalaf, Kathy Kinchla, Brad Levine, Bernadette McComb, Paul Mylod, and Ryan Shaughnessy. Additional committee members include Linda Bonnewitz, The del Campo Family, Janice Chong, Trevor and Freda Dieffenthaller, Jackie Heaps, Patty Holland, Donna Larson, Laura McDonald, Dr. Desirae Nasrallah, Nicole Nasrallah, Robin Neel, Lisa Padilla, Nancy Padilla, Patricia Perfito, Anne Pinkosh, Amira Rodriguez, The Saint-Fort Family, The Santana Family, Marie Schwarz, Kelly Wilkes, Holly Wilson, and Jean and Donna Wilson.

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