Don Moen Song

Don Moen Gives the Gift of Song

	Christian music singer Don Moen is allowing donors of Food For The Poor to download one of the tracks from his much anticipated "Hymns of Hope," which is the follow-up to "Hymnbook:16 Classic Hymns," for free.
Related Item: View Photos of Don Moen in Concert

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 30, 2014) – The internationally known Christian singer and songwriter, Don Moen, is once again giving the gift of music to the loyal supporters of Food For The Poor.  Moen’s much anticipated Hymns of Hope, which is the follow-up to Hymnbook: 16 Classic Hymns will be released later this spring, but Food For The Poor donors can download one of the tracks for free starting Thursday.

“I know that 95 percent of all donations given goes directly to help those in need and reflects the true heart of ministry throughout this organization. Your investment into Food For The Poor will have an incredible return,” said Moen. “God bless you for your generous hearts toward my friends at Food For The Poor.”

Featuring 12 classics, Hymns of Hope includes favorites such as Be Thou My Vision, Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior and The Old Rugged Cross. The mid-tempo version of My Savior’s Love can be downloaded for free at FoodForThePoor.org/freesong from May 1 - 13.  

“Throughout the centuries, hymns have provided hope to millions of people around the world when they have faced challenging situations.  It's my prayer that as you listen to Hymns of Hope, you will be reminded once again of God's faithfulness yesterday, today, and forever,” Moen said. 

The song also will be available to the donors of KLTY radio in Dallas, Texas, as a thank you gift for their support of Food For The Poor’s “Day of Hope” radio campaigns. The campaigns are ongoing nationwide to raise money to help fight chronic malnutrition and to build much needed homes for families in Kadwa, Haiti.

“Don Moen is one of the most talented Christian music artists around today. For him to use his talents as a platform to bring attention to the needs of the poor and then thank Food For The Poor’s supporters by donating one of his songs is truly a blessing,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor.

For more than eight years, Moen has collaborated with Food For The Poor. The singer even traveled to Haiti with the charity in 2010. During his 2011 six-city Canadian concert tour, the singer shared his experiences from that mission trip with his devoted fans, who responded with donations to build 13 new two-room homes in the Caribbean nation.

“I have personally witnessed the overwhelming joy that fills the hearts of the people being touched by Food For The Poor,” said Moen. “I can never forget the look in their eyes, and the tears of gratitude and joy, knowing that someone cared enough to reach out to them, providing hope in a hopeless situation.”

Moen, a prolific songwriter, producer, and record label executive, has been leading worship around the world for more than three decades. Moen's first album for Hosanna! Music, Give Thanks, became the label's bestseller.  Since that time, Moen has penned and recorded worship classics such as God Will Make A Way, I Will Sing, and God Is Good All The Time. Moen served as a label executive at Integrity Music for more than 20 years before starting his own company, Don Moen Productions in Nashville, Tenn. Today, Moen continues to lead worship internationally, bringing God's message of hope, comfort and encouragement around the world. For more information, please visit www.DonMoen.com.  

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.

Barefoot Campaign

Food For The Poor Supports TOMS “One Day Without Shoes”

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 28, 2014)– Food For The Poor encourages you to participate in the seventh annual One Day Without Shoes event on April 29. One Day Without Shoes is the annual day to go without shoes to raise global awareness for children’s health and education.

As part of Food For The Poor’s One Day Without Shoes Event, supporters are asked to bare their soles for a chance to win a Footprints in the Sand keychain. Upload your photos to Food For The Poor’s Facebook page to enter. Instagram and Twitter users also can participate, and are asked to include #ffpbarefeet and @TOMS #withoutshoes. A toolkit with stickers and banners is available for download from One Day Without Shoes’ website at www.toms.com/onedaywithoutshoes. The contest ends April 30, and the winners will be announced May 1.

Anyone can get involved. You can take part by doing whatever it is you do during the day; just do it without shoes! Go to work, wash your car, play at the park – and when people ask why you are not wearing shoes, tell them about One Day Without Shoes.

Children and their families in many developing countries do not enjoy the same opportunities we do in the United States. A pair of new shoes, in addition to meeting the basic needs of a child, can increase their confidence, and lead to better opportunities including improved school attendance and health.

In developing nations, wearing shoes also helps to protect from cuts and debilitating infections and diseases like podoconiosis, which, according to the World Health Organization, affects more than 4 million people in at least 15 countries. 

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.

2013 Annual Report

Food For The Poor’s 2013 Annual Report
Committed to Saving Lives, Transforming Communities, Renewing Hope

	Food For The Poor continued to provide clean water, build schools, training centers, and clinics in 2013.
Related Items: See What Donors Made Possible What a Difference a Year Makes

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 21, 2014) – Life in parts of the Caribbean and Latin America’s most impoverished communities can be hard, but thanks to the loving generosity of Food For The Poor’s donors and the dedication of organizational partners, the charity was able to offer aid to millions of people last year.

Named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as the nation’s largest international relief and development agency, Food For The Poor shipped 3,518 tractor-trailers of aid in 2013, providing vital resources to poverty-stricken children and families struggling to survive.

Some key shipments included:

• 596 tractor-trailers of medicines and medical supplies
• 573 tractor-trailers of educational supplies
• 31.9 million pounds of rice and 8.3 million pounds of beans
• More than 10 million pounds of canned foods and other life-sustaining items to feed the hungry

“Meeting the immediate need is important, but helping the poor to obtain a level of self-sufficiency has always been the priority of Food For The Poor,” said Robin Mahfood, CEO/President of Food For the Poor. “This road to independence starts with having a secure place for a family to call home, which is why Food For The Poor’s home-building strategy is so urgent and vitally important to the organization.”   

In 2013, the charity built 6,808 housing units – bringing the total to more than 91,000 housing units since 1982.  

Food For The Poor continued to provide clean water, build schools, training centers, and clinics in 2013.
Caring donors to the organization also are sponsoring more than 3,300 children in 115 orphanages through the Angels Of Hope program. For an animated look at the impact donor support provided in 2013 click: www.FoodForThePoor.org/impact.

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.

Robotic Hand for Child

	Today in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Stevenson Joseph (12) received a RoboHand, which was given to him by Food For The Poor donor John Marshall.
Related Items: See Photos of the Visit Watch Video of the Visit

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (April 7, 2014) – Two dreams were fulfilled today, those of the giver and of the recipient, when Food For The Poor donor John Marshall delivered a prosthetic hand to a child he met last year in the Little Children of Jesus Home.

“Food For The Poor donors never cease to amaze me. When I heard what John was doing, I knew that it was truly God-inspired generosity,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. "Stevenson’s life will be very different because his life crossed paths with John Marshall.”

When Marshall met the 12-year-old child last year on a mission trip with the charity, he could not get the boy out of his mind. The child, Stevenson, had been abandoned by his mother at the home for disabled children as a 3-year-old, having been born with no fingers on one hand, and only a tiny bit of thumb and pinky finger on the other.

After Marshall met Stevenson last May, he had the child on his mind when he was reading one of his technology magazines about three weeks after they first met. Marshall read about how 3-D printers could be used to create custom-fitted prosthetics, suitable for fast growing children. The 3-D printer solution seemed tailor-made for Stevenson.

It took John nine months and two attempts to try to make the hand, using 3-D printer technology and a technique he learned from reading about South African entrepreneur Richard Van As. While Stevenson watched on Monday, Marshall completed assembly of the hand to make sure that it fit well on the child’s wrist.

“I used to do this sort of thing all the time with Legos when I was a child,” Marshall said as he completed his work on the hand at the prosthetics center in the Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

Marshall and Bernard Mevs Prosthetic Engineer Thomas Iwalla laid out the prosthetic hand ultimately made by Richard Van As of RoboHand, along with additional pieces, and began to assemble Stevenson’s miracle.

Because Stevenson has some use of his right hand, he will only be fitted with the prosthetic hand on the left. Marshall said he will make a new hand about every two years as Stevenson grows. The Bernard Mevs Hospital Prosthetics Center will play an integral role in training and maintenance.

“The hand of God was a big part of this,” Marshall said. “I am only doing what was presented in front of me to do. Stevenson is handicapped in a small way, in a way that’s not as bad as some of the other children, yet his hands are holding him back. He can do so much more. He has the potential.”

Marshall headed to Haiti just as the hand was shipped from Van As in South Africa. The man and the boy reunited over the workshop table on Monday morning. It was just as Marshall envisioned. Click to see video of Stevenson trying out the hand: www.foodforthepoor.org/robotichand

“If you don’t shepherd something through from the beginning, it won’t happen. It’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to see this through to the end.”

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.

Salute to Volunteers

Food For The Poor Salutes Donors and Volunteers

	In March, Lin and Lenny Crispinelli traveled to Jamaica with a group of volunteers to build their fifth basic school in honor of their daughter, Stephanie, through Food For The Poor. The Crispinellis have dedicated their efforts to the memory of Stephanie, who was also very active in serving Food For The Poor.
Related Item: See Our Donors at Work

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 3, 2014) – Food For The Poor thanks all of its dedicated volunteers in observance of National Volunteer Week, April 6-12. Each year, individuals of all ages and backgrounds travel with Food For The Poor to developing countries to lend a hand while others donate time, money, and other resources to fundraising events and specific causes.

“We thank our countless volunteers and donors who, by their exemplary service, attract and inspire others to take action,” said Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director. “Their contributions remind us daily that each and every one of us is a part of a global village, where just one person can positively impact the lives of many others in very real and meaningful ways.”

Before a March trip to Jamaica, Food For The Poor donors Lin and Lenny Crispinelli helped other volunteers load backpacks with school supplies for elementary students attending schools they have built in Jamaica. Since 2010, the Crispinellis have dedicated their efforts to the memory of their daughter, Stephanie, who was traveling with Food For The Poor when she died in the 2010 earthquake.

The couple has continued Stephanie’s work through annual fundraising projects and a pledge to build a school each year in her honor. The Crispinellis travel to Jamaica annually and have built five schools, all called Steph’s Place.

“We’ve got to keep this going,” said Lin Crispinelli, while at the work site of the second school built in 2011. “Everybody is so excited. It has been a wonderful experience.”

Earlier this year, 9-year-old junior golfer Rafe Cochran became one of Food For The Poor’s youngest donors. Even at such a young age, he realized that the need in Ganthier, Haiti, is tremendous. Large families there share small, fragile huts made with mud and sticks.

A January field trip with his fellow third-grade classmates from Palm Beach Day Academy to the Food For The Poor headquarters in Coconut Creek, Fla., inspired Rafe to help. He decided to pledge holes to the charity at a recent golf tournament held in Miami. Through his talents, the young golfer raised enough funds to build two homes – and he’s not stopping there.

“My goal is to build hundreds of houses for Haiti. No matter how young you are, you can always take action and support people,” said Rafe. “It makes me feel happy to help people. I wanted to support Food For The Poor because I saw how these children live and how fortunate I am. I was devastated and wanted to help.”

Donations to support Rafe’s goals can be made through his Champion For The Poor webpage at www.foodforthepoor.org/rafe. You can also support the legacy of Stephanie Crispinelli’s memory by building schools in Jamaica at  www.foodforthepoor.org/stephanie.

Ways to get involved:

• Become a Champion For The Poor
• Become a Volunteer Ambassador
• Become a corporate volunteer
• Get your church, school or community organization to team with FFP
• Find out if your employer matches gifts
• Request a speaker: get the word out about FFP’s mission by arranging speaking engagements through the Food For The Poor’s Speakers’ Bureau

For more information about Food For The Poor’s projects, causes, and programs for donors and volunteers, visit www.foodfor thepoor.org.

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.