Boca Grande Fundraiser

Boca Grande Committee Sets Its Sights on New Area to Help

	Hope for Haitians began working through Food For The Poor in 2009, and has built villages for families in Pierre Payen, Michaud, and Manneville, Haiti. These villages received recent upgrades, which included two dormitories for 20 boys and 20 girls who have aged out of the orphanage care programs in Boca Grande Friendship Village II, which is located in Michaud.
Related Item: View Photos of the New Construction

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 3, 2014) – The Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee began working through the international relief and development organization, Food For The Poor, in 2009, and has built villages for families in Pierre Payen, Michaud, and Manneville, Haiti.

Now, the Hope for Haitians Committee has turned its attention to Gressier, a coastal community located between Port-au-Prince and Leogane. The town's slowly crumbling infrastructure and overcrowding was a problem long before the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, but the region suffered a devastating blow when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed nearly 50 percent of the area's buildings, leaving the town in shambles.

Fear of aftershocks sent many families seeking refuge within the rural parts of Petit Boucan, Gressier, where they have set up tents and formed a community. Today, there are still 60 families living in this makeshift camp that has become a dangerous and unsanitary place, especially for children. The Hope for Haitians Committee wants to relocate families from these tents to permanent housing.

“We can't stop now. Even after five years, we still have thousands living in tents and these conditions are not good, in fact they are deplorable. That is why we must continue,” said Ben Scott, Chairman of the Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee.

As the five-year anniversary of the earthquake approaches, Food For The Poor's compassion for the Caribbean nation has never been stronger.

“For nearly three decades Food For The Poor has stood with Haiti through a number of natural disasters. Since the earthquake, Food For The Poor has built 4,957 homes. This organization is more determined than ever to see Haiti rise out of the ashes of despair that nearly destroyed a country, but not the faith of its people,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “None of the work we do would be possible if it were not for the support of our donors. The Boca Grande Hope for Haitians Committee has not only shared their resources, but they’ve traveled to Haiti and gotten to know the people who are the recipients of their loving kindness.” 

Earlier this year, Boca Grande Hope for Haitians funded a fourth project of 32 two-room homes with water and sanitation in the poor community of Pon Batay, which included two solar-powered street lamps, 32 individual solar-powered lamps and 32 goats. The villages in Pierre Payen and Michaud also received recent upgrades. These included a wall and play area for the elementary school in Pierre Payen.

In Michaud, two dormitories for 20 boys and 20 girls who have aged out of the orphanage were built, and a much-needed medical clinic is now complete. The lives of these children and families within these villages have been greatly transformed and their communities are thriving.

“Those who helped with this project over the last five years should feel good about the difference they’ve made in the lives of 167 very poor families,” said Scott. “Most of these families came from tent cities and were forced to live there because of the 2010 earthquake.”

The Boca Grande Hope for Haitians will have a fundraiser on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015 to build 30 more homes for the families in Petit Boucan, Gressier. Scott says he's prayerfully confident they will be able to raise enough funds to build these houses.

Committee members include: Chairmen Ben and Louise Scott, the Rev. Gary Beatty, the Rev. Brian Brightly, the Rev. Jerome Carosella, the Rev. Michelle Robertshaw, George and Lois Castrucci, Patricia Chapman, Randy and Sue Eddy, Charlie and Florita Field, Evelyn Finnegan, Lou and Corie Fusz, Stephen and Susan Jansen, Mick and Susan Johnson, Tom and Nancy Lorden, Colvin and Madelaine McCrady, Peter and Elsa Soderberg.

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.