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Food For The Poor Celebrates Donors and Volunteers Year Round

	(L to R) Tim Thoman and Maria Thoman wash the feet of children at a Food For The Poor-sponsored orphanage in Haiti, the week of March 16. Photo/Jim Christie
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COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 17, 2015) – As National Volunteer Week concludes, Food For The Poor would like to again thank all of its dedicated volunteers and generous donors for taking action to improve the lives of destitute families.

“Each year, hundreds of donors travel with Food For The Poor to developing countries to lend a hand, while others donate time, money, and other resources to fundraise for specific causes,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “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.”

Tim Thoman, President and Founder of Performance Services, is familiar with Food For The Poor’s mission, and has established three villages in Haiti. Most recently, through employer-matching gifts Performance Services contributed the funds to establish a fishing village and water cistern in Gros Mangle, Haiti. 

On March 19, Tim, his daughter Taylor Thoman, and a group of their friends entered the Cap-Haitien prison during a Food For The Poor mission trip to pay the fines of 15 nonviolent offenders.

“We have all heard of Third World prisons, but seeing one is another experience altogether,” said Jim Christie, a Business Development Manager at Performance Services. “There were faces pressed against the cell bars and heavy metal mesh fencing with several arms and hands sticking out of small holes in the fencing. The cell was so dense with the faces and bodies pressing against the bars that you could not see light coming through from behind the prisoners.”

Before traveling to Haiti with Food For The Poor, Taylor, a sophomore at Purdue University, helped to design and sell T-shirts to raise money to provide meals for the people of Gros Mangle, and to pay the small fines of prisoners in the Cap-Haitien barracks.

The T-shirt design of a mahi-mahi jumping over the island nation of Haiti with the message “casting hope” illustrates the notion that education is essential to eradicating poverty. The back of the bright teal T-shirt is the proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

The money Performance Services raised through T-shirt sales paid the $327 fine to release a 13-year-old who broke a car window while throwing stones with friends.

The young man, who had been incarcerated for more than a month, said, “My parents are unable to come to my aid. That’s why I am so sad. But in the cell of the prison, I learned how to pray. I ask you to pray for me, my family, my friends, especially those who were in the same cell.”

In addition to the gift of presence, here are more ideas of how you can make a difference:  

• Become a Champion For The Poor:
  Food For The Poor’s personal fundraising program encourages donors to create their own personalized web pages for causes close to their hearts. There are ten distinct categories; Birthdays, Anniversaries, Weddings, Graduations, Individual Causes, Group Causes, In Loving Memory, Faith-based, Rebuild Haiti, and Businesses Giving Back.
  
• Involve Your Church, School or Community Organization:
  Students from elementary to college can find creative ways to raise funds through events on campus and within their communities.
• Become a corporate volunteer:
  Get involved in fundraising, and travel to the countries we serve to do hands-on projects.
  
• Consider Planned Giving:
  Donors can help others while making prudent and beneficial financial choices for themselves and family members.
  
• Check for Employer Matching Gifts:
  Food For The Poor encourages donors to ask their employers to match charitable donations.
  
• Request a Speaker:
  Food For The Poor’s Speakers’ Bureau arranges speaking engagements for churches, organizes church and school mission projects, and manages national outreach projects.

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