Fish4Hope Reception

Fish4Hope Cocktail Reception to Fund Aquaculture in Haiti

	Proceeds from the 2014 Celebration of Hope cocktail reception will be used to support Fish4Hope’s second aquaculture project in partnership with Food For The Poor in Haiti.
Related Item: Support the Fish4Hope project

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Sept. 9, 2014) – Fish4Hope, in collaboration with Food For The Poor, will host its first Celebration of Hope cocktail reception on Saturday, Oct. 25 at the Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia, 22201.

The cocktail reception will feature an open bar, with a DJ and live music. Hors d’oeuvres prepared by the chefs at The Green Spoon will be served. The award-winning restaurant is known for its commitment to using local sustainable food sources. The event also will premiere Christopher Gabello Photography's Fish4Hope short film, and offer exclusive photography of Haiti from Studio Saldana in its silent auction.

For additional information regarding Celebration of Hope, tickets, and advocacy levels, please call  888-404-4248. Proceeds from the 2014 Celebration of Hope cocktail reception will be used to support Fish4Hope’s second aquaculture project in partnership with Food For The Poor in Haiti.

Vin Lam and Tu Le first became involved with Food For The Poor when they traveled to Haiti on a mission trip in February 2012.

“When we first went to Haiti we thought that we would be the ones ministering to others, but we were so wrong,” said Le, Co-Founder of Fish4Hope. “The people of Haiti opened our eyes up to so much; we learned tremendously about love, gratitude, and happiness from them. We were humbled.

“When we returned, we wanted to find a way to express our gratitude for what we had learned from our brothers and sisters in Haiti,” said Le.

In 2013, Fish4Hope became a reality. The new organization’s first project was to raise money to build an aquaculture project, along with safe, permanent Food For The Poor homes for destitute families in Perest, Haiti.

Lam and Le returned to Haiti in February 2013, to dedicate the Food For The Poor village that consists of four aquaculture ponds and homes for 15 families. Wearing bright turquoise Fish4Hope T-shirts that read “Take action, serve, and inspire,” the group walked into the village of Perest, as enthusiastic residents clapped and chanted songs of gratitude.

“We hope that these houses and these ponds will help build your future for a better life,” said Vin Lam, Co-Founder of Fish4Hope, during the village inauguration ceremony. “So, together, let us Fish4Hope.”

Lam and Le were inspired to build the Food For The Poor village by the adage: Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

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.

New Fishing Villages

Food For The Poor Opens First Fishing Villages in Honduras

	The delivery of 12 yellow fiberglass boats signaled the opening last week of three fishing villages in Omoa and Puerto Cortes, along the Caribbean coast of Honduras. These are the first fishing village projects in Latin America to be selected and supported by Food For The Poor and its generous donors.
Related Item: See Photos from the Fishing Villages

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Sept. 5, 2014) – The delivery of 12 yellow fiberglass boats signaled the opening last week of three fishing villages in Omoa and Puerto Cortes, along the Caribbean coast of Honduras. These are the first fishing village projects in Latin America to be selected and supported by Food For The Poor and its generous donors.

Many of the fishermen who will benefit from the project have spent decades skimming the reef in decaying wooden boats with makeshift fishing equipment, only to come up empty on most attempts. These new vessels offer new hope for the neighboring communities that depend on the sea for sustenance.  

“We are very happy and we’re very grateful to everyone who made this project possible. We’ve been waiting a long time for this donation and now we have it,” said Juan Vega, an Omoa fisherman. “With the support of the fishing teams, we can now take better care of our families. Thank you.”

Each fishing village received four boats, which will be shared by a team of 16 to 28 fishermen. All of the fishermen will receive engine maintenance training. In addition to the boats and motors, the villages will be equipped with coolers and freezers, locking storage sheds, fishing tackle and safety equipment.

“Words cannot describe the satisfaction Food For The Poor has for the establishment of the three new fishing villages in Honduras. Now these men have the ability to fish in deeper waters in order to catch quality fish to eat and to sell,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “These boats are a necessary resource and will take each of these communities closer to self-sufficiency and better nutrition.”

This opening comes at a time of renewed importance on providing life-sustaining projects and hope for those at risk of leaving their home countries in search of a better life.  Food For The Poor has had many successes in providing safe housing, clean water, education and projects such as these fishing villages.

The fishermen also will receive training in deep-sea fishing techniques that will best protect the marine environment, while learning how to catch mahi-mahi, yellow-tail snapper, tuna, and kingfish, which can then be sold to regional markets, hotels and restaurants.

The international relief and development organization selected these small towns after learning about the overwhelming need there, and the cooperative reputation of their fishermen. Each team will be required to donate a portion of their catch to organizations within their own communities that help orphans, the elderly and the sick. 

                                                                                                                                                        

“The expression on the faces of these men as the fishing boats were delivered to the villages made my heart swell with pride. But watching the fisherman proudly return with their first catch to shore in their new boats, made me cry tears of joy,” said Linda Coello, Founder/President of CEPUDO.  “We are so honored to be the channel through which Food For The Poor is able to provide this blessing to the people of Honduras. We thank you, and it is our hope that God will continue to bless the donors who made this possible.”  

Plans also are in the works for Food For The Poor to install three more fishing villages in the region later this year.

Food For The Poor began serving in Honduras in 1999, one year after the Central American country was slammed by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. The charity works very closely with its partner CEPUDO (Capacitación, Educación, Producción, Unificación, Desarrollo y Organización), which is based in San Pedro Sula, in order to reach those in need throughout the country.

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.

Honduras Fishing Village

Food For The Poor Creates Fishing Villages Along Honduras Coast

	Fishing is the primary source of income for hundreds of families living in the coastal communities of Omoa and Puerto Cortes, Honduras. Food For The Poor soon will replace rickety wooden boats and makeshift poles with fiberglass fishing boats with engines, modern fishing tackle, and safety equipment.
Related Item: See Photos of the Rickety Boats

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (July 10, 2014) – Omoa and Puerto Cortes, two coastal communities less than 10 miles apart along the Caribbean side of Honduras, have been selected by Food For The Poor as the sites for its first fishing villages in Latin America. The charity selected these small towns after learning about the overwhelming need there, and the cooperative reputation of their fishermen.

For generations, fishing has been the primary source of income for many of the families in the region. But rickety wooden boats and makeshift equipment are threatening the fishermen’s livelihoods and the health of their children, whose primary source of protein is fish. With hopes of a more lucrative catch, the fishermen fell into the rut of renting bigger boats and spending more of their already-limited income, making it very difficult to support their families.

“Food For The Poor is very excited about the establishment of these fishing villages in Honduras. The fishermen within these communities will have their own boats to share and their own equipment to safely navigate the deeper and more bountiful waters of the Caribbean,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “There are currently 16 fishing villages in operation in Jamaica and 42 in Haiti. We see the benefit of these projects in those countries, and thanks to the support of our donors; we believe the result will be the same in Honduras.”

Food For The Poor donors have agreed to provide one dozen 25-foot fiberglass fishing boats with engines for three fishing villages, two in Omoa and one in Puerto Cortes. Each fishing village will receive four boats, which will be shared by a team of 16 to 28 fishermen. All the fishermen will receive engine maintenance training. In addition to the boats and motors, the villages will be equipped with coolers and freezers, locking storage sheds, fishing tackle and safety equipment.

Instead of catching fingerlings from the reef, the fishermen will be trained in deep-sea fishing techniques that will best protect the marine environment. The fishermen also will learn how to catch mahi-mahi, yellow-tail snapper, tuna, and kingfish. These deep-sea fish can then be sold to markets, hotels and restaurants in San Pedro Sula, Honduras’ second largest city. The teams will be required to donate a portion of their catch to organizations within their own communities that help orphans, the elderly and the sick.

“Our goal has never been, nor will it ever be, to rule over people’s lives; we are simply putting faith into action. By providing individuals in the countries we serve with an opportunity to get out of poverty, we’re not giving people fish, but teaching them how to fish,” said Mahfood.

Food For The Poor began serving in Honduras in 1999, one year after the Central American country was slammed by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. The charity works very closely with its partner CEPUDO (Capacitación, Educación, Producción, Unificación, Desarrollo y Organización), which is based in San Pedro Sula, in order to reach those in need throughout the country.

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.

Jamaican Fishermen Saved after Spending Weeks at Sea

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Dec. 21, 2012) – Two fishermen are expected back in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday, after a day on the water in late November turned into a three-week adventure that landed them in the territorial waters of Colombia.


Everton Gregory, 54, and John Sobah, 58, are professional fishermen from the Food For The Poor fishing village in the town of Lyssons, which is located in St. Thomas Parrish on the eastern coast of the island.

When the men boarded the 28-foot fishing boat, they went with their tackle and just enough food and water for a few days.  When the time came to head back, the boat’s motor failed.

After a day, when the men did not return, Food For The Poor sent out a search team that included a chartered plane and scanned the waters near Jamaica. When days turned into a week and when a search party turned up empty-handed, family and friends of Gregory and Sobah feared that both men were forever lost at sea. Out of radio range, the boat drifted for more than 20 days and more than 500 miles.

The men survived by eating dried fish and sipping melted ice from their cooler. Before the fishermen were saved off the Caribbean island of Quitasueño near San Andrés, they went six days without water.
“With provisions running low, I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for these two fishermen who were adrift for weeks in the Caribbean Sea without a soul or land in sight,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “We are thankful to God and to Colombia’s officials for rescuing these fishermen and for helping us to return these men back to Jamaica in time to celebrate Christmas with their families.”   

After the fishermen were picked up by a Colombian naval ship, they were taken to San Andrés where they received food and medical treatment. San Andrés is among the Colombian islands in the Caribbean Sea and is more than 400 miles away from Colombia’s mainland. It is close to Nicaragua.
The matter was reported to the Jamaican Embassy in Bogota, where the necessary paper work was processed for the fishermen to return to Jamaica. The fishing boat was towed to Providencia, which is one of several islands in Colombia’s chain of Caribbean islands.   

Both men say they are excited and grateful to be heading back to Jamaica and are calling their sea rescue a real life miracle.

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 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. 

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