1,000 Housing Units in 100 Days: Work Under Way on Homes in Haiti

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 1, 2016) One month after Hurricane Matthew devastated vast stretches of Haiti, Food For The Poor is moving quickly to rebuild and repair homes and continues to send shipments of critically needed aid to the country.

Work already has started on repairing homes, and the first group of repairs on 183 homes is scheduled to be finished Friday.

By providing simple, sturdy homes to the poorest of the poor, Food For The Poor believes it can change the lives of entire families by giving them the security of a safe, dry place to live. When teams arrived to assess the damage from Hurricane Matthew, grateful residents shared how they had taken shelter in Food For The Poor buildings during the storm.

But the hurricane also left many of Haiti’s most vulnerable citizens homeless and hungry and without access to clean water.

“If there is one thing that everyone should know about the efforts to help the people in Haiti, it is that the need is ever-present, and we are moving quickly,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor.

Staff plans to repair the remaining homes in two phases. Altogether, 450 homes that sustained damage in Haiti’s southern peninsula are being repaired.

Contractors working with Food For The Poor are now focusing on building new homes. On Oct. 19, the charity launched a campaign to build 1,000 new housing units in 100 days. By the end of November, the charity plans to have completed 350 housing units.

Food For The Poor also is rebuilding 8 fishing villages that were destroyed in southwest Haiti. Another 14 that suffered significant damage such as loss of roofs, freezers and equipment are being repaired. Funded and built through donations, the fishing villages provide residents with new food sources, and whole communities with a gainful source of income that they previously weren’t able to get fishing close to shore.

The goal is to have all the new housing units, repairs and fishing villages finished in 100 days.

Over the past month, Food For The Poor has been able to provide relief to Haiti through the acquisition and delivery of food, water, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, building materials, generators, agricultural tools, kerosene stoves and hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste and other personal care items to help prevent the spread of disease.

Sixty-eight containers have provided lifesaving goods to those suffering from the effects of the hurricane. Food For The Poor was able to immediately respond to their needs because there were 15 containers of goods in its Port-au-Prince warehouse, and more containers were on the way after the hurricane hit. Over time, Food For The Poor anticipates sending 160 containers of aid.

In addition to container shipments of bottled water, Food For The Poor, in partnership with Water Mission, installed eight solar-powered water filtration units, including three in Les Cayes, three in Jeremie, one in Torbeck and one in Port Salut. The filtration systems each can purify and provide up to 10,000 gallons of drinking water per day to guard against cholera.

Haiti’s dire housing needs were compounded by Hurricane Matthew, which barreled across the country’s southern peninsula on Oct. 4 with Category 4-strength winds of 145 mph. The storm flattened homes and crops along the southwest coast, damaged schools, swept away livestock and cut off transportation.

Those who survived the storm have faced great challenges, including going days without food. Cholera, diarrhea and flu-like symptoms are spreading as desperate people share close quarters with family and friends amid poor sanitary conditions, which facilitate the transmission of disease.

Here is a video of Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma talking about the rebuilding effort in Haiti: www.FoodForThePoor.org/onemonth.

To help storm victims in Haiti, cash donations are best. To help right now, please call 1-800-427-9104 or visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/hurricane.

For those who would rather donate goods, Food For The Poor is accepting canned meats, canned fish and canned milk at its Coconut Creek warehouse at 6401 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, Fla. 33073. At this time, the charity is not accepting clothing donations as it has other sources for those items.

Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor primarily 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.

Michael Turnbell

Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]