Broward County Public Schools Respond Generously to Hurricane Matthew Relief Drive
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Dec. 13, 2016) Thanks to the generosity of Broward County Public Schools, critically needed relief supplies are on their way to Haiti to help desperate families who were victims of Hurricane Matthew.
School personnel loaded a 45-foot Food For The Poor container Tuesday morning at the school district’s textbook warehouse in Oakland Park with items all donated by the district’s staff, students, parents and supporters.
In a two-week drive in November, the school district collected 25 pallets of clothing, shoes, blankets, water, canned food, personal hygiene items, baby items, flashlights, stuffed animals and other items.
Haitians make up the largest immigrant student population in the Broward County Public Schools, according to Michaelle Valbrun-Pope, Executive Director of Student Support Initiatives.
“Everyone was eager and happy to help out. We feel very confident knowing that Food For The Poor will get these items to the people who need them the most in Haiti,” said Valbrun-Pope, who served as principal of North Side Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale for seven years and was the first Haitian-American to hold that title in Broward County.
Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti on Oct. 4. Since then, Food For The Poor has shipped a total of 151 containers of lifesaving aid to the country, including 15 from the charity’s headquarters in Coconut Creek, and more than 100 drop-shipped directly from donors or suppliers to Haiti.
The relationship between Food For The Poor and Broward County Public Schools goes back to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti when the schools collected more than 600 pallets of relief supplies for the charity and earthquake victims.
“We are extremely grateful to the students, teachers and staff of Broward County Public Schools for this generous donation,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “This aid will bring much-needed relief to our suffering neighbors in Haiti.”
Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) is the sixth largest school district in the nation and the second largest in the state of Florida. BCPS is Florida’s first fully accredited school system since 1962. BCPS has over 271,000 students and approximately 175,000 adult students in 236 schools, centers and technical colleges, and 101 charter schools. BCPS serves a diverse student population, with students representing 208 different countries and 181 different languages. To learn more, visit browardschools.com. Follow BCPS on Twitter @browardschools and Facebook at facebook.com/browardschools, and download the free BCPS mobile app.
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]