Building Hope Gala to Celebrate Food For The Poor’s 35th Anniversary
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 7, 2016) Guests will help build homes and provide hope for Haiti at Food For The Poor’s 22nd Annual Building Hope Gala on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, 501 E. Camino Real, Boca Raton, Fla.
The gala will celebrate Food For The Poor’s 35 years of dedicated service to the poor. The international relief and development organization, which started serving Jamaica in 1982, is now transforming the lives of the destitute in 17 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.
Attendees will be invited to create a legacy of compassion by pledging to build 50 critically needed houses in Boen, Haiti. The area is in Ganthier on a flat dirt plain, where 90 percent of the residents survive on less than $1 per day and live in disintegrating mud huts that offer no protection from the elements.
“The gift of a safe, secure home is a tremendous blessing for a family who lives in a crumbling one-room shack, and does not know where they will get their next meal,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood. “A home offers more than shelter to a destitute family – it offers hope.”
In 1995, Food For The Poor began a housing program in Haiti and started building homes in Cite Soleil. Since then, 25,806 housing units have been built in Haiti, more than 13,494 of them since the earthquake in January 2010. These sturdy homes provide the poor with shelter, safety and hope for the future. A gift of $3,600 will move a destitute family from their dirt-floor makeshift shack in Boen into a permanent home.
David and Patricia Wallace of Boca Raton, longtime Food For The Poor donors committed to investing in Haiti’s future, will be recognized at the gala as the 2017 Lifetime of Giving Honorees. At the event, attendees will be able to bid on silent auction prizes, such as electronics, jewelry, vacations, golf and dining packages.
The gala committee and the charity will host a Sip and Shop pre-event at J.R. Dunn Jeweler’s in Lighthouse Point, 4210 N. Federal Highway, Lighthouse Point, Fla. 33064, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Dec. 8, in time for the holiday season. Join the committee for champagne and hors d’oeuvres, and to purchase a dazzling piece of jewelry. A portion of the proceeds from sales will be donated toward the gala’s home-building efforts in Haiti.
For additional information regarding the Building Hope Gala, including sponsorship opportunities and tickets, available at $300 per person, please call 888-404-4248 or visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/boca.
Committee members include: Theresa Boothe, Matthew Bryant, Elena Del Alamo, Dawn DeMarco Book, Keren Gee, Trina Holmstead, Noelle Kahan, Marlene Ross Khouri, Ann Mahfood, Julie Mahfood, Rene Mahfood, Nathalie Parchment, Beth Rosenstein, Natasha Singh, Renee Stetler, Anastasia Taglienti and Patricia Wallace.
Gala sponsors include: Aetna, Boca Raton Observer, Bloomingdales, The Calmark Group, Seminole Coconut Creek Casino, Dennis Charley & Associates, Seaboard Marine, Excell Auto Group, J.R. Dunn Jewelers, Salem Media, The Harcourt M. and Virginia W. Sylvester Fund, Russ Reid and Coral Springs Auto Mall.
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]