Committee Races to Raise Final Quarter for Quake-torn Haiti
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 9, 2010) – The poorest of the poor are not invisible to those living on Boca Grande. It is obvious that residents of the island, known for its great fishing and old-Florida charm, have heard the cries from the people in Haiti. Now, the Boca Grande Friendship Village Committee is striving to meet the remaining 25 percent of their goal to build new, sturdy homes for more than 200 people (some who became homeless after the earthquake), and a complete village with a water treatment system, animal husbandry projects and 500 fruit trees.
Committee Chairman, Ben Scott Sr., says he knew his family, friends and neighbors would respond immediately to this cause. The 24-person committee banded together months before the Jan. 12 earthquake and has not stopped fundraising for the Boca Grande Friendship Village to be built in Pierre Payen, Haiti.
“People continue to seek us out and ask about the new community we want to build in Haiti,” said Scott. “When they hear about the families and their dire needs, everyone feels compelled to give. We are just so grateful for the way our community has responded. This island is made up of extremely generous, benevolent people and we are thankful to be able to reach out to the people of Haiti.”
Scott has kept track of the donations received by Food For The Poor and displayed the results on a board, which hangs outside the U.S. Post Office on Fourth Street.
“It will not hang outside the post office much longer. It’s as if the mercury inside the thermometer has now burst! As we inched our way closer to the top the temperature rose and the bulb burst,” Scott jokingly said. “Actually, I didn’t getan official permit from the city to hang the sign. So, many who had loved to stop by and check out how far we’ve come will now have to call me or one of the committee members because the sign must come down. But the mission continues, and I pray we’ll soon reach the top.”
The committee has now met 75 percent of their total goal. The components of the village that have not been pledged for are the $45,000 community center, six homes that cost $2,600 each and five double homes to be pledged for $5,200 each, and 10 sanitation units and water cisterns remain at $1,350 each.
The Boca Grande Friendship Village will provide impoverished families with safe housing, clean water, sanitation, agriculture, animal husbandry and a community chicken farm, a community center and a solar charging system for electricity. For more information and to donate to the Boca Grande Friendship Village, please visit www.foodforthepoor.org/bocagrande, and call (888) 404.4248.
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the United States, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency 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.
Contact:
Aimee Vignola
Public Relations
954.427.2222, ext. 6079