Media Alert: FFTP Sends Critical Aid to Honduras in response to Hurricane Eta
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 3, 2020) Food For The Poor is responding to an anticipated urgent need for aid by airfreighting two disaster relief kits to Honduras to help families in the path of catastrophic Hurricane Eta.
Each disaster kit contains five pallets of essential items such as food, blankets, portable stoves, cleaning wipes and bandages. The kits are scheduled to be picked up from the charity’s Coconut Creek warehouse as early as today.
Food For The Poor is preparing a third disaster kit to send to Guatemala, which also is expected to feel Eta’s force.
In addition, the charity has shipped eight containers of food which have arrived in Honduras. Another 16 containers filled with food, cleaning supplies and medical items are en route.
Eta, a powerful Category 4 hurricane, made landfall today on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm was expected to move over Nicaragua through Wednesday night and then across central Honduras on Thursday. A special appeal for Nicaragua is in the works.
“Life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds, flash flooding and landslides expected across portions of Central America,” read an advisory from the Hurricane Center.
As much as 25 inches of rain is forecast on much of Nicaragua and Honduras, with totals reaching 35 inches in some locations. Eastern Guatemala and Belize were expected to receive between 10 and 20 inches.
Videos sent Monday by CEPUDO, the charity’s partner in Honduras, show flood waters already taking over residential streets.
Food For The Poor began serving in Honduras in 1999, after the Central American country was slammed by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. The charity has been working in Nicaragua since 1998, partnering with the American Nicaraguan Foundation.
“We can only imagine the devastation that will be caused by Eta’s torrential rains and catastrophic winds,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Ed Raine. “Many families were already struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re grateful for our generous donors and partners who are allowing us to respond immediately with these disaster kits and come to the aid of our brothers and sisters in these countries.”
In addition to pre-positioning supplies each hurricane season, FFTP organizes disaster relief kits with essential items that can be airfreighted and distributed within days to families affected in any of the countries served by the charity.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for orphaned and abandoned children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Kathy Skipper
Director of Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6614
[email protected]
Michael Turnbell
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]
Wanda Wright
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
[email protected]
