Dani Johnson Builds 1,000 Homes for 1,000 Families in Nicaragua
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Feb. 9, 2018) Dani Johnson, passionate about giving back, has built 1,000 homes in less than three years through Food For The Poor and her King’s Ransom Foundation. Providing safe and secure homes for some of the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua is one of Johnson’s many missions.
“What Dani has been able to accomplish for suffering families in Nicaragua is an incredibly amazing goal,” said Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma. “We are truly thankful for her compassion for the poor and for her willingness to make a difference. Thousands of people who have lived for generations in flood zones, on top of mining sites and on the outskirts of a garbage dump have received the gift of safe and secure homes. That’s a beautiful blessing.”
Food For The Poor and the American Nicaraguan Foundation (ANF) had been working on securing safe land for these families when Johnson, an author, motivational speaker and business woman who has appeared on ABC Television’s “Secret Millionaire,” learned about their plight. Johnson, whose father is Nicaraguan, visited her father’s homeland a few times, but traveled for the first time to the Central American country with Food For The Poor in January 2015.
“We saw the way people were living – it was horrifying.” said Johnson. “So how could we stand by and do nothing? We went in to change the lives of the poor, but they actually changed our lives. In fact, they didn’t change our lives, they transformed our hearts.”
Johnson’s transformed heart became her motivation. By the end of 2016, she built 362 homes in the communities of Santa Pancha, and in Jiquilillo, a small fishing community in the municipality of El Viejo and in San Rafael del Sur. By the spring of 2017, Johnson built another 500 homes, which included a 239-home village for families who survived by picking in the garbage dump in El Limonal. The remaining 138 homes were completed by the end of the year in various communities within the multiple departments of Nicaragua.
Each home comes with sanitation and access to clean drinking water. Community centers serve as schools for the children and training centers for the adults. Families also received training in animal husbandry care. The farm animals provide food, as well as a source of income to help lift these families out of poverty.
In addition, Johnson has implemented a number of biointensive farming projects throughout the country, which is a method of growing as much organic food as possible in the smallest amount of space. This agricultural initiative is providing families with self-sustaining agricultural skills, along with access to healthy fruit and vegetables to eat and to sell.
“They have worked toward sustainability because we’re not about giving money to somebody, but we are about building sustainability and changing generations,” said Johnson. “We’re not done. We’ll love for you to join us for round two, let’s go for another 1,000 homes.”
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. Over the last 10 years, fundraising and other administrative costs averaged less than 5% of our expenses; more than 95% of all donations, including donated goods, went directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Wanda Wright
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
[email protected]
