Dreams Past & Present, Daughter’s Legacy Lives on Through Education
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Sept. 20, 2019) Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, but the Caribbean nation’s children are rich with the desire to learn. A group of Food For The Poor donors in the Chicago-area are committed to making that desire a lasting reality with an annual fundraising event.
On Friday, Sept. 27, at 6 p.m., Andrew and Florette Sokulski, and Fr. Medard Laz will host their 14th Annual Dreams, Past & Present, Julie’s Legacy Dinner with Food For The Poor at the Stonegate Conference & Banquet Centre, 2401 W. Higgins Road, Hoffman Estates, Ill.
This year’s event will fund an expansion at the Ecole Notre Dame De La Sagesse in Lizon, Croix des Bouquets. More than 400 students, from pre-K to sixth grade, are enrolled in the nine-classroom school that’s so severely overcrowded that multiple subjects are taught simultaneously in the same classrooms.
The expansion will include a three-classroom block, a two-classroom block, a kitchen and cafeteria, a sanitation block and school furniture, including desks, chairs and chalkboards.
Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma, who will be speaking at this year’s event, has traveled to Haiti many times with Fr. Laz and the Sokulskis, and he has seen their generosity in action.
“Empowering the children of Haiti to learn has been a top priority for the Sokulskis, who have been dedicated Food For The Poor donors for more than a decade,” said Aloma. “The needs in Haiti are drastic, but the Sokulskis have a genuine love of Haiti, and the love they have for their daughter has been the inspiration for multiple projects in her honor.”
The Sokulskis’ daughter, Julie Sokulski Hesser, died 13 years ago at the age of 32. Thanks to the loving support of family and friends, the Ecole Nationale de la Sainte Famille de Julie (National School of the Holy Family of Julie) was named in her honor last year, and the expansion of Ecole Notre Dame De La Sagesse also will be completed in Julie’s memory.
“We have been so very blessed, even though we have had hard times in our lives,” Andy Sokulski said. “But, it’s very exciting to see just how much has been accomplished through generous donations in Haiti.”
The 14th Annual Dreams, Past & Present, Julie’s Legacy Dinner will feature a cocktail reception and a silent auction. For information and tickets, visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/dreams.
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, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for orphaned or abandoned children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Wanda Wright
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
[email protected]
