FFTP, San Antonio Area Foundation Deliver Aid to Families
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 6, 2021) Essential household goods from Food For The Poor in partnership with Matthew 25: Ministries are being distributed to vulnerable families in San Antonio, Texas, to help them recover from a record-breaking winter storm in February.
The San Antonio Area Foundation worked with the San Antonio Food Bank to distribute the items to 10 area churches and St. Vincent de Paul societies that serve low-income areas in San Antonio.
Items provided by Matthew 25: Ministries included batteries, household cleaners and disinfectant, face shield kits, blankets, creams and lotions.
“We were happy to connect Food For The Poor with local churches and organizations that have a track record of helping those impacted by COVID-19, and more recently, the deadly winter storm that left many San Antonians without electricity and water,” said Patricia Mejia, Vice President of Community Engagement and Impact for the San Antonio Area Foundation.
“The incredible truckload of supplies and essential items that Food For The Poor directed to our community will help vulnerable families stretch their resources to sustain themselves during these ongoing crises,” Mejia said.
Power outages and frozen water pipes in the nation’s seventh largest city forced families to sleep in frigid homes and cars, search for hot meals, or use melted snow to flush toilets.
The storm added to the difficulties some families already were experiencing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some who rely on their paychecks to purchase groceries and basic supplies faced financial hardship because they couldn’t work. Now, they are struggling to pay for critical plumbing or other housing accommodations, leaving little funds for basic needs.
While Food For The Poor primarily works internationally, the dire needs of families in Texas captured the charity’s attention.
In March, the charity shipped two tractor-trailer loads of essential household goods from partner World of Giving to Catholic Charities of Dallas and the Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas to help families grasping for the most basic of needs after the winter storm.
Food For The Poor President/CEO Ed Raine said working with Catholic Charities of Dallas and Highland Park United Methodist Church is in line with the charity’s mission to reach more churches in the United States.
“We strive to engage with the churches in a way that strengthens their congregations and to do things they couldn’t necessarily do by themselves,” Raine said.
“When a natural disaster like this winter storm strikes, it’s our friends and neighbors around us who are suffering,” he said. “We’re grateful for the support of Matthew 25: Ministries, who provided these goods to San Antonio, Texas, and to the churches who are delivering this much-needed aid directly to the people who need it most.”
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 vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]