Food For The Poor delivers life vests to fishermen
(Coconut Creek, FL – June 11, 2009) – In an effort to help reduce the number of fishermen lost to the sea, Food For The Poor is distributing hundreds of life vests to boat captains and their crews throughout Jamaica.
The Florida-based nonprofit Food For The Poor recently sent 1,850 of the life-saving flotation devices to the island. So far, more than 500 of the vests have been handed out to fishermen in Cow Bay, Portland Cottage, Machioneal, Lyssons, Bull Bay and Pagee.
Eight fishermen drowned last year, according to Jamaican authorities. So far in 2009, 10 fishermen have been lost to the sea. The president of Food For The Poor says he wants to do everything he can to reduce those tragic numbers.
“We are grateful that none of the crew in any of the 17 Food For The Poor fishing villages in Jamaica have been taken by the sea, but our hearts break when we hear that someone has been injured or killed,” said Food For The Poor’s President and CEO, Robin Mahfood. “That’s why we are handing out these life vests not only to our fishing village crew members, but to fishermen from other boats as well.”
Mahfood said that when Food For The Poor builds a fishing village, they supply life vests and safety gear. Every Food For The Poor fishing village is outfitted with several modern and motorized boats, a secure storage building, GPS units, coolers for storing the day’s catch, fishing gear and tackle, and training on deep-sea fishing and how to make the most of the new gear.
“As Jesus provided for his disciples when they cast their net and reaped a bountiful catch, with our fishing villages we want to help the destitute break the cycle of poverty and we want to make sure that all fishermen who go out on boats come back safely to their families,” Mahfood said.
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the United States, serves the poor of the Caribbean, Latin America and the U.S. Food For The Poor provides food, emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, basic housing, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. More than 97 percent of all donations received in 2008 went toward programs that help the poor. For more information, visit www.foodforthepoor.org.
Contact:
Hugh Graf
Public Relations
(954) 427-2222 x 6610