Former NFL Star Jack Brewer Provides Aid to Puerto Rico and Haiti
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 9, 2017) A former NFL star who lives in South Florida has been instrumental in joining with The Outreach Program to provide meals to desperate families in Puerto Rico and Haiti through Food For The Poor.
Through his foundation, Jack Brewer generously donated a portion of the 130,000 rice and bean meals that were delivered to the charity’s Coconut Creek warehouse on Friday. Those meals will be shipped to Puerto Rico to support hurricane relief efforts.
Hilton Corp., St. Louis Catholic Church of Memphis, Tenn., World Food Prize Global Youth Institute and The Outreach Program, a longtime Food For The Poor donor, also supplied some of the meals.
On Saturday, Brewer joined 600 volunteers at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palm Beach Gardens to pack 125,000 meals that will be sent to Haiti through Food For The Poor. Volunteers came from St. Mark’s and from Temple Judea of Palm Beach Gardens.
“It was an amazing event. There was so much synergy in the room with everyone working toward the same mission,” said Brewer, who lives in Parkland. “It wasn’t easy. But I always love challenges. It makes people value what they’re doing even more.”
Brewer played five seasons in the NFL, including stints with the Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals. With a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota and executive business programs at Wharton and Harvard on his resume, Brewer is an entrepreneur, a philanthropist and a frequent contributor on Fox News Channel, Fox Business and CNBC. His foundation works to bring aid to countries such as Haiti and Malawi.
Floyd Hammer, president of The Outreach Program, said Brewer contacted him about packing meals for Puerto Rico. Hammer and Brewer previously had worked together in Malawi. Hammer invited him to participate in St. Mark’s Episcopal Church’s packing event.
“These meals are very important because of the devastation that’s there in Puerto Rico,” Hammer said. “We feel very fortunate to be able to help.”
Brewer said the meals will provide critical nutrition and do not require refrigeration, which is key in Puerto Rico where 60 percent of the island is still without power.
The Outreach Program is an Iowa-based nonprofit organization, run by Hammer and his wife, Kathy, that holds food-packing events around the country. With more than 400 million meals packaged since 2004, the organization’s mission is to provide safe water, food, medical care, and education to those in need, at home and abroad.
This is the fourth consecutive year St. Mark’s Episcopal Church has hosted a food-packing event for Haiti.
“This was a fun event for a great cause,” said the Rev. Sanford Groff, associate rector at St. Mark’s. “We are grateful for everyone’s support as we strive to serve as good neighbors to help those who need it most.”
More than a month after Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, food, water, medicine, electricity and shelter all remain scarce on the island. In Haiti, Hurricane Irma brought another year of major losses for farmers even though the country did not take a direct hit from the storm.
“We can’t thank the Jack Brewer Foundation, The Outreach Program and all the volunteers at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church enough for the wonderful work they’re doing,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “Families in Puerto Rico and Haiti need help, now. This kind of generosity will transform many lives in a tremendous way.”
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 went directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]
