Food For The Poor Committed to Helping Haiti Recover from Crisis
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Feb. 20, 2019) Today, Food For The Poor packed a tractor-trailer load of food headed to Haiti to help families who have struggled to find food for two weeks due to violent protests in the country.
The charity also is preparing to ship 181,000 MannaPack rice meals packaged last week by compassionate volunteers in Parkland.
The mobile packing event, hosted by the charity’s longtime partner Feed My Starving Children, honored the victims of the shooting last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Fifteen tractor-trailer loads of rice are due to arrive in Port-au-Prince today and will bolster the charity’s relief work. Twelve more containers are on the way to Haiti, filled with more food, medicine and medical supplies.
This comes at a critical time as concern about violence in the country caused shipping companies and airlines to suspend operations.
“People need food. People need water. Supplies are scarce,” said Bishop Ogé Beauvoir, Executive Director of Food For The Poor-Haiti. “They need our help and our prayers. We are moving as quickly as we can to meet the needs of those suffering.”
On Saturday, Food For The Poor organized a fleet of 20 trucks, escorted by a police force stretched to their limit, to distribute goods at local churches. Last week, the charity was able to supply some of those suffering with rice, beans and clean water.
Over the weekend, staff at the charity’s warehouse in Haiti distributed 3,324 bags of rice, 1,087 bags of beans, 60 cases of rice meals, and 233 cases of water. Distribution included 17 pallets of medical and orthopedic supplies, along with medicines.
For more than a week in Haiti, roads were blocked, businesses couldn’t open, and people were trapped in their homes and couldn’t replenish food and water supplies. The violence and protests have since quieted, but the entire country is still volatile. Carnival festivities in Port-au-Prince and Croix-des-Bouquets have been canceled due to fear of violence, according to news reports.
The disruption started on Feb. 7, spurred by people upset with the government over inflation, and food and fuel shortages. One economist quoted said that the situation was the worst since the 2008 food crisis.
“It is critical that we get this relief as soon as possible into the hands of the Haitian people,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood. “We have shipped supplies and we will send more, but our brothers and sisters in Haiti need everybody’s help.”
To help families in Haiti, cash donations are best. To help right now, go to www.FoodForThePoor.org/haiticrisis.
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.
Michael Turnbell
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]
