Hope For Haitians Celebrates Home Building Goal with Inspiration
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Sept. 1, 2016) Words of inspiration and gratitude took center stage at the Hope For Haitians Board and Food For The Poor 15th annual An Evening in the Tropics on Aug. 27 in Rockford, Ill.
“There are many great causes and many nations are plagued by poverty, but God in his sovereignty assigned Haiti to this group,” said Cassandra Genevievre Celestin, Food For The Poor Special Events Coordinator, and this year’s keynote speaker. “I want to thank you for your obedience to answer the call to help Haiti, to help the people of Haiti.”
Celestin, who left her home country of Haiti at the age of 10 and returned for the first time on a recent mission trip, thanked Hope For Haitians for their loving support. She also expressed to the audience of 300 how their generous support is renewing hope for her homeland in a younger generation.
Hope For Haitians, through Food For The Poor, has built more than 400 homes in Haiti and is funding hundreds of self-sustainable projects throughout the Caribbean nation. At this year’s event, Hope For Haitians honored those who have worked tirelessly to fundraise for the completion of the first phase of 50 homes in Garde Saline Village in Fort Liberté, Haiti.
As Hope For Haitians celebrates the completion of its 10th village, fundraising plans are in the works for their 11th village in Haiti. Our Lady of Perpetual Help Friendship Village, which also is in Garde Saline, will provide 50 families with their own home and solar-powered light kit, a community center, 100 goats, a rice mill and a 50-booth market place.
“I fundraise every year to build villages in Haiti because I saw the tragic conditions there 15 years ago on my first visit,” said Pat Bachrodt, Hope For Haitians Chairman. “Because of that experience, I was led by my God-given conscience to share this experience and the desire to help the neediest population of Haiti.”
The master of ceremonies for this year’s An Evening in the Tropics was veteran broadcast journalist Mike Robinson. The evening at Giovanni’s Restaurant & Convention Center featured a cocktail reception, silent auction and formal dinner with friends and members of the surrounding communities in a tropical themed setting.
Founding Trustees of the Hope For Haitians Board of Directors include: Patrick Bachrodt, Rev. David Beauvais, William Clancy, Tom Lorden and Peter Roche. Additional members include: Virginia Canavan, Patti Cottrell, Bill Derry, Michael Gallagher, William Kalma, Justin and Theresa Kegley, Danny Lorden, Nancy Lorden, Robert McLaughlin, Gregory McQueary, Philip Nicolosi, Andrew Schultheis and the Rev. Geoffrey Wirth.
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, with more than 95 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Wanda Wright
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
[email protected]
