Hope For Haitians Committee Helps Families
ROCKFORD, Ill. (August 7, 2009) – Residents from the Rockford/Chicago community are doing something to rescue Haitian families who live in a garbage-filled swamp.
The Hope for Haitians Committee and Food For The Poor will host their eighth annual fundraising event, Seeds of Hope, Saturday, Aug. 22, at Rockford Country Club. Proceeds will be used to construct a self-sustaining village in Madeleine, Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
Thatched homes, built on rotting trash in the muddy swamp of Prolongé, Haiti, have trapped generations of isolated families in miserable living conditions. Children and their families are forced to share meager meals and have no access to safe, clean drinking water. In Haiti, one in eight children dies before age 5.
Destitute families from the disease-ridden area of Prolongé will be relocated to the new village in Madeleine. The village will consist of 50 double-unit concrete homes, 50 sanitation units that include pit latrines and shower stalls, one artesian well, a community center, and an animal husbandry farm for rearing goats and cows. The surrounding land will be cleared for the planting and cultivation of yucca, breadfruit and corn.
Event Co-Chairmen Tom Lorden, Pat Bachrodt and Peter Roche ask you to respond to Haiti’s urgent relief efforts by purchasing tickets or request information, by calling 1-888-404-4248.
The Seeds of Hope evening will include a cocktail reception, silent auction, and formal dinner with friends and members of the Rockford/Chicago community. Participants will enjoy live entertainment by the Jodi Beach Trio, stories from Haiti, videos and dancing. Silent auction prizes will entice guests to purchase exclusive art and collectibles from the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as designer jewelry, vacations, golf packages and dining packages from some of Chicago’s most desirable restaurants.
Earlier this year, members of the Rockford-based Hope for Haitians Committee traveled to Haiti with Food For The Poor to ‘Rockford Friendship Village’ where they met the grateful recipients whose lives have forever been changed for the better.
Thanks to Rockford’s residents and surrounding communities, Rockford Friendship Village has been filled with renewed spirit. Proceeds from the 2007 and 2008 Rockford galas were used to establish the Rockford Friendship Village, including the construction of 50 double-unit homes, 50 sanitation units, two artesian wells, a solar panel light, a community center, three tilapia ponds, an agricultural project consisting of five acres of fruit trees, and the implementation of a feeding program for the severely malnourished children of the village.
Committee members include: Pat Bachrodt, Reverend David Beauvais, William Clancy, Mike Delany, Brian and Missy Hand, Tom and Nancy Lorden, Bob McLaughlin, Phil Nicolosi, Al and Terry Provenzano, Patti Rangel, Gerry and Judy Risch, Pete Roche, Jody Schumacher, and Jerry Weber.
Seeds of Hope sponsors include: AAA Quality Limo, Dick & Marg Bachrodt, Lou Bachrodt Automotive Group, The Bachrodt Foundation, Boylan Catholic High School, William & Catherine Clancy, Crowe Horwath LLP, Mike & Colleen Delany, Tony & Jean Domino, Focus Financial Advisors, Brian & Missy Hand and Family, Holy Family Church, Kelley Williamson Company, Thomas & Lesley Killoren, Jeff & Sally Krogh, Lindgren Callihan Van Osdol, Lorden Charitable Foundation, Lisa McDonnell, Mary Lou & Bob McLaughlin, Morrissey Law Offices, MPEC, Rebecca Dunsworth Newton, Peter & Neva Paesani, Papa John’s Pizza, Rhonda & R.C. Pottinger, Al & Terry Provenzano Charitable Foundation, Risch Family Foundation, Riverside Community Bank, The Peter Roche Family, Savant Capital Management, Fern Shore, Smith-Gramley Ltd., John & Carol Taphorn, Verizon Foundation,Warner Specialized Petroleum Services, The Warranty Group, and Wirtz Beverage of Illinois.
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the nation, feeds millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. Since 1982, we have provided clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and emergency relief, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For additional information please visit our Web site at www.foodforthepoor.org/rockford.
Contact:
Jennifer Leigh Oates
Marketing and Public Relations
(954) 427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]
