International Women’s Day 2024: Food For The Poor Highlights Transformative Impact on Women’s Lives
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (March 8, 2024) – Today, Food For The Poor (FFTP) is proud to join the global celebration of International Women’s Day 2024 and recognize the achievements of women in Latin American and the Caribbean whose lives have been transformed, thanks to the charity’s generous donors.
In Honduras, Lorenza, a mother of six, used to make $1 a week selling tamales in the street.
But thanks to the FFTP donors who supported the COMBRIFOL coffee agriculture project, Lorenza has been able to earn enough income to support her family and send her children to school.
COMBRIFOL, or Cooperativa Mixta Regional Brisas de la Frontera Limitada, helps small coffee farmers produce high quality organic coffee, provides tools and training, and connects the farmers directly to the marketplace.
“School is very expensive. All my children are now professionals because I was able to provide for school through all this,” Lorenza said. “I had the land, but I did not have the resources to grow or produce on my own. My children and my partner we all work together making this fruitful.”
At 56 years old, Lorenza said she never imagined she could achieve so much. Coffee beans from her farm are being exported to Germany.
“I’m with a group of women that together we make decisions and administrate,” Lorenza said. “Even though sometimes people think women cannot accomplish the same things, I always tell them, ‘Yes, we can.’ We can accomplish. We can do it. That’s our job as women, to motivate others and know, yes, we can; we can do it as well.”
Yeri is thriving as a professional truck driver, challenging gender norms in a male-dominated profession.
FFTP donors provided scholarships to Yeri and other women to continue classes at the Puerto Cortes Transportation School in Honduras. Before the scholarships, many of the women were forced to drop out to work temporary jobs to make ends meet.
“You’re giving us the opportunity to improve the living conditions of our families. It is as they say, ‘women in power,’” Yeri said. “We are empowering ourselves in areas I believe that many years ago we never imagined we would be able to do. They say that we cannot do it and I know that we can.”
Dina started a plantain chip business three years ago with the help of FFTP donors and longtime in-country partner CEPUDO. She now earns enough income to give her children an education, provide them with medicines if they get sick, and buy them clothes and food.
“Thank God, because I have this business, I can support my children,” Dina said. “I feel so grateful to CEPUDO and Food For The Poor because they trained us, and they gave us the startup capital for the business and that is how we are here, working.”
International Women’s Day is a global day marked annually on March 8, celebrating women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. It was recognized for the first time in March 1911. Two years later, the date was made permanent for annual celebration on March 8.
This year’s theme, “Inspire Inclusion,” resonates deeply with FFTP’s commitment to creating a more inclusive world for women.
FFTP has implemented a range of programs that address the unique challenges faced by women, from education and health care to micro-enterprise opportunities. By focusing on sustainable solutions, the charity aims to create long-term benefits that extend beyond immediate relief.
“Our mission at Food For The Poor is not only to provide food, housing, health care, and education to those in need but also to empower individuals, especially women, to break the cycle of poverty,” Raine said. “On International Women’s Day, we want to shine a spotlight on the extraordinary women we serve and to extend our deepest gratitude to our donors. Together, we are inspiring inclusion, fostering resilience, and creating a legacy of positive change that will continue to shape the lives of women and their families for generations to come.”
To support FFTP’s women’s initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean, please visit: foodforthepoor.org/iwd.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit foodforthepoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Communications
954-471-0928
[email protected]