Major Milestone Reached for Boca Grande Friendship Village
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (March 1, 2010) – Just a few days away from its first fundraiser, the Boca Grande Friendship Village committee has met its first important milestone. They have raised more than $100,000, enough for Food For The Poor to begin constructing the first phase of the planned community in Pierre Payen, Haiti.
 Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma and Event Chairman Ben Scott
(Left to Right) Tom & Nancy Lorden and Event Chairmen Louise & Ben Scott |
“We are excited,” said Ben Scott, chairman of the Boca Grande Hope For Haitians Committee, which has 25 members. “We knew the residents on this island would undoubtedly find it in their hearts to give to Haiti and our cause. Now, as we are personally calling and inviting all of our friends and neighbors to the event, we are even more encouraged by how generous everyone here truly is. These poor families are now closer to receiving homes they can call their own.”
Food For The Poor has resumed work on construction projects that were in development before the recent earthquake. And the agency is moving forward with new community projects such as the Boca Grande Friendship Village in rural parts of the country.
Some donors have specifically requested that a portion of the total amount pledged go directly to the village’s five-room vocational school. Preliminary plans estimate it will cost $32,000 to build the school. Other donors have also pledged for part of the animal husbandry program, specifically the chicken farm. Several donations have also come in for housing.
The Boca Grande Friendship Village’s fundraising event will be Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at the historic Power House at Boca Bay Pass Club. The cocktail reception begins at 6 p.m. with guest speaker Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor.
The Boca Grande Friendship Village Chairpersons are Ben and Louise Scott, and the committee members are Rev. Jerome Carosella, George and Lois Castrucci, Patricia Chapman, Ray and Iliene Corcoran, Charlie and Florita Field, Jack and Donna Harms, Stephen and Susan Jensen, Tom and Nancy Lorden, Ed and Nora Lee Reefe, Vince and Judy Shaw, Bruce and Barbara Stirling, and David and Mary Jo Wilson. For more information about the event, and to RSVP please contact Kathy Leggatt at (954) 427.2222, ext. 6646, and visit www.foodforthepoor.org/bocagrande.
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the United States, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency 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 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.foodforthepoor.org.
Aimee Vignola
Public Relations
(954) 427.2222, ext. 6079