Marlins Step Up to Build Homes for Haiti
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (July 12, 2010) –The Florida Marlins are teaming up with Food For The Poor to raise funds and awareness for Haiti. It has been six months since the Jan. 12 earthquake devastated the Port-au-Prince, Haiti area. “Homes for Haiti” is a month-long fundraising campaign between the baseball team and Food For The Poor to build much-needed housing in Haiti, where more than 1 million people have been displaced.
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Marlins catcher John Baker, along with members of the Marlins’ front office traveled to Haiti on July 6 and 7 to see firsthand the destitute living conditions of families in Port-au-Prince, as well as in Cap-Haitien, where some of those fleeing the capital have moved.
“The trip to Haiti was an eye-opening experience; it was an awakening for me,” Baker said. “Most people don’t think of this kind of poverty being just an hour and a half by plane from Florida. Looking at pictures doesn’t do it justice. Until you have walked where they walk, and smelled what they smell, you really cannot understand.”
While the campaign starts July 12 and runs for a month, the home game on Friday, July 23, at Sun Life Stadium will be devoted to this cause. The Marlins will host the Atlanta Braves at 7:10 p.m. You can support the “Homes for Haiti” campaign by ordering tickets.
Groups of 20 or more can sit together (based on availability) and will be recognized on the Marlins Vision scoreboard in right field during the game. To buy tickets for groups of 20 or more, please e-mail [email protected].
A portion of each ticket sold will go toward building “Homes for Haiti.” The goal of the campaign is to raise money to build a village consisting of 25 two-room homes, in addition to installing sanitation and water projects. To learn more about how to support the campaign, go to www.foodforthepoor.org/HomesForHaiti.
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For the first time, Food For The Poor will use a text-messaging campaign. To donate $10 toward the construction efforts, text “Haiti” to 25383.
“We are excited to be working with the Marlins on one of the most important projects we can do right now, which is to build homes,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “The fact that members of the Marlins team and staff took time to travel to Haiti to better understand the situation will help the people of Haiti in so many ways.”
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the United States, does much more than feed millions of the 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.
Contact:
Kathy Skipper
Director of Public Relations
Food For The Poor
954.427.2222, ext. 6614
[email protected]
