Miami-Dade Employees Give Up Vacation Time for Haiti
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (April 9, 2010) – Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and the County Commissioners made a special presentation on Tuesday to Food For The Poor of the funds raised by employees through the donation of vacation and holiday time. In addition to internal fundraising, county employees donated more than 2,600 hours to help Food For The Poor rebuild Haiti and bring lifesaving resources to earthquake survivors.
The Board of County Commissioners recognized the generosity of the county’s employees by presenting the international relief and development organization with a considerable donation to assist with earthquake recovery. Soon after Jan. 12, the county adopted Resolution No. R-01-10. The resolution allowed employees to contribute the value of their accrued vacation or holiday leave for recovery assistance.
“For so many who work for the county, tragedy struck home,” said Alvarez. “I would like to thank all the county employees for really stepping up to help the poor who have suffered so much in Haiti.”
Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma accepted the donation from Alvarez and the Board of County Commissioners.
“When I visited the country shortly after the quake, I saw terrible things” said Aloma. “I also saw beautiful acts of kindness. Surrounded by collapsed buildings and shattered homes, mothers began taking care of babies who had lost their own mothers, people in nearby Dominican Republic worked to gather water and food for the victims and all around us random acts of kindness were being performed. Meanwhile, you and your employees prayed and worked hard to collect these donations for the people of Haiti, many of them family and friends of employees who work here. Thank you so much.”
The funds donated by the Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners and employees could build approximately 33 new, sturdy homes for the poorest of the poor in Haiti, or could cover the cost of feeding more than 600 families for an entire year.
“We are extremely thankful to the employees of Miami-Dade County and their Mayor and Commissioners for this generous donation,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “This aid will bring much-needed relief to our grieving neighbors in Haiti. We are focused on our mission: constructing safe housing, bringing water solutions on a large-scale to the country, and to continue distributing food and medical supplies throughout Haiti. The county’s gift will go a long way toward these efforts.“
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.
Contact:
Aimee Vignola
Public Relations
954.427.2222, ext. 6079
