Thousands of Hands to Pack One Million Meals for Haiti
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Sept. 21, 2011) — A taste of the tropics is taking root in the nation’s heartland. Wisconsin, famous for its cheese and its sports teams, soon will celebrate all things Haitian. Haiti’s food, artistry and music are the supporting cast in Milwaukee’s grand production of a four-day food packing event with Food For The Poor and Worldwide Hunger Relief, Inc.
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Students from the Greater Milwaukee Area volunteered to pack meals for a leper colony in Guinea-Bissau, in West Africa. |
Thousands of volunteers are expected to fill the Wisconsin Products Pavilion at the State Fair Park, to pack more than one million meals, which will be shipped to Haiti to feed thousands of the Caribbean nation’s children. At the same time, the volunteers will raise funds to build a village in Port-au-Prince.
“To help Haiti become self-sustaining, we have to get the people out of the tent cities and into sturdy housing. Thousands have lost family members along with their worldly possessions, and are relying heavily on the kindness of strangers nearly two years after the 2010 earthquake,” said Robin Mahfood , President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “We are moved by the tremendous generosity the people of Milwaukee are displaying to help this organization feed the most vulnerable in Haiti. Thank you.”
Food For The Poor began its work in Haiti in 1986. In addition to the organization’s feeding center, tractor trailer-loads of food (such as rice, beans, flour, powdered milk and oil) are distributed to a variety of organizations throughout the country. Schools, orphanages and churches depend on these items to carry out feeding programs and for distribution to local families.
Each participant in the food packing event will pay a $20 fee, which will be used to purchase the dehydrated foods for the one million meals. The meals will provide nutritious food without the fear of spoiling. The risk of waterborne illnesses is eliminated because boiling water is needed to rehydrate the meals.
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Worldwide Hunger Relief, Inc. has teamed up with FFP to pack one million dehydrated meals for Haiti. | |
Worldwide Hunger Relief, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that depends on its volunteers. The ingredients, packaging equipment, and packaging materials are stored in a warehouse in Waukesha, which is owned by the organization’s founder and president, Karl Ralian.
The organization also provides training to groups that will be conducting food packing, trucking services to deliver the ingredients, and trucking services to pick up the meal kits for distribution.
“We at Worldwide Hunger Relief, Inc. provide the opportunity for people to pack food for malnourished and starving children wherever there is a need. While our volunteers work to feed hungry children they also feed their own spirits and reap the benefits that come from helping others,” said Karl Ralian. “In addition to providing food, we also want to provide decent housing and a safe environment for these children to grow and prosper. Building an entire village in Haiti is an amazing project that we hope will capture the minds of the good people of the Milwaukee area.”
Volunteers in the “Next Step Challenge” campaign will be encouraged to form fundraising teams for the village, and through that collaborative effort, will raise the funds needed for the construction of a new village.
EVENT INFORMATION
WHAT: Food Packing Event
WHEN: October 13-16, 2011
Packing Shifts:
- Thurs., 6-7:30 p.m., 7:30-9 p.m.
- Fri., 6-7:30 p.m., 7:30-9 p.m.
- Sat., 9-10:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m.-12, 12-1:30 p.m., 1:30-3 p.m., 3-4:40 p.m.
- Sun., 10:30 a.m.-12, 12-1:30 p.m., 1:30- 3 p.m.
WHERE: Wisconsin Products Pavilion at the State Fair Grounds in Milwaukee
For registration information please click on WorldwideHungerRelief.org for complete details for individual and group participation.
Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, 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:
Wanda Wright
Food For The Poor
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
[email protected]
