A Reception in the Nation’s Capital Raises Money to Build Homes in Jamaica
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 3, 2015) – Dozens of D.C. and Baltimore-area residents attended a special rooftop cocktail reception recently to raise money to construct Food For The Poor homes in Portland Cottage, Jamaica.
Many of the guests, and their family members, who attended the reception have traveled to Jamaica with Food For The Poor in the past. Perched above Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., they reminisced about their past building trips and encouraged attendees to join their annual mission trip to the Caribbean country with Chairmen, Chris Davitt and Craig Ruppert in 2016.
The third-annual reception was hosted by John Gerold, Senior Vice President of RBC Wealth Management in Chevy Chase, Md. Gerold, who has traveled with his daughter, Lyndsey, several times to Jamaica, shared how the mission trips have impacted their lives. Davitt and several high school students also shared their experiences of Jamaica and how the journey to build homes is truly a life changing opportunity.
The group’s goal is to raise enough funds to build 12 two-room homes with sanitation, 10 water pumps, 100 three-bulb solar light systems, and supply 100 meals for 420 children, including a one-month supply of food packages. Fifty business professionals and college and high school students from the surrounding D.C. area are expected to travel to Jamaica on February 12-15, 2016 (Presidents’ Day Weekend) to build these houses.
“Chris Davitt and Craig Ruppert have been taking groups down to Jamaica for 14 years, and year after year their passion for the people on the island has not changed,” said Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma. “In addition to helping people in need, these trips offer opportunities for families to reconnect and strengthen their own relationships as they work side by side building schools and houses.”
Committee members included: Fred Burke, Lou Caceres, Chris Davitt, Rita Devine, Mary Donatelli, John Gerold, Andrew Greene, Stephen and Mary Moss, Battista Orcino, and Craig Ruppert.
To make a donation or to learn how you can join us in February, please call 1 888-404-4248 or visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/dc.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry 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 95 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor.For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Wanda Wright
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
[email protected]