United Way Donation Provides Housing, Food, and Wheelchairs
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (June 30, 2010) –Food For The Poor has used grant money from the United Way of Miami-Dade to build homes in Haiti, and provide food and emergency relief assistance to earthquake victims. The joint disaster relief fund, Operation Helping Hands, was created by United Way of Miami-Dade and The Miami Herald/ el Nuevo Herald.
“In Haiti, millions of displaced people are migrating to areas where they can find shelter, food and work,” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor’s President/CEO. “The people are concerned about hurricane season and wonder what will happen when some of the humanitarian groups start to pull out of the country.”
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“It has been a pleasure to work with Food For The Poor,” said Mary Donworth, Group VP of Community Investments, United Way of Miami-Dade. “Your organization is very responsive.”
To date, Food For The Poor has built 10 two-room houses with the grant money in Belle Anse, Haiti. Additional homes are scheduled to be constructed in the area of Jacmel. Food For The Poor was among seven organizations that received grants from Operation Helping Hands.
“We selected these organizations because they have a long and successful history of working in Haiti, providing services to the Haitian people,” said Harve A. Mogul, president and CEO, United Way of Miami-Dade. “We’ve also worked with many of these organizations after other disasters and know they are effective and accountable.”
United Way and The Miami Herald/ el Nuevo Herald activated Operation Helping Hands immediately following the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. One hundred percent of funds raised through Operation Helping Hands will be given to support relief and recovery efforts for Haitians affected by the earthquake.
Operation Helping Hands was created in 1998 in the aftermath of devastating hurricanes Mitch and Georges, and has been reactivated several times since to help Floridians extend a helping hand to those involved in emergency situations.
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the nation, 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:
Jennifer Leigh Oates
Food For The Poor
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]
