U.S. Donors Deliver a School for Valentine’s Day
BALTIMORE, Md. (March 2, 2010) – Sixteen residents from Maryland traveled to Jamaica Valentine’s weekend not for romance but certainly out of love. They went to build a school in an impoverished village. Since 1999, this group of committed donors has raised money to build homes and schools with the international relief and development organization Food For The Poor. Their efforts have improved the health and living conditions of many throughout Jamaica and Haiti.
“Every year I look forward to our annual family Food For The Poor-sponsored building trip to Jamaica,” said Chris Davitt. “The trip is an excellent opportunity for parents to show their children the importance and benefits of being a good steward. The experience of teamwork and helping those in need is always very rewarding.”
During the weekend of Feb. 12, Chris Davitt and Craig Ruppert, along with their families and friends built and painted a Food For The Poor school, toured Food For The Poor’s office, prepared and distributed lunches at a street feeding initiative, and visited children living with mental and physical handicaps at My Father’s House in Kingston. The group also saw firsthand the difference Food For The Poor projects make in the community, including a fishing village.
“It is hard for most people to understand the word poverty until they come face-to-face with destitution in developing countries on a mission trip,” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor’s President/CEO. “The continuous support from Chris Davitt, Craig Ruppert and their families and friends to Food For The Poor has provided housing, schools, facility care for the elderly, potable water, and self-sustainable projects for Jamaica’s poor.”
To learn more about Food For The Poor mission trips, visit http://www.foodforthepoor.org/mission/ or call 1-800-427-9104 x 4043.
Individuals that traveled to Jamaica included: Rebecca Brewer, Brent Brewer Pfister, Dana Brewer Pfister, Jack Callahan, Chris Davitt, Craig Ruppert, Curtis Ruppert, Kathleen Ruppert, Chad Tyler, Michelle Tyler, Chase Tyler, Conor Tyler, Miranda Tyler, Chandra Tyler, Isabel Vasco, and Andrey Washington.
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 http://www.foodforthepoor.org
Contact:
Jennifer Leigh Oates
Public Relations
(954) 427-2222, ext. 6054