The W.K. Kellogg Foundation to Build Third Village in Haiti

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (July 14, 2016) For the third time within six years, dozens of homes will be built in Fond des Blancs, Haiti, thanks to a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to the international relief and development organization Food For The Poor. These 50 homes in the Fond des Blancs community will provide more than 350 people with concrete block homes with solar-powered lighting, cisterns for water and indoor flush toilets.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s work with Food For The Poor also includes the assistance of in-country partners from the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation and its hospital in Fond des Blancs. The hospital’s staff of more than 250 employees has grown from a one-room clinic in 1983 to an 80-bed hospital with some of Haiti’s best medical professionals. For more than 30 years, St. Boniface Hospital has been a source of income and a safe haven for medical care for families in the region, but is in desperate need of a clean water source.

“For decades, thousands of gallons of water, often loaded and unloaded by hand with five gallon buckets, had to be trucked in every day to ensure a consistent water supply for medical care, cleaning and drinking, which is a time consuming and an expensive task,” said Conor Shapiro, President/CEO of St. Boniface Haiti Foundation.

“St. Boniface Hospital exists entirely off the grid in an extremely rural part of southern Haiti,” said Shapiro. “With our new Surgical and Infectious Disease Centers expected to open this year, the hospital’s water needs will rise by about 10,000 gallons per day, making our current system insufficient. The direct line to the Dugue spring will provide a safe, secure, consistent source of water for the hospital.”

The generous support of Food For The Poor donors is allowing the charity to assist with the installation of a direct water line to the hospital, which includes two General Electric CommunityTAP™ Mobile Drinking Water Units. These units will purify the water, which will save time and money, but more importantly lives by supplying the hospital with clean water for its patients, staff and the community of Fond des Blancs.

“The installation of this water pipeline will be a tremendous blessing for the hospital and for the thousands who live in the region. Children and families there will not only have access to safe water, but will be offered courses to learn how to stop the spread of water-borne illnesses,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “It is an honor for Food For The Poor to assist with this water project because both the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and St. Boniface Haiti Foundation are helping to transform lives in southern Haiti. The latest grant we received from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to build an additional 50 homes in Fond des Blancs is testament of their commitment. We can’t thank them enough for this priceless gift of opportunity.”

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation began building homes through Food For The Poor six years ago. The first village of 40 homes was constructed in Aquin in 2012, and the second village of 50 homes was built in Fond des Blancs in 2014. These 90 homes are providing more than 500 people with safe and secure housing.

The construction of the third village, which will be the second phase of 50 homes in Fond des Blancs, is set to begin later this summer and should be completed by the end of 2016.

The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.

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 poor 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]