World Water Day: FFTP Donors Send Huge Wave of Support for Vulnerable Families
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (March 27, 2025) – Maria, a 32-year-old community leader in a sustainable community development in El Tablón, Guatemala, is one of the fortunate ones. Her community has access to clean water and now, thanks to generous Food For The Poor (FFTP) donors, more vulnerable children and families in Latin America and the Caribbean will soon experience the same benefit.
“The main people to benefit are our children,” Maria said. “For them, clean water means a better life. For them, it is a special life because we needed water to look after their hygiene.”
In recognition of World Water Day on March 22, FFTP launched the “Where Water Flows” digital fundraising campaign. Every dollar donated will provide more than 140 liters (about 37 gallons) of water to families in need.
“This campaign resonated with so many people, who opened their hearts and gave generously,” Ed Raine, FFTP President/CEO said. “We want to bring clean water to more people like Maria, and thanks to the success of our campaign, we will be able to do just that.”
Maria, whose community in El Tablón has access to safe drinking water through a project initiated by FFTP and Cáritas Arquidiocesana, is beyond grateful for the enhanced quality of life they now enjoy.
“For us, it has been an honor and a pleasure to receive this project,” she said. “This has been of great benefit for me, for our children, and for the entire community.”
Since 1993, World Water Day has served as a reminder of the urgent need for clean water and sustainable water management. Finding a safe water source is a daily challenge for those living in poverty. Many families in the countries where FFTP helps rely on rainwater collection or travel long distances to obtain water that in some instances may be contaminated.
More than 161 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean, or 1 in 4, lack adequate access to safe drinking water. The scarcity of water continues to intensify, leaving 2.7 million people in need of assistance.
FFTP is committed to providing sustainable, long-term solutions to water scarcity by building wells, installing water filtration systems, and providing families with sanitation solutions that promote hygiene and dignity.
In a program separate from the “Where Water Flows” campaign, FFTP recently collaborated with the Procter & Gamble (P&G) Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program in a pilot project to distribute water purification kits to families in need. A 4-gram packet of P&G Purifier of Water transforms 10 liters of contaminated water into clean drinking water in just 30 minutes, using simple tools like a bucket, a spoon, and cheesecloth.
Through the pilot project, 240 water purification packets will be included in each of the 1,000 water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) kits, which also will include two buckets, a spoon, cheesecloth, and clips. The WASH kits will be sent to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Haiti. An additional 214,000 water purification packets will be included in disaster preparedness kits for distribution in 2025 and 2026 to countries that are not part of the pilot project.
“Water is the foundation of life. Without it, communities struggle with health, education, and economic development,” Raine said. “We are grateful to everyone who has embraced our mission and are helping us to bring clean water to children and families in need.”
About Food For The Poor
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 15 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit foodforthepoor.org.
Ernestine Williams
Communications
305-321-7342
[email protected]
