Food For The Poor Rushes Aid to Haiti

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Jan. 16, 2010) – In an effort to get as many aid items into Haiti as quickly as possible, Food For The Poor is directing food, water and medical supplies into the Dominican Republic to be sent over the border and into the hands of the hurting Haitian people.

The charity also will be sending pallets of critically needed medical items by air directly into Port-au-Prince on Sunday.

Food For The Poor, the largest international charity in the United States, will send 189 tons of goods in this shipment. The charity already had sent 100 containers of rice, canned food and medical supplies to Haiti -- most of which is already in place in Port-au-Prince and ready to be distributed. With the port there damaged and the need growing, Food For The Poor executives are expediting shipment of aid to accelerate relief activities.

“It is critical that we get this relief as soon as possible into the hands of the Haitian people and to the people who are trying to help them,” said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. “We are hearing today that orthopedic supplies are particularly needed for the trauma patients that medical staff and volunteers are treating. They are seeing terrible wounds.”

The medical supplies and equipment already housed in Food For The Poor’s Haiti warehouse were taken to a Petionville hospital on Friday night. On Saturday, trucks of food left the warehouse to be distributed to the feeding centers.

The goods are part of Food For The Poor’s initial goal to provide $5 million in relief to the struggling nation, as it recovers from one of the worst natural disasters in its history.

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 www.foodforthepoor.org

Kathy Skipper
Marketing and Public Relations Manager
(954) 427-2222, ext. 6614
kathys@foodforthepoor.org