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Haiti Friendship Village effort kicks off with $100,000

STAFF REPORT – The Boca Grande chapter of Food for the Poor/Hope for Haiti have reached a major milestone in their quest to build Boca Grande Friendship Village in Haiti, as they get ready to hold their first major island fundraiser on Tuesday, March 9.

The group has now raised more than $100,000, which is enough for the group to begin constructing the first phase of the planned community in Pierre Payen, Haiti.

“We are excited,” said Ben Scott, chairman of the Boca Grande Hope For Haitians Committee, which has 25 members. “We knew the residents on this island would undoubtedly find it in their hearts to give to Haiti and our cause. Now, as we are personally calling and inviting all of our friends and neighbors to the event, we are even more encouraged by how generous everyone here truly is. These poor families are now closer to receiving homes they can call their own.”

Food For The Poor has resumed work on construction projects that were in development before the recent earthquake. And the agency is moving forward with new community projects such as the Boca Grande Friendship Village in rural parts of the country.

Some donors have specifically requested that a portion of the total amount pledged go directly to the village’s five-room vocational school. Preliminary plans estimate it will cost $32,000 to build the school. Other donors have also pledged for part of the animal husbandry program, specifically the chicken farm. Several donations have also come in for housing.

The Boca Grande Friendship Village’s fundraising event will be Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at the historic Power House at Boca Bay Pass Club. The cocktail reception begins at 6 p.m. with guest speaker Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor.

Aloma visited Boca Grande recently, and spoke of what he has witnessed in Haiti since the earthquake struck.

“The living conditions they endured before the earthquake would test the strongest of souls, and now the situation is ten times worse – they need everything… they need healing… they need our love. Food For The Poor served the first hot meal in Port-au-Prince. I personally went down with a team and we took water, fuel and 1,500 bags of cement across the Dominican Republic border into Haiti. Of all the supplies, the bags of cement evoked a lot of emotion in me, as I saw this as a symbol of the very beginning of the rebuilding of Haiti.”

The Boca Grande Friendship Village Chairpersons are Ben and Louise Scott, and the committee members are Rev. Jerome Carosella, George and Lois Castrucci, Patricia Chapman, Ray and Iliene Corcoran, Charlie and Florita Field, Jack and Donna Harms, Stephen and Susan Jensen, Tom and Nancy Lorden, Ed and Nora Lee Reefe, Vince and Judy Shaw, Bruce and Barbara Stirling, and David and Mary Jo Wilson.

For more information about the event, and to RSVP please contact Kathy Leggatt at (954) 427.2222, ext. 6646, and visit www.foodforthepoor.org/bocagrande.