Food For The Poor will rush four pallets of critical medical supplies such as pain relievers, antibiotics, wound care kits, along with disaster and personal hygiene kits via airfreight to Puerto Rico as soon as possible with the assistance of Kansas-based partner Heart-to-Heart International.
Food For The Poor also will begin loading four tractor-trailer loads of relief items for shipment to Puerto Rico on Wednesday, Oct. 4, beginning at 9 a.m. from its warehouse in Coconut Creek, Fla., with the following items:
• Nonperishable food
• Batteries and lanterns
• Two-burner liquid petroleum gas stoves (propane)
• Tarps
• Baby diapers
• Hygiene items
• Five-gallon buckets with cleaning supplies
• Five commercial-grade generators
One container of water will be shipped from the donor, Gleaning For The World.
“It’s been nine days since this storm struck Puerto Rico, and the lives of tens of thousands of people have been turned upside down because there’s no light, no running water and countless homes have been destroyed,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood. “Families in Puerto Rico need help now and they’re going to need it for a long time. We will do our very best to help as many as we can there, and in the countries where we serve to recover from these back-to-back disasters.”
The island suffered a devastating blow from Hurricane Maria on Sept. 20. The deadly powerful Category 4 storm made landfall in the early morning hours leaving millions in a perilous situation.
While Food For The Poor’s mission primarily is to serve internationally, the charity has responded in the past to catastrophic disasters in the United States and now to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
The charity is working with CARITAS in San Juan to assure the distribution of relief items. Two longtime Food For The Poor partners, Ohio-based Matthew 25: Ministries and Operation Compassion, a Tennessee-based ministry, are assisting with this humanitarian relief effort.
“Words cannot express the gratitude Food For The Poor has for every item or monetary contribution donated to this organization that is allowing us to help the suffering every day, but especially during the time of a natural disaster,” Mahfood said.
To support relief efforts for Puerto Rico and the other islands affected by the recent hurricanes, cash donations are best. Checks can be mailed to Food For The Poor at 6401 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, FL 33073. Please make checks payable to Food For The Poor and include the source code SC#104174 to accurately route your donation to the relief effort. Or to make a donation online, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/puertorico.
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 primarily 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.
