Cardinal William Keeler and Food For The Poor Dedicate a Catholic School in Haiti

Food for the Poor
Thursday, 19 July 2001

DEERFIELD BEACH, FL---Food For The Poor Inc., the international relief organization based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, has dedicated the latest of its projects, Les Bons Samaritains, in the town of St. Marc, Haiti. Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore, Maryland, a longtime supporter of the relief efforts in Haiti, assisted in the dedication ceremony. The project, which was funded by Food For The Poor donors throughout the United States and cost over $450,000 is a Catholic grammar school which will educate the deprived children of St. Marc. The school will also offer developmental programs for adults, including literacy classes and vocational training.

The city of St. Marc is located approximately 50 miles north of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, and experiences an 80% unemployment rate. The school will include ten classrooms, a clinic and a nutrition center to feed the children attending the school, and an adult education center. It will target three high risk groups: children ages three and above who cannot afford to attend school, illiterate adults, and adults needing skills training. Dr. Rodrique Mortel, Associate Dean and Director of the Penn State Cancer Center and himself a native of St. Marc, has donated the land for the school and through his non-profit foundation will fund the annual operating costs of the school. The school will be staffed by Les Soeurs de Saint Joseph De Cluny religious community (Sisters of St. Joseph), and is under the direction of the Diocese of Gonaives.

Food For The Poor Inc., the 5th largest international charity in the U.S., is a Christian relief and development organization that has developed a highly efficient strategy for aiding the destitute of the Caribbean and Latin America. In the last 19 years, Food For The Poor has shipped over $875 million in aid to the region. Over $117 million of that assistance has gone to Haiti, with over $24 million being directed during the year 2000. Food For The Poor provides emergency relief assistance, education, housing, health care, sustainable development, and micro-enterprise development assistance to hundreds of thousands of the poorest of the poor in the region. Food For The Poor generates 90% of the aid it delivers from the private sector and maintains a low overhead ratio of 9.3%.

For more information, or to contact Food for the Poor, see their website at: www.foodforthepoor.org