Food For The Poor announces record year; Vows to continue growing its unique ministry

Food for the Poor
Friday, 11 January 2002

In a year when many nonprofit organizations suffered reverses because of the recession and terrorist attacks, Food For The Poor experienced a record high level in 2001, the Deerfield Beach based charity announced today.

"While final audits are not yet completed, it appears that in 2001 FFP distributed a record $273 million in food and other aid in the 16 Caribbean Basin nations that we serve, up from $190 million in 2000," said FFP executive Robin Mahfood. "Accompanying this growth, we also have strengthened our auditing and management procedures in order to assure continued donor confidence as we move past the milestone of one-quarter billion per year in aid. There is no issue regarding the monies that were briefly misdirected back in October of 2000, as those funds were refunded that same year. FFP's administrative costs remain extremely low at less than 10 percent of the budget," Mahfood said. Robin Mahfood became head of FFP in 2000.

The December 10, 2001, issue of Forbes Magazine, which rated the "charitable commitment" efficiency level of U.S. charities, rated FFP at 91 percent, while the national average for mainstream charities was 84 percent.

Food For The Poor (FFP), the 4th largest international charity in the U.S., is an interdenominational Christian relief and development organization that has developed a highly efficient strategy for aiding the destitute of the Caribbean and Latin America. Now in its 20th year, FFP has shipped more than $1 billion in aid to the region. FFP provides emergency relief, education, housing, health care, sustainable development, and micro-enterprise development assistance to hundreds of thousands of the poorest of the poor in the region. FFP employs 250 people, generates 90 percent of the aid it delivers from the private sector and maintains a low overhead cost of 9.3 percent.

This ministry is assisted by receipt last year of FFP's largest award ever, over $25 million in food commodities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Next week in Jamaica the group will inaugurate a warehouse at its Spanish Town headquarters to accommodate 460 shipping containers of that award that are designated for Jamaica. "With such grants, large and small, we will continue to be servants of the poor regardless of denomination," Mahfood said.

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