FOOD FOR the Poor, Inc., the Caribbean's largest international relief organisation, has received initial shipments of non-fat dry milk to Jamaica.
These shipments will be used in the feeding programmes targeting children, the elderly and the indigent. The milk has arrived at the Food for the Poor warehouse in Spanish Town and distribution has begun.
The shipment of 646,000 kg of milk will supply over 1,800 schools, hospitals, churches, elderly homes, orphanages, centres for handicapped children, clinics and feeding programmes that are located throughout the entire country.
The milk is a gift from the people of the United States to the people of Jamaica, and was donated by the United States Department of Agriculture under the 416 (b) Presidential initiative programme. The grant to Jamaica of over 4,500,000 kg of non-fat dry milk is valued at over $9 million (US) for the first year, and is renewable for two additional years.
Food for the Poor, in concert with ambassadors from the 14 countries of the Caribbean and Central America benefiting from this programme, hosted a reception at the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C. to express their appreciation to the USDA. At this function, thanking the Department of Agriculture on behalf of the people of the Caribbean, Jamaica was represented by Ambassador Seymour Mullings, John Junor, Minister of Health, and Dr. Barrington Wint, Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Health.
According to Robin Mahfood, president of Food for the Poor, "We have an entire distribution network solidly in place, and are excited about the distribution of the milk. The generosity of the U.S. government to the people of the Caribbean is a true demonstration of the concern that this country has for its neighbours. Over 500,000 children and elderly will be receiving this life-giving nourishment, and it will make such a difference in their lives. To children suffering from under-nutrition, this gift is priceless."
The beneficiaries of the milk include participants from four targeted programmes, namely the mothers and children programme, which targets pre-school and children who are underweight; the elderly and mentally ill programme, designed to address those lacking family and social support; the abandoned and orphaned children programme, providing the milk as a supplement to existing feeding programmes; and the school feeding programme, administered by the local school districts.
Food for the Poor (FFP), the 4th largest international charity in the U.S., is a Christian relief and development organisation that has implemented a highly efficient strategy for aiding the destitute of the Caribbean and Latin America.
In the last 21 years, with the partnership of its many donors, FFP has shipped over 22,000 trailers of aid valued at over $1.4 billion to the region ($311 million in 2002). FFP, in addition to its massive feeding programme, provides emergency relief assistance, education, housing, health care and micro-enterprise development assistance to hundreds of thousands of the poorest of the poor in the region.
FFP maintains a low overhead ratio of under 6%.
