Pitcher Joaquin Benoit, PADF Team Up to Send a Much-Needed Christmas Present to Haiti’s Hospitals
Thursday, December 17, 2009(PADF)
Washington, D.C., -- December 17, 2009 – Major League Baseball pitcher and former Texas Rangers Joaquin Benoit is adding new meaning to the word “relief” this Christmas for thousands of Haitians.
Benoit responded to the Pan American Development Foundation’s (PADF) request for cash assistance that allows the non-profit to deliver hospital equipment to areas in Haiti that are still recovering from hurricanes and to the country’s toughest slums.
“When I heard that our neighbors in Haiti needed medical equipment, I felt compelled to make a difference,” says Benoit, who is from the Dominican Republic. “PADF provided me with the right opportunity to alleviate the suffering of Haitians. I am making a difference this holiday season.”
A shipping container with electric beds and hospital medicine carts will arrive just after Christmas to Haiti for distribution to institutions that attend up to 2,000 patients a day.
In Port-au-Prince’s notorious slum of Cite Soleil, for example, the Centre Hospitalier Sainte Catherine Labouré has more patients than beds. In the city of Gonaïves, the Hôpital Bon Secours is trying to replace equipment that was lost to Hurricane Gustav.
“Joaquin Benoit stepped up to the plate when Haiti needed help,” says Amy Coughenour, PADF’s Deputy Executive Director. “His support, along with help from other donors, means more Haitians will receive medical treatment in a more dignified way.”
The hospital beds and medicine carts are a
donation by the U.S. General Services
Administration, which provides excess equipment
to non-profit organizations.
PADF’s
successful in-kind donations program supports
hundreds of thousands of people throughout
Latin America and the Caribbean with new and
gently used medical equipment, professional
tools and relief supplies.
“Through partnerships with U.S. agencies, hospitals and individual donors, PADF is able to provide disadvantaged people essential equipment that will make a difference in their lives,” say Pilar Heraud, PADF’s in-kind program director.
PADF is an independent, non-profit organization that develops public-private partnerships to assist the least advantaged people in Latin America and the Caribbean. PADF creates economic opportunities, strengthens communities and prepares for and responds to natural disasters. In the past year, more than 5.6 million people in 18 countries benefited from PADF’s programs. PADF is an affiliate of the Organization of American States. www.padf.org and www.ITooAmHaiti.org
Michael J. Zamba
Senior
Director
Communications & Public
Affairs
Pan American Development
Foundation
Organization of American States
Building
1889 F Street, NW
Second
Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006
Tel. (202)
458-6180
mzamba@padf.org
www.padf.org