Longmont Family Collecting Food and Donations for Haitian Orphanage

Food Freight for Foyer Drive Provides 18 Tons of Food to Haitian OrphansLongmont, Colorado – As food prices in Haiti continue to rise, a group of concerned adoptive parents have decided to make sure the orphanage caring for their children, Foyer de Sion, can feed the 300+ children in its care. These parents, all of whom are adopting children from Foyer de Sion, have arranged for a 40 foot shipping container to travel the country, making stops in Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Kansas to gather donations before heading south to Haiti.Recent press coverage of the situation in Haiti included the following CNN video, which describes children so desperate for food that they've resorted to eating dirt cookies: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4wHiYkcm-Ro. Haitians suffer a 70% unemployment rate and this, in combination with the food crisis has left over 200,000 orphans in the care of understaffed and underfunded orphanages like Foyer de Sion.To combat this incredible poverty, adoptive parents like Heather Lacey and Eric Harper, who were matched to Foyer orphans Clara, age 3, and Emerson, age 18 months, in February of 2007, are trying to spread the word about the donation drive, dubbed Food Freight for Foyer 2008.“This food drive is one of the only ways we have to positively influence Clara and Emerson’s lives until they are able to come home to us,” said Lacey, also mother of two biological children, Julia, age 3, and Mason, age 2. “Julia and Mason cannot wait until their brother and sister are with us. We’ve visited them in Haiti four times and cannot wait to go again in July,” continued her husband, Eric. This drive has particular significance for Clara, who was diagnosed recently with tuberculosis and weighs just 18 pounds. Although she is being treated by doctors in Haiti, lack of access to food further endangers her health and impedes her recovery.Donations can be made directly to the orphanage online at http://foyerdesion.org/donations-GiftsOfHope.php, but to reach their goal of 36,000 pounds of food (a full 40 foot container), these parents hope to involve members of their local communities as well as corporate donors.This is truly a situation where so little can do so much. A mere $7.00 donation would feed 63 children at the orphanage for two days; $100 would buy nearly 200 pounds of staple foods like rice, sugar, flour, and powdered milk. Those local to Longmont can make donations directly to the Harper-Lacey family or can send donations to them to help them purchase items in bulk like rice, beans, and dried or canned meat. They can be reached at 303-834-8209 or heather@harperlacey.com.About Foyer de SionThe Foyer de Sion orphanage was founded in 1999 by a compassionate man and his wife who, although poor and needy themselves, took in seventeen children in desperate need of nutrition and love, solely because they saw a need. Their vision of helping others has grown, along with their household size. The faith, hard work and dedication of Guesno and Majorie Mardy have saved countless lives as the organization has grown into what it is today. The Mardys have over 300 children currently in their direct care. Over 200 children have come home to their families in the US, Canada and France.http://foyerdesion.org