A local nonprofit is raising money to provide 10,000 meals for Hurricane Matthew survivors in Haiti. The hurricane killed more than 800 and left several thousands displaced in the Caribbean island nation.
Kim’s Open Door is a nonprofit in Jacksonville that trains and mobilizes community volunteers who teach life skills and mentor some of Jacksonville’s at-risk youth. To date, more than 2,000 children have taken a part in the organization’s mentoring, clubs and community programs.
The organization will hold a “Feed the Need” fundraiser on Dec. 17, when volunteers will come together to assemble and package the meals.
Open Door founder and CEO Kim Bogart said the organization needs $30,000 to reach its goal of helping people abroad.
“I’ve got friends on the ground in Haiti that go several times a year, and they’re going to hand deliver over half of those meals,” Bogart said. “And then the rest are going to go to other agencies that feed orphans and some of Haiti’s most vulnerable.”
Not only will the money go towards purchasing and shipping the meals, it will also go towards the organization’s International Art and Resource Center at 4000 Spring Park Road.
Open Door is holding an open house at the new resource center from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday to showcase the new building, and hold registrations for the event in December.
“We’re asking teams of colleagues, friends and families to get together and just ask 20 people for $50, she said. Teams can also register by texting KOD to 71777.
Corporate sponsors will receive their own table and T-shirts with donations of more than $500.
News intern Blake Allen can be reached at newsteam@wjct.org, or on Twitter @BAllenMMJ