NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2004
Contact Joy Chesbrough-Berry
858-274-3718
SAN DIEGO ( March 4, 2004 ) – Though the crisis in Haiti may seem resolved, a local San Diego-based non-profit organization has not heard from its 19 Haitian employees since the island had been taken over by rebels.
Floresta USA , founded in 1984 by Tom Woodard, is a unique faith-based agricultural development agency that works to transform the lives of the rural poor by focusing on the problems of poverty-induced deforestation and community development. It has been in Haiti since 1996. Floresta’s work is located in the Petit Goave area where they work with farmers in 20 communities.
“We have worked in Haiti for the last seven years,” said Scott Sabin, Floresta USA ’s executive director. “We’re monitoring the situation moment by moment. It’s amazing what the people of these communities have achieved. The next few months will be a very delicate time for our work, and for the country as a whole. We hope that the new government will bring about stability and progress. Our work depends on it.”
For more information on Floresta’s dramatic story, which brings home Haiti ’s remote political situation, call Scott Sabin, or Joy Chesbrough-Berry at 858-274-3718. The agency is located at 4903 Morena Blvd., Suite 1215 , in San Diego . Its website is www.floresta.org.
Floresta’s mission is to meet the physical, economic and spiritual needs of the rural poor by reversing the cycle of deforestation and poverty. It also arranges for micro-enterprise loans to help to start small businesses and finance farms. Floresta also has projects in place in the Dominican Republic , Mexico , and Tanzania.
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