Olympian Yohan Blake Leads Food For The Poor 5K Walk/Run to Feed Record Number

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Olympian Yohan Blake Leads Food For The Poor 5K Walk/Run to Feed Record Number 

COCONUT CREEK, Florida. (November 29, 2012) – Some 700 South Floridians gathered at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach alongside Olympic medallist Yohan Blake for the Food For The Poor 5K Walk/Run recently, in the drive to help stamp out hunger. The event raised enough money to feed 1,500 destitute children and their families in the Caribbean and Latin America for a year.

Yohan Blake greets fans Sheila LaFleur and her son Gavin.

Blake, a 2012 Olympic Gold and Silver medallist, and Jason Martinez, co-anchor for WPLG-TV - ABC Local 10 Morning News and Local 10 News at Noon, handed out bottles of water and motivated participants across the finish line. The participants ranged between 8 and 78 years old.
“I know what it is to be hungry and so I respect what Food For The Poor is doing,” said Blake, one of the world’s fastest sprinters.

(L to R) Olympic medalist Yohan Blake, Food For The Poor's President/CEO Robin Mahfood, and ABC Channel 10 anchor Jason Martinez

Thanks to the charity’s low administrative ratio and purchasing power, Food For The Poor can feed a family of four for US $14.60 a month. Donations to this effort are accepted at www.FoodForThePoor.org/walk.

The fastest male at the 5K was Kevin Channer with a time of 17:45.2. The fastest female was Ann Rodriguez with a time of 24:12.2.

Additional race results are available online at http://tinyurl.com/cx9ctuy.

Yohan Blake (right) congratulates Kevin Channer, winner of the 5K run.

Cans of food donated by 5K Walk/Run participants and a check to purchase turkeys were presented to “Big Mama” Essie Reed, founder of Team of Life nonprofit, to benefit needy families in South Florida in time for Thanksgiving.

Approximately 700 South Floridians gathered at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach on Saturday, Nov. 17, to stomp out hunger alongside Olympic medalist Yohan Blake. Food For The Poor’s 5K Walk/Run For Hunger raised enough money to feed 1,500 destitute children and their families in the Caribbean and Latin America for a year.

The 5K Walk/Run was presented by Winn-Dixie.  Event sponsors included Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, Bru’s Room, The Consul General of Jamaica, Corner Bakery Cafe, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Humana, Kona Ice, KPA Promotion, Muffuletta, PNC, Polyglass, Runners Edge, Sun-Sentinel, TeamReliv, The WOW Factory, Tijuana Flats, WATA, Wells Fargo and World of Beer.

Approximately 700 South Floridians gathered at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach on Saturday, Nov. 17, to stomp out hunger alongside Olympic medalist Yohan Blake. Food For The Poor’s 5K Walk/Run For Hunger raised enough money to feed 1,500 destitute children and their families in the Caribbean and Latin America for a year.

Food For The Poor, named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as the largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor.