Food For The Poor (FFTP) paid tribute to the late Joe Mahfood, a beloved member of the FFTP family, with the renovation and dedication ceremony for the Portland Cottage Primary School near Clarendon, Jamaica.
Mahfood, who died in Jamaica on April 8, 2021, at age 78, helped found FFTP under the leadership of his late brother Ferdinand “Ferdy” Mahfood. He championed new ways of thinking that expanded the charity’s mission and the service it provides to those who need it most.
Known as the “Joe Mahfood Legacy Project,” the renovation included work on the school’s guidance office, resource center, and administrative block during the weekend of February 16-19. It also included repairs to buildings that currently house the school’s canteen and senior teacher’s office, both of which were previously built by Mahfood.
Volunteers from the U.S.-based Davitt-Ruppert Family and Friends Mission, and representatives from FFTP in the United States and Jamaica, participated in the project.
Mark Khouri, Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer at FFTP, traveled from the charity’s Coconut Creek, Fla., headquarters to participate in the event. He praised the donors and the volunteers for their support of Portland Cottage and its school.
“Thank you so very much for giving back to this community,” Khouri said. “The hard work you have done over the past few days will pay off for this community. The children, parents and teachers will be proud to call this school their own. You have made the educational environment better for them.”
The work was made possible through the generous support of longtime donors Chris Davitt and Craig Ruppert, along with their family members and friends. Since 2001, they have supported the construction of six schools, more than 181 housing units, and a home for the elderly. They also provided funding for a sustainable fishing village, as well as two water-related projects and two agricultural projects.
Davitt and Ruppert praised Mahfood for his integrity, drive, and compassion, and expressed their gratitude for their decades-long collaboration in support of FFTP.
“We are honored to pay homage to Joe by doing this project,” Ruppert said. “We have been working in this community for a long time, and we have much respect for him as a result. Our friends and family are coming and learning and going back wiser and more compassionate, so you may think we are helping you, but you are definitely helping us, too. We are proud to be part of this.”
Mahfood’s son, William, a member of the FFTP-Jamaica Board of Directors, remembered his father for his love of Jamaica, the PWD Hunting and Sporting Club, and the Portland Cottage Community, while Dale Edwards, Principal of Portland Cottage Primary School, reflected on the impact of the project and Mahfood’s legacy of support.
“We not only now have a better facility for the children, but this will also attract new enrollment and thereby facilitate more parents in getting a quality education for their children,” Edwards said. “Joe Mahfood gave a lot to this community, and I am happy to see the continuation of his legacy. It wasn’t just a loss for his family when he passed, but a loss for the Portland Cottage community.”
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit foodforthepoor.org.
