10 October, 2011
NEW YORK. – The Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) celebrates on October 23rd, 2011 14th-year anniversary addressing the socio-economic and health needs for children and their families severely affected by extreme poverty, disease and hunger in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, through health, education, community development and disaster relief programs.
“We will also celebrate, proudly, BRA’s establishment of its first Food Security system that will help produce long-term food independence and economic self-sufficiency for more than 35,000 rural batey residents and farmers through USAID and USDA-funded food distribution and agricultural/cooperative development projects,” said Ulrick Gaillard, BRA’s founder and CEO. According to Gaillard, the organization’s newest food security milestone is credited to the continuing support and collaboration of the Dominican government.
With the financial and technical assistance of the USAID, through a Food for Peace/IFRP program, within a period of four years from 2007-2011, BRA distributed 656.48 metric tons (equivalence of 33million servings) of food rations at a value of $2.3 million to 986,800 impoverished and vulnerable people living with HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis, vulnerable/orphaned children, Cholera patients, earthquake-affected Internally Displaced People, pregnant women, the elderly who are without a pension or health coverage living in more than 17 provinces and 168 vulnerable and impoverished Dominican Republic Batey communities, rural and urban slums and Haiti’s border regions.
Meanwhile the organization partnered with USDA in 2009, through a two-year Food for Progress-funded program of $1.2 million, to create the first major Batey-run cooperative Food Security System, by producing crops and animal and developing community infrastructures for 35,000 beneficiaries within seven Batey communities in the province of Monte Plata, involving 7,700 cooperative members/farmers and community health promoters in skills training and technical assistance, veterinarian and health services, sharing of equipment and provision of credit.
BRA will present its 2011 “TRUE PARTNERS AWARDS” to USAID, USDA and Charlie Mariotti, Senator for the Monte Plata province, at the 14-year anniversary celebration festivities to be held on Friday, October 21st at 2:30pm at the organization’s Medical Center complex located inside Batey Cinco Casas in the province of Monte Plata.
More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the event, including government, diplomatic and media officials, foreign and local partners and local residents. Dominican President, Dr. Leonel Fernandez Reyna, US Ambassador to the DR, Raúl Yzaguirre and USAID Interim Director to the DR, James Watson have been invited to be our Guests of Honor.
BRA is member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)—collaboration between the private sector, non-governmental organizations and other global leaders committed to effectively confront the world’s most pressing issues and identifying groundbreaking solutions that reduce poverty, improve the environment, and increase access to health care and education.
