DUBLIN, Texas - Students at Dublin Middle School held a small change fundraiser to benefit the Peanut Butter For Haiti project.

The school's sixth, seventh, and the eighth grade had a contest to see who could raise the most money. The three classes combined raised $863.00  for peanut butter. A local peanut farmer also promised to match the class who raised the most change.

With the matching check of $357 and the $863 raised by the Dublin Middle School, a total of $1220 was raised for the purchase of peanut butter to ship to the Haiti earthquake victims.

"Peanut Butter for Haiti" Recap and Update

The U.S. peanut industry is responding quickly to the crisis in Haiti resulting from the January 12th earthquake. The industry, as well as individuals and agricultural partners, have formed a coalition to show their concern and to offer their support by sending truckloads of peanut butter to the people of Haiti. Peanut butter is the perfect food since it does not have to be refrigerated, does not require cooking, and delivers a nutritional punch that is life-sustaining.

The project, Peanut Butter for Haiti, was initiated by Barton Rice, executive director of Early County 2055, a Blakely, Ga., non-profit organization, who stepped forward with the first financial pledge to deliver peanut butter to Haiti. The project expanded when Lisa Collins of Early County 2055, contacted several peanut organization leaders to obtain advice on the best way to purchase the peanut butter and have it shipped to Haiti.  Golden Peanut Company, Birdsong Peanuts (who both have locations in Texas), the Texas Peanut Producers Board, and the Georgia Peanut Commission immediately met the pledge from Early County and the project took off.  

Early Trucking and Southern Ag Carriers immediately offered to donate the transportation for the peanut butter. In less than three weeks, the project has raised $107,000 in cash donations, including over $13,000 in cash raised in Texas alone. The cash has been used to purchase peanut butter at cost, in addition to the approximately $200,000 worth of donated peanut butter. (The coalition has purchased peanut butter at cost from Kroger, ConAgra, and Ralcorp and has received peanut butter donated by The J.M. Smucker Company and John B Sanfilippo & Sons.) 

Seven days after the earthquake, two truckloads of peanut butter (almost 75,000 lbs) were delivered to Norfolk, Va., and loaded on a military ship, the USS Sacagawea, bound for Haiti, and are being distributed on the ground by “Operation Blessing”, a charity based in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  Four days later, two more truckloads were delivered to Miami for transfer to Haiti by airfreight and barge through “Catholic Relief Services” and “Food for the Poor”. 

A fifth load of peanut butter is now in Miami awaiting shipment aboard a Carnival Cruise ship for “Operation Blessing”.  The sixth truckload was purchased when the coalition was contacted  by “Feed the Children,” who urgently need peanut butter to distribute since their warehouse in Haiti was destroyed in the earthquake and all their supplies were lost.   That load was shipped on February 8, 2010.

We will continue to raise funds for this project through the end of National Peanut Month (March 2010).  Organizations can participate by sending tax deductible contributions to:

EC 2055 - PNB for Haiti
P.O. Box 725, Blakely, GA 39823
Make checks payable to: "Early County 2055" and note "PB for Haiti."

For more information, contact TPPB at (806) 687-6363.

The Peanut Sun-Times is a quarterly newsletter produced by the Texas Peanut Producers Board. It contains information that is useful for consumers and producers alike, inlcuding recipes, crop information, news and more!

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