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20151024

Food For the Poor: Nonprofit Christian Organization Comes Clean (satire)

Disclaimer: this article is a satire based on unreliable Internet sources, including Wikipedia.

While researching Robin Mahfood, CEO of Food for the Poor, I have discovered that they bring food for the poor of Latin America and the Caribbean. According to Wikipedia, Food for the Poor is a ecumenical Christian nonprofit organization based in Coconut Creek, Florida, USA.

As for the Mahfood surname, according to Emile Mahfood, it is due to a spelling mistake made of his father's surname of Mahfouz (muh fooz) by a Jamaican customs officer.

Mahfouz - the closest Latin transliteration of Arabic - means preserved, protected, safe - perhaps as in "protected by God", "life preserved by God", and "safe in the hands of God." However, these phrases are appropriate within Christendom since Mahfouz is most likely a Lebanese Christian surname.

Yet the etymology is ignored in favour of a polite nudge and wink at his name by social media. It might be likely that most people who laugh over the irony of his surname may overlook his good works.

With that in mind, Food for the Poor is more financially transparent today since a sex and financial scandal in 2000 led to the current CEO, Robin Mahfood, taking over from his older brother Ferdinand Mahfood. Also, before 2007, at least two Mahfood family businesses dealt with Food For the Poor.

When I read that Food for the Poor introduced basa fish farming to Haiti, I did some research on basa fish, only to discover the threat of basa food farms to wild basa fish stock in Southeast Asia and people with deadly allergic reaction to eating basa, also known as Panga, the shortened form of the fish's biological name of Pangasius bocourti.

Yes, basa fish can make you puff up and die if you have allergy to whatever they feed these fish.

Despite the scandals and the increased financial transparency, Food For the Poor is a lucrative family business which provides charity work in Latin America and the Caribbeans. While the Catholic Church has distanced itself from the non-profit Christian organization, Food for the Poor remains the second-largest American charity behind the American Red Cross.

Today, Food for the Poor has apparently cleaned up its act. In light of the social media reports that Mahfood is a funny ironic surname, it has nothing to do with any of the unflattering view of a Christian nonprofit organization that I just presented — absolutely nothing, since most people don't care about the scandal when there are people who are poor in Latin America and the Caribbeans

However, atheists can run with the dirt that I found online, which may be dismissed by Food for the Poor supporters stating firmly with a straight face, "Wikipedia is not a reliable Internet source." In fact, even this article is not a reliable Internet source of information. Rather it is a satire based on what I found on the Internet about Food for the Poor, with only one Wikipedia article on the nonprofit organization and another Wikipedia article on the basa fish.


References:

Background of Mahfood: http://mahfood.marjeyoun.net/History.html

Robin Mahfood, Food For the Poor President has most ironic name ever: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/robin-mahfood-food-for-the-poor-president-has-most-ironic-name-ever_n_2728377.html

"Mahfood+Food for the Poor", Google Search Images: https://www.google.ca/search?q=mahfood+food+for+the+poor&espv=2&biw=1016&bih=440&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CEwQsARqFQoTCObhr8bA3MgCFQ6UiAod2psOUA#imgrc=IqpT2kfMtT2CgM%3A

As of 2010, Mahfood has declared that Food for the Poor has also severed ties with "Essex Exports Inc., which Mahfood and his brother founded 35 years ago, and with the Mahfood's Jamaica-based company, Wisynco, after 2007," according to the news story in the Broward & Palm Beach News, Sports section of the Sun Sentinel. - Family behind flourishing Coconut Creek charity survives scandals, renews focus: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-03-29/news/fl-food-for-the-poor-20100329_1_president-robin-mahfood-charity-poor

On January 10, 2013, Food for the Poor announced that they introduced basa fish farms to Haiti, only to have the 2013 Hatian earthquake happen 3 days later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_for_the_Poor#Targeted_crisis_relief_programs

Environmental and Health Concerns of Basa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basa_fish#Environmental_and_health_concerns

Basa fish source of allergens:
  • http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20232779
  • http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Fish-chips-nearly-deadly-dish-Luke/story-12061062-detail/story.html

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