WASHINGTON, DC. - On a three-hour train ride that started on the early cold morning of December 12th, the Batey Relief Alliance’s CEO, Ulrick Gaillard, left his Brooklyn base at 3:00am to arrive on time at the New York’s Penn Station to catch the Amtrak train at 5:30am bound for Washington DC with one goal in mind – seek the support of United States Representatives and agencies for more food for those who are very hungry and sick in the Dominican Republic’s impoverished batey and urban/rural communities.

The Batey Relief Alliance (BRA Dominicana) received a grant of $272,800 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to distribute 75 metric tons of food to more than 5,000 at-risk individuals who are severely affected by disease, poverty and hunger, including people living with HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis sufferers, orphaned/vulnerable children, pregnant women and the elderly. Local partner groups helped BRA distribute the food in their own HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs, including the Dominican’s Presidential AIDS Council (COPRESIDA) and General Directorate for the Control of Sexually transmitted Infections and AIDS (DIGECITTS), the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative, etc.

The problem is the program grant, under the USAID’s Title II International Food Relief Program-Food for Peace, is only for one year and if not renewed for at least another two years, the lives of these disenfranchised people will be at stake, particularly those receiving antiretroviral treatment and potent medicines to fight opportunistic infections.

Before returning back to New York the same day on another three-hour train ride at 6:10pm, Gaillard crammed up six different meetings with representatives at the offices of Senator Hillary Clinton, Brooklyn’s Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, USAID, and other organizations that are involved in the production and distribution of food in impoverished regions of the world. “I am very pleased by the positive response and offer of support from Senator Clinton and Congresswoman Clarke,” said Gaillard.

The USAID encouraged Gaillard to submit another proposal to the agency in January seeking more funding for the food program. If approved, many lives will continue to be saved. If not approved, Gaillard plans on going back to Washington and lobby more.
The journey ended, for now, with Gaillard arriving home on the 12th at 11:15 pm after having to wait and wait for local trains to take him back to Brooklyn, and then a cab home to sleep.

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NEW YORK, New York. – The Riverside Church’s Sharing Fund Committee awarded a grant of $5,000 to help support the Batey Relief Alliance’s life-saving malnutrition prevention program inside the bateyes of the Dominican Republic.

The three-year program, supported by the Vitamin Angel Alliance, targets 55,000 children to receive daily multivitamins and twice-a-year antiparasitic medicines. The USAID contributed 75 metric tons of dehydrated food products to 5,100 at-risk people severely affected by poverty, disease and hunger, including HIV/AIDS and TB sufferers, orphaned/vulnerable children, pregnant women and the elderly. The Presbyterian Church-USA Hunger Program and the Disciples of Christ’s Week of Compassion contributed funds to purchase locally food products such as rice, beans, meat, vegetable and oil.

People living in the bateyes have limited access to adequate housing, water/sanitation, medical care, electricity, and education. Food security is considered one of the most challenges for the population.

Please help feed these hungry kids in the bateyes. Make a tax-deductible gift payable to Batey Relief Alliance, P.O. Box 300565, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11230.

Contact Ulrick Gaillard at bra@bateyrelief.org or (917) 627-5026.

BROOKLYN, New York. – Through the support of Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs of the Brooklyn’s 42nd A.D., the New York State Department of Health’s AIDS Institute awarded a second grant of $10,000 to help the Batey Relief Alliance educate the heavily immigrant population about HIV/AIDS. “I am pleased to be part of this important project in bringing information and education to increase the well being and empowerment of our community,” said Jacobs.

Through radio waves, HIV/AIDS experts speak about the danger of contraction and prevention to those who may be at risk. More than 50,000 targeted listeners have the opportunity to ask questions regarding testing, treatment, and other key issues of importance to them. Jacobs added, “We focus on health issues of our community in particular, in an effort to combat the drastic effects of HIV/AIDS. And ignorance and silence can be deadly.”

Since 2005, the Batey Relief Alliance carries out, in partnerships with the USAID, Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative and the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Health, a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and antiretroviral treatment program inside the bateyes of the Dominican Republic.

Contact Ulrick Gaillard at (917) 627-5026 or bra@bateyrelief.org. Visit the work of the BRA at www.bateyrelief.org.