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WOMEN OF THE AMERICAS GIVE FOR CHARITABLE WORK IN WASHINGTON

  May 27, 2004

The Pediatric Clinic of the Hispanic Catholic Center of Washington and Washington Children’s Hospital today received a financial boost, thanks to the Organization of Women of the Americas (OMA). The donations came from proceeds from at the 6th Food Festival of the Americas that OMA organized at the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington earlier this month.

During a reception at OAS Headquarters, OMA President Zulay de Valero, wife of the Venezuelan Ambassador to the OAS, welcomed the guests and thanked those who had helped organize the Food Festival. She underscored how meaningful it was for OMA to be able to contribute to the Hispanic Catholic Center’s outreach to immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, and to the important work of Washington Children’s Hospital

Accepting the check for $22,000, the Hispanic Catholic Center’s Father Donato expressed appreciation, and praised OMA’s hard work and commitment to use its annual Food Festival to benefit Washington area immigrants. He spoke about the Center’s pediatric clinic, which provides thousands of poor children with access to medical care. The Hispanic Catholic Center has been a beneficiary for most of the years since the Food Festival started.

For Washington Children’s Hospital, Dr. Naynesh Kamani thanked OMA for the $2,300 gift to its bone marrow transplant program, saying the Hospital is very happy to be associated with OMA.

OMA also presented winners of the Food Festival raffle with their prizes: two New York-Brazil roundtrip tickets (VARIG Airlines) to Ana María Esquivel; two Miami-Brazil roundtrip tickets (TAM Airlines) to Margarita de la Cruz; two Miami-Bolivia roundtrip tickets (LAB Airlines) to José Costa; a three-night vacation package (Grand Bahama Vacations) to Maria F. Artiga; and two Baltimore- Caribbean round trip tickets (Air Jamaica) to Karen Guambo.

The group plans to take advantage of the upcoming OAS General Assembly in Quito, Ecuador, to make a donation to charitable institutions there.

Reference: E-089/04