Here’s a story passed on to me on Winter Haven’s Andre Berto putting in time outside the ring. Enjoy…

(WINTER HAVEN, FLA.) –World Champion Andre Berto has turned his focus from the boxing ring to the plight of the citizens of his native Haiti. The 25-year-old boxer is partnering with Carma Foundation founder and younger sister to superstar Wyclef Jean, Melky Jean, in supporting the organization and its mission of improving the health of poor and vulnerable women and children in Haiti.

“I am extremely excited and proud to have the opportunity to partner with an organization like the Carma Foundation,” Berto said. “The struggles of the Haitian people obviously hit very close to home for me. I had the opportunity to represent Haiti in the 2004 Olympic Games, and want to do everything that I can to help the Haitian people.”

The Carma Foundation and Berto announced the newly created partnership at the organization’s Carnival: Masquerade event at the Carnegie Library, City Museum in Washington DC on Friday, October 24. While Berto was born in the United States; his family is 100% Haitian and several family members currently reside there.

‘We are honored to have Andre Berto join our organization not just as a member, but as a co-chair. It is always a good day for Haiti when one of her own makes the commitment to help improve the lives of our fellow Haitian brothers and sisters,” Carma Foundation Founder Melky Jean said. “Carma and the Haitian people are proud of Andre as a champion and now as a humanitarian. We look forward to taking our inaugural trip with Andre later this year, and having him lead the mission in implicating his ideas and initiatives through the Carma Foundation in Haiti.”

Haiti leads the western hemisphere with the highest poverty level amongst any of its hemisphere’s neighbors. The Carma Foundation has chosen to spearhead several small projects addressing the needs of education, skill development and job creation of women and children in Haiti. In addition, the future goals of Carma are to reform Haiti’s infrastructural needs in the areas of reproductive health, proper nourishment, health care, and STDs.

After Berto represented Haiti in the 2004 Olympic Games, the small island nation fielded teams for every major national event and even had a competitor in the 2008 Olympic Games. He hopes to help to build boxing gyms in Haiti and give young people there an opportunity to participate in the sport.

Since its inception in 2007, Carma has already impacted the lives of tens of thousands of Haitian women and children and plans to extend its reach to the millions of Haitian citizens.

Andre Berto is the World Boxing Council Welterweight World Champion and maintains a perfect 23-0 record as a professional. An accomplished amateur with numerous national titles, Berto represented Haiti in the 2004 Olympic Games. A Haitian-American, Berto comes from a fighting family. His father, Dieusuel competed as an Ultimate Fighter before a devastating car crash ended his career and brother Edson and sister Revelina are professional MMA fighters.