wfn.org | CWS $200K in blankets for N. Korea to UNICEF

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

Blankets for North Korea
National Council of the Churches of christ in the 
USA
Contact:  Mel Lehman 212/870-3004

NCC11/7/97      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Church World Service Contributes 
Additional $200,000 to North Korea Relief

NEW YORK, Nov. 7  --  Church World Service 
today contributed $200,000 worth of blankets to 
provide warmth for malnourished North Koreans in the 
approaching winter months.  CWS Executive Director 
the Rev. Dr. Rodney Page, who presented the check at 
UNICEF headquarters in New York, said, "Severe 
malnutrition is making North Koreans especially 
vulnerable to disease in the cold months ahead.  In 
a society where everything is in short supply, these 
blankets will save lives by providing much-needed 
warmth."

The blankets are the latest in a series of 
contributions by Church World Service to North Korea 
this year.  In January, CWS sent $630,000 worth of 
barley seed and seed corn, and in August an 
additional shipment of $1.6 million worth of food 
and medicine was sent.  CWS has also seconded a 
staff person to work at World Food Program offices 
in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

In accepting the contribution, UNICEF Executive 
Director Carol Bellamy expressed her deep 
appreciation to Church World Service.  In November, 
1992, CWS contributed $1 million to UNICEF to buy 
blankets for children in the former Yugoslavia.  
UNICEF's work with CWS, Ms. Bellamy said, "is a 
partnership we value very much."

In January, 1997, the Rev. Dr. Rodney Page led 
a delegation of top-level church officials to North 
Korea to help draw attention to what was then a 
relatively little-known food shortage.    At the 
present time, from November 4-8, Church World 
Service is part of an Interfaith Hunger Appeal 
delegation visit to North Korea which also includes 
representatives from the American Jewish Joint 
Distribution Committee, Catholic Relief Service, and 
Lutheran World Relief.  A news release on their 
visit will be issued shortly.

The funds for the $200,000 worth of blankets are 
contributed by individual  congregations around the 
United States who participate in CWS's Blanket 
Program.  Church World Service is the humanitarian 
response ministry of the National Council of 
Churches which represents 33* Protestant and 
Orthodox denominations throughout the United States.
-end-

*34 as of Nov. 12, 1997

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