wfn.org | Re: Share Christmas blessings with Yugolslavian refugees

[Mennonite Central Committee Communications]

TOPIC:  SHARE CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS WITH YUGOSLAVIAN REFUGEES 
DATE:   September 27, 1996
CONTACT:  Emily Will
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

AKRON, Pa. -- Tourists are returning to Croatia's sunny
Adriatic beaches and our TV screens no longer haunt us
with images of shelling, snipers and mass destruction in
the former Yugoslavia.  But for hundreds of thousands
of people who lost homes, jobs and/or family members in
this war, the tragedy lives on.  Christmas can be a
particularly grim time for grieving refugees and
displaced people.

Bread of Life -- one of Mennonite Central Committee's
(MCC) partners in the former Yugoslavia 
-- has asked MCC to help support, with food assistance,
more than 4,000 refugee families for six months.  Bread of
Life staff believe this assistance will provide a needed
"time-cushion" during which refugees can become self-
sufficient or explore returning home.

MCC is asking individuals, families and groups to either
donate cash (so that food may be purchased in the
region) or to prepare Christmas food boxes.  Such boxes,
according to people who have received similar ones in
the past, provide as much food for the spirit as for the
body.
A Christmas Food Box should contain the following items:

        *5 pounds all-purpose flour
        *5 pounds sugar
        *3/4 to 1.5 pounds salt
        *1 to 2 pounds nonfat dry
milk    powder
        *2 pounds spaghetti
        *2 quarts cooking oil (plastic
jar)
        *3 to 4 pounds peanut butter
        (plastic jar)
        *2 pounds jam (plastic jar)
                                                *2 pounds rice
                                                *4 family-size bars bath soap
                                                *12 to 18 ounces shampoo
                                                *100 tablets multi-vitamins
                                                *family-size tube toothpaste
                                                *box of 24 tea bags
                                                *package of 24 sanitary
napkins                                               (maxi-pads)
                                                *1 box cookies (if space
allows)
                                                *A Christmas greeting with
your                                            name and address, if desired,
may                                             also be enclosed.
Those preparing boxes should pack the items in an
appropriate-size box with lid and seal with tape --
lightly, because contents must be checked before
shipment.  To the top of the box, attach an envelope with
$11 Cnd./$8 U.S. to cover shipping costs, and deliver to
the nearest provincial or regional office by November 8.  

Those wanting to donate cash may send contributions to
MCC, PO Box 500, Akron PA 17501, or to provincial offices,
with project #5834/2302 written on the check.

                        -30-
esw27september1996

MCC graphic available:  Christmas food box with list of
contents.  (MCC graphic by Julie Kauffman)