wfn.org | Medicine Box Campaign

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (426
notes).

Note 421 by UMNS on Oct. 31, 1997 at 16:00 Eastern (1910 characters).

CONTACT:	Linda Bloom					609(10-21-71B){421}
		New York (212) 870-3803				 Oct. 31, 1997

Medicine box program
sends help to 27 countries

			by United Methodist News Service

	In the past three years, the United Methodist Church's Medicine Box Program
has shipped 403 boxes to assist people in 27 countries.
	The campaign was initiated by Health and Welfare Ministries and the United
Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), units of the churchwide Board of Global
Ministries. It operates in cooperation with Interchurch Medical Assistance,
Inc., and offers local congregations the opportunity to supply much-needed
medicines through a hands-on mission project.
	As of October, 228 local churches have participated, according to Sarla Lall,
an executive with what is now the Health and Relief unit at the board. But,
she added, "the need for medicine boxes is increasing daily."
	Lall said requests come from all over the world for the boxes, which each
contain 18 medicines and medical supplies, enough to treat common illnesses
among 1,000 people over a three-month period.
	On Oct. 17, for example, a shipment of 21 boxes was authorized to Haiti. In
countries like Haiti and Azerbaijan, "these are the only medicines these
clinics have received in the past four or five years," she explained.
	For each box, donors contribute over-the-counter drugs and $350 to cover
shipping and the cost of prescription drugs added by Interchurch Medical
Assistance.
	Azerbaijan, a part of the former Soviet Union, has received 86 boxes (50 of
which were purchased), the highest number shipped to a single country. Haiti
followed with 73 boxes. The former Zaire has received 61; Bosnia, 40; and
Liberia, 20.
	For information about the medicine box program write the Health and Relief
unit, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, 475 Riverside Dr., Room
330, New York, NY 10115.
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