wfn.org | Humanitarian Aid To Iraq

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

CONTACT: 	Linda Bloom
(10-21-71B){172}
		New York (212) 870-3803			 March 24, 1998

UMCOR joins international effort
to provide humanitarian aid to Iraq

	NEW YORK (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Committee on Relief
(UMCOR) has joined an international ecumenical effort to provide
humanitarian aid in Iraq.
	Donations raised through UMCOR will support a $2 million appeal
by Action by Churches Together (ACT), a worldwide network of churches
affiliated with the World Council of Churches and Lutheran World
Federation.
	Checks should be made to UMCOR International Disaster Response
No. 982450-8, earmarked "Iraq Relief." Donations can be forwarded
through local churches or directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Drive, Room
330, New York, NY 10115.
 	Another partner in the appeal is Church World Service, the
relief arm of the National Council of Churches. As of March 20, it had
sent a $50,000 grant to the Middle East Council of Churches for Iraq
relief. Medicines valued at $84,000 were expected to arrive in Jordan by
March 27 and then be transported overland to Iraq by Easter.
	A shipment of blankets and layettes for newborn children is in
transit by sea, according to Church World Service.
	Most of the relief items will be distributed in the southern
parts of Iraq, where the suffering is most acute. The Middle East
Council of Churches' Ecumenical Relief Service, in cooperation with the
Iraqi Red Crescent Society, will handle distribution.
	Seven years of international economic sanctions against Iraq
have decimated the country's medical system and resulted in food
shortages and malnutrition. According to the U.N. World Food Programme,
some 900,000 persons are at risk, many in female-headed households with
children under the age of 5.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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