FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 2, 2007
CRWRC TO FEED 50,000 FLOOD VICTIMS IN INDIA
CRWRC Senior Relief Project Manager: Ken Little 1-800-730-3490
CRWRC Media Contact US: Beth DeGraff 616-648-7821
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"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.: Fifty thousand lives capsized by floods in India will eat two square meals a day after a $275,000 proposal for food aid penned by
the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (www.crwrc.org) was given the green light on Friday, August 31, 2007.
"Sometimes the scale of a disaster can be overwhelming," says Ken Little, CRWRC senior relief project manager. "I am very encouraged that we can provide this important emergency food package to these families."
Indians in the Bihar districts of Sitamrhi, Supaul and Samastipur - 80% of whom are Dalit poor - will receive staples such as rice, wheat, beans, salt and oil as early as September 10.
It is intended that the food aid will also provide a sense of food security so impoverished families can avoid borrowing money or selling possessions just to stay fed.
CRWRC's food aid for India response is from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (www.foodgrainsbank.ca). Distribution of the food will be handled by EFICOR, CRWRC's long-time relief and development partner in India.
Food aid for some of the 2.5 million flood victims in Pakistan is also part of CRWRC's ongoing flood relief efforts. A list of 10,000 beneficiaries is expected to be completed by September 15, after which a food-for-work project through local partner Interfaith League Against Poverty (ILAP) will begin in the Southwest area of the Balochistan province.
"Whole sections of villages are gone," writes CRWRC International Relief Manager Fred Knip in an email from Pakistan. "People are starting to move back to where they used to live, taking their tents with (them)."
The record 2007 monsoon season impacted more than 35 million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Those most affected have been the poor.
To request an interview with Ken Little, please contact Bernice Oostdyk at 1-905-336-2920, x. 298 or by email at oostdykb@crcna.ca.
To donate to CRWRC's flood relief, please mark your check "South Asia floods" and mail to CRWRC, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue, S.E., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49560-0600. Or call CRWRC at 1-800-55-CRWRC or online at www.crwrc.org.
CRWRC is a Christian, non-profit organization of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. With a bi-national home office base in Burlington, Ontario and Grand Rapids, MI, CRWRC provides a ministry of development, relief, and justice education to people in need around the world. CRWRC is currently active in 30 countries, and has an international reputation for "helping people help themselves."
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Beth DeGraff US Media and Justice Contact 2850 Kalamazoo SE Grand Rapids, MI 49560 degraffb@crcna.org ph: 616-241-1691 x4191 fax: 616-724-0806
"Then Jesus took a towel and a basin and redefined greatness." Richard Foster