wfn.org | IOCC Aids Iraqi Families in Conflict-Ridden Sadr City

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES

110 West Road, Suite 360, Baltimore, Md. 21204
Tel: (410) 243-9820 â?? Fax: (410) 243-9824
Web: www.iocc.org ? E-mail: newws@iocc.org

> For immediate release

> July 25, 2008

IOCC Aids Iraqi Families in Conflict-Ridden Sadr City

(Baltimore, Maryland) ­ International Orthodox Christiaan Charities  (IOCC),
the Baltimore-based humanitarian aid organization, announces a new grant
that will provide food and emergency supplies to vulnerable families
living in Sadr City, one of the poorest and most densely populated
districts of Baghdad. The approximately $400,000 grant, awarded to IOCC by
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA), will assist approximately 2,400 vulnerable families in this
predominantly Shiite area, the site of continuous heavy fighting between
insurgents and multi-national forces.
The aim of IOCCâ??s latest program to assist Iraqis affected by the  war is
to provide families with high protein foods to reduce malnutrition rates
as well as hygiene supplies for at least three months. One in four
children under five years of age in Iraq is chronically malnourished.
The residents of Sadr City who will benefit from the distribution include
low income families, single-headed households, orphans, the elderly,
invalids, and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
â??The effects of war and the general economic slowdown exacerbated by  12
years of economic sanctions have adversely affected Iraqâ??s food  security,â??
says George Antoun, IOCCâ??s Regional Director. More than 60% of Iraqi
families are entirely dependent on the governmentâ??s food ration  program,
however the Iraqi government has announced plans to end the program for
some citizens this year.
IOCC has previously worked in Sadr City and will cooperate with local
authorities in the distribution. IOCCâ??s most recent aid to Iraq  included a
distribution of food and hygiene supplies in early 2008 to 3,000 families
living in Baghdad and Mosul.

IOCC, founded in 1992 as the official humanitarian aid agency of the
Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA),
has implemented over $275 million in relief and development programs in 33
countries around the world. IOCC is a member of Action by Churches
Together (ACT) International.

Media: Contact Amal Morcos at 410-243-9820 or (cell) 443-823-3489.