Disaster Relief

ANYBODY CAN HELP

Agencies worldwide need volunteers to provide critical services to needy people. Can you help someone plant a vegetable garden? Researchers in South Africa have found that the combination of key vitamins and minerals can lengthen a woman’s life by 2-3 years if she is infected with HIV. Those extra years with her children are worth everything. Can you help a person write a business plan? Many organizations offer micro loans. With as little as $50, a person in a developing country can purchase goats to breed and for milk, a basic sewing machine and a few yards of material, or beads to make jewelry. Can you tutor a child in math or English? Children are hungry for an education, a chance to better their lives. Those with skills are more likely to get a job. Humanitarian Aid Agencys

Whether you have skills are just a willingness to help, you can find an agency willing to give you an opportunity to serve. For training in both in the moment Disaster Relief, and ongoing projects, the American Red Cross is a great place to start.

THE AMERICAN RED CROSS DEPENDS ON VOLUNTEERS

• Every year the Red Cross responds to more than 70,000 disasters—including approximately 150 home fires every day.
• About 11 million Americans turn to us to learn first aid, CPR, swimming, and other health and safety skills. Last year, more than 158,000 people volunteered to teach those courses.
• Half the nation’s blood supply— six million pints annually—is collected by more than 155,000 Red Cross volunteers .
• Among our emergency services for the men and women of the armed forces is the delivery of urgent family messages—around the clock and around the globe.
• More than 30,900 volunteers serve as chairs, members of boards of directors, or on advisory boards for local Red Cross units – chapters, Blood Services regions, and military stations.
• As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, Red Cross reconnects more than 8,000 families separated by conflicts and disasters around the world through international tracking services and Red Cross messages.

Humanitarian Aid Red Cross BusHabitat for Humanity was started by a couple, Millard and Linda Fuller, who, in 1976, decided they had plenty, and took their life in a new direction of service. Today, the organization has provided housing to 1.5 million people, using funds from donations and no-interest loans on the houses they build. Whether you are skilled or merely eager, Habitat for Humanity can use you on location worldwide.

THE FUND FOR HUMANITY’S MISSION STATEMENT:

What the poor need is not charity but capital, not caseworkers but co-workers. And what the rich need is a wise, honorable and just way of divesting themselves of their overabundance. The Fund for Humanity will meet both of these needs. Money for the fund will come from shared gifts by those who feel they have more than they need and from non-interest bearing loans from those who cannot afford to make a gift but who do want to provide working capital for the disinherited . . . The fund will give away no money. It is not a handout.