MCC accepting donations for Africa famine relief
Posted Aug 16, 2011 05:17:18 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The drive is on by the Mennonite Central Committee to get famine relief aid to the horn of Africa.
A special fund has been set up seeing that all donations made to the MCC are directed specifically to the response in East Africa. Dan Dreidger, Resource Development Director for MCC Ontario, tells 570 News, $1 million has already been committed to the project, and based on the positive response they have increased their goal amount to $1.9 million.
Driedger says they have a number of projects on the go in Africa. The Mennonite Central Committee has been in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia since the 60’s. Much of the development work there is related to food, water and agriculture.
Driedger says all the hard work done by the MCC over the past 40 years or so is paying dividends, as people now have access to water who would not have otherwise. On top of that, he says they are responding to the current emergency crisis through the delivery of emergency food, and water rations.
Dreidger says food vouchers are the most effective way to make sure that food gets to the people it’s intended for. So, staff with the MCC will distribute vouchers to the people who need them and then they can trade them for food with local vendors. The vendors then take those vouchers back to the MCC who then reimburses them with money.
As an added incentive, Dreidger says Ottawa will match any donation dollar-for-dollar until September 16th. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) then allocates the funds to established Canadian and international humanitarian organizations like the MCC.
Donations to support the MCC famine response can be made online or at any MCC office. The phone number for the Kitchener office is: 519-745-8458. Dreidger says cheques can also be dropped off at any one of the number of MCC thrift shops in the area.
