Princess a two-year old from Sierra Leone wearing her new dress

International Relief Programs

In the 2010 fiscal year, Christian Relief Services awarded a total of $8,051,045 to assist impoverished people in eight African countries (Kenya, Burundi, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Uganda) and for services and goods administered directly to Haiti. We provided financial support and donated basic materials such as medical supplies, medicines, personal care items, school supplies, office and school furniture, clothing and new shoes to our affiliate, Bread and Water for Africa®, which they distributed to their partner grassroot organizations, hospitals, clinics, schools, and orphanages in Africa. Through these grants, donations, and partnerships, Christian Relief Services served over 38,000 individuals in Africa this past year alone!

In addition to the international relief that Christian Relief Services was able to provide through Bread and Water for Africa, we also provided direct program support to Haitian communities and organizations during the devastated earthquake that struck the country in January of 2010. For example, we shipped a 40 foot-long container of assorted essential medical supplies and equipment, clothing, and health kits valued at $386,608.88. Christian Relief Services also awarded a cash grant of $25,000 to the Foundation for the Children of Haiti, a local Haitian organization that facilitates ongoing program support to the hospital, three orphanages, and a local school.

The hospital has 50 in-patient beds and an outpatient clinic. However, given the number of people in the area needing care and the lack of alternative medical facilities in Port au Prince, at any given time there can be up to 1,000 people at the hospital seeking medical attention. With the grant money provided, the Foundation was able to purchase necessary medical supplies to meet the high patient demand and they were able to cover their workers' salaries and the utility bills of the Hope Hospital. Christian Relief Services is proud to support efforts from dedicated groups like the Foundation for the Children of Haiti that tirelessly work to aid their communities despite the difficult conditions they face and a chronic lack of adequate resources or support.

American Indian Programs

In addition to our commitment to international relief efforts, Christian Relief Services also supports programs that address the under-resourced American Indian communities here in the United States. We provided $3,348,680 to support American Indian programs. Through another one of our affiliates, American Indian Youth Running Strong, we provided low-income American Indian families, mostly residing on reservations, with food, water, basic relief, and emergency assistance.

We encouraged and supported sustainable development opportunities and support services for at-risk youth and their families. For example some of these programs include:

Summer Youth Feeding Program which keeps kids from going hungry during summers on the Cheyenne River Reservation.
 
“Friendship” Boxes of Food each box containing 25 pounds of food; they are distributed at Indian Reservations in South Dakota and Montana by our affiliate’s staff.

Backpack Food Program are backpacks full of food distributed to kids on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation to keep them from going hungry on the weekends, when they don't get free school meals.

Youth centers, scholarships and cultural summer camps for teens and youths in the Pine Ridge area and throughout the country. ·

Organic gardens provide fresh fruit and vegetables to isolated areas, foster self-sufficiency, and make healthy food choices possible for many poverty-stricken American Indians communities.

As far as material support, this past year we provided new winter coats, new blankets, new shoes, new toys, hygiene kits, and school supply kits to children and their families. Through our work with Running Strong, we were able to reach over 90,000 individuals in these American Indian communities or reservations and support them on their path to self-sufficiency and a more promising future.

Domestic Relief and Self-Help Programs

As you can probably tell, Christian Relief Services has a strong commitment to programs that prioritize the long term capacity building of the people and communities they aim to assist. Consistent with this commitment, Christian Relief Services invested $1,503,744 in the efforts of domestic programs that provide assistance and resources focused on promoting self-sufficiency throughout the United States, with a special emphasis on programs targeting the Appalachian Region. Through our affiliate, Americans Helping Americans, we provided emergency assistance (particularly in the region’s infamously harsh winters!), basic school supplies, new shoes, new coats, new blankets, hygiene items, monthly food packages supplemented by need-based contributions, food pantry repair, holiday celebrations, home repair, and financial assistance for youth enrichment projects in the Appalachian region. This past year, Christian Relief Services was fortunate to assist over 33,000 individuals living in Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Virginia, and Ohio. We also directly funded community-based services, including after-school and summer programs to thirty children a month, to residents of a multi-family housing development comprised of 301 units in a low-income community in Phoenix, Arizona. In this Arizonan community alone, we were able to provide services to approximately 350 people.

Through Christian Relief Services’ collaborations with our affiliates and through direct services and funding to communities reaching from our backyard in Appalachia all the way across oceans to Africa, we not only invested approximately $12,900,000 in the fulfillment of our mission to help less-fortunate individuals, but we invested in the long-term stability and welfare of over 160,000 people.