World Relief

Infobox Organization
name = World Relief


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size = 250px
caption = World Relief logo
formation = 1944
type = International NGO
purpose = Relief and development
headquarters = Baltimore, Maryland, US
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region_served = Worldwide
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website = [http://www.wr.org Official Website]
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World Relief is a Christian international relief and development agency. Founded in 1944 as the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, World Relief offers assistance to victims of poverty, disease, hunger, war, disasters and persecution. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, the organization has offices worldwide. It is supported by churches and individual donors, as well as through United States Government grants from USAID and other agencies.

World Relief’s core programs focus on microfinance, AIDS prevention and care, maternal and child health, child development, agricultural training, disaster response, refugee resettlement and immigrant services.

Mission Statement

"World Relief's mission is to work with, for and from the Church to relieve human suffering, poverty and hunger worldwide in the name of Jesus Christ."Fact|date=April 2008

World Relief’s Programs

Child Development

Children learn about health, hygiene and Christian values.

AIDS

World Relief fights the AIDS epidemic on several levels, primarily through local church involvement. Pastors, trained by World Relief, teach about faithfulness in marriage and abstinence before marriage. Church-based volunteers care for those living with HIV/AIDS, as well as children affected by AIDS. World Relief educates youth on the “ABCs” of HIV prevention – Abstinence before marriage, Being faithful in marriage, and the use of Condoms.

Economic Development

Microfinance and agri-business opportunities for the poor and those recovering from the impact of war.

Disaster Response

World Relief equips and mobilizes local church partners to respond to natural and man-made disasters around the world. In 2008, World Relief has responded to a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, a deadly earthquake in China, and the ongoing conflict in Darfur.

Refugee Resettlement

Each year, World Relief helps thousands of refugees – victims of religious or political persecution – start new lives in the United States. Assistance includes housing, English language classes, cultural orientation, and help finding employment.

Maternal and Child Health

Community groups – known as Care Groups – reach hundreds of thousands of vulnerable women and children with health education and care. In many communities, this volunteer-based model has dramatically cut the infant mortality rate and reduced the incidence of malaria, chronic diarrhea and pneumonia.

History

World Relief began in 1944 when American Christian denominations partnered with sister churches in war-torn Europe to address critical humanitarian needs. The National Association of Evangelicals established the War Relief Commission to send clothing and food to victims of World War II. After the war, evangelical leaders decided that the War Relief Commission should continue because needs were still great in post-war Europe and around the world. In 1950, the agency was renamed World Relief, and began to focus on other areas of development – providing sewing machines and training so war widows could earn a living, setting up TB clinics, and supporting orphanages and land reclamation projects.

In 1961, World Relief’s former chairman, C.N. Hostetter, Jr., served as a member of President Kennedy’s “Food for Peace” committee to help distribute food to destitute regions of the world. World Relief moved beyond providing emergency relief in response to disasters, working to foster long-term development to help the poor rise above subsistence. The agency offered individuals small loans called Life Loans – the precursor to its current microfinance activities.

From the 1960s through the 1980s, World Relief continued to respond to food-related emergencies around the world. The agency also began serving refugees worldwide – including refugees from Vietnam and the Balkans.

In 1969, the United States Marines in Vietnam turned over the Hoa Khanh Children’s Hospital in Da Nang to World Relief. It became World Relief’s biggest project in Vietnam, providing care for more than 125,000 patients before World Relief was forced to evacuate in 1975.

Bangladesh’s bloody war for independence produced more than one million casualties and 10 million refugees. World Relief provided emergency supplies to refugees in India and other neighboring countries. In 1972, Pastor Paul Munshi and World Relief established the Christian Service Society in Bangladesh – launching a ministry that continues to help thousands of impoverished families.In 1979, churches in the United States, mobilized by World Relief, helped resettle the Vietnamese “boat people” – launching World Relief’s church-centered refugee ministry that has since helped more than 210,000 victims of war and persecution start new lives in America.

When political turmoil rocked the Philippines during the early 1980s, World Relief strengthened church-centered relief efforts. By the decade’s end, more than 10,000 new churches had been established.In 1984, the world witnessed the horror of famine in Africa. World Relief launched a three-year, $7 million relief program to feed 90,000 malnourished and starving Ethiopians through a church-based delivery system.When a massive earthquake devastated San Salvador in 1986, World Relief spearheaded efforts to help families recover and rebuild. Together with local churches, the agency built more than 5,500 homes for families who had lost everything.Amidst horrific ethnic strife in Europe’s Balkans, World Relief distributed medical supplies in Bosnia-Herzegovina, aided thousands of refugees, and launched a microfinance program that has helped promote reconciliation and healing as people trade together.In the face of yet another famine in Africa – this time in southern Sudan in the 1990s – churches initiated an emergency response followed by development programs in Lietnhom and Pochalla.

After 9/11, World Relief supported the trauma counseling and relief ministries of churches in New York City. Funded by World Relief, trauma counseling continues today.Churches were a lifeline as famine swept through southern Africa in 2002 and World Relief mobilized local Christians to distribute food.Massive earthquakes in El Salvador (2001), India (2001) and Iran (2003) followed by the Asia tsunami (2004) led to an outpouring of aid from U.S. churches and individuals.When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, local churches were on the front lines – delivering emergency supplies, comforting the grief-stricken and providing refuge. World Relief supported church teams in the rebuilding and rehabilitation of homes in the devastated Pass Christian area along the Mississippi coast.The new century has seen a dramatic expansion of World Relief’s church-based HIV/AIDS ministries that today reach hundreds of thousands of people with care, support and AIDS education.

References

External links

* [http://www.wr.org World Relief website]