Church Donates $1 Million for Famine Relief

A United Nations program to feed millions of starving Africans has received a cash donation of $1 million from the Church to purchase 2,746 tons of maize.

Drought conditions in southern Africa have caused crop failure, leaving up to 13 million people at risk of starvation.

“Wherever there are people who suffer, wherever there are people who hunger,” said Harold Brown, managing director of the Welfare Department of the Church, “we are anxious to reach out to them and help them where and when we can.”

The Church’s donation to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will be used to purchase food grains in South Africa. WFP will ship these grains to several other countries where famine and other crises are threatening lives.

“This significant contribution comes at such an important time, when millions of people are facing more and more hunger each day, and some are barely surviving,” said James Morris, executive director of the WFP. Mr. Morris noted that this cash contribution to the program is the most effective way to help. Cash can be used to purchase the grain and distribute it immediately to the areas of need.

WFP is the United Nations’ frontline agency in the fight against global hunger. In 2001 WFP fed more than 77 million people in 82 countries, including most of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people.

Before this contribution to the WFP, the Church had already dispatched 6,750 emergency food boxes and four large shipping containers of clothing from Salt Lake City to aid the needy in Malawi. An additional 500 tons of maize and beans had already been purchased in Africa a month earlier to help famine victims.

Mr. Morris had made an appeal for $507 million to feed at least 10.2 million people until March 2003. With the donation from the Church, one-quarter of the needed dollar amount has been received from charitable and other nongovernment organizations.

Volunteers in Salt Lake City pack food boxes for famine relief. (Photo by Don Searle.)