Be A Difference

Help Esther’s Pantry to ease the suffering and hardships of someone living with HIV/AIDS. A gift of just $10 can provide supplemental food for a whole month.

$10 — Provides supplemental food for 1 person for a month
$30 — Provides Supplemental food for a family of 3 for a month
$75 — Provudes supplemental food and personal care itmes for 6 people for a month

Summary
Esther’s Pantry provides supplemental food to low income people in the Portland area who living with HIV/AIDS. Many clients also have a history of mental illness, homelessness and substance abuse.

Project Needs and Beneficiaries
People living below the poverty line and struggling with HIV/AIDS often go without the basic necessities, including food. Esther’s Pantry helps by providing nutrient rich supplemental foods that helps these individuals maintain they health. Because of the stigma that is often associated with HIV/AIDS, Esther’s Pantry provides a safe environment where clients can receive services from staff and volunteers that are supportive and non-judgmental. Without Esther’s, clients would likely go hungry.

Activities
Esther’s Pantry provides nutritional food and personal care items to over 200 people each month who are living with HIV/AIDS that would otherwise go hungry. Clients select the food they like from each of the basic food groups.

Potential Long Term Impact
This stable food source to more that 200 individuals each month helps ensure our clients will not experience a decline in their health due to lack of nutrition. This is part of what will keep them out of the hospital and maintain their independence.

Project Message
Proper nutrition and regular meals are an important part of staying healthy, especially when you are living with HIV/AIDS. Without Esther’s Pantry I’d probably be sick more and often go without food.
– Alex, Esther’s Pantry Client

Project Sponsor: Our House of Portland
Theme: Health | Location: United States
Need:$35,000
Project #5191 on GlobalGiving.com

Sourced from: GlobalGiving Projects

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The Kind Gift Of Humanitarian Aid

scott — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:01:23 +0000

World Concern’s Susan Talbot recently traveled to Haiti to help bring in donated items for families suffering after the earthquake.

A lot can be done with a phone, email and good relationships. In the case of World Concern’s Susan Talbot, she’s been able to use her skills to generate $61 million worth of humanitarian aid for the poor in the last year. That’s $61,000,000 worth of in Gift-In-Kind (GIK) donations, which is anything donated that is not money.

$61 million is tough to put into perspective. But consider that this is helping nearly 5 million people. It’s 5 million people who have received a variety of resources, including medication for intestinal worms, a wheelchair to find mobility again, or a computer to become connected to the digital age for the very first time.

“All of our GIK is field driven,” Susan told me. “I don’t start collecting items until our staff tells me they need items. We don’t just hand out stuff in the field. It all has to have a function or collaborate with what we are doing. It needs to have a purpose rather than just giving out commodities.”

Where does Susan get these GIK humanitarian donations? They come from many sources, including schools, farmers, businesses — and medical supply companies.

Bringing in commodities is a tricky business, though, because when you are trying to help a community, you could end up hurting it instead. The way Susan and the rest of the World Concern team does it, though, is carefully considered.

“We provide supplies in a crisis, like food, when the marketplace is not functioning,” Susan says. “When commodities are available locally, we try to avoid giving away those things. It works against what we are doing. It makes no sense to support women in a microfinance shoe business, and then bring in a shipment of shoes.”

Building relationships with the people we serve is important. Skill-building is important. Teaching people is important. World Concern does that, equipping people to know how to stand on their own two feet once we are finished working with their community. Susan knows though that coming alongside people in need with a tangible good, though, can help change — or even save — a life.

Learn more about our Haiti response.

Contact Susan.

Sourced from: Humanitarian Aid and Relief

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