In addition to donations of money, MCC is collecting 20,000 relief kits, 10,000 heavy comforters and 10,000 sheets to be sent to Haitian earthquake survivors.
The supplies will help relieve the discomfort and suffering of Haitians who are sleeping on streets and in open areas because their homes are destroyed or because they don’t trust the safety of the buildings that remain.
Listed below are the specifications for each.
Relief Kits
- 4 large bars bath soap (leave in wrapping)
- 1 plastic bottle shampoo (380-710ml / 13-24oz; place bottle in a re-sealable plastic bag)
- 4 large bars of laundry soap (Some stores carry Fels Naptha, Sunlight or Zote brands; contact your local MCC warehouse with questions)
- 1 squeeze-tube toothpaste (minimum 130ml / 6oz; leave in box)
- 4 adult-size toothbrushes (leave in packaging)
- 4 new bath towels (medium weight, dark or bright colors)
- 2 wide-tooth combs (6 to 8in / 15 to 20cm)
- 1 fingernail clipper
- 1 box adhesive bandages (minimum 40, assorted)
- 1 package sanitary pads (18-24 thin maxi)
Place contents in a box or bag and deliver to one of the drop-off locations in Canada or the U.S.* MCC will repack the kits in a new 5-gallon plastic pail with lid.
Comforter specifications
- Use new or nearly new material
- Single/twin-size preferred (approx. 152cm x 203 cm / 60in x 80in). Double/full-size accepted (approx. 208cm x 228cm / 82in x 90in)
- Winter weight requested (please use quilt batting or a blanket for filler)
- Knotted with crochet cotton (not more than 10-15cm / 4-8in apart)
Sheet details
- New, double-, queen- or king-size, flat sheets
- 300 thread count or higher
- Cotton
- Light colors
The Canadian government is matching donations made by individual Canadians from January 12 to February 12, 2010. MCC is eligible for these matching funds which essentially double the value of a donation.
How it works
* An individual donates to MCC’s Haiti earthquake response.
* MCC informs the federal government of the amount received from Canadian individuals and explains in detail how the money will be spent.
* If the proposal is accepted, the government matches the funds dollar for dollar. The funds can be used for immediate, medium and longer-term earthquake relief in Haiti.
This follows procedures from previous disasters in China and Burma in 2008 when MCC received a total of $1.9 million in matching funds.
* Online
* By calling toll free – 1-888-622-6337 in Canada
* Or by sending a cheque to your nearest MCC office.
Learn more about MCC Relief Kits from MCC Manitoba staff member Tricia Prosser (Winnipeg Free Press)
The Canadian government is matching donations made by individual Canadians from January 12 to February 12, 2010. MCC is eligible for these matching funds which essentially double the value of a donation.
Haiti: Humanitarian Immigration Issues
In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti there are several issues and concerns around short and longer term immigration processes which Canada needs to consider as part of the humanitarian response in that country. Read more.
Haiti: MCC is responding (90 second clip)
Download video
Conflict, natural disasters, government policies, discrimination and lack of access to resources are some of the reason why people require food assistance.
High and rising food prices are making basic food staples unaffordable for hundreds of millions of people all over the world and pushing people into deeper levels of poverty.
Mennonite Central Committee provides food and related assistance to people in need. The most vulnerable people don't have the resources to produce or purchase their own food. To support farmers and strengthen local economies MCC aims to purhase food assistance whenever appropriate in the countries or regions where food assistance is needed.
- Of the 1 billion people in the world who are chronically hungry, some 70 percent work in agriculture. Of those, 75 to 80 percent are women.
- Most food in Canada and the US travels more than 2,200 kilometers (1,500 miles) from farm to table.
- Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds.
- In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet.
- Undernourishment negatively affects people’s health, productivity, sense of hope and overall well-being. A lack of food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder fetal development and contribute to mental retardation.
Action Against Hunger (brochure)
People everywhere have a right to enough food to live active, healthy lives. Brochure informs about Assistance: Food for today, Agriculture: Food for tomorrow, and Policies: Food for all. Free. To request you copy, contact MCC Canada.
Deforestation, climate change, the resulting southward expansion of the Sahara Desert and population growth has increased the stress on the land, water and food supply in southern Chad and caused conflict between farmers and herders. Click here to borrow.
Simply in Season (cookbook)
Today most people make no connection with the time of year and season to place or location of food. Simply in Season features eating and using local, seasonal foods like our grandparents did in wholesome, delicious dishes.
For more information about other MCC cookbooks or to order, contact MCC Canada.
 FoodBasket Toolkit
This toolkit is for churches, schools and other groups who want to learn about food issues and MCC food projects around the world. Includes four-session curriculum, children's activities, Fun Page, storybook, DVD, poster, stickers, Food Basket Giving Calendar and more. Click here to borrow. To purchase your own copy, contact MCC Canada.
Food For All: A Buffet of Ideas About Hunger
This six-lesson curriculum from Canadian Foodgrains Bank on hunger is designed for children and can be used in church or public school settings. Click here to download.
Hunger in a World of Abundance
This six-lesson curriculum from Canadian Foodgrains Bank can be used for adult or youth Sunday schools, small groups or retreats. Click here to download.
Read more about the places where people are hungry today. Delve into global food issues.
Increasing meat consumption has helped drive up demand for grain, and with it the price. MCC just signed on to a campaign called the Cool Foods Pledge. Amongst other consumer actions, this campaign is calling for lower meat consumption.
MCC also is involved with End Hunger Fast, a similar campaign calling for lifestyle changes that may help reduce global hunger (see mcc.org/food for more information about these campaigns).
MCC and its global partners are working hard toward food security for people around the globe. Learn more about MCC's food security projects.
If you are led to be a partner with MCC to help hungry people feed themselves, please specify “FOOD” on your gift or click here to donate.
Your contribution helps share food, a gift from God.
Each October MCC's mobile meat canner makes it's way through the provinces and with the help of volunteers in each community, the effort annually provides some 500,000 cans of meat for hungry people around the world. Learn more.
The End Hunger Fast campaign of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank includes ideas for worship and reflection. You could pray for people in a specific village, town or region of the world as you read place names in newspapers. You might commit to praying for farmers close at hand and far away each time it rains. See End Hunger Fast.
Advocate
Write a letter to a politician encouraging more support for small scale farmers in developing countries.
Sample Letter
Postcard from Canadian Foodgrains Bank
Consider your food choices
Through resources such as the World Community Cookbooks – including Simply in Season, Extending the Table and More-With-Less Cookbook – MCC invites people to explore their own patterns of eating and consumption and work to support food justice and small farmers. Sign up for a weekly recipe.
Prices are increasing sharply for some of the most basic foodstuffs traded on international commodity markets. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says that global food prices have risen by 40 percent over the last nine months, prompting fears that the world's poorest people will buy less food or less nutritious food or be forced to rely on aid.
These skyrocketing food prices triggered serious riots in the past month in 10 countries where Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) offers programs relating to food security. In partnership with local agencies MCC is closely monitoring the impact of the food crisis and formulating appropriate responses.
MCC has a long history of developing programs that address food security issues. MCC programs include direct food assistance, water projects, agricultural supports and working with community groups and governments to advocate for just trade and fair economic policies.
The food crisis shows the complexity of global food systems and the complex relationship between food prices and food justice.
For years food activists have complained about low food prices. The rationale for this begins with the fact that almost 70 percent of the world's chronically hungry people are farmers or farm labourers in developing countries.
Low food prices were actually causing hunger, so the argument went, because food producers were not receiving adequate compensation for their labours. This resulted in the tragic irony of hungry farmers.
Farm households that grow more food than they consume are now able to sell their produce at higher prices, providing them with more income for things like school fees and medicine. However, millions of farmers in developing countries are net food purchasers, meaning that they buy more than they raise, and they are better off with lower food prices.
So higher food prices are both blessing and curse for the world’s hungry farmers, but the complexity doesn’t stop there.
Try asking farmers in Canada and the U.S. what they think of the higher food prices of late. These farmers struggled for more than a decade with food commodity prices that were lower than the cost of production, pushing many of them out of farming and otherwise causing much stress and hardship. The situation was at least partly caused by low food prices. Who can blame these farmers for being happy with current situation?
Are you baffled about what to think about high food prices yet?
No one is arguing about whether or not the spike in food prices is driving up the overall number of hungry people. But it’s hard to say what the longer-term net impact of higher food prices will be. Adjustments of all sorts are being made at multiple levels in response to this situation.
With the higher cost of importing food, countries are realizing that it might make sense to invest in agricultural production at home. They don’t want to use all their hard-earned foreign currency on imported food.
Until recently, governmental spending on agriculture was in a decades-long decline. This resulted in inequities in places such as Kenya, where 80 percent of the population earn their living from agriculture, yet only three percent of government spending goes to support that sector.
With higher food prices, governments are rethinking their agriculture spending. Governments all over the world are announcing new plans to support their erstwhile beleaguered farm sectors. This could potentially benefit not only hungry farmers, but it could also lead to an increase in global food security.
These complexities in the global food system should not paralyze us. Instead, they should point us toward positive action.
Africa
Kenya—$650,000
 In response to the prolonged increasing drought and high food prices the Kajiado District the Emergency Food-for-Work project is providing food assistance to 3,000 households and 7,000 primary school students over a six-month period, beginning March 2009. This project will improve the food situation by increasing crop production, protecting water resources, building fencing, helping with land preparation and more. The Maasai Integrated Development Initiatives and Presbyterian Outreach Mission Church are implementing this project. The project is funded through donations to MCC’s account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and matching grants from the Canadian government.
Kenya – $590,400
 Two years of failed crops followed by another two years of drought have resulted in a lack of food in the Machakos and Kitui districts of Eastern Kenya. Farmers who are involved in MCC’s long-term food and water security activities like building sand dams are forced to leave their communities in search of work, or are unable to work because they are so hungry. MCC is responding by providing food to 3600 of these households. This food allows people to continue working on the sand dams in preparation for the rains and future food production. Excellent Development Kenya and the SASOL Foundation are implementing the project. It is funded through donations to MCC’s account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and matching grants from the Canadian government.
Ethiopia—$164,000
 Chronic malnutrition is severely affecting the development of children in inner-city Addis Ababa. MCC’s support for the Supplementary Feeding for Women and Children program assists 1,150 children (under five years old) and 75 mothers with supplementary food over a period of two years, June 2008-July 2010. The project is implemented by Community Based Integrated Sustainable Development and funded by donations to MCC’s account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and matching grants from the Canadian government.
Ethiopia - $ 800,000
 MCC continues to assist chronically hungry families in Boricha and Awassa-Zuria districts in Southern Ethiopia. This three year project will assist 6,000 families with food through a food and cash-for-work program. The project aims to improve agricultural practices, build household savings and support income diversification. This project is implemented by the Meserete Kristos Church Relief and Development Association and funded by donations to MCC’s account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and matching grants from the Canadian government.
Burundi—$422,800
 Approximately 1,333 households in the provinces of Kirundo, Rutana and Makamba are receiving maize and beans over a one-year period, March 2009 to February 2010, through the Food-For-Work Reforestation Programme. This program helps improve soil quality and agricultural production. As well, around 3,000 households will receive maize and bean seed as a supplement to their poor/failing harvest from which they have rarely been able to conserve seed for the subsequent season. Since 2004, MCC has assisted farmers in planting over two million trees in order to rehabilitate degraded land following years of conflict. MCC supports this program with donations to MCC’s account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and matching grants from the Canadian Government. This program is implemented by Help Channel Burundi.
Asia
India—$850,000
 In August 2008, severe flooding in northern India displaced thousands of people in the Bihar State, Supaul District. The North Bihar Flood Rehabilitation Program is rehabilitating agricultural land while providing food for 7,500 families who were most vulnerable to the flooding and a chronic lack of adequate food. This project is implemented by the Church Auxiliary for Social Action and will run from February to September 2009. It is funded through donations to MCC’s account and the Presbyterian World Service and Development account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank with matching grants from the Canadian government
India—$1,130,000
In the final year of this four-year program, the Food for Community Development Project will assist 176 villages across 30 districts of 10 states in India. The project, funded by donations to MCC’s account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and matching grants from the Canadian government, will assist approximately 37,000 people. Households will receive food and participate in activities which will enhance local soil fertility, irrigation and regenerate local water systems. This project is implemented by MCC’s partner organization, Church Auxiliary for Social Action.
Afghanistan - $300,000
Through a long-time partner, MCC is assisting families with urgent food needs in Afghanistan. Through a cash-for-work project, the most vulnerable families receive payments in cash for their work on road construction which will also enhance local food markets. $24 allows one family to purchase a diversity of food from the local market. This project is funded by donations to MCC’s account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and matching grants from the Canadian government.
Myanmar - $100,000
A year following the deadly cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, thousands of households are struggling to rebuild and regain their livelihoods. MCC is providing funds for agricultural rehabilitation including small-scale irrigation. One food powered treadle pump costs $16 and one drip irrigation system costs $14. This project is funded with MCC funds.
Latin America and the Carribean
Colombia--$35,000 per year
 Mencoldes, a local Mennonite partner of MCC, is providing food assistance and other resettlement support to families forcibly displaced to the city of Bogota by conflict in Colombia. Over a three year period beginning in March 2008, the Material and Food Aid for the Displaced Population in Colombia Project will assist 550 families per year in providing transitional shelter and meeting their basic needs (food and household supplies) when they get their own homes. This project is funded by MCC.
Ecuador—$12,350
The Quito Mennonite Church congregation is supporting refugees from Colombia seeking safety and refuge in Ecuador. MCC’s financial support for the church’s Community Center for Colombia Refugees will meet the basic needs (housing, food and clothing) of 50 refugee families, November 2008-August 2009. This project is funded by MCC.
Europe and Middle East
Bosnia Herzegovina—$10,000
In cities, throughout Bosnia Herzegovina a MCC partner organization, Merhamet provides food assistance to over 7,000 beneficiaries though soup kitchens. MCC’s contribution to the Flour for Soup Kitchens and Wheat Production project will assist Merhamet with the purchase of flour as well as seeds so that wheat flour can be produced for the soup kitchens in the long-term. This three-year program gets underway in May 2009.
Escalating food prices are pushing more people in low-income countries into poverty.
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), working in partnership with local agencies throughout the world, is closely monitoring the impact of the food crisis and formulating appropriate responses.
MCC has a long history of addressing issues relating to food security and food injustices. MCC food programs include direct food assistance, water projects and agricultural supports. MCC also works with community groups and governments to advocate for just trade and fair economic policies.
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