Every day the media brings news of another tragic event where houses are destroyed, crops are lost, and livelihoods are ruined. Major disasters such as droughts and famines, earthquakes and tsunamis are well reported, but many smaller disasters such as floods and landslides never make it into the news and are not a focus of world attention. In fact, the majority of disasters are very localized and therefore affect much smaller populations, but the needs of the affected families are no less urgent.

World Renew has created an International Rapid Response Fund to enable it to respond faster and more frequently to low-profile, smaller disasters. This fund will meet urgent, immediate needs such as food, water, sanitation & hygiene, temporary shelter, clothing and medicines to help vulnerable families get back on their feet. With this fund in place, World Renew can approve a proposed project budget and transfer funds to existing local, Christian partner organizations “on the ground” right away, within hours even, without having to wait to see how much support can be raised in private donations.

The International Rapid Response Fund will mostly support relatively small and short-term ativities, with budgets of less than $25,000 and a response period of less than one month. When more funds or a longer response time are needed, World Renew will develop a special fundraising campaign, and budget the total response according to how much can be raised.

Here are some recent examples of the types of disaster responses that would be supported by the International Rapid Response Fund.

  • Niger: Flood Relief – $10,000
  • Indonesia: Floods & Landslides – $15,000
  • Philippines: Typhoon Bopha – $25,000
  • Mali: Conflict – $7,000

The International Rapid Response Fund may also be used to finance needs assessments in the first few days or weeks after a disaster when it is not yet clear what the scale of our response will be.

Please consider a donation to this urgently needed fund. Your donation will go far, and fast – it will be used to show God’s love and meet the most urgent needs of disaster-affected families!