May 15, 2008

VALLEY FORGE, PA – American Baptist International Ministries has launched a Global Food Crisis Fund, which will provide desperately needed money to help their partners in poor areas deal with the rising costs of basic foods. The fund will begin with $100,000, with $50,000 coming from International Ministries. The other $50,000 comes from the One Great Hour of Sharing, an offering conducted by the World Relief Office of American Baptist Churches USA.

"Places around the world where hunger has been a big problem, have now seen it become a bigger problem as food prices have increased dramatically," said Reid Trulson, International Ministries executive director. "Our fund is a response to our partners and other Christian organizations who are on the frontlines of helping to feed the hungry and homeless every day. We want to help them so they don't have to cut back on basic staples their people need for survival," Trulson said.

Half of the money will go to an immediate $50,000 grant to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, to help them with the rising cost of rice, which is the primary staple food given to hundreds of thousands of displaced people living in the refugee camps. Duane Binkley, a missionary who works with refugees both in Thailand and in the U.S. said, "The most recent report I saw shows that the Thailand Burma Border Consortium supplies all the food in nine camps. [They] still need about $7 million to avoid having to severely cut the food ration," Binkley said, adding that some cuts have been made already.

The remaining $50,000 is being made available as partners apply for grants to the fund. Partners in the U.S. will be able to apply through National Ministries.

A $5,000 grant has already been approved for Jean Rabel, a region on the northwestern tip of Haiti, where missionaries Kihomi and Madubiga Nzunga serve. Madubiga told International Ministries, "The situation there is critical." He said families are reportedly selling their children in hopes that where they are taken they will be able to eat and survive.

Partners in the Philippines and North Korea have also applied for support during this critical period.

The food crisis is blamed on many factors including: the rising cost of oil, which makes food more expensive to transport; government subsidies that in some countries have made staple food more expensive; and ongoing poverty, where people simply cannot afford to pay the cost of the food that is available.

American Baptist Churches USA