September 5, 2008

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee applauds the award of a US$100,000 grant to partner agency, the Foods Resource Bank, from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

The grant will further FRB's mission to address hunger in some of the world's poorest villages and is in keeping with the Hilton Foundation's goal to "alleviate the suffering of the world's most disadvantaged people."

Bill Adams, CRWRC Disaster Response Services director and representative to FRB says, "We're grateful to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for recognizing FRB and the importance of smallholder agricultural development as part of the solution to world hunger."

The FRB was founded by 16 Christian denominations in 1999 to help create sustainable and secure food sources in the developing world through small-scale agriculture production.

"We're very excited," says Marv Baldwin, FRB President and CEO. "In the process of evaluating FRB for the 2008 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the Hilton Board of Directors recognized something special in FRB. To be a finalist out of so many commendable organizations is really an acknowledgment that the Hilton Prize staff and jurors consider FRB's work to be eminently worthy of recognition. It's my understanding that receiving this separate grant during the evaluation process is a very unusual turn of events."

FRB was nominated for the Hilton Award by Senator Richard Durban (D-IL) and named a finalist last spring. The Award honors charitable organizations making extraordinary contributions toward alleviating suffering and poverty around the world. As a finalist, FRB will automatically be considered for the Prize in 2009. Other than the initial award, no organization has received the Prize in its first year of nomination.

CRWRC has been a founding member of FRB since its inception in 1999. CRWRC currently receives about $1.15 million in FRB funding for multi-year hunger relief programs in Cambodia, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia. In addition, Christian Reformed churches in rural and suburban areas are involved in FRB growing projects throughout the U.S. that supply these funds.

FRB President Marv Baldwin will be attending the award ceremony and symposium in Geneva, Switzerland, along with representatives from other finalist organizations, in late October.

For more information about Foods Resource Bank, contact President Marv Baldwin at 312-287-9690 or Resource Development Coordinator Barbara Ward at 312-612-1939.

For more information about CRWRC's disaster response, international development and justice programs, visit http://www.crwrc.org/, or call 1-800-55-CRWRC. CRWRC is a Christian, non-profit organization ministering in development, relief, and justice education with people in need around the world since 1962.CRWRC is present in more than 30 countries and has an international reputation for "living justice and loving mercy."

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee