Scottsdale, AZ (December 20, 1999)--Food
for the Hungry (FH) is responding to this weekend's flooding and mudslides
in Venezuela, with the intial response being $250,000 worth of food, medicines
and clothing. Donations are needed to help pay for shipping costs.
Officials are calling the disaster the
worst that the country has seen this century. Estimates put the death poll
at 10,000 and rising, and 150,000 people are homeless.
"I have visited the town that is now buried under rubble," said FH's vice president, Matt Panos. "Houses made of tin were perched on mountainsides that no longer exist. I saw hundreds of thousands of houses and could tell there were many thousands more. People built on those mountainsides because they couldn't afford anything else."
FH is an international Christian relief and development organization that was founded in 1971 and works in over 30 of the world's poorest countries, primarily in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In addition to relief, programs include child sponsorship, microenterprise loans, clean water and agricultural development, skills training and primary health care. Recent relief efforts have included Hurricanes Georges, Mitch, and Floyd; Kosovar refugees; the earthquake in Turkey; and flooding in India. The organization continues to help with rebuilding efforts in Central America, Kosovo and Turkey.
For more information about the organization or how to help, call toll free at 1-800-2-HUNGER. Donations can be mailed to 7729 E. Greenway Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85260 and can also be made via secure server online at www.fh.org.
Contact: Roe Ann Wood
(480) 609-7714
roeannw@fh.org