Poor Box Recipient – September and October, 2017
It is difficult to imagine, living in the relative comfort we have, that hunger and famine are the every day experience in many parts of the world. Many of our brothers and sisters go hungry every day and some die of starvation and malnutrition. One of the places where hunger is prevalent is Burkina Faso, a country slightly larger than Colorado, located in northwest Africa, with a population of over 18,000,000. 80 % of the working population relies on agriculture and livestock rearing to make their living. Most farmers operate at a subsistence level, and thus remain vulnerable to changes in rainfall (flooding and droughts) and challenges including low levels of education (for all children but especially girls), poor healthcare, and weak, uneven levels of economic development which often exclude women and the poor.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has been active in Burkina Faso since 1960 working with the government, local partners and other agencies to address major development challenges through improving agriculture, livelihoods, nutrition, and education.
In response, CRS has developed a program to involve US Catholics in a hands on project to help the people of Burkina Faso. CRS in partnership with Stop Hunger Now delivers bulk food including rice, soy protein and dehydrated vegetables to the participating parishes where volunteers repackage the food into portions serving four people. CRS combines these packages with those produced by other organizations and ships them to Burkina Faso for distribution to the neediest. The cost to produce and ship each bag is $3.00 which feeds a family of 6. In 2015 at Saint Elizabeth, a group of 100 volunteers packaged 16,000 meals in approximately 2 hours at a cost of $8,000 raised through the parish poor box.
CRS will be bringing the food packing program to St. Elizabeth on Saturday, December 2. The poor box collection for September and October will be used to fund this effort. The more money that is contributed, the more meals we can package and ship. This is a unique opportunity to share our time, talent and treasure with those most in need. Please help by putting your donation into the poor box and marking December 2 on your calendar for this service activity.
For more information visit: http://www.crs.org/countries/burkina-faso
“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat…
To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of
Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”
Matthew 25/35, 40