Your Gifts Speed Our Response

Private donations helped mothers in Niger take care of their malnourished children. Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Conflict and catastrophe strike communities quickly, and often without warning. The needs of survivors are immediate and critical. As a humanitarian agency, Mercy Corps' challenge is to act with haste and efficiency, get supplies and assistance where they need to be, and reach as many people as possible within an often-limited amount of time.

We're thankful to share this responsibility with thousands of caring donors and constituents around the world. Private donations drive our lifesaving emergency programs, especially at those crucial first hours. Our response to disasters would simply not be possible without their support.

The next tragedy always looms large, yet unknown. Families need our help at a moment's notice. We need your help to stay prepared.

Today, we are delivering hygiene supplies to thousands of already-displaced families who fled the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, where the Lebanese army is trying to root out Fatah al-Islam militants. These families have taken temporary refuge at the safer Beddawi refugee camp nearby, but Beddawi's population has swelled by roughly 15,000 since the fighting began in late May.

Conflict often engulfs those who have already lost so much or been forced to flee their homes. In volatile places like the Middle East, we must always be ready to react.

You can help us. With your support, we have:

• Employed more than more than 18,000 tsunami survivors in Indonesia's shattered Aceh Province, pumping $4.5 million into local economies and helping more than 91 percent of these workers begin to rebuild their homes,
• Treated more than 16,500 malnourished children in Niger under the age of five, who were facing starvation in the aftermath of that country's worst food crisis in years,
• Distributed critical supplies like food, blankets and mattresses to tens of thousands of Beirut residents who sought shelter in mountain villages as the Israeli-Hezbollah war leveled their neighborhoods last summer, and
• Set up mobile tent hospitals - which provided services from injury treatment to childbirth - within hours of an earthquake that killed more than 87,000 people in northern Pakistan.

All these actions were fueled by generous private donations. In many cases, these donations saved lives. In every instance, they made a difference for survivors.

You can continue making a difference by considering a gift today. Thank you for your ongoing support.