Emergency Food Kit ($18)

Families facing the effects of conflict or natural disaster often face food shortages as well. Mercy Corps distributes emergency packages of basic foodstuffs to sustain families during crises and provide a sense of security in a time of stress.

Why Help Is Needed

Food can be scarce for families displaced by conflict or whose homes lay in ruins after earthquakes or floods. Sheltered in public buildings or tents, many survivors don’t have what they need to prepare even the simplest of meals. Broken supply lines and emergency evacuations complicate their plight.

Mercy Corps In Action

Mercy Corps helps ease the stress of a desperate situation by providing short-term supplies of food for displaced families. By providing timely packages of non-perishable items — such as pasta, rice, beans, baby food and cooking oil — one urgent need is eliminated along the road to recovery, which gives families some peace of mind in a world gone awry.

Ali's Story

When 14-year-old Ali Hammood and his family returned to Khyam following the month-long conflict between the Israeli Army and Hezbollah in 2006, they saw the destructive legacy of ground fighting and bombardment.

With their apartment in ruins, Ali's family was unable to meet many of their urgent needs following their return, including a home-cooked meal.

In the months following the conflict, Mercy Corps distributed emergency food kits and drinking water in Khyam to dozens of families like Ali's. These kits included a short-term supply of foodstuffs that required minimal cooking or preparation: canned vegetables, tea, sugar, pasta, beans and other items.

During and immediately following the ceasefire in mid-August, these deliveries met an urgent need for support to households that were isolated from other sources of food and supplies.

Ali played with a stray cat after spending the morning searching fruitlessly for family photo albums in the rubble of his home. Thanks to Mercy Corps, his family had at least had one urgent need taken care of as they began to rebuild their lives.

Emergency Food Kit ($18)
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Purchase of a Mercy Kit is a symbolic gift that supports Mercy Corps' worldwide programs to help children and families in need. The Breastfeeding Kit, Climate Change Kit, Fuel-Efficient Stove Kit, Cricket Farm Kit, Send an Orphan to School Kit, Plant a Tree Kit, Play to Heal Kit and Uganda Farm Kit supports those specific project funds. Proceeds from the sale of other Mercy Kits will be used where most needed.