Emergency Supplies Kit ($25)

Disasters and war violently uproot families from their homes and throw them out into an uncertain world, usually without any supplies or food. They're immediately faced with huge questions: Where do we go now? How do we meet our needs? And in the midst of crisis, there are no easy answers.

Why Help Is Needed

Every year — with little or no warning — millions of people are suddenly displaced by natural disasters or conflict. It happens in all corners of the world: from China’s earthquake-stricken Sichuan Province to the U.S. Gulf Coast. When and where disaster strikes, Mercy Corps rushes to the scene.

Mercy Corps In Action

Within hours of a disaster, Mercy Corps emergency teams are on the ground assessing the situation and offering immediate relief. We often work with local partners who best know the area and its people. Our teams quickly deliver supplies — such as health items, clothes and shelter materials — to families with nowhere else to turn.

Xia Qianqian's Story

The range of human emotions is apparent in times of crisis, but especially so when much-needed supplies are handed to those in great need.

The delivery of hygiene kits to 300 primary school students in the earthquake-stricken village of Yunji, China evoked such feelings for everyone involved. The kit itself contains critical household supplies like soap, detergent and towels, but is so much more than the sum of its parts.

The families around Yunji are among the poorest in Sichuan province. Their simple mud houses and meager possessions are all they have. Since the earthquake, most of them are now living in small tents pitched outside of their damaged homes — including the family of 11-year-old Xia Qianqian.

For farmers scraping out a living from their meager crops, a hygiene kit supplied by Mercy Corps means everything. Many of these households make do on about a dollar a day. An unexpected delivery of emergency supplies is a rare treasure.

Children like Xia Qianqian know and feel that most of all. When all the kits had been loaded off the truck, the children came running. Their enthusiasm was contagious, charged with curiosity and excitement.

Once each child received his or her kit, it was off to the races again: they ran as fast as they could back to dormitories or classrooms to explore the kit's contents. Xia Qianqian was so moved by the kit that she began to cry. One of her friends, 11-year-old Mi Xue, comforted her then told us, "These kits make us so thankful for people who are coming to help us. They really care about us."

Emergency Supplies Kit ($25)
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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.