To respond to the drought and other crises in East Africa, the federal government announced June 6 that
it will match individual donations made by Canadians to the Humanitarian Coalition before June 30. The rainy season has failed four years in a row and conflict and hunger are rampant. Included are Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, as well as East Africa in general.
As Canadians consider where to direct their donations, they may want to consider international relief and development organizations affiliated with the EFC and part of the Humanitarian Coalition. Here are some details and links:
- foodgrainsbank.ca: This grouping of 15 Christian agencies includes many EFC affiliates (e.g., Baptist, Lutheran, Alliance, Pentecostal, Evangelical Missionary, Mennonite, Nazarene, Salvation Army, Christian Reformed). Those individual agencies can raise matched funds with the Humanitarian Coalition through their membership in the Foodgrains Bank
- humanitariancoalition.ca: An interfaith group of 12 international aid agencies based in Canada. Three are EFC affiliates: World Vision, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, and Canadian Foodgrains Bank (whose members are noted above).
If you find a charity that is new to you when searching anyplace online, a good idea is to check its reputation before donating. The Canadian Centre for Christian Charities has an
accreditation program where you can search the names of charities (note that browsing alphabetically can be tricky as groups with "The" as part of their official name are listed under T).
Another good idea to remember is that, while disaster responses are urgent, one of the best ways to contribute is by donating repeatedly over time to long-term development.
Photo shows a screen grab from HumanitarianCoalition.ca.