• CRS Home
• |
• Newsletters
• |
• Donate now

Advocacy, Catholics Confront Global Poverty

How You’ve Helped Haiti

Thanks in part to your advocacy efforts, Congress has passed the FY 2010 Supplemental Appropriations bill.  This bill will provide critical support for people suffering from emergencies around the world including urgently needed funding to help Haiti recover from January’s devastating earthquake, assist refugees, and support humanitarian efforts.

What was the Church’s position? As stated in letters to House and Senate appropriators, CRS and USCCB requested:

• $2.5 billion for longer-term reconstruction in Haiti and
• $1.597 billion for other global emergency needs, including;
• $702 million for International Disaster Assistance
• $580 million for Food Assistance
• $165 million for Migration and Refugee Assistance
• $97 million for the Office of Refugee Resettlement
• $53 million for Economic Support Fund in Sudan

What was the outcome of the bill? Although not all of the funding that CRS and USCCB requested was included, we achieved the following:

• $2.8 billion for Haiti to provide urgent shelter, health, livelihoods, food aid, and water and sanitation needs of the most vulnerable populations as well as long-term reconstruction.
• A portion of the $1.597 billion we requested for global emergency needs:
• $165 million for migration and refugee assistance which will provide urgent humanitarian assistance and resettlement opportunities for refugees and victims of conflict around the globe and
• $460 million for International Disaster Assistance to provide safe drinking water, basic health services, shelter, household commodities, seeds, tools, and livelihoods assistance to millions of people.

Why is this issue important to my Catholic faith? As Catholics, we believe that each person is created in the image of God. Aid to poor people overseas protects human life and dignity by promoting human development and reducing crushing poverty, deadly diseases and malnutrition.  Your advocacy is a significant act of solidarity that has helped provide additional funding to meet the needs of our sisters and brothers everywhere who are suffering.

What else can I do to support our brothers and sisters in need? Join Catholics Confront Global Poverty and become a star on our solidarity map! Pray, learn, share, and advocate to confront global poverty in your parish, school, university, youth group, diocese, or religious community.

Share on Twitter

Tags: Advocacy, Catholics Confront Global Poverty, Haiti

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Advocacy, Catholics Confront Global Poverty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. We alleviate suffering and provide assistance to people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality.

Help us spread the word of CRS: Join our growing online communities, find us on: