Government announces Famine Relief Fund with 1:1 match

This story has been updated since originally posted.

PWRDF is pleased to report that the federal government has today announced they will match funds donated to Canadian NGOs for famine relief in Africa and the Middle East.

The Famine Relief Fund will run until June 30, 2017. This means for every $1 donated to PWRDF’s famine appeal the government will put $1 into its Famine Relief Fund (for the government to allocate). The 1:1 match will be applied retroactively to all funds donated since March 17. More than $140,000 has been donated since our appeal was announced, and money is still coming in from individuals and churches across Canada.

The countries identified by the government for matching funding are the most desperate: Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. A group of neighbouring countries at risk of starvation conditions has also been identified: Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.

PWRDF has been working through ACT Alliance, Canadian Foodgrains Bank and several international aid organizations to provide relief in South Sudan ($115,000), Kenya ($60,000) and Somalia ($65,000) and Nigeria ($60,000).

“In the past, when the government offered to match donations from Canadians, church groups have been among the largest recipients of donations for emergencies like this,” says John Longhurst, Director, Resources & Public Engagement for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, of which PWRDF is a member. “For things like Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, or the Sahel food crisis in 2012, a substantial amount of the totals raised came through church or Christian agencies.”

“Famine, hunger and preventable disease in these four countries require our urgent response,” says Will Postma, Executive Director of PWRDF. “Through this match opportunity announced today, Canadians can know that our response will go further to respond to the urgencies for nutritious food, clean water, health care and other humanitarian needs.”

To donate to PWRDF’s Famine Relief Fund appeal:
– Visit pwrdf.org/donate then click on the Famine Relief Fund tab at the top of the Canada Helps page;
– Send a cheque to The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, 80 Hayden Street, Toronto, Ont., M4Y 3G2, and indicate in the cheque memo “Famine Relief”
– Call 1-866-308-7973 during business hours and make your donation over the phone.

For more information about the Famine Relief Fund, click here.