Press Release

December 11, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
lauren.carl@pinkston.co
(703) 388-6734

BALTIMORE  – The Trump administration announced Thursday that it has finalized a regulation that would make it increasingly difficult for individuals to claim asylum in the United States, the most recent in a number of rules of similar effect. As a Christian organization committed to honoring the dignity of every human person, World Relief decries this new rule, which is poised to go into effect on January 11, and adamantly calls for its immediate reversal. For many vulnerable individuals, including many persecuted religious minorities, the United States is their only safe harbor. Instead of shutting out asylum-seekers, the U.S. government should offer protection to those fleeing danger and partner with organizations committed to upholding the value of every individual and their right to seek refuge.

“U.S. law rightly offers safety and protection to individuals who reach the U.S. who can demonstrate a credible fear of persecution in their country of origin. These new regulations dramatically restrict the number of individuals who will qualify for this life-saving refuge,” said Scott Arbeiter, World Relief president. “The U.S. has both a moral and a legal obligation to protect those fleeing persecution that we must not betray.”

As World Relief noted in formal comments submitted shortly after these proposed rules were first announced, this asylum regulation’s broad changes would impact those applying for asylum at the border as well as from within the U.S. The now-finalized rule dramatically redefines key legal terms – including “persecution,” “well-founded fear,” “torture,” “political opinion” and “particular social group” – in absurdly restrictive ways, which will mean that individuals who would previously have won their asylum cases will now be denied and, in most cases, be deported back to their persecutors.

“Being a safe country and a compassionate country are not mutually exclusive traits,” says Tim Breene, World Relief CEO. “While we ought to insist that our government enforce laws designed to prevent anyone who would seek to do harm from entering the U.S., we must be equally committed to respecting laws designed to offer refuge to those fleeing persecution. As Christians, we believe this new regulation is inconsistent with our conviction that all human life is made in God’s image and thus worthy of protection.”

In July, World Relief partnered with Open Doors USA, an organization focused on advocating for persecuted Christians globally, to release a report that examined the harm that these regulations, as initially proposed, would cause to persecuted Christians and other religious minorities. That report urged Christians to file formal public comments opposing these changes, which contributed to the more than 88,000 public comments filed. Nevertheless, the administration has finalized this rule with only minimal amendments. World Relief urges the Trump administration to reverse this rule immediately, consistent with its stated commitment to international religious freedom.

Presuming the Trump administration does not reconsider this decision, World Relief calls on President-elect Biden to reverse these restrictive regulations as expeditiously as possible and urges local churches to unite in advocacy and in prayer as they seek to welcome the asylum seekers and other immigrants into their communities.

To learn more about World Relief, visit worldrelief.org.

To download a PDF version of this press release, click here.

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About World Relief

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that brings sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems – disasters, extreme poverty, violence, oppression, and mass displacement. For over 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and community leaders in the U.S. and abroad to bring hope, healing and transformation to the most vulnerable.

Learn more at worldrelief.org.

December 10, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
lauren.carl@pinkston.co
(703) 388-6734

BALTIMORE – Today, World Relief announces a new office and guest house in Ad-Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile in Sudan. The new office will advance World Relief’s presence in the Blue Nile region to best serve the community. Since 2004, World Relief Sudan has been on the ground, working to alleviate poverty and stabilize conflict in the region.

World Relief currently has three professional staff members at the new office. The focus at present is on responding to post-flood, Covid-19 and other disaster needs but World Relief has been discussing with UN agencies and other donors on potential program expansion into food security and livelihoods, wash, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and other extreme areas of need. We are providing food, water and other immediate needs support to almost 1,000 refugees from Tigray in neighboring Ethiopia and continue to assess our capacity to do more in responding to the influx of refugees into Sudan.

“We are grateful to open our new office in Blue Nile, where we have been working for a number of years now,” said Charles Franzén, director of humanitarian and disaster response at World Relief. “The new location gives our team greater access into the region to best serve the most vulnerable. Especially as tensions continue in the area and refugees arrive from the Tigray region.”

In 2019, World Relief Sudan was granted the largest amount of funding from the Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF) at $4.8 million. This funding enabled World Relief to provide urgent aid to the estimated 6.9 million people that, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), faced food insecurity during the lean 2019 season. The funding has also given World Relief the flexibility to open the new office in Blue Nile, in addition to other private and institutional sources.

“Our work in Blue Nile expands to a new state the excellent humanitarian efforts of World Relief in Sudan,” explains Gemta Birhanu, Sudan Country Director at World Relief. “In the future we can look at opportunities to provide food security and livelihoods and WASH to a marginalized part of the country and hope to extend our work to the more diverse community elements in the state. As we have only recently started our work in Blue Nile, we are fortunate enough to be in a position to respond to the needs of Tigrayan refugees from Ethiopia who have crossed the border into the state.”

To learn more about World Relief, visit: https://worldrelief.org/

To download a PDF version of this press release, click here.

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About World Relief

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that brings sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems – disasters, extreme poverty, violence, oppression, and mass displacement. For over 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and community leaders in the U.S. and abroad to bring hope, healing and transformation to the most vulnerable.

Learn more at worldrelief.org.

December 4, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
lauren.carl@pinkston.co
(703) 388-6734

BALTIMORE – World Relief has commenced a new partnership with the Trust Fund for Victims under the International Criminal Court to provide physical rehabilitation to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). This project aims to reach 300 women with direct assistance, and over 4,550 people with education and messaging, including family members, community leaders, local authorities and religious leaders. World Relief will work across twelve localities within North Kivu Province, an area rife with conflict and gross human rights violations. Since 2013, World Relief has been working with communities in Rutshuru Territory to spread awareness and education about the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence as well as care for survivors.

The DR Congo continues to be one of the world’s worst places to be a woman, according to many peace and security index ratings. In a 2018 survey by UN Women, 35,000 cases of sexual and gender-based violence were recorded in DR Congo in that year. World Relief believes this estimate is low and assumes that many cases of women’s and girl’s rights abuses go unreported. In light of the turbulence caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic, this number has likely skyrocketed in North Kivu where women are still the first victims of conflicts and domestic abuse, and cultural norms often relegate them to second-class citizenry.

“We are committed to fighting sexual and gender-based violence in all its forms by addressing root causes and building just communities that protect the rights and dignity of all women and girls. We are also committed to restoration of victims at the physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual level,” said Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief. “We are especially grateful for this new partnership with the Trust Fund for Victims to help provide rehabilitation for survivors and education to local leaders.”

Sexual and gender-based violence includes war rape, domestic violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation, threats of violence to coerce and manipulate, all rooted in gender inequality, harmful cultural norms and the abuse of power in a predominately patriarchal society. The consequences of sexual and gender-based violence are far more devastating beyond any single (or multiple) incident and often lead to life-long repercussions for women. Many continue to experience physical, mental and emotional trauma long after the incident. The effects that follow include rejection out of her household, community stigmatization, pregnancy and especially for young girls whose rape has led to a pregnancy, vaginal fistulas (an open wound) that can often lead to incontinence, heaping more shame and feelings of worthlessness.

Little justice is offered to women in a country where these acts of violence have reached epidemic proportions; perpetrators are too often not held accountable, and if tried, many can bribe their way into impunity. In coordination with local grassroots establishments who hold much influence, World Relief and the church will work together to support women impacted by sexual and gender-based violence. Through two main objectives, the aim of this larger partnership is to successfully reintegrate them back into their families and communities by providing them with the necessary skills to thrive. This project seeks to:

1. Provide physical rehabilitation to 300 women survivors and their children through individual counseling, Survivor Groups creation, building out a framework to train trauma care providers, training local leaders and volunteers on sexual and gender-based violence, as well as mobilizing them to educate their communities on sexual and gender-based violence sensitivity, care and prevention.
2. Reach 37 survivors with physical medical rehabilitation through the treatment of fistulas via non-charge surgeries in partnership with a local woman’s hospital, and provide integration kits to these survivors to restart their livelihood activities.

World Relief and the Trust Fund for Victims have launched this project for an initial 12 months with plans to reassess a continued partnership in future years in North Kivu Province. Thanks to this funding, World Relief is able to expand its footprint deeper into other internal programming in Ituri Province by working with local churches to understand the relevance of gender equality and empowerment.

Heather Woodward, international director of finance and operations at World Relief, who has worked extensively on setting this project up between the TFV/ICC and World Relief, says, “World Relief is honored to participate in the mission of the Trust Fund for Victims ‘to support and implement programs that address harms resulting from genocide, crimes of humanity, war crimes and aggression by providing physical, psychological, and material support to victims and their families.’ By providing dignified care, seeking peace and restoration in communities through survivors groups and counseling, World Relief desires to show women and families who have been violated that they are worthy and loved by God, despite the injustices they have experienced. In partnership with the Trust Fund for Victims, World Relief will continue to champion gender equality and the rights of women and girls.”

For more information about World Relief and how you can help, visit https://worldrelief.org/.

To download a PDF version of this press release, click here.

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About World Relief

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that brings sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems – disasters, extreme poverty, violence, oppression, and mass displacement. For over 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and community leaders in the U.S. and abroad to bring hope, healing and transformation to the most vulnerable.

Learn more at worldrelief.org.

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

December 1, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
lauren.carl@pinkston.co
(703) 388-6734

BALTIMORE – This World AIDS Day, World Relief renews its commitment to eradicate HIV/AIDS. At the end of 2019 there were an estimated 38 million people living with HIV, and HIV continues to be a major global health issue. This year’s theme is “Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Resilience and Impact.”

World Relief has worked in HIV/AIDS prevention and care for more than 25 years, starting in Malawi and Swaziland. In the years following the genocide in Rwanda, the HIV prevalence rate was estimated at 13% of the population. World Relief saw a critical need to work with the government, communities, and churches to raise awareness, create support groups, establish home care for people infected, and improve care for orphans. World Relief Rwanda’s HIV/AIDS programs reached over one million people during this critical period.

“Ending a global health crisis takes commitment and resilience from generation to generation,” said Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief. “So much of what we do is educational – from preventative messaging to educating the person with the infection to guiding the local community who may have stigmas and misunderstanding about HIV/AIDS. World Relief provides full and complete information to youth about sex and HIV risk, enabling them to make better choices for their lives. While progress has been made, we remain at great risk of a resurgence beyond the current 38 million living with the disease.”

World Relief addresses the issue in partnership with the local churches through strengthening family relationships that enhance marital faithfulness and the value of women, advocating for testing and adherence to treatment, and encouraging family economic growth. World Relief especially focuses on East and Southern Africa, where as of 2019, 20.7 million people lived with HIV, making it the region most affected by HIV in the world. In 2020, as part of the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) Faith and Community Initiative, World Relief launched the new SCOPE HIV, in Malawi to address gender as both a driver and a barrier in reaching the last mile with HIV care and treatment, and preventing new HIV infections by reducing sexual and gender-based violence.

”HIV is still one of the leading causes of death in developing countries and is an issue that takes dedication and collaboration across organizations and communities,” said Tim Breene, CEO of World Relief. “According to the World Health Organization, 690,000 people died from HIV-related causes in 2019, and 1.7 million people were newly infected, largely due to gaps in HIV/AIDs service. This is roughly half as many deaths as the world experienced from COVID-19 in the first eleven months of 2020. HIV/AIDS is a huge crisis globally that has been going on year after year for decades, without a vaccine. This is why it is critical for organizations and nations to not give up on their efforts and to continue making HIV/AIDS a top priority.” 

Research has shown that faith-based organizations have lowered the barriers of access to health services and have helped those infected not only get the treatment they need but maintain access to it.

To download a PDF version of this press release, click here.

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About World Relief

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that brings sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems – disasters, extreme poverty, violence, oppression, and mass displacement. For over 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and community leaders in the U.S. and abroad to bring hope, healing and transformation to the most vulnerable.

Learn more at worldrelief.org.

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

November 9, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
lauren.carl@pinkston.co
(703) 388-6734

BALTIMORE – To date, World Relief has reached nearly 700,00 people with messaging by staff and volunteers on preventative messaging, medical assistance and education in Haiti, Cambodia and across Africa in countries such as Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Sudan to help combat the pandemic. Additionally, over 11 million have been reached by World Relief through radio and mass messaging campaigns. World Relief recognizes the devastating loss of 1 million lives to COVID-19 over the past nine months and its disproportionate effect on poor and marginalized populations.

According to the United Nations, there are nearly 80 million people globally who have been forcibly displaced, and COVID-19 has only made their existing challenges more severe. Country borders have closed to travel, many countries lack basic health equipment or expertise to deal with existing medical challenges and most refugee camps are ill-equipped to handle the evolving medical needs caused by a global pandemic. Global hunger has been significantly exacerbated by the economic impacts of efforts to contain the pandemic. Nearly 700 million people in the world are chronically hungry, and right now, coronavirus is endangering another 132 million.

“The pandemic has inevitably impacted all of us in some way. We grieve with those who have sacrificed plans, lost loved ones, been isolated from their families, struggled financially due to economic shutdowns and job losses, or lacked access to essential healthcare. It is rare when the whole world suffers united from a single tragedy,” said Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief. “But we have to acknowledge the ways in which this health crisis disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable among us. They are at the greatest risk of increased hunger, poverty and violence as a result of the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

World Relief’s international teams mobilized to increase education with awareness campaigns and training sessions and address issues caused by the pandemic, such as food insecurity, domestic violence and lack of access to healthcare. During the month of September alone, World Relief’s teams have served an estimated minimum of 106,320 beneficiaries with various COVID-19 interventions. World Relief COVID-19 project staff have conducted training for health facility staff and supervision visits to isolation and treatment centers.

“Despite closures and restrictions, continuing our international development activities has been essential as the pandemic has evolved,” said Myal Greene, SVP of International Programs at World Relief. “The need is immense – and it’s sure to continue growing due to the impact of the pandemic on the developing world. We are continuing to reach the most vulnerable households with health education, food support and access to tools that protect their health, like COVID-19 kits, thermometers, disinfectant, soap and masks.”

“This has undoubtedly been a year of great change. We’ve had a longstanding history of embracing change, and I believe we can lessen the impact and bring hope to many thousands of the most vulnerable by responding to the opportunities that often come with disruption,” said Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief.  

World Relief has been serving the vulnerable for the last 75 years, across 100 countries. To learn more about World Relief’s work to create sustainable change for the most vulnerable or donate to their mission, please visit worldrelief.org.

To download a PDF version of this press release, click here.

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About World Relief:

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that seeks to overcome violence, poverty and injustice. Through love in action, we bring hope, healing and restoration to millions of the world’s most vulnerable women, men and children through vital and sustainable programs in disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding, as well as refugee and immigration services in the U.S. For 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and communities, currently across more than 20 countries, to provide relief from suffering and help people rebuild their lives.

Learn more at worldrelief.org.

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

November 7, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
lauren.carl@pinkston.co
(703) 388-6734

BALTIMORE – Following President-elect Joe Biden’s acceptance speech, World Relief President Scott Arbeiter and CEO Tim Breene issued the following response:

“For over 75 years, World Relief has worked with both Republican and Democratic administrations and with people of all political affiliations as we seek to catalyze churches and communities in service to the most vulnerable, both in the U.S. and around the world. World Relief has had the unique privilege to partner with churches to help alleviate poverty, respond to natural disasters, combat violence and oppression and resettle and rebuild the lives of more than 300,000 refugees over the past 40 years. Though leaders change, we remain committed to work with the president in our mission to serve those Jesus called the least of these.

“We recognize the growing need to continue to partner with the U.S. government to respond to urgent humanitarian crises around us, including to COVID-19, extreme food insecurity, gender-based violence, and natural disasters. We urge President-elect Biden to uphold his campaign promise to pursue comprehensive immigration reform within his first 100 days in office and to reverse current immigration and refugee policies that put vulnerable individuals in danger, especially the travel ban and the historically-low refugee ceiling. We also call on the president-elect to make good on his public pledge last week to work with leaders in the faith community to ensure the flourishing of all people and the pursuit of justice, peace and equality. We charge American churches to ready themselves to welcome refugees and immigrants in vulnerable situations, and we look forward to mobilizing more churches to welcome the foreign-born, promote peace and alleviate poverty around the world under this administration.

“The election results underscore what most Americans have felt over the past several years: that our country is deeply divided. We believe that our elected officials have a responsibility for helping to heal those divides, but so does each citizen. As a Christian organization, we particularly believe that local churches have an integral role to play in healing, a role we have seen churches lead in countries such as Kenya that have gone through bitterly divisive and even violent election seasons. As World Relief CEO Tim Breene writes in a recent reflection, Blessed are the Peacemakers, ‘Whatever our political and doctrinal preferences, we are called to be people of peace, and to love one another… It is not too late for church leaders to remind their congregations that we are all made in the image of God. And that ultimately, we will come before the throne of the Lamb together in peace, as …a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language, worshiping in adoration to our God.’”

To download a PDF version of this press release, click here.

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About World Relief

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that brings sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems – disasters, extreme poverty, violence, oppression, and mass displacement. For over 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and community leaders in the U.S. and abroad to bring hope, healing and transformation to the most vulnerable. Learn more at worldrelief.org.

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

October 29, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
lauren.carl@pinkston.co
(703) 388-6734

BALTIMORE – On October 27^th, President Trump signed the Presidential Determination (PD) on refugee admissions, setting the refugee ceiling for FY2021 at 15,000, the lowest in U.S. history. Currently, there are approximately 80 million people forcibly displaced around the world, and due to COVID-19 and natural disasters, many of those displaced are facing greater hardships and difficulties. World Relief urges the United States to lead by example to offer refuge to those who have nowhere else to go and restore the refugee ceiling to the historical norm of 95,000.

“The issuance of the lowest refugee ceiling in history is further evidence of the administration’s lack of compassion toward vulnerable refugees and immigrants who are displaced due to conflict and persecution and facing even more dire circumstances due to COVID-19,” said World Relief President Scott Arbeiter. “Despite this administration’s clear promises to protect persecuted Christians, the actual resettlement of Christian refugees from countries known for persecution drop about 90% in some cases over the last four years. We have abandoned our moral responsibility to honor our word and help the vulnerable.”

The Presidential Determination states that 6,000 previously unused spots from FY2020 were incorporated into the FY2021 ceiling of 15,000, which is an unprecedented position by the State Department. In addition, the new categories created for refugee admissions will further limit those who are eligible to be resettled through the program, including large numbers of Congolese refugees, unaccompanied minors and others. This position is an abdication of the leadership the United States has traditionally shown in times of humanitarian crises. While resettlement was paused for a time due to COVID-19 this year, the intensive national security and medical processes all refugees undergo mean that the program can and should be expanded to save lives.

“We urge President Trump to hear the cries of Americans advocating for vulnerable lives and those desperately in need around the world,” commented Tim Breene, World Relief CEO. “This decision by the administration does not represent the values that America was founded on –  like human liberty, religious freedom and equality that should extend to those facing persecution abroad. If our nation promises to be a country under God, then we must help our hurting neighbors and allow more refugees to resettle in the United States.”

Join World Relief in urging Congress and the president to reconsider and set a FY2021 refugee resettlement target at 95,000 by visiting https://worldrelief.org/advocate/.

To download a PDF version of this press release, click here.

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About World Relief:

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that seeks to overcome violence, poverty and injustice. Through love in action, we bring hope, healing and restoration to millions of the world’s most vulnerable women, men and children through vital and sustainable programs in disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding, as well as refugee and immigration services in the U.S. For over 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and communities, currently across more than 20 countries, to provide relief from suffering and help people rebuild their lives.

Learn more at worldrelief.org.

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

October 13, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
lauren.carl@pinkston.co
(703) 388-6734

BALTIMORE – 25,000 Christians have joined World Relief, Women of Welcome, and other leading evangelical institutions in petitioning Ivanka Trump to protect vulnerable children at risk of trafficking due to the suspension of key protections under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA).

Through an effort organized by Women of Welcome, the 25,000th signature came just days before the 20th anniversary of the signing of the original Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the nation’s foremost anti-trafficking law, which passed after significant advocacy from evangelical Christians.

The original letter sent on August 24th, 2020, included signatories from leaders at World Relief, International Justice Mission, World Vision U.S.,  Bethany Christian Services, the Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and various other evangelical institutions. These leaders have voiced their concern to senior presidential advisor Ivanka Trump because she has been among the most vocal anti-trafficking and child protection advocates within the administration. In the intervening month and a half, tens of thousands of Americans have added their voices petitioning for the reinstatement of these protections that were halted in March due to concerns over the potential spread of COVID-19.

Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief, commented, “It’s been eight months since COVID-19 gained momentum in the U.S. and key child-protection elements of TVPRA were initially suspended at the border. While the administration has resumed normal activities in many sectors of public life, operations that could mean the difference between life and death for vulnerable children have not been resumed. The threat of trafficking does not diminish during a pandemic. If anything, it accelerates. The U.S. is overdue in our responsibility to care for the vulnerable within our purview.”

The TVPRA requires that unaccompanied minors detained at the border be entrusted to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees a network of care partners that includes many faith-based nonprofits.

“As a mother, I cannot imagine treating children in the negligent way these children at the border continue to be treated,” said Bri Stensrud, Director of Women of Welcome. “This isn’t an immigration issue, it’s a child safety issue. As an American, I cannot believe the country I love, which claims to be a haven to the weary and needy of the world, is intentionally turning a blind eye to this horrifying practice. And as a Christian, our failure to love and advocate for these vulnerable people is diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus.”

To read the letter, click here. Women of Welcome, a movement of evangelical women supported by World Relief, invites concerned Christians to add their names to the letter.

To download a PDF version of this press release, click here.

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About World Relief:

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that seeks to overcome violence, poverty and injustice. Through love in action, we bring hope, healing and restoration to millions of the world’s most vulnerable women, men and children through vital and sustainable programs in disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding, as well as refugee and immigration services in the U.S. For 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and communities, currently across more than 20 countries, to provide relief from suffering and help people rebuild their lives.

Learn more at worldrelief.org.

About Women of Welcome:

Women of Welcome is a community dedicated to diving into the whole of Scripture to understand God’s heart for the immigrant and refugee.

Learn more at womenofwelcome.com.

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

October 12, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
lauren.carl@pinkston.co
(703) 388-6734

BALTIMORE – World Relief, a global humanitarian organization that brings sustainable solutions to alleviate poverty and respond to disasters worldwide, congratulates the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) for winning the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, October 9, 2020. This award is well deserved for an organization that has saved millions of lives around the world and for its ongoing efforts to fight hunger in regions of conflict and hardship around the world.

The World Food Programme is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations and the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. Last year, it provided assistance to almost 100 million people in 88 countries. World Relief partners with the World Food Programme in several countries in Africa, including Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Through this partnership, World Relief has reached over 203,000 individuals in communities across Sudan and South Sudan in 2020 alone.

“The World Food Programme is absolutely deserving of the renowned and prestigious Nobel Peace Prize,” said Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief. “The global problem of hunger is getting worse around the world, as are the conflicts that exacerbate it. That’s why the UN’s work through WFP is extremely valuable and crucial today. We at World Relief have worked with the WFP through several projects and have always been impressed with their professionalism, effectiveness, and compassion in helping the most vulnerable in some of the most dangerous and dire places in the world.”

World Relief partners with churches and community leaders around the world to help alleviate poverty and world hunger. Through its programs such as Agriculture for Life and and Savings For Life, they are able to help thousands of people who may not have access to food or the means to survive. Organizational partnerships such as World Relief and the World Food Programme are critical to reaching the most vulnerable and have proven that humanitarian collaboration is an impactful way to alleviate world hunger and poverty.

To learn more about World Relief, visit: https://worldrelief.org/

Download a PDF version of this press release here.

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About World Relief

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that brings sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems – disasters, extreme poverty, violence, oppression, and mass displacement. For over 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and community leaders in the U.S. and abroad to bring hope, healing and transformation to the most vulnerable.

Learn more at worldrelief.org.