ATLANTA (May 13, 2008) - CARE today announced a $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund humanitarian relief in the wake of the devastating cyclone Nargis that struck Myanmar on Saturday, May 3. The foundation responded very quickly to CARE's call for help to provide immediate life-saving supplies as well as to jump-start rebuilding efforts.
"It will take significant resources to help people survive and begin to rebuild their lives," said Dr. Helene Gayle, CARE's president and CEO. "We have worked with the Burmese people for 14 years and were well-positioned to respond right away with water, food, and shelter supplies. Our colleagues now have completed assessments in the hardest hit areas, are prepared to deliver food, in cooperation with UN agencies, and household kits that will help families meet their basic needs."
The household kits will include shirts, sarongs, underwear, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting, blankets, cooking and eating utensils, gas lighters, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and buckets with lids. In addition, CARE will provide agriculture kits for families that will have a shovel, hoe, machete and small hand tools.
"CARE has a strong, on-the-ground team in Myanmar," said Chip Lyons, Director of Special Initiatives, Global Development Program for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Their well-established presence will allow them to continue to deliver humanitarian aid to areas that would be otherwise very difficult to reach."
In any emergency of this magnitude, the most important needs are food, water and shelter. People need help finding water that is safe to drink, in order to prevent diseases that can themselves become killers, especially of small children and the elderly who are already weakened. This grant from the Gates Foundation will expand immediate access to safe water.
Specifically, the donation will fund continuing assessments; provision of food and non-food items; distribution of water purification tablets for safe water; storage containers for families; and rehabilitation and reconstruction projects focused on protecting livelihoods. CARE currently aims to assist 250,000 people affected by the cyclone.
"It's easy to feel demoralized in the face of such utter destruction. Grants such as this one show our staff and the people we serve that they are not alone, that others care about them and how they are coping. It also shows CARE workers in the field that our donors trust them to do the best job humanly possible; and that is a priceless sentiment for our colleagues on the front lines of such an enormous task," Dr. Gayle said.
About CARE: CARE is one of the world's premier humanitarian agencies working in 70 countries. Our poverty-fighting efforts focus on empowering marginalized women and girls to uplift their communities.
About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people – especially those with the fewest resources – have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
