Partners in Mercy

Disaster strikes families quickly, relentlessly and without warning. Whether in the guise of a natural catastrophe, war or other conflict, homes are destroyed in an instant. Entire communities disappear. Families are left homeless, with no where to turn.

Mercy Corps is there for them in their greatest hour of need, and our Partners in Mercy are critical to this emergency response. Within hours, we speed relief to some of the world's poorest and most isolated places. From ensuring immediate shelter to creating temporary job programs that provide income to survivors, we are committed to helping disaster-stricken families build back better. We work side-by-side with them for as long as it takes.

Here are some ways we're helping right now:

• Providing immediate support after the Myanmar cyclone by delivering medical aid and clean water, employing people to clean up, distributing shelter materials, repairing hygiene facilities and salvaging the rice harvest.
• Distributing food, water and critical relief supplies to displaced families in Congo. The war has caused 5.4 million deaths and displaced 800,000 people.
• Helping rural communities in Georgia recover from starvation and move beyond subsistence farming through integrated programs in agriculture, economic development and community-building.

Pitch in to help disaster survivors and rebuild communities - join Partners in Mercy today.

Wang's Story

Wang Xinyao was on the third floor of her school when the massive earthquake struck her village in China's Sichuan Province last May. She remembers not knowing what was happening, but then, suddenly, her math teacher urging everyone to run. She doesn't remember how she got out of the building.

Months later, the 16-year-old middle school student is living in a tent outside her collapsed family home. She goes to school in a temporary classroom that sits in the shadow of her damaged school building. Reminders of the earthquake are everywhere, but she seems to look past those things.

Soon after the earthquake, Mercy Corps provided household items, health supplies and school materials to thousands of young people like Wang. It may seem like a small delivery, but to her, it meant everything. It meant that she had the tools to go back to the classroom and concentrate on her studies. And for Wang, whose aspiration is to become one of China's top journalists, the future truly starts now.

Whether the cause is war or other violence, a tsunami, earthquake or other natural disaster, people who have the fewest resources are, tragically, also those who are most vulnerable to catastrophe. When disaster strikes, Mercy Corps is often one of the first to respond, thanks to the support of our Partners in Mercy.