Press releases
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Pakistan: As flood waters continue raging, Mercy Corps ramps up operations in southern Pakistan
Portland, OR— As flood waters rise in southern Pakistan, Mercy Corps is quickly expanding efforts to assist families in four districts of Sindh Province. The aid agency is making multiple daily trips to displacement camps with water tankers, building latrines, and preparing to open two mobile health units to meet pressing medical needs. The United Nations estimates that 35 percent of Sindh Province is underwater and 2.5 million people in the province have been affected by the floods.
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Pakistan: Mercy Corps brings life-saving aid to flood victims in Pakistan
Portland, OR— Mercy Corps is ramping up its response to devastating floods in Pakistan, continuing to meet immediate humanitarian needs in the Swat Valley, and preparing to start relief operations in Sindh province. Flood waters failed to recede over the weekend as the disaster and its impact spread. Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani reported this weekend that floods have rendered 20 million people homeless, significantly higher than previous United Nations estimates.
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Haiti: Mercy Corps receives $12.5 million grants from USAID to help feed Haitians in the impoverished central plateau and lower ArtiBonite
Portland, OR – Mercy Corps has been awarded one of the first grants from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the new Emergency Food Security Program in Haiti. The $12.5 million grant to Mercy Corps will provide food vouchers to 100,000 vulnerable people in the Central Plateau and Lower Artibonite regions who were affected by the earthquake in January.
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Haiti: Mercy Corps launches Moving Forward youth sports program in Haiti to help young people recover from the quake
Portland, OR – As the month-long World Cup culminated this past weekend, Mercy Corps launched Moving Forward, a youth program that uses soccer and other sports to help young people recover physically, socially, mentally, and emotionally from the January earthquake. Moving Forward will reach over 1,500 young people throughout Haiti, and train 50 coaches and educators at 25 community organizations and schools.
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Haiti: Six months after earthquake, Mercy Corps helps Haitians cope with emergency, begin long-term recovery
Portland, OR – Six months after the deadly January 12th earthquake, Mercy Corps is providing Haitians with tools for long-term recovery while helping families fill ongoing basic needs. The agency, which started operations in Haiti immediately after the quake, has assisted thousands of Haitians with a combination of economic recovery, relief and psychosocial programs in and around the capital city of Port-au-Prince, as well as in Haiti’s Central Plateau.
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Haiti: Mercy Corps and Sesame Workshop partner to bring engaging, educational programming to Haiti's children
Portland, OR – Mercy Corps and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, have formed a partnership to bring engaging, educational programming to Haiti’s children. Sesame Workshop has dubbed one DVD featuring two Sesame Home Videos into Creole, and produced three short original films shot in Haiti specific to the country’s post-earthquake challenges. Mercy Corps will distribute at least 1,000 DVDs of this programming to schools, orphanages and other child-friendly facilities in the country.
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Mercy Corps CEO Neal Keny-Guyer named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Portland, OR – Neal Keny Guyer, CEO of the Portland-based relief and development agency Mercy Corps, has been named winner of the 2010 “Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year” in the social responsibility category for the Pacific Northwest. Keny-Guyer was selected from nearly sixty nominations by a panel of independent judges.
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Pakistan: Pakistan crisis far from over
Nearly a year since more than three million people were displaced by military operations in north-west Pakistan, the crisis is far from over. More than 1.3 million people are displaced, dependant on emergency relief to survive, yet funding for the emergency response is drying up, according to a group of leading aid agencies working in the country.
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Mercy Corps supports trauma recovery in Chile with successful Comfort for Kids approach
Portland, OR — Mercy Corps is partnering with a local health organization in Chile's earthquake zone to ease disaster-related trauma in children and youth with its Comfort for Kids methodology. The 8.8 magnitude quake that hit Chile on Saturday has caused significant damage to Concepción and the capital city of Santiago, and has claimed the lives of over 800 people. The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, estimated that upwards of two million Chileans have been affected by the quake.
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Haiti: One month after devastating earthquake, Mercy Corps brings relief and recovery to Haiti
Portland, OR - One month after the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, the global relief and development agency Mercy Corps is providing humanitarian relief and laying the groundwork for long-term recovery. The agency, which had not worked in Haiti prior to the earthquake, quickly assembled a staff of 35 experts to help earthquake survivors access resources such as food, water and post-trauma assistance. Moving forward, Mercy Corps is prioritizing the creation of jobs, particularly in areas outside of Port-au-Prince.