Where Can I Send Disaster Relief Donations?

One of GFA World’s ministries helps with disaster relief. Disaster relief donations help us with this important effort. Earthquakes, cyclones, and floods are among the most devastating natural disasters. They wipe out homes, crops, and entire livelihoods. Impoverished families are left with even less and almost no hope for the future.[1] In the first days after a crisis, affected communities often need safe water, basic supplies, and a safe place to rest. Some people choose to give through a disaster relief fund. That way help can be ready as needs become clear.[3] [4]

GFA works to ease immediate burdens. We give families food, water, clothes, and hygiene items. Our missionaries are also focused on long-term solutions. These include:
  • helping people rebuild their homes
  • getting their children back in school
  • providing them income-generating gifts that can change the course of their future
These are the same steps that GFA takes to relieve poverty. So it makes sense to take the same steps after natural disasters.

Disaster response can focus on urgent safety and essential needs. Recovery can focus on restoring routines and stability. This steady path is what many people mean by relief and recovery. It can take patience. In some places, long term recovery may include rebuilding homes and helping children return to school.[5] Natural disasters make poverty worse and make its cycle even harder to escape.

Sahlma was only 9 when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck her village in 2015.[2] The homes were reduced to rubble, and their possessions were all buried. GFA missionaries and local authorities passed out tarps for shelter. But those were only temporary relief. The already poor community still faced the problem of providing for themselves after the earthquake.

Sahlma’s parents had to go find work in a nearby town. They left the nine-year-old behind to look out for her two younger siblings. Sahlma even had to pick up work as a porter—carrying heavy, loaded baskets over the rocky terrain—to earn extra money for her family.

GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program had operations in the town where Sahlma’s parents worked. So they enrolled her in the program. This eased some of the family’s financial burdens. It provided her tuition, school supplies, and nutritious meals. Soon, Sahlma and her siblings got to move to the town with their parents. She continued her studies. This opened many more opportunities for the future.

For families under pressure, that kind of financial assistance can help children stay in class during a hard season.

Sahlma wants to become a social worker one day. She hopes to help people and children who are going through disasters and poverty as she once did.


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