Update from CRS

We’ve received the following letter from Ken Hackett, President of Catholic Relief Services:

Right now, the worst drought in decades is gripping East Africa, causing famine in Somalia, and severe hunger and malnutrition in Kenya and Ethiopia.
As CRS continues to provide food water to desperate people, we are also helping communities prepare so they don’t have to fear drought again.
We couldn’t do any of this, though, without you.
We’re grateful for the outpouring of support we’ve received in response to this crisis. Here’s how you are helping:
• In Somalia, you’re making sure people at clinics and shelters have food. Your support is also helping CRS improve wells and water sources near the Somalia border, where 1,200 refugees are crossing into Kenya each day.
• You’ve given 20,000 hygiene kits to Somalian refugees, that provide families with soap, laundry detergent, clean cotton cloths, a bucket and a plastic basin—and the ability to live under healthier and more sanitary conditions, and help reduce outbreaks of infections such as cholera.
• In Kenya, you’ve helped build more than 90 water stations, about 3.5 million seedling tree nurseries and at least 2,500 miles of terrace farms.
• In Ethiopia, you’ve made it possible for CRS to drill wells that deliver safe drinking water to more than 7,000 homes and supply water filtration systems to at least 10,000 families.
Thank you so much for your generosity. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of this crisis, though. Millions still face extreme hunger, and CRS relies on your generosity to continue helping our East Africa friends.
Your support has already changed lives. But this hunger crisis is predicted to spread unless humanitarian aid increases on a massive scale, so we are asking that you consider deepening your support. Please donate now.
 For more information or to donate, go to http://www.crs.org