Farming, Nutrition Projects Among Fund's Recipients
Episcopal News Service. February 21, 1980 [80055]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- A pilot farm and cattle project in Paraguay and a nutrition program in Ecuador are among the recipients of grants from the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief. The Fund's Board, convening here Feb. 10-12, immediately prior to the regular meeting of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, made ten grants totaling $196,587.
The Anglican Diocese of Paraguay was awarded a grant of $22,000 toward support of its La Herencia Pilot Farm and Health Project. The program is aimed at helping 50 Indian families from the Lengua, Angaite and Sanapane tribes improve their economic status and health through cattle grazing development and arable cropping. The program will also train health, agricultural and literacy workers at the village level. The Fund's grant to the Diocese of Paraguay supports administrative aspects of the program.
The Meals for Millions/Freedom from Hunger Foundation received a grant of $30,000 for its Applied Nutrition Program in Santa Elena, Ecuador. The program, which involves nutrition education and high-protein food development, will work to reduce malnutrition among low-income farm families, with particular emphasis upon proper nutrition for infants and children under six years of age.
Other grants made by the Fund's 22-member Board include:
- Technoserve, Inc. -- $27,500 for assistance to low-income farmers in Nicaragua. The project provides for direct technical and managerial training to small-scale farmers, with the goal of improving general living standards.
- Diocese of New York -- $2,000 in emergency support for the feeding and relief programs of St. Ann's Church in the South Bronx. This grant, together with another $3,000 emergency grant from the Fund in late January, will enable this program to continue until a long-range funding source is developed. St. Ann's provides emergency relief to families left homeless as a result of arson or lack of heat and provides daily breakfasts for 250 neighborhood school children.
- Diocese of the Southern Philippines -- $60,000 for Brent Hospital, Zamboanga City, Mindanao. This grant provides for the rehabilitation of hospital buildings to help the hospital become self-supporting. The Board authorized disbursement of $30,000 immediately, with the additional $30,000 held in reserve pending professional cooperation from St. Luke's Hospital, Manila, and continued evidence of viable management.
- Diocese of Western North Carolina -- $800 for the Macon Programs for Progress/Gardens Against Hunger. This self-help program enables low-income families to grow and preserve farm products.
- International Medical Research Foundation -- $10,000 for Flying Doctors Services, Nairobi, Kenya. The program serves 27 Anglican and Protestant hospitals and dispensaries in East Africa by providing surgical, preventative and curative medical services to remote rural areas. The program also trains local hospital personnel and gives diagnostic advice via radio to hospitals in remote areas. This grant represents the first year of two-year funding.
- Diocese of New York -- $28,312 for the diocese's Indochinese Refugee Resettlement Program. The grant will assist the diocese in parish sponsorship recruitment and in the transition process for Indochinese people into American life. The program also attempts to maintain ethnic and cultural ties for the refugees whenever possible.
- Diocese of Louisiana -- $6,500 for transport of recently released Cuban detainees and their families to the United States. This grant is being held in reserve pending final transportation arrangements.
- Ibo-State, Nigeria -- $9,475 for a chicken hatchery project. This pilot-program will help improve life for subsistence-level farmers in the Ibo State through training in chicken raising in a solar-powered hatchery and through formation of marketing cooperatives.
In other business, the Rev. Samir J. Habiby, director of the Presiding Bishop's Fund, introduced Mrs. Robert M. Dawson as the new assistant director for migration services. Mrs. Dawson was formerly on the staff of Lutheran Immigration Services in New York. (Editors: See DPS release # 80057.)
Several new Board members were also welcomed, including the Rev. Canon Frederick J. Bush, Jackson, Miss.; Mr. John L. Carson III, Denver, Colo.; Mr. Harry W. Havemeyer, New York City; Mr. Samuel Im, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; the Rev. Canon Sanford Smith, Chicago, Ill.; and Mr. Dwight Wait, Greenwich, Conn.