For every dollar donated, Salesian Missions is able to ship $14 worth of critical goods.

NEW ROCHELLE, NY (May 8, 2023) Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, recently launched its annual “Loaves and Fishes” fundraiser which raises funds to ship life-saving aid to more than 130 countries around the globe. Because the cost of shipping critical aid is far less than its value, donations are multiplied many times over. For every dollar donated, Salesian Missions is able to ship $14 worth of critical goods to its programs. The fundraising appeal runs through the end of June 2023.

Aimed at maximizing the impact of donor-assisted programs and answering the call for emergency aid deliveries, the Salesian Missions Property and Logistics Program is made possible by generous assistance from government and private sector partners. Millions of dollars in U.S. government-issued excess property and corporate in-kind donations are leveraged by an annual award to Salesian Missions from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Ocean Freight Reimbursement Grant for humanitarian aid shipments. This award enables the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs to transport shipments of humanitarian aid and development commodities at low to no cost.

“Salesian Missions maintains several strategic partnerships that help us to secure and donate critical aid like food, water, medicine and housing supplies,” explained Father Timothy Ploch, interim director of Salesian Missions. “Partnerships with organizations like Feed My Starving Children and Rise Against Hunger ensure that students in Salesian programs have access to life-saving food aid that provides healthy nutritious meals so youth can focus on their studies, receive an education and thrive in their communities.”

These partnerships are vital to poor youth in communities around the globe. In 2022, more than 9,600 vulnerable people in Peru received nutritional support thanks to Feed My Starving Children. A shipment of rice-meals was provided to the Don Bosco Foundation in 2022 and distributed throughout the year to 10 civic and religious programs serving the sick, elderly, at-risk youth and other marginalized populations. In addition, 1,440 internally-displaced families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,* who are seeking shelter at Don Bosco Ngangi in Goma, had access to nutritional support thanks to a donation by Feed My Starving Children.

Rise Against Hunger shipments were sent to several Salesian organizations in Haiti including Don Bosco Lakay in Cap-Haïtien, Salesian-run Timkatec schools in Pétion-Ville and Don Bosco Lakay/Lakou in Port-au-Prince. These shipments were critical given the challenges when armed gangs paralyzed the country’s capital. As a result, there have been issues with sanitation and cholera from dirty water, as well as rising prices of food and other commodities.

More than 30,000 Salesian missionaries are dedicated to caring for poor and at-risk youth in programs around the globe. Salesian programs assist poor and disadvantaged youth through education (academic, trade, agriculture) and workforce development initiatives, emergency relief and humanitarian aid, infrastructure support, clean water initiatives, and nutritional and health services.

To learn more and make a donation, visit SalesianMissions.org/content/multiply.

*Any goods, services, or funds provided by Salesian Missions to programs located in this country were administered in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including sanctions administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control.

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