Gleaning teams up with Samaritan’s Feet to bring relief to displaced Pakistanis

More than two million people in Pakistan have fled their homes in the last few weeks due to fighting between army troops and Taliban militants in Swat Valley. According to news reports, this is the largest movement of refugees in the world in the last 20 years and the largest movement that has ever taken place in Pakistan.

In many communities, the Taliban have moved in and given the people hours to vacate their homes or be killed. The people have walked for days without food, adequate clothing, medical care or normal supplies to survive the trip to the camps. Humanitarian organizations working with the U.S government are shipping supplies to the camps as rapidly as possible. Since this is normally the time to harvest their crops, the people could be left this winter without adequate food.

Rev. Ron Davidson, President of Gleaning For The World (GFTW), received calls from mission groups over the weekend who reported that this could be the largest humanitarian disaster we have faced in years. Hundreds of thousands of people could be lost if we cannot get the shoes, clothing, medical care and food to these people immediately. Some humanitarian groups responding to the humanitarian disaster predict that hundreds of thousands of people will perish without immediate assistance. Even with the humanitarian efforts, millions of innocent people will suffer because of the inhumane callus actions of Taliban forces.

According to Manny Ohonme, President and Founder of Samaritan’s Feet, “We are honored to be working with Gleaning to save as many people as possible. The people in Pakistan have done nothing wrong and yet they face horrible conditions and possibly death. Samaritan’s Feet is providing 10,000 pairs of high quality shoes and will do everything possible to help save these innocent people.”

Through the partnership with the non-profit organization Samaritan’s Feet, GFTW is providing $400,000 worth of shoes to the Pakistanis. Many of these people do not have shoes. The people have travelled many days to the refugee camp and will have to walk back home when the fighting subsides. These shoes are desperately needed, and will be appropriate for the conditions.

Also, GFTW is preparing a tractor-trailer load of medical supplies worth more than $500,000. A second medical load has been requested from humanitarian groups and will be prepared as rapidly as possible. Unfortunately, sickness and disease have the potential to spread quickly in these camps. And those who are wounded from the conflict will need immediate medical attention. These medical supplies will contain surgical instruments, first aid kits and personal care items that can be used by missionary doctors to help treat the people and prevent diseases from spreading.

The first two shipments will be sorted, boxed and loaded this week. They are scheduled to be shipped to Pakistan by Monday, June 8th. If you are interested in volunteering to help us pack and ship shoes and other supplies to these innocent Pakistanis, please contact Mandy Wood, Volunteer Coodinator at Gleaning For The World, Inc.

434-993-3600 (o) mandy@gftw.org