October 16, 2007
Christ Community Church (CCC) of the C&MA in Omaha, Nebraska, partnered with local organizations during the weekend of October 13, 2007, to send food to malnourished people in Mali, West Africa.
Church members and other volunteers packaged more than 200,000 meals containing rice, soy, vitamins, and dehydrated vegetables. Last year, CCC sent 110,000 meals to Mali to be distributed throughout the villages surrounding Koutiala, where residents were left destitute from flooding. It is also the site of the Hospital for Women and Children, established by The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Mali.
CCC chose Mali because of its high infant mortality rate. “The medical needs experienced by women and children in Mali are absolutely staggering, easily among the worst in the entire world,” says the hospital’s Web site. Twelve out of every 100 babies die during their first month of life, and a third of the children who survive the first year of life suffer from malnutrition.
“The mothers and children who come to the hospital are often unable to digest the medicine because they are so malnourished,” said Ashley Schmidt, an intern at CCC. “This event is a way to combat that.” The response was overwhelming.
“We had more people sign up than we were expecting,” Schmidt said. Community organizations, including the Boy Scouts and Open Door Mission, also sent volunteers to help package the food.
Source: Omaha World-Herald