In 1944 The War Relief Commission of the national Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is founded in New York City to address urgent humanitarian needs in war-torn Europe. Food and clothing are shipped from the United States and channeled through a network of churches in Europe's hardest-hit cities. In community with the local Church, World Relief envisions the most vulnerable people transformed economically, socially, and spiritually. After 9/11, World Relief supported the trauma counseling and relief ministries of churches in New York City. Funded by World Relief, trauma counseling continues today. Churches were a lifeline as famine swept through southern Africa in 2002 and World Relief mobilized local Christians to distribute food. Massive earthquakes in El Salvador (2001), India (2001) and Iran (2003) followed by the Asia tsunami (2004) led to an outpouring of aid from U.S. churches and individuals. When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, local churches were on the front lines – delivering emergency supplies, comforting the grief-stricken and providing refuge. World Relief supported church teams in the rebuilding and rehabilitation of homes in the devastated Pass Christian area along the Mississippi coast. The new century has seen a dramatic expansion of World Relief’s church-based HIV/AIDS ministries that today reach hundreds of thousands of people with care, support and AIDS education.
Mission Statement
Empowering the local Church to serve the most vulnerable.
Project Sectors
Disaster Response
Child Development
Maternal and Child Health
HIV/AIDS
Agricultural Development
Immigrant Services
Microfinance
Precision made in Switzerland