Our impact
Transforming Lives, Empowering Communities
WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED
Over the last 35 years, Christian Relief Services Charities affiliates delivered more than $600 million in assistance through programs across 31 states in the U.S. and 63 countries throughout Eastern Europe, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa. This work has benefited hundreds of communities and thousands of people helping them to a better and more self-sufficient life. We are also proud to have earned the Better Business Bureau´s Wise Giving Alliance Charity Seal for meeting their rigorous standards for charitable accountability.
HOW WE ACHIEVE OUR CHARITABLE PROGRAM GOALS
Christian Relief Services Charities’ affiliates provide help to those domestically and internationally by utilizing donations (that the affiliates raise, both cash and in-kind materials like medicines and food) in the most efficient and effective way possible. Without these generous donations, our affiliates would not be able to provide their programs with adequate resources, supplies and technical assistance. To acquire these resources, Christian Relief Services Charities works with its affiliates to provide the back-office administrative (everything from helping them keep up with the very necessary state registrations every year in order that they can fundraise, accounting, HR to IT help) support necessary to help them to procure donations and utilize the support of volunteers and partnerships with local non-governmental organizations in order to attain adequate funding to provide for their programs.
HOW WE MEASURE PROGRESS TOWARD OUR CHARITABLE PROGRAM GOALS
Christian Relief Services Charities measures its performance every two years with a report to the board of directors. This biennial report is entitled the Performance and Effectiveness Assessment of CRSC and is in accordance with the Board Policy to have such a report and meets standard 7 of the Standards for Charitable Accountability of the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance (www.give.org).
Moreover, CRSC, through our affiliates, is in constant communication with all of our partners to ensure that together we are reaching our goals of self-sustainable programs. Staff members and volunteer board members travel internationally, as well as here in the United States, to the program sites to see firsthand the improvement and development of these programs and to report on their progress or lack thereof, and to make recommendations for future funding and support. The Charity’s affiliates also publish annual reports and daily updates to their websites to provide the public with real-time (and an annual summation) information to show how we’re doing. These can be found at our affiliate websites.
OVERVIEW OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2023
HOUSING program
Christian Relief Services Charities owns two housing complexes that provide 10 and 15 units of affordable housing to low and very low-income families located in Phoenix, Arizona, assisting approximately 75 people. In addition, CRSC provided administrative and technical support to provide clients with two years of transitional housing in 35 homes through a Community Funding Pool Grant. We also provided administrative and technical support for coordinated support services through a 1991 Housing and Urban Development McKinney Grant for permanent housing for the homeless and chronically mentally ill adults in three group homes that the organization owns, located in Fairfax County, Virginia which assisted approximately 206 individuals.
Christian Relief Services Charities also provided 1,865 units of affordable, transitional and permanent supportive housing and resident related services in Arizona, Kansas, Texas, and Virginia to very low-, low- and moderate-income persons, chronically mentally ill adults, homeless families, and individuals.
NATIVE AMERICAN PROGRAMS
Christian Relief Services Charities’ affiliate Running Strong for American Indian Youth® (Running Strong) works with Native American youth and their families to bring hope and support for a better life. Running Strong provides food and other basic needs on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Sioux Indian reservations in South Dakota, and Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin as well as dozens of other partner organizations across the country. Native American children face some of the highest poverty rates in the nation; Ziebach County, on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation, has the highest child poverty rate in the United States. Oglala Lakota County (formerly Shannon County) on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation leads the nation in food stamps. However, Running Strong is committed to ending the cycle of injustice by listening to these communities and providing them with self-sustaining, meaningful programs and supplies in accordance with their greatest needs. In FY22, Running Strong donated $1,776,307.85 in in-kind materials such as blankets, school supplies, home gardening equipment, winter clothes, and hygiene supplies as well as direct donations of food.
DOMESTIC PROGRAMS
Our affiliate, Americans Helping Americans® provided food and other basic needs to families and individuals throughout Appalachia including Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia Mississippi, Ohio, Arizona, and Florida. Americans Helping Americans® provided grants to their partner organizations located in some of the economically hardest-hit communities in the country totaling more than $909,697 for various programs.
Through their home repair program, Americans Helping Americans® supported projects which repaired 103 homes in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. In many instances, the homeowners are elderly, living on meager fixed incomes with no resources to fix leaking roofs, rotted floors and porches or to build a handicap ramp, providing them the ability to enter and exit their home on their own and allowing them to continue to live there instead of being forced to move into a nursing home. The projects are completed through the joint effort of their grassroots partners which vet and organize the home repair projects, Americans Helping Americans® provides funding for materials such as shingles and lumber and groups from churches and schools who travel to the communities spending a week volunteering their time and labor to make the repairs.
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
Bread and Water for Africa® works in twelve countries. The following is the summary of the fiscal year 2024 main activities:
Orphan Care
Providing care for Africa’s most vulnerable—orphaned and abandoned children—remains a top priority. In 2024, 50 orphaned and abandoned children lived at the Lewa Children’s Home in Kenya, received food, shelter, healthcare, and education through the affiliated Kipkeino Primary School and nearby high schools.
In Zambia, 94 orphaned and abandoned children reside at the Kabwata Orphanage and Transit Centre, providing them with food, shelter, educational support, and hope for the future. Additionally, 33 abandoned children stay at Kabwata for up to eight months until they are reunited with their parents or extended family members.
The Lerato Children’s Home in Mutare, operated by Shinga Development Trust, supports 22 children in Zimbabwe.
In Tanzania, 89 children live in a loving home environment at the Watoto Wa Africa Orphanage, providing all their basic needs, including food, shelter, education, healthcare, and counseling.
In Uganda, 80 children and their caregivers reside at the Kyasira Home of Hope Orphanage. The organization BWA has provided solar lighting, replanted 600 banana trees, installed a solar water system, and assisted in completing a new home for them.
Food Self-Sufficiency
In 2024, BWA supported various food security and self-sufficiency projects in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Malawi.
In Sierra Leone, BWA implemented a training program for 150 rural women and youth, teaching them how to grow vegetables and crops. Participants were provided with essential farming tools and assistance in establishing small enterprises, such as food vending, tailored to local demand. This project is estimated to benefit more than 10,500 individuals indirectly.
In Malawi, 173 individuals were trained in Farming God’s Way techniques and received essential farming tools. This project is projected to benefit over 700 individuals indirectly.
Education
At Bread and Water for Africa®, we believe the continent’s future depends on a well-educated population. In 2024, 411 students received primary and secondary education support in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Cameroon, Chad, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Zambia. Additionally, this year, BWA provided five 40-foot containers carrying 1,425 desks (including chairs and tables) to rural schools in Ethiopia and Sierra Leone.
Healthcare
In FY24, BWA increased and focused on our healthcare program support in Africa. BWA provided cash grants and in-kind support, including medicines, medical supplies and equipment, prenatal vitamins, personal protection equipment (PPE), and uniforms for healthcare workers, to healthcare-focused program support in Africa.
In 2024, over 98,000 individuals were served in 58 healthcare hospitals and clinics in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, and Sierra Leone, supported with cash grants, medicines, medical supplies and equipment, wheelchairs, and more.
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)
In 2024, 56 clean water projects were successfully completed, benefiting over 48,500 individuals. These projects included the repair of 17 wells in Ethiopia, the protection of 12 springs, and the installation of a solar-powered water well in Uganda. Additionally, there were ten water wells and two school latrine projects in Malawi, five water wells in Zambia, eight water wells in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and one well for a farm irrigation system in Tanzania. Collectively, these initiatives have positively impacted thousands of people in rural villages.