Agencies Assisting Refugees in Kosovo Crisis

The following are brief descriptions of some of the agencies and their activities assisting refugees from Kosovo.

ADRA is assisting refugees in both Albania and Macedonia. In Macedonia, it is providing food and personal hygiene items to refugees in resettlement areas. Families are given 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of food, including wheat, rice, noodles, milk, beans, fresh fruit and more, and hygiene items such as soap, toothbrushes, towels, etc. ADRAs Albania office is assisting refugees near the Kosovo border and is working with refugees who have been transported to southern Albanian districts. ADRA has offices and warehouses in Albania and has been operating a health education program in that country.

Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904
Telephone: 1-800-424-2372
Internet: www.adra.org

To help meet the refugees' immediate needs for food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention, the American Red Cross is cooperating with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the National Red Cross Societies in Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Albania, and Bosnia-Herzogovina, to position relief supplies and personnel to meet a growing range of humanitarian needs.

American Red Cross International
Response Fund
PO Box 37243
Washington, DC 20013
Tel: 1-800-HELPNOW

ABWE is responding to the crisis in Kosovo with an effort to demonstrate the love of Christ to refugees in Albania and Macedonia. ABWE is not competing with other efforts already in place. Instead they are directing efforts through leaders of evangelical churches in the region through whom the gospel message is also being proclaimed.

Association of Baptists for World Evangelization
P.O. Box 8585
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8585
Tel: (717) 774-7000
Fax: (717) 774-1919
Internet: www.abwe.org

Baptist World Aid (BWAid) is collecting funds to assist the refugees from Kosovo, and is channeling this through Baptist churches and agencies in the Balkans region. Baptist communities in Albania and Macedonia are already caring for refugees, and funds have been provided to assist them with this. Other Baptist agencies around the world are collaborating with BWAid in this endeavor.

Baptist World Aid
6733 Curran Street
McClean, VA 22101
Tel: (703) 790-8980
Internet: www.bwanet.org

Bethany Christian Services (BCS) has had a presence and commitment in Albania since 1993. Their 30 employees in Albania have a good relationship with government officials. BCS is conducting a nationwide fundraising effort to assist Kosovar refugees. BCS employees in Albania are cooperating with other agencies and with the Albanian government in refugee relief efforts.

Bethany Christian Services
Kosovo/Albania Relief Project
P.O. Box 294
Grand Rapids, MI 49501-0294
Tel: 1-616-224-7444

BBF has been sending 40 foot containers of relief supplies like baby food and clothes from locations in Pennsylvania. The BBF is accepting cash contributions for future shipments of humanitarian aid that will be sent to the Albanian refugees involved in the Kosovo Crisis.

Brother's Brother Foundation
1501 Reedsdale Street, Suite 3005
Pittsburgh, PA 15233-2341
Phone: (412)321-3160
Fax: (412) 321-3325
E-mail: BBFound@aol.com
Internet: www.brothersbrother.com

Campus Crusade for Christ finds itself in a unique situation to help because they already have staff in Albania who are ready to reach out to Kosovar refugees with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. Over 250 staff members are working in the refugee camps in Albania, meeting physical needs in the love of Christ. Many of the members of this relief team are bilingual they speak both English and Albanian. They have the unique advantage of being able to understand the people's greatest needs and will meet them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Campus Crusade for Christ’s relief team is currently involved in "hands on" work like food preparation, sanitation, etc. They also plan to provide water filtration units, field kitchens, bunk beds, antibiotics, and more vitally needed supplies. This is an outreach that will only happen through gifts. CCCI has no funds budgeted for this so donations are needed to make it possible. Campus Crusade for Christ has the manpower on the scene but support will enable them to minister in Christ’s name.

Campus Crusade For Christ International
100 Lake Hart Drive
Orlando, FL 32832-0100
Tel: 1-(407) 826-2000
Internet: www.ccci.org

Although CARE had to suspend operations in the province of Kosovo on March 22, it is working in several bordering areas. In Macedonia, CARE's emergency response program continues to evolve on a daily basis. In addition to on-going food and blanket distribution, CARE is managing a camp at Stenkovec and helping to reunite lost children with their parents. In Albania, CARE is managing a camp in Durres providing temporary refuge.

CARE
Kosovo Emergency Response Fund
151 Ellis Street
Atlanta, GA 30303
Tel: 1-800-521-CARE
Internet: www.care.org

The Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) is working with Caritas Internationalis, the Catholic international relief agency, to address identified medical needs among refugees from Kosovo. Caritas, in turn, is coordinating relief efforts with its local agencies in Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia. Each local agency is detailing precisely what is needed to help refugees and the homeless. CMMB will be airlifting medicines. Additionally, CMMB has provided funds to Caritas and other partner organizations engaged in relief activities in the region. Funds have been sent to Caritas Albania and Catholic Relief Services in Macedonia. These funds support local water purification programs, general hygiene needs, trauma counseling, and other health-related activities.

Catholic Medical Mission Board
Kosovo Regional Emergency
10 West 17th St
New York, NY 10011-5659
Tel: 1-800-678-5659

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is working to feed over 100,000 refugees daily. CRS is the principal implementing partner for UNHCR in distributing basic needs to refugee populations in Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia, and the Yugoslav Republics of Serbia and Montenegro. In an innovative initiative, the agency is partnering with Caritas Croatia to provide airlifts of food, camp supplies, hygiene kits, medicine, and water to Albania, where these items are distributed to Kosovar refugees. The airlifts began on April 8, 1999. The Church to Church airlift provides immediate assistance for the Kosovar refugees, while communicating the solidarity between the churches in Croatia and Albania. Besides helping with these real basic needs of refugees, CRS is helping people return to some sense of normalcy and cope with the trauma they have suffered. A group of Kosovar teachers began activities for children in a Catholic Relief Services community center and a Kosovar art exhibit has opened. Additionally, agency psychiatrists are providing ongoing counseling services at the CRS-sponsored MedTirana Center.

Catholic Relief Services
PO Box 17090
Baltimore, MD 21203
Tel: 1-800-736-3467
Internet: www.catholicrelief.org

Christian Aid Mission is collecting funds to help indigenous ministries in Croatia, Albania, and Macedonia extend relief and minister the love and peace of the Lord Jesus to refugees who have fled from Kosovo to these surrounding countries.

Christian Aid Mission
P.O. Box 9037
Charlottesville, VA 22906
toll free 1-800-977-5650
Internet: www.christianaid.org

CAMA Services, the relief arm of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, is in touch with church groups in Macedonia and Albania through which they are providing aid.

CAMA Services
Christian and Missionary Alliance
P.O. Box 35000
Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500
Tel: 1-(719) 265-2039
e-mail: cama@cmalliance.org
Internet: www.cmalliance.org

Christian Children's Fund will implement its award winning child trauma program to assist Albanian refugees traumatized by the war in Kosovo at UNICEFs request. Christian Children's Fund has commissioned a team of leading child development experts and child psychologists experienced in the implementation of child trauma initiatives, to address the immediate psychological and social needs of this highly shocked and displaced group of people in Albania

Christian Children's Fund
2821 Emerywood Parkway
PO Box 26484
Richmond, VA 23261-6484
Tel: (804) 756-2700
Toll Free: 1-800-776-6767
Internet: www.christianchildrensfund.org

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) has launched an effort to provide emergency relief aid to Kosovo refugees in Albania in conjunction with Dorcas Aid International, a Christian relief agency based in Andijk, Netherlands. CRWRC's response in the Balkans will emphasize their strategy of relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction in human disaster.

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
2850 Kalamazoo Ave. S.E.
Grand Rapids, MI 49560
Tel: 1-616-224-0740 ext. 156
Internet: www.crcna.org

CWS, the relief and development agency of the National Council of Churches of Christ (NCCC) in the U.S.A., has provided $1.8 million in assistance for the needs of Kosovar Albanians and other displaced persons in the region. The aid has been sent to colleague agencies working in Albania and in other regions affected by the Kosovo crisis. This includes sending more than 22,000 "Gifts of the Heart" health, school sewing and baby kits, as well as medicines and medicinal supplies, to the CWS Bosnia office, which is helping establish two large camps to meet the needs of a portion of the nearly 33,000 refugees now in Bosnia. Through Diaconia Agape, a local church agency in Albania, CWS is providing more than 27,500 pounds of locally purchased baby formula, baby food and cereal to refugee camps in Albania. Local U.S. affiliates of the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program (CWS/IRP) will be helping settle some of the 20,000 Kosovar refugees in the United States.

Church World Service, Kosovo Relief
28606 Phillips Street
PO Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515
Tel: 1-800-297-1516 ext. 222
Internet: www.churchworldservice.org

Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is currently assisting Kosovar refugees in Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro. In all locations, teams are treating patients with diarrhea and respiratory infections, and conducting epidemiological surveillance. In Albania, Doctors Without Borders is providing medical care and supplies, and conducting health assessments in Krume; building latrines, supplying water, and providing mental health care in Kukes; and working in a number of refugee camps in the south around Vier. The organization will paraticipate in a major measles and polio vaccination drive throughout the refugee encampments. In Macedonia, the organization is working in the Brazda and Radusa camps, again providing basic medical care and supplies. In Montenegro, Doctors Without Borders is distributing medical supplies and supporting local health structures.

Doctors Without Borders/MSF
6 East 39th Street, 8th Fl.
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 1-888-392-0392
Internet: www.dwb.org

EMI is surveying possible partnership opportunities in the region. They are available to do engineering, design, architecture, and surveying in partnership with organizations proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed.

EMI Home Office
110 South Weber - Suite 104
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Tel: (719) 633-2078
Internet: www.emiusa.org

The Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) is collecting contributions to assist Albanian Evangelical churches in ministering to the needs of Kosovar refugees. Funds collected are going to help families who have opened their homes to refugee families and to help shelters that many churches have established.

EFCM Compassion Ministries
901 E. 78th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55420
Tel: 1-888-59-CMPSN
Internet: www.efcm.org

Feed the Children is sending containers of relief supplies for Kosovar refugees. They are accepting gifts in kind of blankets, non-perishable food items, new warm clothing, over the counter medicines and medical supplies, baby clothes, new undergarments, and hygine products at drop off sites in Nashville and Oklahoma City.

Feed the Children
333 North Meridian
Oklahoma City, OK 73107
Tel: 1-800-328-2122
Internet: www.feedthechildren.org

Frontiers needs workers in Albania. Frontiers is recruiting workers who will accompany refugees back into Kosovo when the time comes for them to return.

Frontiers is building the Kosovo Gap Team now. Workers on this team will build relationships with Kosovar refugees, serve them, and share their faith in Jesus Christ with them. When Kosovo opens back up these workers will return with the refugees to help them rebuild their homes and lives, and they will work to establish chuches among them.

Frontiers
325 North Stapley Drive
Mesa, AZ 85203
Tel: 1-800 GO-2-THEM
Fax: (480) 834-1974
Internet: www.frontiers.org

Food for the Hungry has shipped over $1million worth of food, clothing, medicines and medical supplies to Albania and Macedonia and is networking with local groups in affected countries to assist smaller centers and families who have taken refugees into their homes. Long term rehabilitation programs will include mobile medical units and skills training.

Food for the Hungry International
7729 East Greenway Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
Tel: 1-800-2-HUNGER
Internet: www.fh.org

Greater Europe Mission is ministering on both sides of the conflict in the Balkans. They are ministering in both Serbia and in Albania. Their Albanian Bible Institute in Durres has suspended classes indefinitely allowing Bible students to minister to refugees in their home churches and allowing staff to operate a refugee center in Durres. GEM's relief work in Albania is costing $1000 per day for which they are receiving contributions.

Greater Europe Mission
18950 Base Camp Road
Monument, CO 80132
Tel: 1-800-GEM-4488
Internet: www.gemusa.org

Horizons International has direct links with three small but vibrant churches in Prishtina, Kosovo; in Skopje, Macedonia; and in Tirana, Albania. While they have recently lost all contact with the church in Kosovo, the other two churches are heavily involved in relief work among the predominantly Muslim refugees.

Horizons International
P.O. Box 18478
Boulder, CO 80303
Tel: 1-(303)442-3333
E-mail: horizons@iex.net

International Aid has committed to assist in providing basic needs for Kosovar Refugees in Albania and in Macedonia. International Aid is working in partnership with mission agencies established in the region to meet both the urgent and longer-term needs of those who are suffering.

International Aid
17011 W. Hickory
Spring Lake, MI 49456
Tel: 1-800-251-2502
Internet: www.internationalaid.org

Convinced that people suffering loss need spiritual input and guidance just as seriously as they need physical assistance, International Bible Society (IBS) is producing and distributing their booklet, When Your Whole World Changes, in the Albanian language. The evangelistically oriented booklet, which is grounded in Scripture, helps people cope with disaster, loss, and trauma. Relief agencies are successfully using the booklet in Albania. All 20,000 copies of the first edition have been used up. The IBS can produce many more copies as funding is available.

International Bible Society
1820 Jet Stream Dr.
Colorado Springs, CO 80921
Tel: 1-800-987-3589
Internet: www.gospelcom.net/ibs

In Macedonia, ICMC is the lead agency for social and community services in the Brazda (Stankovac I) transit camp which is current accommodating 30,800 refugees. ICMC is facilitating recreational and non-formal educational activities for children and youth; training Kosovar refugees to work with women and the elderly; managing the daily care of extremely vulnerable individuals in a "nursing home" tent (housing invalids, the disabled, the frail elderly and unaccompanied minors); and leading the dissemination of public information in the camp inclusive of a mobile phone service for refugees. To date over 15,000 refugees have placed free calls to relatives abroad informing them of their status and whereabouts. In Albania, ICMC is facilitating broad-based community service programs for children, youth, women, and the elderly in 15 refugee camps and collective centers around Albania serving nearly 40,000 refugees. In addition, ICMC has begun the identification, monitoring, referral and transport, as well as longer term assistance programming for 5,000 extremely vulnerable refugees in the heavily impacted Tirana and Durres areas of central Albania.

International Catholic Migration Commission
1319 F Street, NW #600
Washingtom, DC 20004
Tel: (202) 393-2904

Since 1992 International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) has provided emergency and development assistance throughout the former Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro. Relief operations continue in each of these areas with the provision of shelter, food and personal care articles to displaced persons as well as vulnerable groups (children, elderly and hospitals). IOCC is also working with partners in Albania to provide food, personal care supplies, and blankets. Through the IOCC office in Athens, Greece additional staff have been added and a regional response is being coordinated.

International Orthodox Christian Charities
PO Box 630225
Baltimore, MD. 21263-0225
Tel: (410) 243-9820
Internet: www.iocc.org

International Teams (I.T.) wants to see new churches established and existing ones strengthened. Much of their work supporting local churches is focused on leadership development. I.T. missionaries are focusing on Skrapar, a mostly rural, mountainous district in south-central Albania. They are striving for a wholistic, integrated ministry through evangelism and discipleship. They seek to plant churches in Polichan, Chorovoda and 100 villages in Skrapar so that every village in the district may be reached with the Gospel of Christ. There are special needs for church planters in this area.

In Albania, JRS continues to manage the Arre e Madhre camp in Shkodre on behalf of Caritas Albania. The Jesuit community in the Shkodre seminary is also hosting refugees and warehousing goods. In the Tropoje region in northern Albania, JRS and Caritas are supplying medicines, food and other basic necessities to around 3,000 refugees. In Tirana, JRS is managing Kini Studio, an urban center holding around 700 refugees, mostly women and children. JRS is purchasing whatever goods are available locally. In Macedonia, JRS has set up an operational office in Skopje, following consultation with the Bishop of the diocese. JRS will work with urban refugees outside the camps in Skopje. The office will help refugees access information, assist those without documents to legalize their status and enable them to benefit from the local social welfare system which includes food and primary health care.

Jesuit Refugee Service
1616 P Street, NW #400
Washington, DC 20036-1405
Tel: (202) 462-0400
Internet: www.jesuit.org/refugee

LIRS is providing expertise and staff assistance at Ft. Dix, where the first 400+ refugees from Kosovo arrived on May 5th. LIRS assistant directors of resettlement, as well as representatives from other voluntary agencies, will meet with the refugees upon arrival, interview them and prepare bios and case files, and provide cultural and other orientation, coordinating efforts with Refugee Data Center (RDC). LIRS anticipates resettling 3000 refugees from Kosovo throughout the summer, initially in the Northeast.

Lutheran World Relief (LWR) and partner organizations in ACT, an international church aid coalition, are helping Kosovo refugees with food, water, shelter, bedding, camp management and sanitation. In Macedonia, up to 40,000 refugees living with families receive a monthly food package from a local partner agency. A $4.7 million partner program there also manages Radusa refugee camp and handles water and sanitation at Radusa and two other camps, Bujane and Chegrane. 16,000 Macedonian families strapped by the crisis are beginning to receive food assistance in order to help Macedonia cope with the strains of the conflict. In Albania, 1,000 refugees per week are filling three new camps that will hold18,500 people. 1,000 families sheltered in private homes receive food and hygiene parcels. In Serbia and Montenegro, another partner agency has provided 6,000 aid parcels to refugees and the internally displaced. 10,000 such families will receive aid parcels in the coming six months.

Lutheran World Relief
Kosovo
PO Box 6186
Church Street Station
New York, NY 10277
Tel: 1-800-597-5972
Internet: www.lwr.org

Through the support of individuals and the pharmaceutical and health care industry, MAP International is preparing numerous shipments of desperately needed medicines, health care supplies and personal hygiene products. These are being packaged for immediate airlift and sea container delivery to cooperating NGOs involved with the provision of health services to refugees in Albania, Macedonia and possibly Montenegro. These essential supplies include antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, pain relievers, first aid supplies and personal care items such as antibacterial soaps and other personal hygiene items. Materials are being received and distributed by other InterAction members and local agencies in partnership with MAP. An assessment team is being dispatched for immediate evaluation of the situation and the effectiveness of MAP medical aid shipments.

MAP International
2200 Glynco Parkway
PO Box 215000
Bruinswick, GA 31521-5000
Tel: 1-800-225-8550
Internet: www.map.org

Community Health Evangelism (CHE) is the strategy which Medical Ambassadors International is implementing. This strategy uses national workers who speak the same language and are from the same culture. It seeks to heal the whole person, both physically and spiritually, and avoid welfare-like dependency.

Medical Ambassadors International
P.O. Box 576645
Modesto, CA 95357
Tel: (209) 524-0600
Fax: (209) 571-3538
Internet: www.med-amb.org

Mercy Corps International was among the first agencies to open in Kosovo in 1993. Today Mercy Corps is providing food, water, shelter and other supplies to more than 150,000 refugees throughout the Balkans. Mercy Corps is especially focused on the well-being of children and their care-givers traumatized by the war. Plans now in place will reach an additional 250,000 refugees in the coming weeks. Today Mercy Corps' 50 staffers in Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia are providing daily shipments not only to refugees, but also to host families and other vulnerable groups that are often overlooked. Mercy Corps is also working with local food producers to increase their capacity to meet refugee needs.

Mercy Corps International
PO Box 9
Portland, OR 97207-9703
Tel: 1-800-852-2100
Internet: www.mercycorps.org

Mission Without Borders (MWB) is registered in Albania as an Albanian Organization. They are in a unique position to help Kosovar Refugees because they had offices in Albania before the current crisis and already have a working relationship with the Albanian government. MWB is working together with the City Council of Durres helping them to obtain and distribute relief supplies. They are also offering assistance and cooperating with other relief organizations to better help all those affected by the crisis.

Mission Without Borders International
Tel: 1-805-987-8891
Fax: 1-805-484-8378
Internet: www.mwbi.org

Northwest Medical Teams International (NMTI) sends teams of doctors, nurses, and emergency medical technicians to areas of physical, emotional, and spiritual need. NMTI teams are ministering to Kosovar Refugees in Albania and Montenegro spiritually by sharing with them the love of Christ, physically by taking care of many medical needs, and emotionally through the trauma counseling conducted by psychological professionals who are on the medical teams.

Northwest Medical Teams International
P.O. Box 10
Portland, OR 97207-0010
Tel: 1-800-959-HEAL

OM is working directly with Kosovo refugees in Albania, providing relief supplies and care. OM's full-time Albania team permanently based in the country is working in partnership with other agencies and with local Albanian churches.

They have received more than 24 tons of food and medical supplies, some provided by other aid organizations, and the team in Albania is operating two refugee centers in Durres, is helping in other refugee camps and is providing food to many who are living on the streets unable to get into overcrowded camps.

The OM teams and the local Christians helping them are helping to feed approximately 35,000 people each day in the cities of Berat, Durres, Lushnje and Polican. This includes an estimated 1,000 refugees who have been taken into private homes.

The Albanians can provide shelter but not much more. OM is also feeding approximately 1,000 people who are living on the streets, unable to get into crowded camps. Teams buy, prepare and take food into the streets each day.

OM has received more than 70 tons of food and medical supplies and it is accepting financial gifts to help sustain the work. In the city of Durres where some OM staff are based, the local government has given the team two buildings so they could set up camps to house about 600 people.They were able to get blankets, foam mattresses and toiletries and are providing one hot meal per day for the refugees housed in these buildings.

OM is also working in partnership with Global Care to operate a feeding tent on the border crossing at Kukes, feeding approximately 5,000 per day. In addition to distributing food, clothing, shoes and other items, OMers and local church members working with them are trying to take time to sit and listen to the people's stories, show genuine care, and offer the news of God's love.

Special literature is being prepared to be distributed among the refugees, as well. Working under the coordination of the Evangelical Alliance of Albania, the OM team, Samaritan's Purse, Global Care, and other ministries are joining forces to make the most impact.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is collecting funds to support the work of faith-based agencies directly involved in providing basic humanitarian relief, including food and medicines, clothing, and shelter, to migrating refugees in Albania and other countries in the region. They are also seeking skilled and experienced volunteers to work with partners in the region who are involved in relief work.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Kosovar Refugees
100 Witherspoon Street
Louisville, KY 40202-1396
Tel: 1-800-872-3283 or (502) 569-5839
Internet: http://pda.pcusa.org

Working in Albania in partnership with local church groups, Salvation Army resources are now being used to establish longer-term feeding programs to which refugees are being moved. Feeding programs are functioning or being developed in three areas: Tirana, Korce in the south, and Shkoder in the northwest. The Salvation Army will soon be providing approximately 27,000 meals a day. Technical and material assistance are being provided to local Albanians who are caring for groups of refugees being housed in factories, hotels, and other facilities. Mobile canteens will also provide hot meals to those staying with local families as needed. In addition, 45,000 blankets and 25 tons of clothing requested by officials were sent to Albania.

Salvation Army World Service Office
Kosovo Relief Fund
615 Slaters Lane
PO Box 269
Alexandria, VA 22313
Tel: (703) 684-5524

Samaritan's Purse is providing food, blankets, medicine, shelter, and other life-saving aid to Kosovar refugees. They have also distributed "Operation Christmas Child" gifts to children in Kosovo and in nearby refugee camps in Bosnia and Albania. They are using a variety of efforts in these areas to reach people with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Samaritan's Purse
P.O. Box 3000
Boone, NC 28607
Tel: 1-(828) 262-1980
Internet: www.samaritan.org

Team Expansion partners with local churches to plant churches among the unreached. Over 150 full-time Team Expansion workers serve in two dozen countries. Some Team Expansion workers in Durres, Albania, have been invited to accompany Kosovar refugees back to Pristina to do church planting in Kosovo whenever it is possible for the refugees to return home.

Team Expansion
3700 Hopewell Rd.
Louisville, KY 40229-5002
Tel: (502) 297-0006
Fax: (603) 676-2177
Internet: www.teamexpansion.org

TWR broadcasts the gospel in Albanian, Serbian, and Croatian languages. See Words of Hope which produces the programs.

Trans World Radio
Box 8700
Cary, NC 27512
USA
Tel: Office: 919.460.3700 Fax: 919.460.3702
Internet: www.twr.org

UMCOR is sending an assessment team to tour the region to determine how to continue and strengthen their response to the refugee crisis in the Balkans. UMCOR has been working with their churches in Macedonia for more than a year to support them in their efforts to respond to the trickle of refugees that is now a flood. UMCOR is also working with the Methodist Church of Italy to respond to the refugees pouring into their country with shelter and food. In Macedonia and Albania, UMCOR is responding through their ecumenical partner ACT (Action by Churches Together). Much of the assistance will be targeted to areas of central Albania where many of the refugees will be transported. Immediate assistance will include food, water, cooking utensils, bedding, tents, medical supplies, and sanitation facilities. In Macedonia and Montenegro, ACT partners are also distributing food and securing shelter for refugees.

United Methodist Committee on Relief
475 Riverside Drive, Room 330
New York, NY 10115
Tel: 1-800-814-8765

In cooperation with International Health Services Foundation, Wells of Life is sending a team of professional emergency relief workers and doctors to help in Macedonia and Albania

Wells of Life International
P.O. Box 968
Colorado Springs, CO 80901
tel: 1-(719) 596-2007

Words of Hope (WOH) produces the Albanian language radio programs broadcast by TransWorld Radio (TWR). In addition to their normal Albanian language programs broadcast from Monte Carlo, Words of Hope is producing fifteen minute daily segments designed to help broken up families get reunited by letting refugees anounce their whereabouts so that relatives can find them. A WOH employee records the programs in the refugee camps, edits them on a laptop computer, and then sends them electronically to TWR for broadcast. The programs feature interviews with refugees about their experiences and highlight the activities of Albanian Christians ministering to them. One goal is to demonstrate the hope and love of Jesus to the refugees.

Words of HOPE, Inc.
P.O. Box 1706
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501 (USA)
Phone: (616)459-6181 Fax: (616)459-3830
Internet: http://woh.org

World Concern has established a team in Albania and Macedonia to provide food, clothing, shoes, diapers, and hygiene items to refugees through a local (Albanian/Macedonian) organizations. Food is being purchased as nearby as possible in Europe in order to reduce shipping costs and speed the process. At least 8 sea containers at 8 metric tons each of clothing, shoes, diapers, baby bottles and blankets are being shipped from the USA.

World Concern
Kosovo
19303 Fremont Ave., North
Seattle, WA 98133
Tel: 1-800-739-9800
Internet: www.worldconcern.org

Staff in Albania are working with the Albanian evangelical churches to provide emergency care items such as food, mattresses, pots, pans, cups, plates and blankets to thousands of refugees being housed in churches and private homes throughout the country. World Relief is also providing needed technical assistance to the Albanian Evangelical Alliance, made up of 160 churches, as they operate a refugee transit center for 3,000 people in an outdoor sports stadium in Tirana. World Relief and local churches have contracted with local authorities for a transit center in Korce, and are working with other NGOs to obtain supplies for the center. They are also coordinating a food program for refugees living in Albanian homes. In the long-term, World Relief is considering starting a micro credit project for Kosovars.

World Relief
Dept. 3, PO Box WRC
Wheaton, IL 60189
Tel: 1-800-535-5433
Internet: www.wr.org

Working in the Balkans since 1994, World Vision has committed $6 million to the Kosovo refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). In Albania, World Vision is renovating and rebuilding nine existing buildings, such as factories and gyms, which will house 9,500 refugees. All will have new bathrooms and showers; many will have new kitchens, dining areas and medical clinics. WV is also distributing supplies to refugee encampments, as well as giving food, toiletries, bed linens and other needed supplies to host families. It is also continuing assessments of health, sanitation, shelter and nutrition needs of the refugees. In Montenegro, World Vision has expanded its existing program and is distributing relief supplies, including equipment for soup kitchens. World Vision is planning to provide crisis counseling and psycho-social support for war-traumatized children and women in both countries.

World Vision
Kosovo Relief Effort
PO Box 9716
Federal Way, WA 98063
Tel: 1-888-511-6565
Internet: www.worldvision.org