.- Catholic Relief Services recently began its “Give Hope to Jesus in Disguise” initiative, which is a collection that will take place in parishes across the U.S. on March 14.
A press release issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops last Friday stated that one of CRS' main efforts is providing continual relief to the victims of the catastrophic earthquake that ravaged Haiti on Jan. 12. An estimated 200,00 people were killed in the earthquake, 194,000 were injured, and 3 million people in total have been effected, CRS says.
Citing some of their many relief initiatives Haiti, the bishops' conference said that CRS has worked to provide an emergency health team of doctors, volunteer nurses and firefighters to help restore St. Frances de Sales Hospital in Port-au-Prince. The team not only assisted in rescuing those trapped inside the hospital but have helped rebuild it in other to give much needed medical care to patients.
CRS has also worked to protect children who have been separated from their parents and have been made vulnerable to human traffickers. The USCCB has assisted them in facilitating reunification between family members as well as determining the needs of children who have been orphaned.
The Catholic Relief Services March 14 collection will fund six Catholic programs including Catholic Relief Services (CRS), CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Service, Inc), the Holy Father's Relief Fund, the USCCB Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development (JPHD), the USCCB Department of Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) and the USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church.
