I'm wearing a moustache during the month of May to raise money for Episcopal Relief and Development.

Most recently Episcopal Relief and Development has been working with the Diocese of Haiti as well as other humanitarian organizations in the rebuilding effort. By partnering with churches and local agencies, they are able to remain in communities to help them achieve long-term stability.

Alleviate hunger, ensuring that people have enough nutritious food that is available and affordable,

• We offer seeds, tools and training to improve crops, add nutritional value and increase total food production.

• We give families and communities healthy animals—chickens, cows, goats and pigs—to provide an ongoing source of nutrition.

• We teach environmentally sound farming practices that sustain the productivity of the land.

• We provide food to those experiencing chronic food shortages, including families affected by HIV/AIDS; refugees and displaced persons; households headed by women, children or the elderly; and other vulnerable individuals and communities.

Address the root causes of poverty by creating income-earning opportunities for families. 

• We provide micro-finance opportunities, including savings and credit circles that allow individuals and groups to start or expand small businesses and cooperatives.

• We supply tools, equipment and other resources to increase the value of products and improve access to markets.

• We train people to become effective marketers, managers and leaders of their own small businesses. 

• We ensure that traditionally marginalized and vulnerable groups—such as girls and women, people living with HIV/AIDS and other disabilities, and children orphaned by AIDS—receive education and tools to support themselves.

save lives, promoting good health and fighting preventable diseases that kill millions of people each year.

• We work to prevent malaria through the NetsforLife^® program partnership by distributing long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and educating communities in prevention and treatment methods.

• We train clergy, educators, youth leaders and community health workers to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and provide care to those affected by the disease.

• We build wells, latrines, water stations and smokeless stoves to prevent water-borne illnesses and acute respiratory infections, and provide training in their use and maintenance.

• We educate community members on sanitation and hygiene practices, nutrition, maternal and child health and basic first aid.

provide critical assistance when disasters strike and help rebuild devastated communities.

• We help deliver life-saving supplies such as medicine, blankets and food for emergency shelters or camps.

• We help provide shelter, along with trauma counseling and psycho-social services to survivors.

• We help repair and construct homes, schools, health clinics, roads, water systems and community centers to replace those destroyed by disaster.

• We help residents restore the social and economic fabric of their communities by providing economic and educational opportunities and improving access to legal services and home ownership.

• We help train and equip local churches to prepare for and respond to disasters that devastate their communities.

Episcopal Relief & Development reached more than 2 million people in over 40 countries last year.

Rather than impose “one size fits all” solutions, Episcopal Relief & Development supports local, long-term initiatives that address poverty, hunger, disease, economic development and disaster response where the need is greatest.

ER&D serves communities in some of the most remote areas of the world, as well as in urban environments where extreme poverty persists.