Spoken by: Abby Matsushima

Mercy Corps Local Voices, Global Actions.Before this research started Mercy Corps wasjust another volunteer group to me. But now Iknow so much more!

In 1979 Dan O’Neil and Ells Culver started a relief fund called “Save the Refugees Fund.” They raised $1 million dollars for families fleeing the Cambodian Killing Fields.

The Killing Fields where a mass killing of 1,386,734 people.

They started the fund to focus American’s attention on the crisis in Cambodia and how to provide aid to 1,000’s of Cambodian refugees.

In 1982 O’Neil and Culver started Mercy Corps. It was a long term program to stop hunger and poverty. Over 32 years Mercy Corps has become a national and international quick response, high-impact, cost effective program over 107 different countries.

One of them being Japan. On March 11, 2011 Japan suffered a massive earthquake followed by a tsunami killing 1000’s and displacing many.

3 days later Mercy Corps and Peace Winds were on the ground responding. Mercy Corps has delivered critical food, rushed shelters, built bathing facilities, and provided bedding and kitchen supplies to over 42,000 people.

Mercy Corps has launched their program Comfort for Kids which helps kids that have been through a traumatic disaster to tell their story through coloring books. It also teaches adults how to deal with trauma and how to help kids go though it.

I think Mercy Corps is a amazing non-governmental organization. They are local based, friendly, and when 6 kids and I went on a field trip there they were so nice and welcoming.

They help all over the world and have relationships with so many countries, including Peace Winds who they are working with in Japan.

By donating or fundraising you can make a change. I have raised over $640! I will be giving all of it to Mercy Corps because I know they will put it to good use.