The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has received so far $1.9 million in cash donations for its relief program in famine-stricken Ethiopia, according to Dr. Saul Cohen, executive vice president of the JDC.
Speaking at a press conference at the Harley Hotel, Cohen said that in addition, the JDC has received donations of 80 tons of goods, such as clothing, medicine and medical supplies, for distribution in Ethiopia. He estimated the value of these goods as being over $1.1 million.
Cohen said that about $250,000 was used by the JDC to purchase “Faffa,” a high energy food supplement for starving children. The first delivery was made in the lbenat feeding station in the Gondar region of Ethiopia on March 4, Cohen said. He added that subsequent deliveries of 35 tons a month are planned by the JDC over the next 12 months. The aim of the JDC program is to feed some 7,000 to 10,000 children a day, Cohen said.
According to Cohen there has been in recent weeks a decline in the amount of donations to help the victims of famine in Ethiopia “despite the fact that starvation remains a fact of life” in that country.
Two high school students from Queens, New York were present at today’s press conference, representing the students and faculty of Jamaica High School, who raised and donated $217.34 to the JDC Ethiopian relief program. They came to hear Cohen’s report on how the agency used their donations and those of 25,000 other people in New York, in Ethiopia.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
