Santa Barbarans Build Projects in Chad
Local Relief Foundation's New Online Fundraising Campaign Bears Fruit
In January 2010, three Santa Barbarans active in the Chad Relief Foundation (CRF) will travel to Chad for the fifth time in three years. President Bill Felstiner, Vice President Catherine Swysen, and Dr. Mary-Louise Scully from the board of directors will make the two-week, mid-January trip in 2010 to assess the progress of existing projects and initiate new efforts. The expenses of these trips are paid by the participants themselves.
Recently, the CRF initiated an online campaign to raise money to complete projects already underway. So far, this campaign has raised $21,000 of the $27,000 required.
United Nations refugee camps in southern Chad are home to 70,000 people who fled across the border from the war-torn Central African Republic. The Chad Relief Fund focuses on two sets of camps, about 150 miles apart, outside the villages of Gore and Danamadji. The Relief Fund has already financed five projects in Gore, three of which are complete.
