Blessing Bids 2011

Blessing Bids are when people lift their bidder card to donate for specific MCC projects around the world.  This year’s BB projects are:

$500 –Sand Dams Collect Rain Water – Tanzania

Each year seasonal rains are lost due to lack of storage. Surface storage ponds result in evaporation loss.  Sand Dams trap and store water under stream beds for many months after the rains cease. This amount provides tools and supplies for one sand dam.

$320 – Summer Service Projects – United States

     Each summer MCC organizes youth from across the USA into six or ten week leadership training programs. They learn skills while serving communities through bible school, youth programs, and other service activities.  This amount pays for one week of one summer program.

$300 – Clean Water in Vietnam

     Vietnam has lots of rain, so much so that in part of the year the drainage and sewer systems overflow,  contaminting water and spreading disease.  MCC trains women from local work coops to improve drainage, make safe wells, and use filter systems.  This amount will help one household afford the tools and supplies for a safe well and water system.

$288 – New Life for Women in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, many girls are forced into sex work to support themselves and families. MCC’s Pobitra program is 8 months of vocational training, health care, literacy and spiritual training, that enables them to enter into a new life. This amount sponsors one woman for the eight month program.

$275 – HIV / AIDS care in El Salvador

The stigma around AIDS/ HIV prevents people from getting tested or admitting they are infected.  This amount provides training for village health promoters and helps 5 patients with transportion to appoinments and getting their prescriptions filled

$120 – Traveling Medicine Teams in Ukraine

Local health facilities are rare in rural areas.  MCC and Christian Medical Association send traveling teams to examine and treat patients, plus arrange for specialized care or surgeries.  This amount provides medicines for 10 patients who come to the clinics held by the traveling teams.

$103 – Growing New Crops in Chad

MCC provides training and technical help for farmers beginning to grow crops, other than cash crops.  Carrots, tomatos, watermelons, green beans and others provide nutritious food for the family and to sell in local markets. Tools are shared within a village, along with weeding and watering tasks. This amount provides sufficient garden`tools and one year’s seeds for one village.

$85 – Sewing Clothing and Income– Southern Sudan

After years of conflict, Southern Sudan is the world’s newest country, but problems remain.  MCC’s local partners teach tailoring and income generation classes.  Women then can afford a home, school fees, and better lives for families.  This amount provides 5 days of training and subsidizes half the cost of one sewing machine.

$77 – Healthy Garden Soil in Lebanon

The refugees from Palestine and Syria in Lebanon’s camps stretch existing food supplies and create large amounts of waste and garbage piled up around camps.  MCC and local groups train families to set up composting bins to transform waste into healthy soil for fruit and vegetable gardens. This amount pays for instruction and materials for a one-family composting container.

$25 – URGENT NEED – Food for Work – Famine Relief in East Africa

     There has been no consistent rain for two year’s of rainy seasons in East Africa.  MCC has committed $1.2 million to Food-For-Work projects in Kenya and Ethiopia.  Workers are paid in cooking oil, maize and beans as they build 92 sand dams and 25 water wells.