May 5, 1999
IMB task force providing food to refugees
___TIRANA, Albania (BP)--Southern Baptists have sent an eight-member task force into Albania to help cope with the flood of Kosovar refugees that continues to swell by the hour.
___Seven missionaries arrived in Tirana from Bosnia April 9 to set up a food distribution program, led by Bill Steele, a missionary based in Sarajevo. They are working with a $100,000appropriation from Southern Baptists' International Mission Board. The seven joined missionary Lee Bradley who already was serving in Tirana as a church planter.
REFUGEES in Korca, Albania, help Texas Baptist volunteers build facilities in a refugee camp set up in a gymnasium.
___On site for less than a week, the workers had rented a warehouse in central Tirana and begun assembling packets of provisions that included flour, beans, sugar, salt, cooking oil, yeast, soap, onions and potatoes. Steele estimates that each $10 worth of supplies can feed a family of four for a week.
___Workers hoped to distribute 1,000 food boxes a week, enough to feed 4,000 people, and perhaps be able to double that number. They also are distributing blankets against the cold Albanian nights, mattresses, diapers, cleaning materials, coats and clothes.
___The team had been able to buy food locally, which not only allowed them to fill orders immediately but also helped the sagging Albanian economy, Steele said. A wide range of evangelical Christians are working together to bring physical and spiritual relief to Muslim Kosovars and Albanians who need to hear the good news of God's love.
___For now, Southern Baptists are targeting Albanian families who have taken thousands of the Kosovo refugees--who also are ethnic Albanians--into their homes. One Baptist family has 22 people crowded into a two-story house outside Tirana.
___Baptists also sent four tons of supplies to Kukes, the key town in northern Albania where thousands of refugees pour in daily.
___Plans were being made to set up a distribution center in the coastal city of Lezhe, where a large congregation hopes to feed 1,000 refugees a week.
___Most international aid programs, like the Red Cross, have directed relief efforts at the ever-growing refugee camps around Albania's borders. Baptist workers felt the needs of refugees living in private homes would go unmet.
___Designated contributions for the IMB relief effort may be sent to the IMB at P.O. Box 6767, Richmond, Va. 23230.
___Volunteers will be needed in Albania in weeks ahead, but missionaries there still are assessing needs, according to Southern Baptist missionary Bill Steele.
___Southern Baptists interested in volunteer opportunities in Albania may contact the IMB's Volunteers in Mission department at (800) 888-8657.Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!