Shipping Food Aid to Hungry Christians: Can You Help?

September 1, 2023

“Yes!”

That was Barnabas Aid’s answer.

The question, received on Thursday (31 August), was: “We have an empty 40-foot truck returning to Ukraine next week. Can Barnabas fill it with items for needy Ukrainian Christians?”

Thanks to the donations of Barnabas supporters in the UK and Ireland, our warehouse in England has plenty of food, clothes, toiletries and medical equipment ready to load on to the truck next week. It will cost only £3,000 to transport 24 tonnes of aid to Ukraine.

Christians in South Sudan were amazed to receive parcels of food from Christians in the UK. Another container of food boxes and clothes is currently on its way

Right now,

  • a 40-foot container of rice, flour, chickpeas, clothes, shoes, bedding and more is on its way from UK to South Sudan
  • a 40-foot container of dried soup mix has been dispatched from Canada to Namibia
  • a 40-foot container of maize is somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean travelling from Brazil to Zimbabwe

All of these containers will bring good quality food to hungry Christians.

Boxes of flour and other dry food items, sent by Christians in Scotland to Syrian Christian refugees in Jordan. The families fled their homeland after the devastating earthquake in February

“You have planted a smile on her face and in her heart,” said our Jordanian project partners. They were talking about “Sylvie”, a young Syrian Christian girl, full of joy that her prayers had been answered. Sylvie was eating fresh, soft bread, made by her mother from the flour sent by Scottish Barnabas supporters. The family are refugees in Jordan following the terrible earthquake in Syria. For months they had been eating only hard, stale bread.

God’s blessing and your giving

Since our food.gives project started in June 2021 (later joined by medical.gives), we have sent 158 shipping containers of aid from Christians in 10 sending countries to Christians in 24 receiving countries. We have provided 70 million servings of food plus other items.

Unloading food.gives boxes in Ukraine. Next week another truck will be loaded and sent from the UK. Could you help with a donation for transport costs?

We praise God for His blessing on our food.gives project. We are so thankful to those who generously donate food, as well as the volunteers who give their time to deliver it to our warehouses around the world and pack it for shipping.

But at the end of the chain is the cost of sending those containers or trucks. Even the cheapest and most cost-effective transport still needs money to pay for it.

Please pray for food.gives and, if the Lord leads you, give a donation to help with the shipping costs. The amount needed is different for every container, depending where it comes from and where it is going. But here are some examples of typical figures.

How you can help

$9 could send 100 servings of grain from Australia to Zimbabwe

$22 could send 80kg of soup mix from the USA to Jordan

$150 could send one pallet of mixed dried foodstuffs (1 tonne) from the UK to Ukraine