Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Sydney (Agenzia Fides) – Project Compassion, the annual appeal by Caritas, continues to exceed expectations and donations across Australia have already exceeded those for the same period last year. In 2009, the international aid organization raised a total of $8.7 million from its annual Project Compassion appeal, while this year's appeal looks like it will be beating this by more than $1.3 million.
But as everyday Australians yet again dig deep and support Caritas and its vital work helping deliver life-saving developmental infrastructure to poverty-stricken communities along with education, sustainable agriculture and emergency relief, the Australian Government shows no such generosity and continues to cut back its International Development Budget.
After last year's black Saturday bushfires in Victoria followed by individual Caritas appeals to help victims of floods in the Philippines, a cyclone that destroyed towns and villages in Vietnam, followed by the Pacific tsunami in September which swept through Tonga, Samoa and small islands in the Pacific, and this year's earthquakes that devastated Haiti and Chile, Australians and Caritas continue to be generous in sending aid to others.
Caritas Australia's work is vital and the agency is currently carrying out emergency relief efforts and international development programs in more than 30 countries worldwide. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 27/04/2010)
