Material resources impact report - Summer 2025

An update on MCC material resources projects

A woman in Gaza holds onto a comforter made by MCC volunteers.

Palestine and Israel British Columbia Manitoba — Aug 2025

August 01, 2025

Tangible help for families in Gaza

Your support is reaching those who need it most

Since October 7, 2023, more than 90% of Gaza’s residences have been damaged and 24 hospitals are now out of service. As of June 2025, over 56,000 Palestinians have been killed and 113,000 injured.

With nowhere to flee, an estimated 1.7 million people who have been internally displaced repeatedly are taking refuge in schools, churches, mosques, on the beach and under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

Your steadfast support continues to bear witness to the suffering of Palestinians. Through your generosity, MCC partner Al-Najd has distributed relief kits, blankets, infant care kits and food boxes to hundreds of Gaza’s most vulnerable families.

Banner photo caption: Khayria* hugs a comforter she received from donors and volunteers like you. Hundreds of families in Gaza have been touched by your compassionate support, delivered by MCC’s local partner in Gaza, Al Najd Developmental Forum. (MCC photo/Mahmoud Meqdad) *Last name withheld for security reasons.

Relief for the cold nights in Gaza

Your generosity delivered warmth and comfort

Your generous support ensured that MCC partner Al-Najd Developmental Forum (Al-Najd) delivered the essentials to families living in Gaza under the harshest of conditions.

At night, your legs and heart feel like they are going numb because of the cold… I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the comforter. I wanted to hold it in my arms and keep my children warm with it.

Khayria* Last name withheld for security reasons.

Gaza

The ceasefire in early 2025 allowed for humanitarian aid to move into Gaza, including MCC’s shipment of comforters and hygiene supplies, as well as food for 4,000 families (supported through MCC’s account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank). Al-Najd distributed the goods to the most vulnerable families in February and March 2025.

1,650 comforters received
827 relief kits received
644 infant care kits received

MCC continues to call on governments to support a permanent ceasefire, release of hostages and the establishment of conditions that will allow for peace, justice and flourishing for all people in Palestine and Israel.

Partner spotlight: Al-Najd Developmental Forum

Al-Najd Developmental Forum is a Palestinian NGO established in Gaza in 2007 and has been a reliable local partner for MCC throughout the conflict. Al-Najd’s team members — all of whom are navigating the conflict, loss and grief in their own lives — have diligently delivered relief kits, hygiene kits, comforters, infant care kits and food boxes to families across Gaza.

The Great Winter Warm-Up

A group of volunteers poses around handmade comforters at Black Creek United Mennonite Church in British Columbia, Canada — At Black Creek United Mennonite Church in British Columbia, 33 people joined together for a comfort-making Great Winter Warm-up event, handmaking 17 comforters in a day — each sewn together with threads of love, prayers for peace and the hope of comfort. The group has finished 75 comforters this year alone for MCC to deliver to people around the world. (Photo courtesy of Brenda Neufeld)

Your comforters carry a message of hope across the globe

Every winter, MCC volunteers across North America rise to the challenge of the Great Winter Warm-up — our annual comforter-making extravaganza.

Comforters are a vital part of MCC’s relief efforts. They provide warmth for our global neighbours in need – and a tangible reminder that they are not forgotten in the midst of hardship.

In 2025, MCC challenged volunteers to create and donate 7,000 comforters. The response was overwhelming — 18,368 colourful, handmade comforters were sent to MCC warehouses across Canada and the U.S., each one a beautiful expression of care and generosity.

My children didn’t have enough blankets to cover themselves. As you know, it gets cold in winter. Receiving three comforters brought joy to my children. Before that, they were sharing two blankets which were not warm enough.

Astridah Nyemba

Meheba Refugee Settlement Camp, Zambia

Decades of dedication

Margaret Froese (right) and Linda Seyers (left) stand in front of comforters they've made at Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship in Winnipeg, Manitoba. — Longtime volunteer Margaret Froese (right) and Linda Seyers volunteer at Piece it Together’s Spring Quilt and Craft Sale at Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (MCC photo/Jessica Burtnick)

Margaret Froese has been volunteering with MCC for more than 50 years — starting when she was a child when she helped prepare relief kits during the Second World War. She used her experience at MCC to get to know Manitobans, as she herself moved to the province from Arizona. “I’m not a Manitoban, so [I started] to know people in Manitoba through connecting at MCC. I started volunteering in the thrift shop and became manager and coordinator [for] the thrift shop program in Manitoba.”*

Today, she helps create quilts and handmade goods with Piece It Together, a local quilting and sewing group that meets at Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship Church. Last year, their quilts helped raise $30,000 to support MCC’s relief efforts.

*Based on an interview from MCC podcast Threads episode: “Connection and kindness, one stitch at a time.”

Your impact around the world

With the support of donors and volunteers like you, MCC is providing material resource support to vulnerable people around the world. Here are a few recent examples of your generosity in action:

Initiative: With your support, 112 vulnerable families — among them refugees and migrants — received essential items to help meet their daily needs. These supplies included 8,325 cans of chicken, 726 hygiene kits, 606 food boxes and 1,662 school kits.

Partner: Quito Mennonite Church

Initiative: As the conflict in Ukraine continues, your support has provided emergency food, hygiene kits, sheets and pillows for 6,352 people in the Cherkasy and Kherson regions since June 2024.

Partner: Uman Help Center

Initiative: Your compassion has provided 15,987 vulnerable inmates across 28 prison facilities with essential humanitarian supplies. This includes 48,000 tins of canned chicken and turkey, 2,340 comforters, 2,400 hygiene kits and 340 feminine hygiene kits.

Partner: Malawi Prison Services

Initiative: This past year, 12,268 students at primary and secondary schools received school kits filled with pencils, paper and other learning supplies. Thanks to you, these students are better equipped to learn and grow.

Partner: Loreto Rumbek

A donor's family legacy

Legacy donor, JoAnne Janzen, sits in a booth with mug in hand. — “I support MCC with all my heart,” reflects JoAnne Janzen. To honour the life-changing support her own mother received from MCC as a child, JoAnne has left MCC a gift in her will.

As a child, JoAnne Janzen’s mother was provided meals at an MCC soup kitchen in southern Russia (present-day Ukraine) in the 1920s. This personal family connection to MCC instilled a deep sense of gratitude in JoAnne and a commitment to support the organization.

To honour her family’s history, JoAnne has left a gift in her will for MCC. Through her thoughtful generosity, JoAnne will continue to make a difference beyond her lifetime, reaching people around the world with the same compassionate, practical help her mother received over a century ago.

Learn more about how you can leave MCC a gift in your will at mcc.org/legacy