General impact report - Winter 2025

An update on MCC projects around the world

A group photo of top scoring students and staff of the RPC Preschool in Adama Ethiopia in March 2024.

Ethiopia Cuba Haiti Uganda India British Columbia Ontario — Feb 2025

February 14, 2025

A strong start in Ethiopia

You are creating new opportunities for vulnerable children to learn, grow and connect

Five-year-old Sudeyis Sherif, collects his award for standing 1st in his nursery school class from MCC staff Solomon along at the morning assembly cermony of RPC Preschool, Adama Ethiopia, March 2024. — Because of your support, hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children like Sudeyis Sherif now go to preschool. Five-year-old Sudeyis spends his days learning to count, read, create art, listen to music and play with his friends. He is thriving and was awarded top student in his nursery class (pictured here). (MCC photo/Nafkot Gebeyehu)

In Ethiopia, children from the poorest households are four times more likely to be out of school than those from the wealthiest families.

With the generous support of donors like you, MCC partner, Remember the Poorest Community (RPC), has helped 276 children attend preschool over the past three years.

This support has been focused on orphans and vulnerable children who face significant financial and social barriers to accessing preschool education, providing them with the education materials they need to thrive in school.

Here’s an overview of the difference you made in the lives of these children:

275 children (137 boys and 139 girls) received education materials to improve literacy and numeracy.
270 students passed successfully from first to second semester.
62 students (35 boys and 27 girls) experienced improved food security and nutrition at home. Their caregivers participated in a loan program specifically geared toward enhancing their families’ income-generating activities.

Relief and care for families in Cuba

Your compassion is feeding hope and restoring dignity

Yamile González López holds an MCC relief kit. The Brethren in Christ Church of Cuba continues to distribute both MCC canned meat and MCC relief kits to vulnerable people in Cuba in a time when the whole island faces a shortage of food and basic items, along with daily energy rationing. — Yamile González López beams as she receives an MCC relief kit and canned meat made possible by the generosity of donors like you. (Photo courtesy of BIC Church of Cuba/Pastor Luis Ramón Blanco Angulo)

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Cuba was already economically vulnerable. A decrease in agricultural production along with increased U.S. economic sanctions, took the country to the brink of recession.When the Cuban tourism economy shuttered during the pandemic, the country’s primary source of income evaporated. Many young people are migrating to Canada, the U.S. and Mexico in search of opportunity, leaving behind a massive gap in the country’s workforce and hindering economic recovery.

Thanks to your compassion, MCC has worked through an extensive network of 200 Brethren in Christ Church congregations to deliver relief to Cuba’s most vulnerable families.

Here’s a snapshot of the relief you have provided:

4,032 relief kits have been distributed to families, reaching 31,433 people.

This includes 5,924 elderly people, 10,951 children and 3,371 people with special needs.

48,000 cans of canned meat were distributed. Typically two cans of meat per person per household were delivered.

Donors like you rose to the School Kit Challenge

Your support is fueling young learners in Ethiopia and around the world

Kalkidan Fistum, 13, holds the MCC school kit supplies she will use at Enda Ferensay Elementary School during the 2024–2025 school year. The kit was given to her during a distribution at Rama Secondary School, Tigray region , on September 19, 2024. — Kalkidan Fistum, 13, holds a school kit made possible by donors like you. (MCC/Arete photo)

Last summer, supporters like you came together in churches and community spaces across Canada and the U.S. to pack school kits for students in need. Each kit included vital learning tools including spiral notebooks, pencils, a ruler, pencil crayons, an eraser, pens and a pencil sharpener. Our goal was to assemble 24,000 school kits. But thanks to your participation and support, we exceeded that goal!

Together, you packed 30,349 kits and raised funds for an additional 1,460 kits.

For Kalkidan, the civil war meant three years of missed school. “I felt terrible when I was sitting at home without attending school. Not going to school slows your mind down because you’re not learning anything.”

The supplies you helped provide mean kids like Kalkidan can finally get back to class.“We didn’t have anything, and without the donations, our families would have had to borrow money to buy supplies for us.”

Watch and learn

QR Code for Ethiopia School Kit Distribution video.

Scan the QR code or click here to learn more about the difference you've made in the lives of vulnerable students in Ethiopia.

Living with purpose and passion

Ken Kohlmeier standing with supplies in an MCC warehouse in British Columbia, Canada. — Ken and his wife, Linda, spend their summers beating the Arizona heat by volunteering with MCC in B.C. Their approach to retirement has them travelling, serving and living with purpose and passion. (MCC photo/Monet Lamphere-Ma)

Retirees Ken and Linda Kohlmeier have found a special way to escape the blazing summer Arizona heat: volunteering with MCC British Columbia.

These purposeful vacations began in 2016 and Ken and Linda have spent four summers since coming north to volunteer with MCC Thrift in Surrey and the Material Resources Centre.

“Scripture doesn’t speak about retirement except in the case of the Levitical priests who were to retire at age 50,” Ken reflects.

“The Great Commission and Great Commandment apply for our entire lives, so as God enables, we try to stay active and busy.”

Your impact around the world

The compassion and generosity of MCC donors like you has provided practical help to people around the world caught in the midst of conflict, disasters and crisis. Here are a few recent examples of how we are moving your support to action…

Initiative: Support for 350 families to rebuild agroforestry and vegetable gardens destroyed in the 2021 earthquake.

Partner: Institut de Technologie et d’Animation (ITECA)

Initiative: Keeping girls in school by improving access to clean water, safe latrines and menstrual hygiene management supplies.

Partner: Young and Powerful Initiative - South Rwenzori Diocese

Initiative: Cash transfers for 850 vulnerable families surviving the aftermath of conflict to purchase food items like teff, maize and oil.

Partner: Meserete Kristos Church Development Commission (MKCDC)

Initiative: Hands-on training and resources for farmers from 1,200 indigenous families to improve sustainable agriculture practices and increase year-round food security.

Partner: DISHA

Judy and Gordon from Toronto, Ontario, envision a future that is more equitable for people around the world. (Photo courtesy of Judy Noordermeer and Gordon Moir)

Using blessings to bless others

Judy Noordermeer and Gordon Moir from Toronto, Ontario, have thoughtfully chosen to leave MCC a gift in their will.

“Charity alone is not the solution to solving inequities in the world, but it can help. We have long admired the work of MCC and want to use the resources we’ve been blessed with to make life better and fairer for others.”

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

*Judy and Gordon from Toronto, Ontario, envision a future that is more equitable for people around the world. (Photo courtesy of Judy Noordermeer and Gordon Moir)