CRS partners with USDA to feed hungry in Sudan, Ethiopia

The premier aid and development organization of the Catholic Church in the United States is partnering with the U.S. government to deliver nearly a quarter-billion dollars in aid to East Africa, where nearly 70 million people are facing food insecurity.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have agreed to a joint initiative delivering as much as $235 million in emergency food and nutrition assistance to the millions of people facing multiple converging crises in Sudan and Ethiopia, Crux Now has learned.

A deadly cycle of drought and flooding over the past 15 years, coupled with frequently violent instability and supply chain disruptions stemming from local and global conflicts, has left millions of people across the region teetering on the brink of starvation.

“This agreement helps ensure families in Ethiopia and Sudan have access to the food they need during a time of extraordinary hardship,” CRS president and CEO Sean L.  Callahan told Crux Now ahead of the public announcement of the initiative.

Callahan said CRS has been “a proud partner of USDA for decades,” in regular conversation with the department about “the best way to partner with them and use food aid as a tool