Media Release

2 December, 2005

St Matthew-in-the-City Supports Blanket Programme for Kashmir Children

St Matthew-in-the-City is supporting the Buy a Blanket campaign to respond to the victims of the earthquake in Kashmir.

Launched by Save the Children in association with volunteer Bryan Begley, the money raised will go towards blankets and other emergency supplies for children and their families in Panjkot and other remote areas of Kashmir.

Save the Children specialist Rosie Jackson describes the situation in Kashmir as one of the worst she has experienced.

“As snow falls in Kashmir, volunteers in the field struggle to provide blankets and other vital supplies to children and families in remote areas of the earthquake shattered region.

“It is absolutely freezing up here. Some of the villages we distributed shelter to last week are already covered in snow. The road to Panjkot, one of the most remote areas, is closed. We are really battling the elements, the situation is bleak and they desperately need our assistance,” she says.

Rosie and other volunteers have already distributed blankets and other emergency supplies to 1,000 families and despite the appalling conditions aim to help another 1,500 families by Christmas.

“We can get supplies to people before Christmas by using donated funds to buy blankets in Pakistan or India, and then move them up into Kashmir, using every possible means of transport,” says Rosie.

Save the Children New Zealand is in daily contact with its staff in Pakistan and the remote regions shattered by the earthquake and can therefore monitor what is happening on the ground.

ENDS

HOW PEOPLE CAN DONATE:

This can be done by calling the free phone number 0800 167 168 or online through www.savethechildren.org.nz

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