Baltimore -- Lutheran World Relief is assisting 3,000 families who have been displaced due to growing conflict in the Philippines’ Mindanao region. This initial response is planned to focus on the areas of Northern Mindanao and will be expanded into other affected regions in the coming weeks. All told, LWR plans on providing assistance to more than 18,000 people caught in the fighting.

Fighting between separatist rebels and government troops has escalated over recent weeks as peace talks between the rebels and the government crumbled. As fighting has flared up, thousands of innocent civilians — mostly farmers — have been forced to evacuate, leaving behind their homes and their land with little means to sustain themselves and their families while they wait for the conflict to ease.

Lutheran World Relief’s Philippines staff is working with local partners to distribute its initial emergency assistance to 3,000 families. The relief items will be purchased locally and will include rice and canned goods, medicines, kitchen utensils, tents, mosquito nets and sleeping mats. Local volunteers from Lutheran churches in the affected area will pack the relief kits, which will be distributed by LWR’s partner organizations on the ground.

“The increasing violence in Mindanao is creating a real humanitarian crisis,” said Tim McCully, LWR’s vice president of international programs. “Our work in the Philippines has traditionally focused on both long-term development and community peace building and it is absolutely crucial that we respond to this need and make sure people are able to sustain themselves until they can return home.”

“As one of our local partners said to me,” added McCully, “you can’t have development without peace and you can’t have peace without development.”

To support the work of Lutheran World Relief, please make a gift at www.lwr.org/giving or call 1-800-LWR-LWR-2.