Basic Needs Ministry - Serving Armenia 31.6% unemployed - 43% below poverty
In 2005, Helen Little, invited the founders of Basic Needs Ministry to attend a missions fair at Horne Memorial United Methodist Church, Clayton, where a missionary presented their work and the needs in cool/cold climate Armenia. Some area Methodist churches support the M.E.R.C.I. center, which cooperates with the U.S. State Department in shipping humanitarian aid from Kinston; telephone 888-440-9167. It is a good service to move excess winter clothing from our area to families worldwide who definitely need it. It provides a great value for a small cost. $8,000 may seem an expensive shipping bill for a box, but the box is 40' long. There are areas of the world, which simply do not have clothing available for their residents and where residents do not have money for clothing. A 40' container holds more clothing than many local clothing stores carry in inventory, particularly if the clothing is baled. A container of new clothing may be valued at $1 million or more, even at family department store prices. On June 3, 2006, Basic Needs Ministry sent 990 sweaters and 1,750 ladies' long sleeve blouses worth over $110,000 to M.E.R.C.I. in Kinston, for a U.S. State Department humanitarian aid shipment to Armenia. In November another 2,386 garments were shipped with a value of $87,525.
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