Catholic Relief Services (CRS):

[ Catholic Relief Service provides Food for work and fooding during emergency ]

Catholic Relief Services was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States of America to assist the poor and disadvantaged outside the country. It is administered by a Board of Bishops and lay people, and is staffed by men and women committed to the Catholic Church's apostolate of helping those in need. It maintains strict standards of efficiency and accountability. Donation of US people to poor and needy in cash are being used to purchase food commodities by USAID (United States Agency for International Development). The food commodities that we received are requisitioned by CRS.

CRS came to India through Indo - US bilateral agreement in the year 1951 with opening of four zonal offices (Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai and Hyderabad). The regional office has been stationed at New Delhi. CRS works in partnership with other developmental organization which are referred to as Counterpart Organization (CPO). CPO in turn works with several other NGO's which are referred to as Operating Partners Organization (OPO). Before entering into partnership, all the parties need to reach an agreement. The agreement between CRS and CPO is called CRS-CPO agreement and the agreement between CPO and OPO is called CPO-OPO agreement.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Central Tibetan Relief Committee (CTRC) is one of the CPO who has entered into an agreement with CRS and has about 50 OPO's presently operating under it. These OPO's include schools, monasteries, nunneries, settlements, OPH's (old people's home) and others. The programs (Title - II) covered under the OPO's are Nursery and Creche (NC), School Feeding (SF), Residential Institution (RI / BP) and Individual Health Care (IHC). The total number of beneficiaries for all the above - mentioned programs for the fiscal year 2009 is 13,032.