CURRENT Humanitarian Aid PROJECTS

RWF has distributed over $6 million dollars in humanitarian aid and has provided over 85,000 hours of volunteer service helping people in needed.

Aid to LGBTQ+ refugees in the Middle East - RWF provides emergency grant assistance to LGBTQ+ refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria who have faced imminent threats in their homelands. Hundreds of the people that RWF has helped have been granted asylum in and have relocated to Canada, Europe and the U.S.

Aid to LGBTQ+ refugees in Uganda - On March 21, The parliament of Uganda approved a bill with harsher provisions against homosexual relationships. The bill includes the charges of "aggravated homosexuality" and "attempted homosexuality" with sentences of up to 10 years in prison. The bill also requires any one to report any known LGBTQ+ person to the authorities and will punish any property owners/landlords who provide housing to LGBTQ+ persons.

RWF provides financial aid to support members of the Ugandan LGBTQ+ community who face abuse, arrest, and harassment. RWF aid is used to provide transitional safe housing, transportation to safety, medical assistance, as well as modest start-up funds for basic necessities for people to begin new lives. We also fund efforts to promote the human rights of the Ugandan LGBTQ+ community.

Turkey-Syria Earthquake Aid Fund - On February 6, 2023, a series of violent earthquakes with a magnitudes as high as 7.8 struck Turkey and Syria causing widespread damage and thousands of fatalities. Over 21,500 people have died and the death toll continues to rise. Winter storms have hampered rescue efforts leaving survivors stranded in freezing temperatures. RWF is working with in-country partners to deliver aid. Our funds are being used to provide food, temporary shelter, and emergency supplies.

RWF is helping the LGBTQ+ community in Ukraine - During the war with Russia, already vulnerable LGBTQ Ukrainians are even more at risk to be further marginalized and scapegoated. RWF has funded the evacuation of members of the LGBTQ+ community from Kyiv, Kharkiv, and other cities to Lviv and Poland. RWF has also provided support funds so that LGBTQ+ nonprofits can continue to function during the current crisis.

Aid to the transgender community in Central America - RWF supports OTRANS - Organizacion Reinas de la Noche (Organization of the Queens of the Night), a non-profit based in Guatemala that seeks to vindicate the rights of the transgender communities in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras by helping them to fight stigma, discrimination, and violence. RWF funds the infrastructure of an "underground railroad" that helps transgender women reach safety and start new lives.

Aid to the transgender community in India - RWF provides important financial support to the Rainbow Home of the Seven Sisters, a shelter and community center for the marginalized Hijira/kinner (transgender) community, in the Joypur area of Guwahati, Assam. In India, most transgender people endure deep prejudice and open hostility. Many are rejected by family and are forced to leave home. Transgender women face severe employment discrimination and in desperation many beg or are forced into survival sex work. At Seven Sisters, the women are able to bond, support one another, organize, and begin to heal. The women receive emergency housing, psychological support, and vocational skills training.

Aid to children with HIV and cancer in Cuba - RWF provides medicines and medical equipment to clinics in Cuba. RWF fully funds a summer camp program for HIV positive children and children whose families have been affected by HIV.

In the USA and around the world, RWF provides emergency aid following fires and other natural disasters.

RWF helps orphans and displaced children in India, Mexico, and Uganda by funding education, housing, and medical care.

CompleteD Humanitarian Aid Projects

Humanitarian Aid to Guatemala - RWF has delivered over 8,000 pounds of medicine and medical supplies. RWF funds multiple projects including medical clinics, schools, orphanages, transgender health care, HIV/AIDS prevention programs, micro credit programs. Additionally, RWF has funded Mayan cultural history projects.

Distributing Life Saving Supplies to Cuba, India, Mexico, and Zimbabwe - RWF has collected and sent thousands of pounds of life saving medications and medical equipment following natural disasters and during nonemergency times.

Aid for Orphans and Vulnerable Children effected by HIV/ AIDS in the Eastern Cape of South Africa - RWF funds a variety of services including clinical nutrition interventions, food and/or food parcels, shelter interventions, child protection interventions (birth registration identification and inheritance support), general healthcare
services such as immunizations, HIV prevention education and related interventions, psychosocial care, general and vocational education, and anti-retroviral treatment.

Nepal Earthquakes - RWF provided financial support to the Blue Diamond Society, the lead LGBT organization in Nepal, to provide direct humanitarian aid to our brothers and sisters that were affected by the earthquake. RWF also provided funding for food, nutritional supplements, safe drinking water and shelter to the general population that survived the earthquake through our partner agency CARE.

Aid to Vulnerable LGBTQ Communities - In Guatemala, we help the transgender community by funding transitional housing and basic living costs for those fleeing rural communities and establishing new lives in safer urban areas. In Cuba, we support bridge-building efforts to create healing between religious communities and the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, RWF provides financial aid to LGBTQ+ human rights organizations in Cuba. In Iraq and Syria, RWF has secured transportation for LGBTQ+ refugees, getting them to safety in Lebanon providing support to assist them with their asylum cases. In Uganda, we provide for the shelter, safe passage and medical needs of LGBTQ+ people fleeing danger. We also fund efforts to promote the human rights of the Ugandan LGBTQ+ community.

Urban Gardening Project and Women's Healthcare, Gonaives, Haiti - RWF funds gardening education/advocacy programs that improve the food supply and income earning potential for struggling families by teaching them agricultural skills. Additionally, RWF funds projects that provide direct health care to women and children.

Emergency Aid for the Survivors of the Earthquake and Tsunami in Northern Japan - Following the March 11, 2011 disaster, Rainbow World Fund joined forces with a coalition of organizations from the Northern California Japanese American community to raise funds to help the survivors. 100% of the donations were sent to groups in Japan, such as the Japanese YMCAs, that helped organize volunteer efforts to provide food, water, clothing and shelter directly to the victims, conducted citizen search efforts, and rebuilt orphanages in the aftermath of the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

AIDS in AFRICA, Education and Case Management - RWF provided stipends for the training and salary of rural HIV peer educators to help save the next generation of young Africans: 20 positions funded.

Bus of Hope Project, Tijuana, Mexico - RWF delivered over 5000 pounds of life saving medications, medical supplies, school supplies, art supplies, computers, toiletries, and over 1500 children’s Christmas gifts. RWF also provided grants to an orphanage and a HIV medical clinic.

Safe Drinking Water System, Mangales, San Andres, Guatemala - RWF funded a mountain-spring fed gravity-flow system with taps, drainage for wastewater, and latrines at each household in this rural village. The system provides water for over 200 people.

Landmine Eradication in Cambodia - RWF funded minefield clearance in the Kamrieng, Battambang allowing for the safe resettlement of dozens of farm families.

Peru Earthquake Relief - RWF provided funding for food, nutritional supplementation, safe drinking water and shelter.

Maternal and Child Healthcare in Haiti - RWF funded the distribution of nutritional supplements and vitamins, as well as and education in nutrition and hygiene helping hundreds of women and their families.

Hurricane Stan Emergency Aid in Guatemala - RWF delivered 1625 pounds of medicine and medical supplies delivered. RWF also funded the repairs to damaged drinking water systems.

Safe Drinking Water System in Las Limas, Honduras - RWF funded a water system in Las Limas, Jesus de Otoro, Department of Intibuca providing direct access to water in homes and set up closed-hydraulic latrines for sanitation. The project also had a major educational component focused on hygiene, water management, improving construction skills and environmental sustainability.

Hurricane Katrina Emergency Aid - RWF provided 1 million pounds of food aid and funding to rebuild damaged food banks. RWF also purchased musical instruments for high schools whose music departments were destroyed.

Pakistan Earthquake Relief - RWF provided food, nutritional supplements, safe drinking water, medication, and shelter.

Niger Famine Aid - RWF provided food assistance including the purchasing and distribution of food, nutritional supplements, vitamins, and related supplies.

Safe Drinking Water System in Sosoal, Honduras - RWF funded a mountain-spring fed gravity-flow system with taps, drainage for wastewater, and latrines at each household in this rural village. The system provides safe water to over 470 people.

Southeast Asia Tsunami Emergency Aid - RWF provided food, nutritional supplementation, safe drinking water, medications, and shelter materials. Lifesaving aid was delivered to over 20,000 people.

Hurricane Jeanne Emergency Aid for Haiti - RWF provided food, nutritional supplementation, safe drinking water, medications, and shelter materials.