Humanitrian Relief
2025: usaid operations halted
Enraged and Engaged. There has never been a more important time to give.
This week it has become increasingly clear that most, if not all, of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) humanitarian and development operations around the world are coming to a screeching halt. Pennywise stands with our grantee partner, Alight, and the thousands of other non-governmental, non-profit organizations that implement the majority of USAID’s programs as they face an existential resource crisis.
Alight works for and with communities around the world displaced by conflict, persecution and climate change. They have already received notice that US government funding for their programs in Uganda, Myanmar and South Sudan has been suspended. They are bracing for even more bad news. Pennywise supports Alight’s work in Uganda where Alight has already been forced to lay off 163 staff members. These are frontline workers at transit centers who receive refugees fleeing violence in Congo.
The suffering caused by the Trump administration's illegal and immoral actions is real. It is immediate and it is enormous. Alight operates dozens of clinics that are supported through federal funding.
If they are forced to leave the neonatal intensive care units they run, newborns will not survive.
If they have to close nutrition stabilization centers, malnourished toddlers will die.
150,000 people in Kalma Camp in Sudan will lose clean water within hours if Alight’s team is required to leave work.
Giving from individuals and like minded NGO’s is the most immediate hope for Alight and so many critical humanitarian service organizations like it.
Vermont Benefit for Ukraine
Vermont has an incredible history of welcoming refugees, and is home to many who have fled the Putins of the world. Pennywise partnered with local organizers on an online and in-person fundraising event benefitting victims of the war in Ukraine. Pennywise offered fundraising infrastructure, implementation experience, and a matching grant to help increase impact. We raised money but were also able to put bodies in a room, to send a huge wave of support to the people of Ukraine and their families here in VT, to stand as a community in the face of authoritarianism.
War in Ukraine: Immediate response
Pennywise was proud to begin supporting Alight (formerly the American Refugee Committee) immediately following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Alight is an international non-profit that has been monitoring the situation in Ukraine for months. They are all about finding others. About inviting people and organizations in who understand those they serve deeply, and who are doing incredible work around the world. For years they have been building a platform where organizations can come together, leverage each others strengths, and solve big problems while staying close to the people they serve. Together, they are amplifying the good they do and developing new solutions and approaches for the displaced.
