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LOS ANGELES, CA - International Medical Corps has been awarded a generous donation of 100 bicycles from Reinvention Wheels, Inc. for use in a program that serves survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
An organization that links socially responsible corporations with practical transportation for the benefit of vulnerable communities, Reinvention Wheels has donated a fleet of bicycles and safety helmets for use by International Medical Corps to implement the Care, Access, Safety and Empowerment (CASE) program for GBV survivors. The bicycles will improve the mobility of field-based health employees and volunteers serving remote communities in DRC.
“Our partnership with International Medical Corps is a privilege, as is our opportunity to extend the range and speed of care they provide to people in DRC,” said Pete Merenda, Executive Director of Reinvention Wheels. “We are the fortunate stewards, where the credit goes to the life-altering power of bicycles and to the people in our own community who built and donated these bicycles for the express purpose of reaching people in desperate need.”
The USAID-funded CASE project aims to increase access to and quality of medical, psychological, social, legal, and economic services for GBV survivors and to help communities become less vulnerable to future acts of violence. International Medical Corps is working within existing community structures in eastern DRC to ensure timely access to integrated, quality GBV care and services, and educating community-based groups on preventing GBV.
“We are tremendously grateful to Reinvention Wheels for providing this vital tool in helping us reach even more survivors”, said Jim Campbell, International Medical Corps’ Country Director in DRC. “There are some areas where we work in DRC that are inaccessible by car; with these bicycles we will be able to provide critical services much more quickly in those remote areas.”
International Medical Corps has worked in the DRC since 1999 to provide health care, nutrition, food security, SGBV prevention and treatment, and water/sanitation services. In many remote areas of North and South Kivu Provinces, International Medical Corps is the only international NGO that has maintained a permanent presence. Today, International Medical Corps supports 85 health facilities in the DRC, including 42 in North Kivu, 41 in South Kivu, and two in Maniema. In total, International Medical Corps has served more than one million people in Congo, 80 percent of them displaced by war.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Reinvention Wheels, Inc. is a social enterprise that embraces a mission of synergy for significance by linking socially responsible corporations with underprivileged communities that lack practical transportation. Utilizing its Mechanix workshop as an instrument for corporate giving, companies gain a forum to create inspiring work environments, and an efficiency to donate bicycles assembled by co-workers. Reinvention Wheels projects have life-altering impact in marginalized regions of Latin America, Africa and the U.S., enabling community access to healthcare, education, sanitary water, employment and self-sufficiency. Visit our website at http://www.reinventionwheels.org
Since its inception more than 25 years ago, International Medical Corps’ mission has been consistent: relieve the suffering of those impacted by war, natural disaster, and disease, by delivering vital health care services that focus on training. This approach of helping people help themselves is critical to returning devastated populations to self-reliance. For more information visit: www.InternationalMedicalCorps.org. Also see us Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
*This press release is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of International Medical Corps and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
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