The shuttering of USAID in 2025 is predicted to result in an estimated 8 million to 14 million additional deaths globally by 2030, including more than 4.5 million children under 5. The moral question raised by this defunding is not partisan; it is profoundly human: What happens when hunger programming, agricultural development, and maternal–infant health supports shrink at the precise moment they are needed most?
In February, the Board of Buddhist Global Relief approved crisis grants to UNICEF and the World Food Program USA to provide urgently needed meals, health screenings for children, aid for water and sanitation projects, and support for school nutrition programs in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Sudan.
A project led by BGR partner Farmers Alliance for Restoration–East Africa is providing local smallholder farmers with knowledge and tools to improve their food security and income through a training program based on the holistic agricultural methodology known as permaculture, which emphasizes the use of renewable natural resources and the enrichment of local ecosystems.
Marla, a seamstress in São Paulo, found both education and community through a program with BGR partner GAIA. The project helps women to lift themselves and their families out of poverty through training in pattern making, sewing, and entrepreneurial skills.
On Sunday, February 8, 2026, the worldwide BGR community gathered online for the final session in our Satipatthana in Practice series: Mindfulness of Dhammas. Led by Thai Forest monastics and BGR Sangha Council members Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho, this online event explored how we can use the fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, variously translated as “mind objects” or “dhamma categories,” to cultivate beautiful qualities of mind and heart, in both formal meditation and daily life.
We are grateful to all who participated in our online New Year's retreat, “Promoting Human Unity in a Time of Discord and Division.” Led by BGR founder Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi and BGR Sangha Council members BGR Sangha Council members Ayya Ānandhabodhī, Dhammadīpā Roshi, Thubten Lamsel, and Thubten Monlam, this beautiful event offered guidance and inspiration for beginning our new year in the light of the Dharma.
BGR co-founder and chair Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi addresses some of the pitfalls that the recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” creates for food insecure families living in the United States. He argues that, as people of conscience, we can’t rip plates away from the hands of hungry families. Rather, we must call on our representatives to reverse this heartless bill and ensure that everyone has access to nutritious food.
The Save Their Dreams project from BGR partner Mercy World Organization provides school uniforms and supplies, health insurance, school lunches, counseling, and other support to some of Tanzania's most vulnerable children.
On November 15, 2025, Portland (Oregon) Friends of the Dhamma hosted the first in-person Walk to Feed the Hungry that has been held in the U.S. since the Covid pandemic compelled BGR to move our annual fundraiser to an online space. The Walk, which also benefited the Portland hunger relief nonprofit Urban Gleaners, was a great success and an inspiring community-building event.
This interfaith conference explored the theme of “Upholding Human Dignity in Turbulent Times.” At the event, BGR founder and chair Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi gave a presentation on a panel on the subject of “Hunger, Displacement, and Civilian Suffering.”
buddhist global relief
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buddhist global relief
2020 ROUTE 301
CARMEL, NY 10512 USA
1-888-852-7579 (MESSAGE ONLY)
connect with us
buddhist global relief
2020 ROUTE 301
CARMEL, NY 10512 USA
1-888-852-7579 (MESSAGE ONLY)
connect with us
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