Cross International

"...Provide the poor wanderer with shelter"

More than 100 million homeless families around the world are desperate to escape the harsh elements, to tuck their children into their own beds, and to have a safe, clean shelter they can call "home." In addition to the millions living in the streets, many more live in substandard shelters made of scraps, sticks, or mud and with only dirt floors. Rain, wind and rodents invade, and inclement weather easily destroys these simple structures.

Many families living in makeshift shelters have lost their homes to natural disasters. Survivors of past hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis and floods are still waiting to rebuild, years after the tragedies have faded from the media spotlight. Unfortunately, natural disasters often destroy local economies, and ultimately, family livelihoods. The destitute survivors are too poor to rebuild their homes.

Cross partners with churches and Christian ministries around the world reaching out to their communities with shelter to the homeless and destitute. Some build cement homes, others build wood framed homes, and many ministries repair existing homes ravaged by natural disasters. Whenever possible, labor and materials are obtained locally, to provide employment opportunities and boost the local economy.

The average worldwide cost to provide a home for a needy family is only $4,000. Please consider helping the homeless with a gift to Cross International Catholic Outreach. You can help turn patches of cardboard into walls of concrete; leaky shanties into sturdy shelters; and a poor family's destitute condition into a one of dignity and hope.