International Relief Teams

IRT Responds To
Hurricane Victims

In the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav, more than 2 million evacuees in the beleaguered Gulf Coast are now preparing to return to their homes. Gustav was a vivid reminder to these storm-weary families of the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina which struck the Gulf Coast only 3 years ago.
IRT is in contact with its long-standing local partners in the affected regions, who are conducting damage and emerging needs assessments. We have already sent more than $64,000 worth of medicines to a partner agency operating a mobile medical clinic outside of New Orleans to aid returning hurricane evacuees. We will also be closely watching Hurricane Hanna, which is expected to hit the Southeast Atlantic coast next week, as well as upcoming threats from Tropical Storms Ike and Josephine.
Since 1988, IRT has helped families affected by hurricanes in the vulnerable regions of our country, by providing emergency medical teams, health maintenance teams, medicines and supplies, and re-construction teams to help them recover from these disasters. In fact, IRT continues to this day to send volunteer re-construction teams every other month to the Gulf Coast to help elderly and low-income families repair their homes after Hurricane Katrina.
IRT is prepared to assist those families most in need. To donate to our relief effort for hurricane victims, please click here.

IRT Provides Critical Nutrition for
HIV/AIDS Patients in South Africa

Since 2005, IRT has shipped 225 tons of fortified dehydrated food provided by USAID to South Africa to improve the food security and nutritional intake of HIV/AIDS patients receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) especially pregnant women, new mothers, and their children. These patients urgently need food assistance as their health is already compromised and proper nutrition is vital to the effectiveness of the life-saving ART drugs which control the virus within them. The most recent shipment is being distributed in pre-natal and other clinics providing ART in some of South Africa’s more resource-poor areas of the Eastern Cape.
Using five hospitals as distribution hubs, IRT is distributing food at medical facilities throughout the Eastern Cape benefiting more than 12,000 patients and their families. To donate to this relief effort, please click here.

IRT forms partnership with
Project Vietnam Foundation to save Newborns in Viet Nam

IRT is joining with Project Vietnam Foundation (PVF) in a new training initiative to save newborn lives in Viet Nam. Read More>>

IRT Celebrates
20 Years of Service
(1988-2008)!!
Since its inception in 1988, IRT has provided
$5.6 million in volunteer services and $112 million in medicines
and supplies to families in desperate need in 45 countries, worldwide!

In 1986, San Diego attorney Barry La Forgia, participated on a mission trip to Peru where he helped construct shelters for impoverished people living in the Amazon Jungle.