Help aid cyclone victims

Fort Myers-based nonprofit New Missions Systems International (NMSI) is organizing relief efforts for people critically affected by the cyclone and tornados that devastated Myanmar in Southeast Asia. The organization is in desperate need of local donations to begin relief efforts.

NMSI has been unable to contact aid workers in the affected areas due to electricity outages and downed phone lines. NMSI is confident that its missionaries have already begun preparations to provide aid, but they will need funds for basic supplies such as medicine, water and food, in light of reports of a rising death toll, missing people, homelessness and price gouging.

NMSI, which trains and organizes relief workers throughout the world, has multiple aid teams in place in the city of Yangon in Myanmar (formerly Burma), including an American couple who arrived just a few weeks ago.

"Getting water is an immediate priority for missionaries and relief workers, but healthcare is also a top concern, and ultimately, whole villages will have to be rebuilt," said NMSI vice president J.D. Whitney. "NMSI will deliver the funds, purchase needed items in Thailand or other surrounding countries, and facilitate their delivery to Yangon."

The nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization is poised to raise $500,000 to alleviate extreme suffering and to leverage additional aid in this remote region.

To donate to Myanmar relief efforts through NMSI, call (239) 337-4336, or send a tax-deductible donation to NMSI, Attention: Myanmar Outreach P.O. Box 547 Fort Myers, Florida 33902. Donations are also accepted online at www.nmsi.org.

Founded in 1989, New Mission Systems International (NMSI) is a global nondenominational Christian mission organization based in Fort Myers, Fla. It serves as an accountable arm for missionaries overseas, who depend on the support of private funds. Its programs include humanitarian aid, famine relief, medical assistance, orphan care, HIV/AIDS education, short- and long-term missions, college credit internships, and church missions committee development.

NMSI currently has 169 missionaries, 73 of which are living and working overseas in 24 countries, including Myanmar, with 34 more preparing to go overseas within the next year.