Alcatel-Lucent donates over $140,000 to combat humanitarian crisis in East Africa

Alcatel-Lucent through its foundation, Alcatel Lucent Foundation, has donated $146,836 (13.9 million Kenyan Shillings (KES)) to the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) to help combat the severe humanitarian crisis  in East Africa brought on by the worst drought.

The United Nations says 12.4 million people including two million children are at risk of starvation in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia

According to Alcatel, the donation will support KRCS in its emergency interventions and activities designed to meet the immediate needs of the affected, including provision of relief food, clean water and urgent healthcare.

“The funds donated are for both short term solutions – emergency food relief and water trucking and medium term solutions such as rehabilitating or sinking boreholes and setting up greenhouses to improve food security,” said Alcatel Lucent in a press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com September 16, 2011.

This donation is a result of a Global Matching Gift Program launched by the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation for Alcatel-Lucent employees, it noted.

By Ekow Quandzie