Emergency Fuel for Disaster Survivors

When we last updated you on our work, we'd recently embarked on a new collaborative project with the UN World Food Programme to provide a steady source of fuel for those in need in war-torn Yemen. As a large-scale operation (5 million liters of fuel per month to facilities across the entire country) in an incredibly complex and unpredictable environment, this endeavor has required a lot of effort from everyone involved. But FRF and our partners in Yemen have met every challenge head-on and have managed to deliver a continued supply of fuel to the humanitarian organizations and critical infrastructure keeping innocent Yemeni civilians alive and safe.

Just last week, we received this message from a humanitarian aid worker who had visited a hospital in Aden, Yemen:

"One child who has been hit by stray bullets was in a terrible condition...there are so many young boys who have been injured in the war from fighting...

The fuel you are providing is keeping them alive, as without it, they only have two hours of electricity a day. I tried to take footage in the hospital, but they have a strict policy against it...but it was amazing to see that the fuel is really making a difference. Congrats and thanks for making this possible."

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While we're focused on emergency response operations in Yemen, we're also busy improving our internal operations right here at home in California.

As an organization that serves people in their most vulnerable state and does so entirely through funding by individual donations, we feel especially responsible for providing a principled, accountable, and high-quality humanitarian service. That's why we're in the process of establishing robust quality improvement and accountability measures and tools that will enable us to respond SMARTER, FASTER, and STRONGER and make our donors (you!) proud.

One such tool is our Digital Fuel Mapping Platform, which we've been developing for the past several months. Using ESRI mapping software, FRF will now have the ability to map global fuel resources in advance of, and during, emergency deployments so that responders can be better prepared and operate more efficiently on the ground. We'll also be able to collect more detailed information on how the free fuel that we give to disaster survivors, first responders, hospitals, water treatment plants, and other beneficiaries is being used and how many people it will ultimately impact. Finally--and maybe most importantly--our mapping app will make it easier for us to collect direct feedback from those beneficiaries on how we can continue to improve in the future.

Want to learn more? Stay tuned for our next project report for more information on FRF's Quality & Accountability Commitment and how your donor dollars are helping people around the world.

And, as always, thank you!