ATLANTA – Early into 2025, sudden and sweeping U.S. policy changes depleted funding sources for health care organizations, sustainable livelihoods programs, peace efforts, and vital educational institutions around the world. Already vulnerable families and communities were put at further risk.
Witnessing the regard for basic human rights and empathy toward others decline at a staggering pace, “The need for the work we do has never been greater,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary for Global Ministries and Higher Education and Ministry. “The church is being called to respond.”
Fernandes directed emergency grants to be focused on five areas of urgent need – agriculture and food security, education, global health, migration, and peace. This Moment Matters, a granting and fundraising initiative, was launched as a direct response to significant cuts from the U.S. government.
As of April 2026, This Moment Matters has distributed $23.8 million across hundreds of grants to partners in mission and ministry. “This is a tiny drop in the enormous $32 billion annual gap resulting from USAID funding reductions,” Fernandes stated in his report to the directors at their recent joint meeting in Kenya. “And yet, we are called to act. We trust in the power of God to turn what we might view as small into something of much greater significance than we can imagine.”
These grants are making an impact across all five areas of need:
Agriculture and Food Security
- Through “Feeding Our Neighbors” grants, 150 United Methodist food pantries across the U.S. each received up to $2,000 to expand their operations and extend food assistance. A $500,000 grant to Feeding America supported an initiative that reclaims and distributes surplus produce, protein and dairy to communities where access to nutritious food is limited.
- A $300,000 Yambasu Agriculture Initiative grant for the Cambine Mission in Mozambique supports food security for the local community through vegetable and animal production.
Education
- In support of continued educational access and leadership formation, GBHEM awarded $4 million in support of the 11 United Methodist-related Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States.
- Gammon Theological Seminary, a historically Black United Methodist-related institution in Georgia, received a $975,000 grant to pursue independent accreditation and build long term sustainability.
Global Health
- Funding through a new four-year partnership with Global Ministries will allow Africa University’s Zimbabwe Entomological Support Program in Malaria (ZENTO) to resume work on surveillance, insect-resistance tracking, and support for national control efforts.
- In partnership with four hospitals in Lusaka, Zambia, Meharry Medical College received a $300,000 grant to continue its work in eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and caring for mothers and children who contract the virus.
Migration
- $100,000 grants support the efforts of various U.S. annual conferences to care for immigrant communities and churches. In the California-Pacific Conference, the funding is helping to identify areas where at-risk immigrants, especially those who are sheltering in place, are in need of food and mutual assistance. In the Minnesota Conference, funding supports immigrant congregations as U.S. immigration enforcement increases and mobilizes churches to respond to the needs of their neighbors.
- Grants awarded to partner organizations in countries such as El Salvador, Brazil, and Guatemala support the reintegration of returned migrants through humanitarian aid, psychosocial support, and socioeconomic development.
Peace
- Through the work of regional partners, grants support war-torn families and communities in Gaza and the West Bank in the form of food, water, clothing, education about the risk of unexploded remnants of war, and employment opportunities for youth.
- For Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Ukraine still living in the midst of war, a $350,000 grant supports food kits to families as well as solar energy resilience kits to those living without power in frontline regions.
These grants represent just a few of the hundreds of projects that have received supplemental funding support so far from Global Ministries and Higher Education and Ministry.
In this moment, upholding the gospel message to welcome the stranger, feed the hungry and care for the sick is not just an act of compassion; it is a life-saving act for many around the world.
To learn more and support This Moment Matters, visit umcmission.org/giving/this-moment-matters.
Sara Logeman is the senior manager of content and marketing for Global Ministries and Higher Education and Ministry.
