“Your husband is dead.” To millions of women these words are a curse, a lifelong sentence of disgrace and struggle. In many countries, society regards widows as signs of bad luck. “Even our own family considers us burdens,” shared a widow in India. Labeled and abandoned, these women face a lonely life of suffering.

Over the years, our faithful supporters have enabled us to provide food parcels to needy widows around the world. But in seeing other needs of widows—such as housing or self-help aid—we are launching a new program: Widows Care Fund. This program will provide food, shelter, self-help resources like sewing machines and animals, or other aid as needs and opportunities arise. In some cases, help is also given to widowers and abandoned wives.