Mission: International Relief Teams is a nonprofit, international relief organization dedicated to organizing volunteer teams to provide medical and non-medical assistance to the victims of disaster and profound poverty worldwide.
Programs: Disaster relief: (1) new jersey (superstorm sandy) - deployed six skilled construction teams (78 volunteers) who rebuilt 19 homes of low-income hurricane victims; (2) philippines (typhoon haiyan) - funded the rebuilding of 574 fishing boats, the restoration of clean water systems to 4,140 people, and the repair of five elementary schools; (3) nepal (earthquake) - delivered emergency medicines to sustain 20,000 people for three months, provided shelter and hygiene supplies for 3,000 families, and financed the construction of 392 classrooms at 47 schools so that children could continue to learn in safe and secure structures.
building health communities: (1) guatemala - through irt's "better vision - brighter future" program, more than 1,700 men, women, and children were tested and fitted with desperately needed eyeglasses; irt delivered $481,885 of supplemental nutrition that was distributed monthly to more than 9,600 very young children (6 months -2 years old) suffering from malnutrition (2) honduras - irt's ear nose & throat surgical team treated 38 patients, performing 27 life-transforming surgeries for families who could not afford this care; (3) vietnam - irt-trained physicians and nurses trained more than 200 of their colleagues in life-saving procedures for newborns at risk, bringing the total trained throughout the country under irt's "project healthy baby" program to more than 5,700 medical personnel.
building health communities (continued): (1) california - irt's "feeding san diego's kids" program provided weekly weekend food for homeless san diego school children and their families at two inner city schools; funded bus passes for homeless children so that they could remain in their schools; supported an emergency shelter for families excaping domestic violence and supplied a pre-school for children exposed to domestic abuse (2) mexico - supported the monthly food and education needs for 40 abandoned children at kids kingdom orphanage in baja; provided general support at an orphanage for abused girls near puerta villarta; semi-monthly volunteer construction teams continued the expansion of c. A. N. O. A. Disabled children center for disabled children and their families in tijuana; (3) niger, honduras and gaza - provided nearly $32 million in urgently needed medicines to clinics and hospitals serving the poor, enabling treatment for more than 375,000 men, women and children.
I have worked for Barry and his brilliant and indefatigable IRT coworkers as a physician volunteer since 2005. I could not speak more highly of IRT than to say I trust them 100% with my time, my safety, and my donations. I can't think of a better relief organization to support.
This organization does tremendous good while using very little of their expenses for overhead. I am most impressed that they do millions of dollars worth of good using only three part time and three full time people. I choose to invest in IRT because I know every dollar is used to help people in need. They are efficient and effective.
International Relief Teams does tremendous work during difficult times all over the world. Their staff is passionate, dedicated, and always looking to improve the organization. My wife and I have been supporters for almost 10 years and certainly plan to continue.
International Relief Teams does incredible work throughout the world in a very efficient manner. We have been supporters for over 20 years and are consistently impressed by their follow-up and results. IRT consistently makes our world a better place!
IRT is a humble organization that accomplishes big things, utilizing an extremely high percentage of donated money to providing services not to overhead or administrative costs. IRT is a smart organization because they don't just donate services, they train people in the locations they serve to provide the services long after they are gone including creating training manuals in the native language of the population they are serving. IRT is a caring, dedicated organization with volunteers that have served for decades. The volunteer base includes doctors, nurses, builders, pilots, and accountants- all educated, skilled, compassionate workers with much to contribute. IRT is an impressive charity because of high standards of integrity and commitment.
IR Teams is a very lean operation. Their administrative costs are miniscule for the magnitude of work they do. In fact, they are just plain miniscule. I believe they have a staff of four in their office. I met the CEO at a hotel I was staying at in Ho Chi Minh City. He was there establishing a network of centers to train teachers to train medical technicians in high risk postnatal care. The hotel was a nice local hotel for $60/night, while most Americans are staying at the international hotels for $200/night. This is how the operation is run. There is no fat. This is how the operation functions, very efficiently. I have the utmost confidence that my donations are being used effectively. They get a 4 star rating from Charity Navigator which I use as a guide before doing my own homework. I made one trip with them to Guatemala for a food distribution. They were very effective in making distributions to remote villages that other organizations neglect due to inaccessibility.
My meditation teacher (whom I highly respect) recommended this charity after casually meeting IRT's CEO. He must have made quite an impression bc a recommendation from him doesn't come easily. After my donation, I received a phone call from one of the staff members thanking me. My donation was not an excessively large one and I very much appreciated their thoughtful phone call. She was very gracious and we actually spent some time talking about their work and I could immediately recognize the enthusiasm their organization has for their cause. Feels very grassroots, which in the often political charity world, is a big compliment to their organization.
