Save the Children Receives Largest Private Donation to Date to Fight Ebola

$6.6 Million Grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to Provide Emergency Health Support and Education for Children in Liberia

News provided by

Save the Children

Nov 13, 2014, 02:55 ET

FAIRFIELD, Conn., Nov. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Save the Children received today its largest private donation to date for its Ebola response. The $6.6 million grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation will support efforts to provide healthcare, comfort, protection and education to Liberia's children and families, as well as community awareness programs aimed at protecting health and preventing the spread of the virus. The grant is part of Mr. Allen's commitment to funding at least $100 million in programs to tackle the Ebola crisis.

Construction of the first Save the Children Community Care Center for Ebola patients in Margibi County, Liberia. Aubrey Wade/Save the Children.

"During my recent trip to Liberia, I saw firsthand the impact the deadly Ebola virus is having on children, families and communities," said Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children. "The daily increase in the number of orphans is particularly alarming. The support we receive from Mr. Allen will enable Save the Children to give more patients the immediate care they so desperately need, and can help to prevent the tragic loss so many families are experiencing."

Through the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation's generous support, Save the Children will be able to strengthen its health response through Ebola Community Care Centers, the first of which opens this week. Save the Children plans to construct, manage and operate nine additional community care centers—smaller facilities in rural areas designed to isolate and treat Ebola patients within their towns and villages—to ensure the hardest-hit communities in Liberia have access to quality community-level care.

"In addition to addressing the immediate on the ground needs to tackle Ebola, we can't forget the long-term impact of this crisis," said Mr. Allen. "We must also focus on projects that will build infrastructure to provide ongoing support for the population. Children are the most vulnerable of this population, and the work Save the Children is doing will help provide for their care and education so they can have a future."

To learn more about Save the Children's Ebola response, please visit www.savethechildren.org/ebola

To support Save the Children's response to the Ebola crisis, visit www.savethechildren.org/ebola-relief. You can also text EBOLA to 20222 to give $10. Standard messaging rates apply.

Save the Children gives children in the United States and around the world a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We invest in childhood – every day, in times of crisis and for our future. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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SOURCE Save the Children