Countywide : Group Aids Needy With Little Fanfare

Even after more than 20 years in this city, few people have heard of CONCERN/America, but Denis Garvey, director of the international humanitarian aid group, doesn’t seem to mind.

After all, time spent on public relations is time that could be better used coordinating relief packages of medicine, food and other crucially needed items for impoverished villagers in regions including Central America and Africa, he said.

“Besides, there’s not much glamour in much of this stuff,” such as teaching villagers how to build latrines that won’t contaminate a water supply, Garvey said.

Garvey and his co-workers at the Santa Ana-based charity last week loaded and sent a $50,000 shipment of solar refrigerators, medical supplies, vegetable seeds and water pumps to Chiapas, Mexico, and El Salvador.

“We’re like the Peace Corps, but non-governmental. What we do is not a handout. We’re trying to get something started that will become self-sustaining,” he said.

The nonprofit organization is run out of a small office on North Broadway. It has an annual budget of about $770,000 and a full-time staff of six. Under CONCERN’s programs, volunteers sign up for one year at a time and go to impoverished areas, usually in Central America, Garvey said.

Once there, they teach basic medical care, how to ensure a safe an sanitary water supply, and how to create and market goods that can bring money into their community.

Christopher Brady, the group’s special projects coordinator, said that villagers often become proficient so quickly that they no longer need CONCERN’s aid: “We work ourselves out of business.”

For information on volunteering or donating, call (714) 953-8575.