CRS Timeline of 60 Years in India

In 1946 ... CRS (then called War Relief Services) arrived in India to provide 500 metric tons of wheat flour donated through Archbishop Roberts of Bombay .

Over the next several years, food donations were coordinated by Monsignor Leo P Kierkels, the Apostolic Delegate to the East Indies, for refugee children in camps outside Bombay by Cardinal Valerian Gracias ... for refugee assistance in Bengal by Bishop Louis Morrow of Krishnagar ... and for 3,000 families in Calcutta by Mother Teresa.

In 1951 ... CRS begins distribution of U.S. government assistance under the Indo-US bilateral agreement.

Early 1950s ... CRS provides support to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity homes, which continues uninterrupted to the present.

By 1957 ... CRS was supporting 72 dioceses and 900 schools, health clinics and other community services with food assistance for children.

In 1959 ... CRS supports the Dalai Lama's Tibetan refugees, which continues uninterrupted to the present.

In 1960 ... CRS supports the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) in the establishment of Caritas/India.

Mid-1960s ... a deadly famine claimed thousands of lives in Bihar, where CRS played a central role in helping the Indian Catholic Church to respond.

1960s and 1970s ... CRS continues to provide food support to Church partners for education, health, agriculture and emergency programming.

Early 1970s ... CRS provides emergency relief for the influx of refugees during the Bangladesh war.

1980s ... CRS begins shifting its programming focus from the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu to the central and northern states, home to some of the most impoverished and marginalized tribal and dalit communities.

In 1999 ... CRS provides emergency relief to the Orissa super-cyclone, and pioneered disaster preparedness programming which now serves as a model for affected and vulnerable communities.

In 2001 ... CRS responds to the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat, supporting 74,000 people with emergency food and supplies, trauma counseling, shelter, and longer-term reconstruction and disaster mitigation.

In 2005 ... Across South and Southeast Asia, CRS launches the largest emergency response in its history, with $37 million earmarked in India for a five-year rehabilitation effort following the catastrophic tsunami. CRS also provides immediate response to the earthquake in Jammu and Kashmir .