Ministry distributes blankets as winter sets in India

With winter setting in most parts of India, a Christian ministry is distributing blankets to stave off deaths caused by lack of proper clothing.

Last year, thousands died due to severe winter conditions. Global Action is working to ensure this does not repeat.

"This year we are trying to provide 10,000 blankets," says Global Action's Lars Dunberg. "Last year, over 10,000 people froze to death, and we're trying to avoid that this year."

The blankets are mostly distributed to the needy and elderly in villages. Distribution teams will go from village to village two weeks at a time, doing mostly back-to-back trips through January.

Teams are made up mostly of volunteers from the U.S., the UK and Sweden, according to the Mission Network News. A group is to leave just after Christmas in December and another in early January.

The distribution teams are accompanied by Global Action's India Hope Center choir, a choir made up of orphans who have been transformed by the love of Christ.

According to Dunberg, this has led the teams along with the choir to reveal God's love through practical ways among the unreached.

"The Gospel is shared with them in an inoffensive way through the distribution," says Dunberg. People realize we are handing out blankets because of love for the individuals, which comes from Christ, he adds.