The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints has given the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) US$32 million — the faith’s largest onetime contribution to a humanitarian organization — to help fight what the WFP calls a “seismic hunger crisis.”

The WFP will use the Church’s funds to provide food and other critical assistance to 1.6 million of the most vulnerable people — including mothers and young children — in nine countries: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

“This extraordinary donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints could not come at a more critical time,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. “With millions of people starving today, WFP is working hard to deliver food, help and hope — and this lifesaving contribution allows us to do just that.”