One hundred thousand refugees from the war-torn Central African Republic (CAR) live in six camps administered by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in southern Chad. Four camps are in the vicinity of Goré, a large village in SW Chad where UNHCR has its headquarters. The others are interspersed along three hundred miles of the border with CAR.

The Chad Relief Foundation, now the Fund for Refugee Initiatives, was founded in 2007 by Bill Felstiner and Richard Appelbaum, onetime colleagues in the University of California, Santa Barbara sociology department, and Stan Roden, who had been the District Attorney of Santa Barbara County. From 2008 FRI/CRF has aided these refugees in the areas of food, agriculture, health, education, recreation and housing. This assistance has been provided in partnership with non-governmental organizations from the US (Direct Relief, AmeriCares, Vitamin Angels), Italy (ACRA, COOPI), the UK (Mentor), Canada (CARE), Chad (CSSI, Girl Guides) and Lutheran World Services. More than $1.3 million in medical supplies and US-dollar support has been delivered to these refugees who, having no political significance, are often ignored by the world community.

The Fund for Refugee Initiatives is an all-volunteer organization — no paid staff, no rented office. Its current efforts involve supporting education, particularly of girls and young women, and enabling refugee committees to finance individual and group refugee initiatives. These efforts are carried out jointly with ACRA, an Italian non-governmental organization that has been active in Chad since 1968.