America Cares History

Hon. H. James Saxton
U.S. House of Representatives-3rd District
2217 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

What I propose is the government setting up a similar program called America Cares. It would be a two step program.

• Step One - A government agency (State Department?) would set up a website with a list of countries that have local populations desperately in need. Clicking on one of those countries would reveal a list of cities and/regions in that country. Clicking on the city/region would reveal a list of local agencies (orphanages, schools, churches, clergy, mayors, …) and addresses that would receive and distribute America Cares packages to local residents. When a particular city/region is chosen, a list of suggested appropriate (and not recommended) items would be displayed as well.

• Step Two - The US Post Office would offer pre-paid postage America Cares boxes in various sizes (say $10 & $25 sizes) that Americans could purchase for packing anything they want to send overseas to someone on the approved list above. Americans are a generous people and we have lots of clothes, toys and stuff we don't use anymore we would be happy to donate. The boxes would be clearly labeled America Cares (maybe even have the American flag displayed and/or be a distinctive Red White & Blue.). The boxes would be packed, addressed and dropped off at the Post Office for shipment.

It could be a wonderful program where our government partners with our people in a worthy cause that few will be able to deride politically. Locally or internationally. The government role would be to maintain the website (not a trivial task but not expensive or difficult either), provide the prepaid boxes, and subsidize the cost of shipping above the cost of the boxes (a key is to keep shipping costs low enough to encourage giving).

The benefits to our country are manifold. The public relations effect of 10's of 1,000's of highly visible America Cares packages being delivered to children in desperate areas of the world would go a long way to reversing a declining opinion of the USA. Troubled areas of the MidEast (in particular), Asia, South America, Africa, Indonesia, … One or two packages in an impoverished village/neighborhood/school could lift local perceptions of America for years, even decades. (Ask any elderly European about American Care Packages.)

America Cares would bring individual Americans at home into the problems of the world in a personal, even intimate way. Rather than the impersonal distant nature of calling an 800 number shown on tv after a natural disaster. We want to be involved but are reluctant to just send money to "middleman" strangers where much of it may never reach those we want to help.

An America Cares program would be something really positive the Republicans and the Administration could point to with pride in the elections next year. It's a program fairly simple to institute and could be in place relatively quickly (months rather than years).

October 11,2007

Hon. H. James Saxton
U.S. House of Representatives-3rd District
2217 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman Saxton:

I am sure you are aware of the letter Gösta H. Lovgren (Swede) wrote to you regarding a program that I see a lot of merit in, as he does. It is called America Cares. For your ready reference, I have enclosed a copy of Swede's letter.

The program, as outlined by Swede, would have the U.S. Post Office offer pre-paid postage for America Cares boxes that Americans could purchase to be sent to local agencies (orphanages, schools, churches, clergy, mayors, etc.) as outlined in his letter. The reason for this, while not outlined in much detail in Swede's letter, is the need for this country, in my view, to show that we have caring individual citizens who want to help, in some manner, those in need in countries where children and adults are in desperate need of assistance.

Swede's program would certainly help our country from the standpoint that some of the gun-toting diplomacy that has been used as of late is simply not working and the big picture is that as human beings we acknowledge a responsibility to help our brothers who are in need.

Swede is a great guy I have known for years and his thoughtfulness and knowledge has always astounded me. The next time we meet, I would like to talk to you further.

My best personal regards.

Sincerely,

LEONARD T. CONNORS, JR.

Senator - 9th District

L TCJR/km w/Enclosure

Cc: Gösta H. Lovgren

Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2007 20:07:24 +1100 (EST)
To: ASCHIANA <aschiana@yahoo.com.au>
Subject: Aid packages from America
Hi,

I saw one of your schools mentioned in a tv documentary about film
making in Afghanistan. It starred a young girl named Marina. Sorry I
don't recall the name of the film but it won several awards at the
Cannes Film Festival.

At any rate I was touched by conditions for children in Kabul and
would like to send a small package of school supplies (pencils,
notepads, chalk, puzzles, ...) and maybe a few small toys for the
children in the classroom.

Your website lists the address as:

PO BOX 1827
Kabul, Afghanistan

And I'm afraid our post office will need a little more information,
primarily a "Zip Code" for routing purposes. I'm sure you are
familiar with what I mean. Also the package needs to directed to a
specific office or person, not a post office box.

Thank you,

G H Lovgren
Lavallette, New Jersey
USA 08735

At 12/8/2007, you wrote:
Hello Mr Lovgren
Regards from ASCHIANA
Thnaks for your kind email and attention for the street working and volunerbale chidlren of Afghanistan.
 
I think for the education materials to the children in our center if you contact with US military forces, by this way it will much more easier to send these to Kabul, Afghanistan rather than Postal address.
 
Thanks
 
Looking forward to hear from you
 
Best Wisehs
Eng Mohammad Yousef
Director
www.aschiana.org

Actually my email to you regarding sending a package of school supplies is really a very small first early step in getting a MUCH larger aid program set up here in the United States. Using the US Military to deliver packages just isn't an option under the proposed program. (Please see http://www.anamericancares.com/History.html for details.).

I have tentative commitments from several US legislators at this point, including one from a very important senior senator in my home state. However, as everywhere else in the world I am sure, getting legislation passed is a long tedious project and has to be undertaken carefully so the initial object of the legislation does not get twisted in the process. It will take probably at least two years at least to get the program into law, if at all.

As a step in that process, some packages have to be sent to demonstrate the program is even feasible. One needs to get an idea of actual cost, what's involved with postal regulations, deliveries, and many other details before a sponsoring legislator can even present the program to the US Congress for consideration.

For reasons stated in the earlier email, I chose Aschiana to be the first recipient of An American Cares package. At this stage all postal expenses will be paid privately (by myself actually), no government involvement at all. There is no obligation at all (financial or otherwise) on a recipient's part other than the fair distribution of whatever goods may be sent.

My hope is the An American Cares project will expand to include the listing of hundreds, even thousands, of worthwhile institutions like yours. Should the idea catch on in the US, Mr. Eng, I can assure you there will be a veritable rain of packages around the world. We Americans are a wealthy generous people, but we are dismayed and disheartened when we see so much of our contributions gobbled up by bureaucracy and other "expenses" long before anything even trickles down to the people who need it. An American Cares puts the American population directly in touch with those who need help the most.

So, to sum up Mr. Eng, to get started, I will need a street address and a postal code to send the first package to. It may take a lot longer (even months) to get delivered, or it may even get "lost" on the way, but it has to be done through the (world) postal system to demonstrate the program can work. I'm sure you understand better now what the object here is. Hopefully this will grow into something wonderful for all of us. I can understand your reluctance to respond to a stranger and not want to provide a street address but sometimes we just have to trust.

Thank you for your reply and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Gösta H. Lovgren
(Personal deleted)

PS I included my home address and my phone numbers just to show I trust you Mr. Eng. {smile}

• 1) The Congressman has had proposal long enough to decide whether he wants to sponsor or not.
• 2) Despite assurances on several occasions, his office never "got back" to me. It's been over 3 months now.
• 3) AAC has the support of the NJ Senate (passed a Resolution of support in December).
• 3a) The Congressman's office cancelled a meeting scheduled for January 2nd with Senator Connors and hasn't rescheduled yet.
• 4) If the Congressman doesn't respond personally by next week, I will have to seek support elsewhere. Cannot wait any longer.