ST. CHARLES, Missouri — In 1945, 22 American organizations came together to rush lifesaving packages to survivors of World War II. Today, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization and continues to fight global poverty. CARE places a special focus on working alongside females in poverty. When women are “equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty,” according to CARE.
CARE’s mission is to serve individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world. It works toward promoting innovative solutions and are advocates for being more globally responsible. There are five general ways that CARE facilitates lasting change:
- Strengthening capacity for self-help
- Providing economic opportunity
- Delivering relief in emergencies
- Influencing policy decisions at all levels
- Addressing discrimination in all its forms.
According to its website, the organization “seek[s]a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE will be a global force and a partner of choice within a worldwide movement dedicated to ending poverty. We will be known everywhere for our unshakable commitment to the dignity of people.”
Furthermore, CARE places women at the heart of its work. It is striving to improve basic education, end gender-based violence, provide healthcare and nutrition, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and even protect natural resources. CARE also delivers emergency aid to communities that are in need of assistance during war or natural disasters.
Last year, CARE worked in 87 countries in an effort to implement long-term programs to fight poverty, respond to humanitarian emergencies and advocate for policy change. CARE is able to do this because of the mass amounts of support from individuals, corporations, foundations, organizations and the E.U. and U.N.
In 2013, CARE USA’s program expenses totaled more than $514 million, and in 2012, CARE’s expense allocation consisted of 90 percent for program activities and 10 percent for support services and fundraising. This money, and the efforts of everyone involved with CARE, resulted in reaching more than 83 million people in 84 different countries in 2012.
Although the original CARE Package has “retired,” it still remains incredibly symbolic. Today, CARE does much more than just send packages—recently, ABC News reported that USAID’s U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance provided funding for CARE to distribute 4,000 winter kits to 22,000 displaced people in Syria.
– Eastin Shipman
Sources: ABC News, CARE 1, CARE 2, CARE 3, CARE 4, CARE 5, CARE 6
Photo: CARE