Atlanta, GA (April 29, 2020) — Today, international humanitarian and development organization, CARE, announced its first-ever domestic aid initiative in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will provide monetary assistance, food, and essential supplies to individuals in need and at risk, including essential workers, frontline medical personnel, and caregivers, in the form of CARE Packages®.
CARE created the CARE Package® at the end of World War II to aid the post-war poor and hungry, delivering over 100 million of them to struggling families around the world. Now, the United States is on the list of countries requiring humanitarian assistance. The CARE Packages® of today still aim to provide resources and comfort, but they have been reimagined to reflect current needs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
CARE Packages® will provide either:
- Direct monetary support: CARE will deliver CARE Package Gift Mastercards® to responders working on the frontlines of COVID-19. In addition, each gift card sent domestically will unlock a donation to CARE’s COVID-19 response work in over 60 countries, which is helping to mitigate further disaster in communities already facing hardship.
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- Food and essential supplies: Physical CARE Packages® consisting of urgently required resources are available for those most in need in certain New York City and San Francisco locations. Plans are underway to expand to additional US cities alongside local community organizations.
“CARE is proud to have been a leader in disaster response and humanitarian aid around the world for the last 75 years. Helping those most in need by taking on the world’s toughest challenges is the heart of who we are. And right now, that means tackling COVID-19 both here at home and abroad,” said Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE. “Our brand-new CARE Package® is designed to meet this extraordinary moment by delivering support to today’s heroes: essential workers, frontline medical personnel, and caregivers; in addition to individuals in need, and communities around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic knows no borders – and neither does CARE’s work.”
Those wanting to help can thank workers keeping people safe as the world attempts to combat the spread of COVID-19 by sending a CARE Package®. Specifically, people will be able to participate by:
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Supporting a Hero:
- Send an earmarked donation to CARE, and CARE will work with partner organizations to provide a CARE Package Gift Mastercard® directly to frontline workers risking their health and safety to protect the nation’s most vulnerable people.
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Supporting a Friend:
- Know someone working on the frontlines? Send them a CARE Package Gift Mastercard® and a personal message of gratitude for their contribution.
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Supporting the Global Community:
- The COVID-19 pandemic is stretching the limits of even the best prepared countries. The world has not come to grips with how the outbreak threatens the world’s poorest communities and how that will ultimately impact all communities. Send help to places in the greatest need with an international CARE Package®.
Over the next three months, CARE will roll out US-based CARE Package® programming across the country in partnership with grassroots organizations including Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Child Care Aware of America, United Food and Commercial Workers, National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA), ACFB, CHRIS 180, Purpose Built Schools, Berkeley Food Pantry, Mobilize Love, Project Open Hand, and more.
Money designated for international COVID-19 response efforts will support CARE’s work to provide health and hygiene kits, install handwashing stations in public places, and deliver clean water where it is scarce in more than 60 countries.
Corporate support for the domestic CARE Package® enables CARE to implement the program at scale. Like its predecessor, the new CARE Package® represents hope and cooperation. True to its history, CARE is unifying consumers and corporations to help others. CARE’s COVID-19 response is generously supported by Public Partnerships, a Public Consulting Group Inc. Company; GAP Foundation; Oil of Olay; Mastercard; Pepsico Foundation; Matchfire and THNKS.
Visit www.carepackage.org to make a donation and send a CARE Package® today.
ABOUT CARE:
CARE is the leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty by lifting up women and girls. It reached 68 million vulnerable people in 100 countries around the world in 2019. Since the onset of COVID, CARE has pivoted its life-saving food security, health services, educational, and women’s empowerment programming to directly fighting the spread and impact of the disease. As of April 17th, 2020, CARE has reached 107.4 million people with COVID-specific or adapted programs. 1.9 million people have been directly reached with hygiene messaging, 601,000 with hygiene kits, 773,000 with increased water, 114,000 with food or cash/vouchers and 22,800 with handwashing stations.
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