Americares
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| Founded | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Robert Macauley |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Location |
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Area served
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164 Countries Worldwide, Including the United States. |
| Product | Humanitarian relief, including medicines, medical supplies, nutritional supplements and other assistance. |
| Website | Americares.org |
Americares is a non-profit disaster relief and global health organization providing immediate response to emergency medical needs and supporting long-term health care initiatives for people in the United States and around the world.
Since its founding in 1979, Americares has delivered more than $12 billion in medicines, medical supplies and humanitarian aid to 164 countries in response to natural disasters, civil conflicts and ongoing health crises in impoverished areas.
Americares is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The organization has offices in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Port-au-Prince, Haiti Sendai, Japan and Mumbai, India. Americares operates three warehouses, one each in the U.S., Europe and India.
On April 4, 1975, a U.S. jet carrying 243 Vietnamese orphans for Operation Babylift crashed into the jungle outside of Tan Son Nhut. A third of the children died in the accident; the surviving children, many critically injured, awaited rescue. The United States government announced that it would not have rescue resources available for at least 10 days.
When Robert Macauley learned about the situation he decided to respond on his own. Macauley and his wife, Leila, mortgaged their home to charter a Boeing 747 and rescue the orphans. Within 48 hours, the children arrived safely in California.
In 1981, after hearing about the rescue mission, Pope John Paul II asked Macauley to raise funds that would provide medicine for people suffering under martial law in Poland. In March, 1982, the first airlift delivering medicines to Poland was launched, and Americares was born.
Macauley served as the CEO of Americares from 1979 to 2002, and Chairman of the Board until his death in 2010.
In 2013, Americares works with a worldwide network of more than 3,000 hospitals, clinics, and community health programs that work in partnership with donors, pharmaceutical companies and medical supply manufacturers to deliver humanitarian aid and medical supplies around the world.
Americares organizes emergency response teams to deliver urgently needed aid to survivors of disasters. Such aid includes medicines, medical supplies, water or water purification treatments and other critically needed resources. In 2012, Americares responded to 24 emergencies in 18 countries. Recent relief efforts have included:
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Wikipedia