AmeriCares and Project SHARE
We had a wonderful visit on Friday with AmeriCares, a large nonprofit that donates medicine to the developing world. Nestled in the quaint New England city of Stamford, Connecticut, AmeriCares is a world class organization on a mission dear to our heart: bridging the gap between the haves and have-nots through donations of life-saving medicine.
We’ve worked with AmeriCares for many years, but have never visited its facility. We were greeted warmly, and had a fascinating tour of the warehouse, which stocks donated biologics and pharmaceuticals from many companies. We learned about their operations, and noted the framed display of many presidential letters of gratitude and congratulations for its emergency international relief work, dating back to the Nixon era. Founded by Bob Macauley 25 years ago, after he helped to rescue Vietnamese orphans following a harrowing plane crash in Saigon in 1975, AmeriCares is now recognized as a leader in humanitarian shipments of medicine.
In the US, Project SHARE is recognized as a leader in donated factor: 9.7 million units in 2006 to 45 countries, representing about $9.6 million. Not bad for a company with 2.5 employees! As AmeriCares also receives donated factor from Baxter, we team together to share information on requests, recipients and operations, so there is no wastage or overlap. Since 1990, AmeriCares has received an astounding $99.3 million in products from Baxter! We were thrilled to meet our fellow teammates, and to wish them well on their first trip to Romania this coming week. There, they will meet all the doctors who treat hemophilia patients, who we also work closely with.
Eastern European Program Manager Jim O’Brian and I were surprised and delighted to learn we are both alumni of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy! Not very often you bump into someone from that international program at Tufts University.
Project SHARE director Julia Long and I are proud to work with AmeriCares, to bring more medicine and better care to those in poverty and in medical need. For more information, see www.americares.org
