Oxfam America - February 2005 Charity-of-the-Month
 |
More than 2 billion people in the world live on less than $2 a day.
Oxfam America is committed to creating lasting solutions to global poverty, hunger, and social injustice. Working with local partners, Oxfam fosters community-led development and provides emergency relief, while also campaigning to change global practices that keep people in poverty.
 |
Oxfam America
26 West Street
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: 1-800-77-OXFAM
Phone: 1-617-482-1211
Fax: 1-617-728-2594
web: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
email: info@oxfamamerica.org
Oxfam America is a Boston-based international relief and development agency affiliated with Oxfam International. In the month following the tsunami, Oxfam provided aid to more than 300,000 survivors. The agency will continue working to rebuild communities in southern Asia in the months and years to come.
Oxfam approaches both short- and long-term assistance by working with local partners: an on-the-ground approach that allows the organization to begin delivering aid as soon as a disaster occurs. In emergencies, Oxfam specializes in providing clean water and sanitation facilities to prevent the spread of disease. Once immediate needs have been met, Oxfam remains on the scene to help ensure that people do not relapse into extreme poverty but acquire the resources they need to be better prepared should disaster strike again.
 |
The outpouring of support for tsunami survivors underscores Americans’ generosity to their world neighbors. The Asian tsunami disaster was truly horrific, but it is far from being an isolated incident. People elsewhere in the world are suffering critical emergency situations. In Sudan, an estimated 70,000 people have lost their lives and an additional 1.7 million people have been displaced. In Ethiopia, more than 12 million people are in critical need of food and development aid.
Oxfam’s work is not limited to humanitarian emergencies. Far too many people suffer the everyday emergencies of poverty and social injustice. Oxfam staffers work in regional offices throughout the world, helping communities to take the lead in finding and implementing their own solutions.
Its presence on the ground enables Oxfam to see patterns of injustice: laws, customs, or policies often must be changed if real progress against poverty is to be achieved. Oxfam’s economic and political analysis helps grassroots groups change the minds of powerful decision makers. These campaigns align the efforts of people all over the world, affecting real change for coffee farmers in Ethiopia, communities affected by mining in Peru, and others whose rights are systematically trampled or ignored.
Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign hopes to end such social injustice by encouraging the public to purchase Fair Trade products, ensuring the producers a living wage. The statistics are staggering: If developing countries gained a 1% greater share of world trade, 128 million people would be lifted out of poverty.
 |
The international community has shown in the last month what it is capable of when moved. But the world has a notoriously short attention span when it comes to helping people in poverty. Thirty thousand people die from preventable disease every day. If current trends continue and the world fails to act to meet even the minimum of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, 45 million more children will die within the next 10 years.
More than 200,000 people were killed in the tsunami disaster. More than 150 million Americans responded. The world just got smaller. It’s time to meet your global neighbors.
Making a donation:
Oxfam welcomes support for both our emergency relief work through our Global Emergencies Fund as well as our ongoing poverty alleviation work. When making a donation you may elect to send it where it is needed most or specifically in support of the Oxfam’s Global Emergencies Fund. In a humanitarian crisis, 90% or more of donations go to help those affected by the disaster.
* Secure Credit card donations can be made online by following this link, and choosing 'Where It Is Needed Most' or the 'Global Emergencies Fund' from the drop down box.
* You may also call in a donation over the phone to 1-800-77-OXFAM, or
* send a check with a note indicating either Where It Is Needed Most or the Global Emergencies Fund to:
Oxfam America
Attn: Celeste Bettencourt
26 West Street
Boston MA 02111
Please note: Oxfam America is not accepting material donations such as food, clothing, and household goods. While Oxfam does ship some specially designed emergency equipment to affected areas, we prefer to purchase many other supplies locally. By infusing financial aid directly into the local area, it strengthens the economy and helps it recover more quickly. Shipping goods overseas can also increase traffic at ports, and slows the delivery of other needed supplies.
Expanding your efforts:
Consider raising money through your friends and other personal networks: at your work, place of worship, schools, and in your neighborhood.
If you choose to raise funds in your community, remember to:
* make sure that all checks are made out to Oxfam America.
* for people who would like a receipt for tax deduction purposes, send us a list including names, addresses, phone numbers, amounts donated, and the dates of donation;
* print out Oxfam materials from our website to hand out.
You can find out what Oxfam is doing with your donations by checking our web site, and learn how we are providing clean water, household supplies, temporary shelter and latrines, as well as the essential work of starting the process of reconstruction. Your fundraising efforts can also help educate people about how Oxfam does its emergency work.
To learn more about this, check the page on Our Approach, to learn how Oxfam helps communities recover from disasters.
Thank you again for your support.
Oxfam America
26 West Street
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: 1-800-77-OXFAM
Phone: 1-617-482-1211
Fax: 1-617-728-2594
web: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
email: info@oxfamamerica.org
