The 1968 Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding

Giving relief is difficult especially when the goal is to generate positive human response. The recipient readily comes to feel obligated, dependent and ill at ease about the relationship. The challenge to the donor is to fortify rather than inhibit self-reliance. Working wherever possible through local agencies in eight countries and two colonies in Asia, the COOPERATIVE FOR AMERICAN RELIEF EVERYWHERE, known as CARE, has managed this delicate assignment with sensitivity and a continuing concern for long-term results.

Inaugurated in November 1945 as a cooperative of American private charitable and service organizations to send food parcels to the starving in war-ravaged Europe, CARE soon broadened its scope, changing the "E" to Everywhere. Discovering that an equal need was for the means to self-help, CARE aid began emphasizing plows, technical books and much else that man needs for his productive efforts. As food commodities became available from the U.S. Government, which also paid for most of the freight, CARE took responsibility for a vast international feeding program. In March 1962 MEDICO became a service of CARE, adding a new dimension to the assault on hunger, poverty and disease.

Filipino children numbering yearly some four million in 27,000 elementary and pre-schools benefit from the free lunch program of CARE and the Bureau of Public Schools. Blending powdered milk and cornmeal, teachers are distributing a nutritious supplement to guard the younger generation against the intellectually numbing hazards that scientists have uncovered in a protein deficient diet. Sprayers for fruit and tobacco growers, 3,000 transistor radios distributed to barrios, woodworking tools for vocational schools, and vita-pops (vitamin fortified buns) for orphans in institutions are but a few of CARE's contributions. In South Vietnam, war refugees are given soap, vitamins, textile packages and sewing kits by CARE and are helped to become self-supporting with seeds, irrigation equipment, livestock, and tools for carpenters, masons and blacksmiths. When famine threatened millions in India two years ago, CARE was among the agencies that helped with effective emergency food aid.

Now representing 26 American agencies CARE, in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1967, distributed in 32 countries US$99,194,128 worth of food, supplies and equipment. From its founding to date its contributions have exceeded one billion dollars in value. Costs of administering this service have been kept to approximately seven per cent. Accomplishing this immense task with a modest budget and insuring integrity in use sets a standard for constructive relief. It also is heartening reassurance for the many in Asia who benefit to know that others care.

In electing the COOPERATIVE FOR AMERICAN RELIEF EVERYWHERE to receive the 1968 Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, the Board of Trustees recognizes its constructive humanitarianism, fostering dignity among the needy in Asia and on three other continents for over 22 years.