Philippines Tragedy

Dear ARC Friends - On Friday, Super Typhoon Haiyan slammed into Philippines with heavy winds and flooding rains. At least 1,200 people have been reported killed and nearly 1 million people were forced to evacuate their homes ahead of the storm. It’s too soon to understand the full extent of the disaster, but damage is extensive. Our hearts go out to families who've lost loved ones and their homes and belongings in this terrible storm. ARC is on alert. We are closely monitoring the situation in Philippines as it evolves. We are also preparing to deploy a relief team to the area. Here's a New York Times article posted about one hour ago on the storm and its aftermath: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/world/asia/philippines-typhoon.html?ref=asia&_r=0 Please stay tuned for more information on this tragedy and our response. Sincerely, - Daniel Daniel Wordsworth President, American Refugee Committee P.S. If you'd like to make a donation to support our emergency response team, you can do so here: http://www.ARCrelief.org/emergencyresponse

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Inside ARC - 10.30.13 - Top Ten (continued), Annual

Hi jay, Here's an update from ARC. Let us know if you have any questions. -Daniel Daniel Wordsworth, President ***********************************************  * Top Ten: Changemaker's Award (continued)*   Last time, we shared some of the ideas from our Top Ten finalists in ARC’s CHANGEMAKERS idea competition. Again, the question we asked our worldwide staff: If you could do one simple thing, how would you make the ARC experience better for the people we serve? Below are three more ideas that advanced to the Top Ten: Idea #27 came from Rwanda: Plant Cassava Leaf trees at each household in Gihembe refugee camp in Rwanda. Many refugees in the camp are anemic because the rations they receive from the United Nations are composed primarily of beans and maize. Cassava leaves are very high in iron and an ingredient common in Congolese cooking. In addition to addressing the problem of anemia, the trees would help with soil retention and provide shade in the camp. Idea #24 came from Minneapolis: Introduce a bicycle-sharing system in refugee settlements. With access to a bike, refugees wouldn’t need to spend hours traveling by foot to school, to get water, to the clinic or to the market. Creating a bicycle cooperative would also increase employment in camps, as refugees themselves would be responsible for the assembly and maintenance of the bicycles. Idea #57 came from Thailand: Create ARC’s own ‘TED’ Talks. Inspired by the global TED idea sharing platform, ARC TED would create a leadership forum to tackle ideas around ‘t’ransformation, ‘e’ngagement, and ‘d’ignity for peace. Small groups would discuss ideas posed by TED talks and other web content, focusing on peaceful change leaders and concepts. Leading with understanding and experience, we’ll inspire timeless leadership values. *Annual Report* ARC's Annual Report is available online. You can view it at: http://www.arcrelief.org/annual_reports/Annual_Report_2013.pdf . If you'd like to request your own copy of the report, just respond to this email with your name and address and we'll put a copy in the mail. *Engage*  We're sharing photos, video and stories on social media. Join the conversation. Friend us! --- http://www.Facebook.com/arcrelief Follow us! --- http://www.twitter.com/arcrelief Subscribe! --- http://www.youtube.com/chriskatarc Check us out! --- http://www.instagram.com/arcrelief *Giving*    At the request of readers, I always include these links so they’re easy to find when you need them. Thanks so much. Become a Monthly Donor: http://www.ARCrelief.org/givemonthly Donate Online: http://www.ARCrelief.org/donate Give Us a Call: (800) 875-7060 Send in a gift: American Refugee Committee Donor Service Center P.O. Box 1002 Minneapolis, MN 55480-1002 USA

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Inside ARC - 10.16.13 - Bamboo, Heroes, Top Ten

Hi jay, Here's my quick update of the last few weeks at ARC. Let us know if you have any questions. -Daniel Daniel Wordsworth, President ***********************************************  * Bamboo at Kiziba * Congolese refugees living at Kiziba Refugee Camp in Rwanda have begun cultivating bamboo. Why? Kiziba sits on a hillside with very few trees. The threat of erosion and even landslides is very real. Camp residents are taking environmental protection in the camp very seriously. They’ve already planted 172 bamboo stalks and will plant 500 more in the coming days. Bamboo grows incredibly quickly and its roots can reduce soil erosion by up to 75%! In addition to its environmental benefits, camp residents hope the quick growing plant will provide a source of sustainable livelihood for furniture makers and artisans in the camps.  * ARC's Heroes *    October is a month that we pause to recognize all our amazing ARC humanitarian workers doing heroic stuff in the field. Anyone can be a hero. Each of us every day has the opportunity to be a hero – it’s in moments when another person is in need and struggling that heroes emerge. Our heroes in the field just happen to be confronted by more of these moments each day than you or I might be. In places like, Somalia, South Sudan, Pakistan and Thailand, they regularly put aside their needs or wants – or even their safety – to help someone else. Will you join us in thanking them for what they do? Just take a quick moment and reply to this email with a message for our aid workers in the field letting them know you appreciate what they do. We’ll share your message with our team overseas in our global staff email update.  * Top Ten: Changemaker's Award *   In the last couple of email updates, we let you know about our new CHANGEMAKERS idea competition for our staff around the world. The question we asked everyone: If you could do one simple thing, how would you make the ARC experience better for the people we serve? The response was incredible - we received more than 100 exciting ideas! We’ve now narrowed the list to the top ten submissions. We’ll share a few of those ideas with you today and a few in the coming weeks. Idea #58 came from South Sudan: Plant Moringa and Neem trees nearby 25 health facilities in Kapoeta district. The trees leaves are more nutritious than oranges or other fruits and could help reduce malnutrition rates in kids under 5 years old. Idea # 43 came from Thailand: Promote and encourage populations to do exercises like aerobics, to promote improved health in refugee camps. Idea # 85 came from Uganda: Institute a six-week catering and cooking training course in refugee settlements. Upon completing the program, participants could open restaurants or use their new school to gain employment in future. *Engage*  We're sharing photos, video and stories on social media. Join the conversation. Friend us! --- http://www.Facebook.com/arcrelief Follow us! --- http://www.twitter.com/arcrelief Subscribe! --- http://www.youtube.com/chriskatarc Check us out! --- http://www.instagram.com/arcrelief *Giving*    At the request of readers, I always include these links so they’re easy to find when you need them. Thanks so much. Become a Monthly Donor: http://www.ARCrelief.org/givemonthly Donate Online: http://www.ARCrelief.org/donate Give Us a Call: (800) 875-7060 Send in a gift: American Refugee Committee Donor Service Center P.O. Box 1002 Minneapolis, MN 55480-1002 USA

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Inside ARC - 10.2.13 - CGI, Changemakers, A+

Hi jay, There's a lot happening at ARC these days. Here's a quick recap of the last few weeks. Let us know if you have any questions. -Daniel Daniel Wordsworth, President ***********************************************  * ARC at Clinton Global Initiative * Last week, ARC participated in the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York. At the meeting, I announced ARC’s Commitment to Action to decrease child mortality in Eastern Congo – to help kids survive to age 5. You can read the full Commitment here:  http://get.cgilink.org/v/c/830093. Right now, 1 in 5 children in DRC doesn’t survive to age 5. We need a new approach NOW to help Congolese kids! While at the meeting, ARC presented to social entrepreneurs, NGOs, foundations, and potential corporate partners. Our first social enterprise zone is slated to open in eastern Congo in March of 2014. Stay tuned for more details.  * The Changemaker's Award *    A couple of weeks ago, I told you about an ideas competition we launched for ARC staff worldwide. Yesterday was the last day of the competition. In total, nearly 100 ideas were submitted to answer the question: If you could do one simple thing, how would you make the ARC experience better for the people we serve? Ideas have ranged from environmental protection efforts to using technology to improve health to peace-building…and more. One of these ideas will eventually be awarded a $10,000 prize for their country program. Over the course of the next several weeks, we’ll share a handful of these ideas with you. Keep an eye on your inbox.  * An A+ *   ARC was recently upgraded to an ‘A+’ rating by CharityWatch, one of the largest charity watchdog groups in the U.S. The last few years, ARC had received an ‘A’ rating from the group. Groups included on the Top-Rated list “generally spend 75% or more of their budgets on programs, spend $25 or less to raise $100 in public support, do not hold excessive assets in reserve, and receive ‘open-book’ status for disclosure of basic financial information and documents to CharityWatch.”  You can see ARC’s listing here, which highlights “Top-Rated Charities in International Relief and Development”:   http://www.charitywatch.org/toprated.html#intrelief *Engage*  We're sharing photos, video and stories on social media. Join the conversation. Friend us! --- http://www.Facebook.com/arcrelief Follow us! --- http://www.twitter.com/arcrelief Subscribe! --- http://www.youtube.com/chriskatarc Check us out! --- http://www.instagram.com/arcrelief *Giving*    At the request of readers, I always include these links so they’re easy to find when you need them. Thanks so much. Become a Monthly Donor: http://www.ARCrelief.org/givemonthly Donate Online: http://www.ARCrelief.org/donate Give Us a Call: (800) 875-7060 Send in a gift: American Refugee Committee Donor Service Center P.O. Box 1002 Minneapolis, MN 55480-1002 USA

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Inside ARC - 9.19.13 - New Camp, New Ideas

Hi jay, Here's an update on what's been going on around ARC the last few weeks. Let us know if you have any questions. -Daniel Daniel Wordsworth, President ***********************************************  *New Camp in Rwanda* People continue to flee the crisis in Congo.  The four main Congolese refugee camps in Rwanda — all of which are managed by ARC—are full to capacity. And the transit camp on the border has once again exceeded its capacity of 6,000, resulting in overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. And still more refugees are en route. The United Nations and Rwandan Government have decided to open a fifth refugee camp in Mugombwa in the southern province that could house up to 15,000 residents. This week, ARC’s Rwanda team conducted a rapid assessment at the site, including surveying for site design, assessing water sources, and identifying environmental challenges. Below is an image of the site. Stay tuned for updates about this new camp.  *The Changemaker's Award*    We recently launched an ideas competition to collect new and fresh ideas from our 1,000+ staff members around the world.  All staff, worldwide, are eligible to participate. The question we’ve asked is: If you could do one simple thing, how would you make the ARC experience better for the people we serve?   The goal is to generate dozens of ideas from our staff around the world, ideas that we can share across the organization and with other organizations working in our field. However, one winning idea will be chosen, and the country office that generates the idea will be awarded $10,000 to spend on their program at their discretion. Once the contest has concluded, we look forward to sharing some of our staff’s new and exciting ideas with you!   *Youth. Somalia. Microenterprise*   Last week, Said Sheik-Abdi (an ARC Program Manager) and I spoke to a small group of ARC supporters about a new program we’re launching in Somalia. Somalia suffers from terrible unemployment (66%) – and opportunities for youth are very few. We’re launching a microenterprise program – with several other partners – with the goal of getting 50,000 youth self-employed within the next 3 years. If you’d like to hear more about it, here’s an excerpt from my presentation (it’s about 6 minutes long): http://www.arcrelief.org/somaliabriefing.mp3 The Star Tribune also ran an article about the project just yesterday. You can find it here: http://www.startribune.com/local/224149231.html  *Engage*  We're sharing photos, video and stories on social media. Join the conversation. Friend us! --- http://www.Facebook.com/arcrelief Follow us! --- http://www.twitter.com/arcrelief Subscribe! --- http://www.youtube.com/chriskatarc Check us out! --- http://www.instagram.com/arcrelief *Giving*    At the request of readers, I always include these links so they’re easy to find when you need them. Thanks so much. Become a Monthly Donor: http://www.ARCrelief.org/givemonthly Donate Online: http://www.ARCrelief.org/donate Give Us a Call: (800) 875-7060 Send in a gift: American Refugee Committee Donor Service Center P.O. Box 1002 Minneapolis, MN 55480-1002 USA

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Inside ARC - 9.3.13 - Syria

Hi jay, I wanted to compile some information for you on the crisis in Syria. I know it can be difficult to keep track of all the information out there. Things have really deteriorated quickly there in the last few months, and especially in the last few days. What has been a devastating time for civilians in the region has the potential to become much worse. Let us know if you have any questions. -Daniel Daniel Wordsworth, President ***********************************************  CRISIS IN SYRIA *Summary of the Crisis* The conflict is now 2 ½ years old. Linked to the wider Arab Spring movement, nationwide anti-government protests evolved into an armed rebellion. The violence has displaced millions of people from their homes and communities and has made accessing food, water and other essentials increasingly difficult for Syrian civilians. *Quick Numbers*   2 Million         Syrians (1 Million of them children) who’ve fled the country as refugees to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and other neighbors in the region 4.5 Million      An additional 4.5 million Syrians are displaced inside Syria. 100,000 # of people killed in the crisis, many of them civilians 3/15/2011    Marks the beginning of the conflict. Demonstrations spread nationwide by April of 2011  *ARC in the region*   ARC has joined forces with Jordan-based Questscope to provide support to Syrian refugees. The ARC and Questscope teams are working together to build programs providing shelter, water and sanitation, violence prevention, and protection services to people who have fled their homes. We are also assisting QuestScope as they offer informal education and mentoring programs for at-risk children in Za’atari Camp, the largest refugee camp in Jordan. If you’d like to support our efforts for Syrian refugees, give online now. *Engage*  We're sharing photos, video and stories on social media. Join the conversation. Friend us! --- http://www.Facebook.com/arcrelief Follow us! --- http://www.twitter.com/arcrelief Subscribe! --- http://www.youtube.com/chriskatarc Check us out! --- http://www.instagram.com/arcrelief *Giving*    At the request of readers, I always include these links so they’re easy to find when you need them. Thanks so much. Become a Monthly Donor: http://www.ARCrelief.org/givemonthly Donate Online: http://www.ARCrelief.org/donate Give Us a Call: (800) 875-7060 Send in a gift: American Refugee Committee Donor Service Center P.O. Box 1002 Minneapolis, MN 55480-1002 USA

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Inside ARC - 8.15.13 - Sudan Floods

Hi jay, Here's an update on what's been going on at ARC the last few weeks. Please let us know if you have questions or want more info. -Daniel Daniel Wordsworth, President ***********************************************  *Floods in Sudan* An estimated 150,000 people have been affected by heavy rain and flash floods throughout Sudan between the 1st and 4th of August. Houses have been damaged or destroyed. Diseases such as malaria and diarrhea are expected to rise. And, more rains this week will exacerbate the humanitarian situation. ARC is responding. We’ll soon begin distributing emergency kits for families with items like blankets, a water can, plastic sheeting and rope, mosquito nets and hygiene kits. Once rains have subsided, we will rehabilitate clean water points and sanitation structures and lead community campaigns to clean-up debris from flooding that could be harmful or dangerous for families. If you’d like to support our efforts in Sudan, you can make a donation here. *Partnering with Business*   This week, ARC President Daniel Wordsworth was quoted in the UK’s The Guardian newspaper.  The article, titled “An Uneasy Relationship: Human Rights Charities and Business,” discusses the challenges and opportunities that arise when organizations like the American Refugee Committee and businesses join as partners.  You can read the article here:  http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/human-rights-charities-business-partnerships. *Engage*  We're sharing photos, video and stories on social media. Join the conversation. Friend us! --- http://www.Facebook.com/arcrelief Follow us! --- http://www.twitter.com/arcrelief Subscribe! --- http://www.youtube.com/chriskatarc Check us out! --- http://www.instagram.com/arcrelief *Giving*    At the request of readers, I always include these links so they’re easy to find when you need them. Thanks so much. Become a Monthly Donor: http://www.ARCrelief.org/givemonthly Donate Online: http://www.ARCrelief.org/donate Give Us a Call: (800) 875-7060 Send in a gift: American Refugee Committee Donor Service Center P.O. Box 1002 Minneapolis, MN 55480-1002 USA

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