CARE Brings Back an American Icon in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day

- The CARE Package returns as a digital, Web-based tool that strikes poverty at its roots by empowering women and girls -

ATLANTA, March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CARE, a leading humanitarian organization, is reintroducing the iconic CARE Package® in honor of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day.

CARE created the original CARE Package in 1946 to deliver supplies and food to Europeans after World War II. But instead of a plain, brown box of food and supplies like the CARE Package of old, the new CARE Package is a unique web tool that includes long-term solutions to global poverty. At www.care.org, people can customize a modern package of aid to support CARE's global strategy of giving girls and women the tools they need to become catalysts for change in their communities.

"When you give a girl or a woman a chance to start a business, learn how to read or participate in politics – that one act casts broader ripples of change that help the people around her escape poverty," says Dr. Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE. "The new, digital CARE Package gives people a quick and easy way to empower girls and women around the world. Like its predecessor, it illustrates the ability of foreign aid to make a real difference in people's lives and it proves that anyone can do something to help individuals in need, no matter how great the distance between them."

Using an intuitive drag and drop menu, people can create a package of aid by choosing to give a financial donation in support of CARE's work.  People also can choose to join CARE's advocacy efforts that strive to influence U.S. policy to improve the lives of women around the world.  CARE Package "receivers," for example, may include girls in Afghanistan who can attend school and expectant mothers in Peru who gain lifesaving transportation to the hospital.

Groups of people can build new CARE Packages together and invite friends and colleagues to help reach their goals. Group members can track their CARE Package's progress online and share news and updates on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.  People can also give CARE Packages as gifts on someone else's behalf.  

The new CARE Package is a key part of CARE's International Women's Day activities. CARE will kick-off its annual conference in Washington, D.C. on International Women's Day (March 8), with a concert featuring Grammy award-winning artist India.Arie, Crystal Bowersox, Sarah Darling and Michael Franti.  On March 9, the conference will unite more than 1,000 CARE advocates to learn about issues related to global poverty and CARE's poverty-fighting strategy of empowering women and girls. CARE advocates will then storm Capitol Hill on March 10 to take an active role in influencing U.S. policy that affects the world's most vulnerable populations.

Participants at the conference will hear from notables such as Helene Gayle; Melinda Gates, Co-chair and Trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Former First Lady Laura Bush and Judy Woodruff of PBS' Newshour. In addition, CARE staff from nearly 40 countries, from Egypt to Afghanistan, will participate in the conference and share their unique in-country perspective.

CARE will also unveil a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind report entitled "The Top 10 Myths about Women & the Heroes Who Bust Them" detailing the contributions of women and men who have busted myths that stall women's empowerment.  To read more, visit www.care.org.  

About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve education, health and economic opportunity. To learn more, visit www.care.org.

SOURCE CARE