“Make Your Impact” was the theme of the 2013 CARE USA conference and Women’s Day Celebration in Washington, DC. I am honored to be a volunteer for an organization as old as I am. It began fighting poverty through CARE packages immediately after WWII. Today it supports 997 poverty-fighting projects in 84 countries and reaches more than 83 million people. CARE focuses on the underlying causes of poverty by empowering poor people to bring lasting change to their communities. My small contribution to this enormous mission is to talk about the critical role that the U.S. Leadership plays on Capitol Hill. This was my third trip to DC to walk the halls of Congress and meet with specific elected officials. It won’t be my last.
My group of five volunteers spoke directly with California Representatives Zoe Lofgren, Lois Capps, and Alan Lowenthal and with staff members of Congressman Brad Sherman and Senator Barbara Boxer. They warmly welcomed us into their respective offices. We spoke about CARE and this year’s key issues; protecting the International Affairs budget and to sign a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry supporting the implementation of the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence. I’m pleased to report that our conversations were positive. These important politicians are friends of CARE. I hope that you will be too. For more information visit www.care.org
