Field Report: Santa Rosa, Nicaragua

Celebrating a now 10-year partnership between Operation USA and the village of Santa Rosa since the devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, a group of staff including CEO Richard Walden joined the annual holiday celebration Operation USA hosts in the village each year. Highlights included a graduation ceremony for the village's pre-school and primary school students, as well as a visit from the 'circus'-complete with snow cones.

Read more about this trip to Santa Rosa, Nicaragua.

Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo

In response to this deepening humanitarian crisis, Operation USA is partnering with FORGE, a grass roots organization dedicated to improving the health and well being of Congolese civilians caught in this seemingly endless cycle of violence and despair.

Read more about this health services program for members of the Kala Refugee Camp here.

Give A Gift With Meaning

Make a donation in the name of special friends or relatives this holiday season. We will send a personalized greeting card to let them know they've inspired a meaningful gift to support Operation USA programs around the world. Minimum donation per card is $15. Please call Christine Oppenheim or Sugy Pyun at 800.678.7255..

JACKSON Browne & Friends BENEFIT Concert for Hurricane Relief A BIG Success

On November 29th, 2008, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder, Joan Baez, Ben Harper and the Relentless 7, Candy Sosa & John Villalobos joined together at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for a hurricane relief benefit concert. Three thousand people attended the sold out event, which raised funds for Operation USA to expand programs alleviating effects of the devastation wrought by the 2008 Atlantic Hurricanes that hit Cuba, Haiti and the U.S. Gulf Coast. The concert was produced by Jackson Browne and the Guacamole Fund for Operation USA. Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make the event a success. Pacifica Station KPFK Los Angeles merits special recognition for promoting this event. .

South Asia Program Director Nimmi Gowrinathan Travels to Flood-Ravaged Bihar, India

South Asia program director Nimmi Gowrinathan travelled to flood-ravaged Bihar, India to survey the impact that this disaster has had on the region. Operation USA will work with local partners to strengthen educational and medical resources in the area. Take this opportunity to view a slideshow of that trip and get an in-depth view into the situation on the ground.

OPERATION USA SENDING EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE TO CUBA AND PREPARING RESPONSE FOR HURRICANE PALOMA

LOS ANGELES (November 8, 2008) Operation USA will send emergency assistance to Cuba in response to Hurricane Paloma. We are aiding Cuba's main pediatric hospitals in response to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Paloma is forecast to hit Camaguey and eastern Las Tunas, Granma and Holguin provinces, the same regions that were hammered recently by Ike and Gustav. Almost seventy-six years ago to the day, Cuba suffered the worst natural disaster in its history, a cyclone similar to Paloma that killed 3,000 people. In preparation of Paloma, an evacuation has been ordered for over half a million people from the coast and other vulnerable areas. Click here to make a donation. Click here to read our press release.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc. Generator Donation

October 17,2008: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc.'s donation of 50 new 6KW generators to respond to the needs of the victims of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike arrived this week at Operation USA's warehouse in the Port of Los Angeles, where they will be readied with other disaster equipment and supplies for rapid distribution to major U.S. disaster sites. They will be incorporated into power generation kits to be primarily used as backup or sole power supply by health clinics providing care to disaster evacuees in their facilities, at field clinics or living in shelters.

Mitsubishi's generous donation has a fair market value of $112,500 and is not the company's first donation. In response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Mitsubishi donated 15 4,000-watt generator/light towers, valued at $99,000, to Operation USA, which were distributed to civil authorities and relief groups in Louisiana and Mississippi. Three of the units were eventually brought to our main California warehouse facility, where they would be used should we lose power in a major disaster or sent into the community.

Operation USA greatly appreciates and especially thanks Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc.'s President & CEO, Mr. Eiichi Ishii, for his invaluable support and generosity; and we are very grateful of his staff who helped make this high-priority donation possible.

America's Largest Charity Evaluator, Charity Navigator, Rates Operation USA #1 on Top Ten List of Privately Funded Charities

Operation USA is honored to be rated #1 on Charity Navigator's Top 10 list of privately funded charities. Click Here for Charity Navigator's Top Ten List.

Our work covers a vast range of US and international disasters, women's and children's programs, and "SMART AID" economic development projects in the world's poorest communities. Operation USA is an effective and powerful relief agency, helping millions of people recover after disasters.

Making the right choice among charities is critically important in a time of economic chaos.

OPERATION USA RESPONDS TO HURRICANE IKE IN HAITI, CUBA & TEXAS
WHILE CONTINUING ASSISTANCE TO THE GULF COAST IN RESPONSE
TO HURRICANE GUSTAV

Operation USA’s response to the devastation in the Gulf Coast began immediately following Hurricane Gustav with a shipment of antibiotics and heart medications to twenty clinics in Mississippi and Louisiana. We continue to coordinate with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), as well as state primary care association partners in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas with regard to the arrival of Hurricane Ike.

Operation USA immediately provided the Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC) with funds to purchase needed over-the-counter medications for area health clinics; purchased and shipped a 25KVA generator for the South Central Houston Community Clinic to aid its service for its low-income community; and, are working again with Mitsubishi, which has committed up to 10 small (6KVA) generators to the United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Houston which will re-distribute them to disabled families still without power.

Operation USA will continue its work with the TACHC in sending additional shipments of critical medicines to health centers throughout the affected region. We have sent staff to Texas to address any additional situations where Operation USA may be of service. Our response to the devastation in Haiti and Cuba has already begun with shipments of water purification chemicals and medical equipment and supplies being finalized.

Operation USA remains committed to helping the people on the Gulf Coast recover, just as we've done since hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck over 3 years ago. Since 2005, we have delivered over $18 million in aid and provided over $2.5 million in cash grants.

OPERATION USA TO ASSIST CUBA AFTER HURRICANE IKE

The Los Angeles-based international disaster relief group, Operation USA, is sending emergency assistance to Cuba's main pediatric hospitals in support of their response to the medical needs of children stemming from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

To read our press release and to find out how you can help, click here.

CHINA EARTHQUAKE
AID RESPONSE UPDATE

When a magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit the southwestern region of China on May 12, 2008,15 million people were displaced, 350,000 injured, and almost 70,000 killed. Among the fatalities were more than 9,000 children and their teachers who died when 7,000 school buildings collapsed.  Operation USA responded rapidly to the disaster, deploying a team to the hardest hit area, Sichuan province, to assess the damage and needs of those affected.

Operation USA responded rapidly to the disaster by deploying a team to the hardest hit province, Sichuan, to assess damage, meet with government officials and coordinate reconstruction projects in the region. Operation USA is partnering with Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the philanthropic arm of Honeywell Corporation, to reconstruct a village-level primary school that will serve over 300 students. Future plans also include the construction of a primary care clinic that will serve the same population and fund psycho-social programs for children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder .

A recent trip with the CEOs of 6 major US corporations active in China, the US Secretary of State and head of our foreign assistance program as well as the CEOs of three major US NGOs (including Richard Walden of Operation USA) was recently concluded. The group, coordinated by the Business Roundtable’s Disaster Response Task Force, met with Premier Wen JiaBao of China as well as senior officials at the national and local levels to discuss the best way to provide American assistance to those in need in this disaster of unprecedented size and severity. Dave Cote, Honeywell’s CEO, stated to the Chinese and to the other CEOs on the trip that Operation USA is Honeywell’s preferred partner in implementing relief projects in China—following our successful joint efforts in Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan after earlier disasters. Honeywell is replacing schools and clinics destroyed in the Sichuan earthquake.

To contribute to our China Earthquake relief efforts, please click here.

MYANMAR: A NATURAL DISASTER
FACES A MANMADE OBSTACLE

On May 2nd and 3rd, 2008, Cyclone Nargis swept through Myanmar, wreaking destruction across the Ayeyarwady Delta region.  In the wake of the disaster, 130,000 people were dead or missing with 2.4 million people affected.  In response, Operation USA has partnered with the Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai/Burma border, funding cross-border, cyclone relief medical teams organized by E.A.T. Burma, a consortium of Burmese-run medical groups.  We are also partnering with the Int’l Organization on Migration (IOM) for local procurement of materials inside Myanmar to supply their medical teams in the area.

Operation USA has a 15 year history of assisting the Burmese people and working around obstacles. For more on our Myanmar relief efforts and how you can help, click here

All of our work is guided by the principle of Smart Aid.

WHAT IS SMART AID?