The CARE Package was the original unit of aid distributed by the humanitarian organization

CARE Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (England) West Midlands, Central Accident Resuscitation Emergency team, a team of doctors & ...

(Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere). Originally CARE was dubbed the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe, and in 1946 CARE sent the world's first CARE Package. Although "CARE Package" is a registered trademark, the term has since been widely adopted as a generic term for a parcel of food or supplies sent for relief or comfort purposes.

Origin

In 1945, the newly formed CARE (then the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) initiated a program to send food relief to Europe, where large numbers of people were at risk of starvation in the wake of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Arthur Ringland and Dr. Lincoln Clark approached 22 American charities to propose a non-profit corporation to funnel food parcels from Americans to loved ones in Europe. The charities agreed and on November 27, they incorporated CARE. CARE's leaders worked with the U.S. Army to acquire 2.8 million Army surplus "10-in-1" food rations that had been stockpiled for an invasion of Japan that never transpired. These parcels, a form of MRE (Meals Ready to Eat), were sent to Europe. These rations become the world's first CARE Packages. After six months, CARE delivered the first CARE Packages to the battered port city of Le Havre, France.

Founding charities

Following are the original 22 founding organizations that supported CARE and the original CARE Package: * American Christian Committee for Refugees *

American Friends Service Committee The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends ('' Quaker)-founded'' organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by ...

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* American Relief for Czechoslovakia * American Relief for France * American Relief for Norway * American Relief for Poland * Committee on Christian Science Wartime Activities for the Mother Church * Congressional Christian Services Committee (United Church for World Ministries) * Cooperative League of the USA * International Rescue and Relief Committee * National CIO War Relief Committee * Paderewski Testimonial Fund * Save the Children Federation * Tolstoy Foundation *

Unitarian Service Committee The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is a non-profit, nonsectarian associate member organization of the Unitarian Universalist Association that works to provide disaster relief and promote human rights and social justice around t ...

* United Lithuanian Relief Fund of America * United Ukrainian American Relief Committee * United Yugoslav Relief Fund of America * War Relief Services, National Catholic Welfare Conference (

Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...

) *

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

World Emergency and War Victims Fund

Distribution

The first 20,000 packages reached the port of Le Havre, France, on May 11, 1946. Initially, senders had to specify a recipient for a package, but over the course of time the nature of distribution changed and packages were sent to target areas as opposed to specific individuals. On June 5, 1946, the prohibition against sending CARE packages to occupied

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

was rescinded. On June 6 General Lucius D. Clay signed the CARE treaty permitting the distribution of packages in the U.S. occupation zone, on June 21 the British also signed the treaty.

Marie Pierre Kœnig Marie may refer to the following. People Given name * Marie (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** List of people named Marie * Marie (Japanese given name) Surname * Jean Gabriel-Marie, French compo ...

signed the treaty in December 1946, thus permitting the distribution of CARE packages also in the French occupation zone. The first CARE packages for distribution in the U.S. zone landed in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

harbor in August 1946, while the first packages for the French zone were distributed in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

in December 1946. By 1960, when operations in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

ended CARE had distributed 83,000 tonnes of aid in West Germany. Operations continued until 1962 in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

phased out CARE Packages in the 1960s as its work began to focus on long-term projects in addition to emergency relief.

CARE Package 2020

In May 2020, CARE launched a new CARE Package in order to respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Today's CARE Package marks the first time CARE has included the United States in the list of countries requiring urgent humanitarian support. CARE Packages for Frontline Heroes and CARE Package Relief are CARE's first U.S.-based aid initiatives. In addition to the U.S. distribution, CARE will launch CARE Packages for Global Communities, which will allow donors to support COVID-19 initiatives in Ecuador and Sierra Leone. Today's CARE Package features ways to support frontline, medical workers, caregivers, individuals in need, and communities in the U.S. and around the world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with digital, physical, and financial support. The program will provide monetary assistance, food, and essential supplies to individuals in need and at risk in the form of CARE Packages.

In popular culture

In the United States and the United Kingdom, the term "care package" has come to be applied to packages of food and other goodies sent to absent friends and relations, particularly to college students, by their families. Numerous companies now offer pre-assembled packages that can be ordered for delivery.

Notes and references