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APPEAL LETTER FROM
ARK CHAIRMAN FOR RELEIF EFFORTS
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Americans for
Resolution of Kashmir
P.O. Box 96
Warren, NH 03279-4356
Tel: (603)-764-5869
Cell:
(603)-219-9643
www.a-r-k.org
October 12, 2005
Dear Friends:
There
are no words sufficient to describe the devastation in Kashmir. The approach of winter adds special
urgency to the desperate need for food, clothing, shelter, medical
supplies and equipment. From around the world, governments and relief
agencies are rushing aid to Kashmir
to meet the immediate life-and-death needs of her people.
In
the days since the earthquake, I have asked myself many times, “What
can ARK
do?” After careful consideration, we are moving forward on two fronts:
first, we are raising funds to provide immediate emergency relief;
and second, we will help rebuild this shattered land.
Emergency
Relief
Your
donations will be used to purchase food, clothing, building supplies,
and medical supplies and equipment. ARK
is partnering with reputable, frugal NGOs operating in Kashmir to purchase and distribute these items,
thus ensuring best use of our relief dollars. With the onset of winter,
and with the utter destruction of housing, schools, hospitals, hotels,
roads, water supplies and communications infrastructure, we must move
immediately to avert compounding this disaster with the dreaded
secondary effects of weather, starvation, disease, and desperation.
Rebuilding A
Shattered Land
I
searched for a project that is within our capabilities, which would
serve the future even as it honored the past. I found the answer in the
rubble of a school in Muzaffarabad which collapsed and killed hundreds
of young Kashmiri women. These children dreamed of a better life for
themselves and for Kashmir, and their
school was the doorway to those dreams. I am asking your help to
rebuild that school and reopen that doorway.
ARK is committed to raising $250,000
USD to rebuild this school. I believe that your love and generosity
should be known to every student that ever studies there. Accordingly,
recognition of contributions will be provided in the following way,
unless you wish to remain anonymous:
Donor ($250) –
Your name inscribed on an exterior brick
Friend ($1,000) – Your name
inscribed on a stone window arch
Sponsor ($2,500) – Your name
inscribed on a Side Entrance capstone
Patron
($5,000) – Your name inscribed on the
Main Entrance capstone
Benefactor ($10,000) – Classroom
or Laboratory named in your honor
Founder ($25,000) – Your name
inscribed on Commemorative
Monument
The
importance of both of these initiatives to the future of Kashmir cannot be overstated. While the
immediate needs are desperate, we must also begin marshalling the
resources that will be needed for reconstructing the institutions upon
which Kashmir’s future will stand.
How to Give
You
may donate by using the PayPal link on the ARK Website (www.a-r-k.org). Or you can send a
check or money order, (payable to “ARK
– Kashmir for Tomorrow”) to
ARK
P.O. Box 96
Warren, NH 03279
(Note: Donations are
tax deductible according to the IRS, and ARK will mail a written
receipt.)
I
pledge to you that every dollar we raise for both the emergency relief
effort and the school project will be spent directly on those
initiatives. Funds to cover administrative expenses will be drawn from
other sources.
A
dear friend once said, “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we
do for others lives forever.“ Please
join me in this critical effort to relieve the terrible suffering in Kashmir. We must reach out to the Kashmiri
people, even as they deal with the many horrors facing them in the days
to come.
Thank
you in advance for your generosity.
Respectfully,
Robert J. Giuda
Chairman
About ARK 