Americans for Resolution of Kashmir

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