This book offers a highly personal, detailed, and richly anecdotal history of the organization known worldwide as CARE. The author, who is a founding member of CARE and was active in its development, also served as the organization's President and Treasurer. Now President Emeritus, he is in a unique position to provide an intimate look at the events that transformed CARE from a food package service to Europe following World War II into an international series of organizations interested in relief, school lunch programs and nutritional education, refugee assistance, and development assistance around the world. Throughout, the author emphasizes the pivotal role that private voluntary organizations like CARE can play in international relief and their impact on the process of economic growth and development so critical to world peace and stability.
Campbell tells us how, when, and why CARE was formed in the United States in the aftermath of the devastation left by World War II; what the problems were; how people responded to the effort; how the cooperative organization and its problems grew and changed from a limited system of food package deliveries to broader efforts in the fields of food aid, disaster and emergency relief, and promoting development; and how people in some countries formerly aided by CARE became part of today's 11 nation network of national CARE organizations dedicated to helping meet the needs of the developing world. Because this is a personal account, Campbell focuses on the men and women who founded and continue to sustain CARE—people who believe it is not enough simply to support the concept of help for those in need, but who reinforce that concept with a personal commitment to action. Writing partly from his own records, partly from materials compiled for CARE archives by employees and officials, and partly from personal recollections, Campbell has provided a unique memoir of a unique organization—one that will be welcomed enthusiastically by CARE employees and contributors, development policy planners, and anyone who has been involved in the activities of the organization during its 45-year history.