Greetings,

Rahwa is a sweet 4-year-old Afghan girl. On August 27, Spirit of America helped evacuate her and her family from Kabul to Albania. When we learned that Rahwa had a rare congenital heart defect, we knew we had to do everything we could to save her life. The United States has the best specialists, technology, and facilities to treat Rahwa.

Saving Rahwa was an all-hands-on-deck effort with the Spirit of America team and other friends breaking through the immigration bureaucracy, coordinating Albanian and American doctors, and — the easiest part — purchasing plane tickets for Rahwa and her family.

Rahwa and her family landed in the United States on October 28. A top children’s hospital is conducting exams and planning her treatment. With all the challenges in our world today, this is a small victory. It’s a huge one, too.

Our team’s performance in response to the Afghanistan crisis was extraordinary. Two of our team played a critical role coordinating with the US military to get at-risk Afghans into the airport in Kabul and out to safety. Zack Bazzi, an Army veteran and our Middle East Director, was in Qatar 48 hours after the fall of Kabul. Working side by side US troops, he provided emergency humanitarian assistance to more than 25,000 Afghans. Just 36 hours after receiving a call from the US Embassy, Colleen Denny, a Coast Guard veteran and our Europe Director, was in Albania to receive and provide food and shelter for 121 Afghan evacuees. Three other team members and I deployed to Tajikistan to support evacuations and work with the US Embassy to help Afghan refugees.

Even more remarkable, responding to the Afghanistan crisis was only one of the things our team did this year. We are able to respond with extreme speed and flexibility because generous people like you invest in Spirit of America’s capacity to do what needs to be done. That can mean working alongside US Special Forces in Syria to build goodwill that keeps them safe, funding English language training to strengthen US relations with Mongolia’s next generation of leaders, or saving the life of a little girl.

Please consider a year-end gift to Spirit of America. Your support will allow us to do the work that is most important — wherever, whenever, and however we are needed.

Thank you,
Jim Hake
Chief Executive Officer