FROM THOSE WHO HAVE MUCH, MUCH IS EXPECTED (via Charlie Herzog):

Spirit of America: Here's a way you can help the cause in Iraq. (DANIEL HENNINGER, April 16, 2004, Wall Street Journal)

Thus spake George W. Bush this week: "The people of our country are united behind our men and women in uniform, and this government will do all that is necessary to assure the success of their historic mission." Still, many Americans who support the war don't much like sitting on their hands doing little more than watch it on TV. Some have written here, asking what they can do to help. This column will describe a real project that lets the folks at home lend a hand to the soldiers in Iraq.

Over the past year, a successful technology entrepreneur named Jim Hake has been working with the Marine Corps to help their reconstruction projects in Iraq. The Marines identify local equipment needs, and Mr. Hake's organization, Spirit of America, after raising the money, acquires the stuff, typically for schools and medical clinics. It flies directly out of Camp Pendleton in California. Jim Hake and the Marines are a coalition of the can-do, bypassing the slow U.S. procurement bureaucracy. More on that effort in a moment. Here's where you come in:

The First Marine Expeditionary Force and U.S. Army in Iraq want to equip and upgrade seven defunct Iraqi-owned TV stations in Al Anbar province--west of Baghdad--so that average Iraqis have better televised information than the propaganda they get from the notorious Al-Jazeera. If Jim Hake can raise $100,000, his Spirit of America will buy the equipment in the U.S., ship it to the Marines in Iraq and get Iraqi-run TV on the air before the June 30 handover.

The Story That Inspired Spirit of America: How Baseball Helped Children and Saved Lives in Afghanistan

Orgun-e is a remote village in eastern Afghanistan about 20 miles from Pakistan. After Special Forces Sergeant Jay Smith and his team built a schoolhouse for the village, his wife Dianna sent him baseball gloves and balls for two boys helping in the troops’ kitchen. The boys were so excited that Smith called and asked her to send more gloves, balls and bats so they could form teams and play real games. Dianna called friends, co-workers and family, raised the money for the gear sent it to Jay.

Within a few weeks the village children had a league with two teams and were playing baseball regularly. The village’s quality of life, and its perception the troops and America, improved. Sergeant Smith met a small need but made a big impact. The Special Forces efforts weren’t limited to baseball. The soldiers distributed a range of other items, including school supplies and toys, to the villagers.

Saving Lives
Through baseball, school supplies and a genuine desire to help the people of Orgun-e, the American troops built close and positive relations with the villagers. Later, one night the soldiers suffered a rocket attack from Al Qaeda that had snuck into the village from Pakistan. In response, the people of Orgun-e formed a “community watch.” Every night they patrolled the village area to protect the American soldiers. The rocket attacks stopped. Sergeant Smith says, “Once they saw we had a true blue interest in them, they joined with us. The things we did to help people in Orgun-e literally saved lives. Theirs and ours.”

Grass Roots, Private Initiative
No one told the Special Forces soldiers to undertake these activities. They saw the need, and opportunity, to help people in Orgun-e. And, they did something about it. Even coaching baseball was done on their own time. Likewise, American citizens responded to the requests from the troops – raising money, buying needed goods and sending them half way around the world.

Spirit of America
Spirit of America’s priority is to increase the scale and impact of activities - like those of the Special Forces in Orgun-e - that are already being undertaken by Americans serving in post-conflict areas.

Beats the heck out the United Way.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 16, 2004 11:12 AM