ustxtxb_obs_1971_11_19_50_00010-00000_000.pdf

A Public Service Message from the American Income Life Insurance CompanyExecutive offices, Waco, TexasBernard Rapoport Pres. WANTED -8 MILLION AMERICAN FAMILIES Who Will Be Good Samaritans For 8 Million Bengali Refugees Dear Friend: One of the first Bible Stories we tell our children is the story of the good samaritan who stops to care for a wounded robbery victim lying beside the road after others had hurried on past. It is a story that has a deep meaning to most Americans whether the person in need lying beside the road is an earthquake victim in Chile or a starving child in Biafra. We have always been quick to be good samaritans to others less fortunate than ourselves. We have rushed to help not just to the other side of the road, but to the other side of the world. Nov our traditionally generous impulses are meeting the supreme test. Because what is happening on the other side of the world is such a vast catastrophe so many millions are in anguish that there is a danger we will give a hopeless shrug and pass them by. Fleeing from the horrors of one of the bloodiest civil conflicts of this century, their homes and barns burned, their nearest of kin shot down, eight million Bengali refugees have poured out of Pakistan into India. Old people, children, mothers with babes in arms, have walked barefoot as far as three hundred miles to the border in the blistering sun without enough food or water, so that when they reached safety in India there was no place for them to stay but in the fields. When the monsoon rains came they hoveled in drain pipes, beneath mats, under canvas or pathetically inadequate umbrellas. Swooning from cholera and hunger, they sometimes had to stand up all night with water up to their knees because there was no dry place to lie down. Hospitals made for 200 patients have been swamped with 800, 1200 and 1500, lying beside the beds, in the corridors, outside the yard in row after row. The government of India, already hard pressed with its own economic problems, is spending over 3 million dollars a day in a valiant effort to care for the refugees. Obviously, it is not enough. It is questionable how long India can provide even this aid without collapsing. Although national governments and relief organizations are making important contributions for the relief of this mass sea of human suffering, to supplement this effort it is necessary to seek private help. The East Pakistan Emergency Refugee Fund has been organized to appeal to American families to help in this hour of unprecedented need. We do not ask you to undertake the hopeless task of saving eight million people from starvation and disease. This is a staggering problem even to comprehend. All we ask is that you, one American family, undertake and save one Bengali refugee by your contribution. You can do this by contributing only 330 a day for the next six months. This amounts to $10 per month. We do not underestimate the sacrifice this will mean for many people. But your commitment to give $10 a month for the next 6 months can pick up one Bengali child, give him food and cholera vaccine to carry him to high ground and survival. It is expected that within the next 6 months a peaceful solution will be reached and allow the refugees to return in safety to their homeland. You can multiply your contribution several times over by calling at least 5 of your close friends. Ask them to make the same commitment to save one child, and they should in turn call 5 of their friends. You may also want to ask your church, or club or local civic organization if they cannot also help as a group. If we can get eight million American families only 4% of the population to provide minimum care for just one Bengali baby, or child, or mother, or father, it will be the greatest rescue operation in human history. Your dollars will be channelled through UNICEF, CARE, IRC and other authorized organizations to provide emergency relief. Please mail the coupon below with your check directly to the bank by using the Post Office box. Save your cancelled check as a record of your tax-deductible contribution. Too often in recent years we have presented an image of America as the richest and most powerful nation in the world. Now, as never before, here is a desperate need for America to show itself as the most compassionate and generous of the world’s nations as well. Chester Bowles, former Ambassador to India Robert Drinan, Congressman from Massachusetts Shrikumar Poddar, President, India Foundation Homer Jack, World Conference of Religion for Peace William Plymat, Chairman, Preferred Risk Insurance Company r EAST PAKISTAN EMERGENCY REFUGEE FUND P. 0. Box 1776, Washington, D. C. 20013 , I support your efforts to help Bengali refugees. I will contribute $ a month for the next 6 months. I prefer to contribute $ at one time. Miss Mrs. Mr. Address City L. State Zip