An Icon: The Care Package (tm)

Remember the Care Package?  It is now a trademark and has recently come out of
retirement to honor the 100th anniversary of 

International Women's Day.

The first Care Package was introduced in 1946, when life-

saving food and supplies were sent to Europeans after World 

War II. The Care Package quickly became an icon of American 

generosity and increased our awareness of global 

communities in need.

My first memory of the Care Package dates back 
to 1963.

As a young girl, I lived in a small farming community 

in Michigan. One summer the kids on our block decided 

to have a carnival and donate all the proceeds to 
CARE. 

I remember the fun we had putting together the various 

activities: go-cart rides for 25 cents, a nickel to read your fortune (that was me), throwing darts at balloons,

an iced cold lemonade stand, a craft table where you could make pictures (using glitter & glue--whoo hoo!), selling popcorn and decorated bags of chestnuts (I don't know the reasoning behind the nuts; after all, you could pick them up right off the ground!) We didn't know much about CARE, except that our efforts would help other children in the world who were very poor, far poorer than us in our scuffed up shoes and hand-me-down clothes. We had houses and food and toys and books, whereas these kids had nothing. And we were rewarded for our efforts. CARE sent each of us a free ticket to the local public swimming pool! How rich we were.

Then came college, when the Care Package again floated into my life. Chocolate chip cookies, my mom's infamous fudge, LifeSavers, toothpaste, a warm pair of socks. My roommate (from California) got olives and crackers and caviar (I'd never heard of caviar before). We pooled our goods and shared our mini-cultures (the middle west and the west coast). Years later, my two boys in college, one in Montana and the other in California, got their share of Care Packages from me: my mom's infamous fudge, cookies, toothpaste, beef jerky, socks. We had our own definition of Care Package in our affluent society that has endured through the generations.

"In the 65 years since the first CARE Package was delivered, CARE's anti-poverty mission has changed. Instead of delivering items in a box, CARE now delivers tools and resources that help empower poor girls and women around the world to create positive change in their lives. The Care Package has changed, too. Like its predecessor, the new Care Package is changing the way people invest in helping others." The new Care Package has gone digital. You can still send your own Care Package of life-changing gifts, in just one click. 

Maybe it will bring back some memories of a tradition that still lives on in all of our lives.