AmeriCares can be considered to have been established out of one man’s pure passion to help. Robert C. Macauley, with the nod of his wife, mortgaged his own house just to be able to save the lives of young Vietnamese orphans in 1975.

On April 4, 1975, about 243 children from Vietnam were being transported by a U.S. jet. However, the jet didn’t reach its destination as it crashed in the jungle even before it could go out of Vietnam’s territory. More than half of the passengers died while the survivors were left injured. The Pentagon admitted that it did not have enough resources to send rescue – at least not in the next ten days.

The then paper broker Macauley heard of the news and decided to rent a Boeing 747 aircraft to rescue the children. Within two days, the survivors were already in California, safe and taken care of.

He did not bother about the financial issues that got along with the rescue. To be able to pay for the air transport service, he had to mortgage his family’s house. Eventually, he was able to take back the house, and AmeriCares was established in 1982 as Macauley realized that he can lead a charitable organization that can help the entire world. 

As of late, AmeriCares had been being awarded with several charity-related recognitions and is continually growing and helping people and communities all over the world.