View the President's Remarks
2:34 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all
very much. Last week, I asked America's children to send a
dollar to the White House to help provide food and medicine to the
children of Afghanistan. Today, I'm pleased to report that
in just a few short days, children all across our country have
responded with remarkable generosity and deep compassion.
I want to thank Dr. Healy, for doing such
a fine job as the President of the American Red Cross. I'm
proud to be your Chairman. (Applause.) And I want to thank
Kristen. In my speech to the country the other night, I
said, why don't you go out and mow a lawn or do somebody a favor to
earn a dollar. Never did I think feeding chickens would be
part -- (laughter.) But she fed so many chickens, she told me, she
raised $45 for the children of Afghanistan. Good
job. (Applause.)
Steve Culbertson, the President of the
Youth Service of America. I want to thank Steve for being
here. (Applause.) I want to thank my friend, Mike
Farris, for being here. He's the Chairman and General
Counsel of the Home School and Legal Defense
Association. Mike, on behalf of the home-schoolers, thank
you for being here. (Applause.)
And I saw a pretty familiar face,
Congressman Chris Shays. Congressman, thank you. I'm so
glad you're here. Thank you for coming, I appreciate you --
(applause.) I appreciate you coming, Chris. I
know you wouldn't be here if you didn't join all the children around
the country for doing what's right.
Let me tell you, since Friday, we've had
90,000 pieces of mail -- 90,000 -- have arrived at the White
House. Dr. Healy, the American Red Cross, working with the
U.S. Agency for International Development, are making sure that every
dollar, every single dollar that's been raised by the boys
and girls of America will be spent on the needs of the boys and girls
in Afghanistan.
For the people that work hard either
feeding chickens or going door to door or having bake drives, you can
rest assured that Dr. Healy is going to make sure the money goes where
we want the money to go.
Winter arrives early in Afghanistan; it's
cold, really cold. And the children need warm
clothing. And they need food. And they need
medicines. And thanks to the American children, fewer children in
Afghanistan will suffer this winter.
The children have donated the dollars
because they understand a couple things. They understand how
fortunate we all are to live in America. We're really lucky people to
live in this country. They also understand that some people
their own age can suffer. And we don't want them suffering.
There has been some amazing stories -- I
want to share some of them with you. It's just the
beginning, by the way, of the stories that we'll all be able to share
all across America. A guy works for me named Mitch Daniels,
from Indianapolis, Indiana. He helped start a place called
the Oaks Academy. It's an inner-city
school. They've got 163 students that go to that little
school.
He came back from visiting his family the
other day with $163. Every child gave a dollar in that
school. Jordan Fisher, a 6th grader at the Oaks Academy,
wrote this in a letter. She said: We feel sorrow
for the children that the Taliban has hurt, and we're willing to do
anything we can to help them have food to eat.
That's such a beautiful spirit, and it's
so important that our boys and girls of America understand that when
you share with somebody else, it not only enriches your life, it
enriches the life of our entire nation. Everybody can make a
contribution in the war against evildoers. And by helping a
child in Afghanistan is a very important contribution.
Some students right here in Washington
were among the first to respond. The student council at
Amidon Elementary School in Washington organized their fellow students
to donate dollars. They heard the call and there was
organization right off the bat. That means people were
getting other people to go raise dollars on behalf of the Afghanistan
children.
Students at Crestwood Elementary -- and I
see some of their representatives right here on the front row -- in
Springfield, Virginia, donated -- now, catch this -- $2,000 from their
annual fundraiser to the America's Fund for Afghan
Children. I want to thank you all for coming, and thank you
for your generosity.
The other day, Laura, my wife, spoke at
Birney Elementary School in Washington, and the students there
presented her with $172 in donations. Home-schooled students are
sending in dollars. Youth Service America, the Boys and
Girls Clubs of America, Big Brothers, Big Sisters and other youth
groups are all raising money.
I see the Scouts who are
here. I can't think -- we've got to have a Merit Badge --
(laughter) -- made especially for this occasion, to make sure that
Scouts all across America, Boys and Girl Scouts, Cubs and Brownies,
raise money.
You know, there's a lot of focus on our
soldiers, and we're so proud of our soldiers. But there are
other ways to be in the Army. And one way is to show the
goodness of America. One way to fight evil is to fight it
with kindness and love and compassion.
And what an amazing contrast it is for our
children to help children in need in Afghanistan. It points
up how ugly and repressive the Taliban government is of
Afghanistan. And the message stands in stark contrast to the
message of hate that our boys and girls have seen on TV; a message,
frankly, that's hard for a lot of our kids in America to
understand. Why would somebody hate so badly that they would
fly airplanes to take a life? Why? Why is it that people
send ugly things through the mail?
And my answer is, there's evil in the
world. But we can overcome evil. We're
good. We're good-hearted people, and the boys and girls of
America are showing the world just that. We don't fight a
religion -- no, we fight evil. We respect the Muslim
culture. We know Islam is a religion that teaches love and
peace and compassion. No, our struggle is against evil
people -- evil people that claim they're religious, but are not.
And I also want the boys and girls to know
that while you're helping, our government is doing everything we can to
make America safe. We're doing everything we can to find
anybody who wants to hurt you, to bring them to
justice. We're doing everything we can to respond to any act
that may take place in our country.
I know some boys and girls worry, but by
going out to raise money to help others, it'll help ease the worry and
set such a good example for everybody else to see.
So I want to thank not only the boys and
girls here who have worked so hard in the D.C. area, but the boys and
girls from all across the country who have heard the call to love a
neighbor just like you would like to be loved yourself.
Thank you very much for
coming. May God bless your works, and may God continue to
bless America. (Applause.)
END 2:42
P.M. EDT
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