21 YEARS OF MAKING
A DIFFERENCE!
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Rescue Task Force (RTF) is a San Diego County based non-profit relief agency that responds to natural and man-made disasters world-wide.
In October of 2009 RTF merged with World Emergency Relief (WER) with Gary becks, President and Founder of RTF, as CEO of the combined operation. RTF projects and donations continue as before. In addition to local military and military family support through their Project Not Forgotten Back Pack program, RTF delivers volunteer medical and dental teams into the jungles villages of Honduras and has constructed three full service medical and dental clinic facilities deep in the jungles of Honduras’ Miskito Coast. RTF also operates fifteen schools for women in Afghanistan. United States Congressman Duncan Hunter has commended Rescue Task Force from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, in commending RTF’s relief work during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon and our disaster response to fires of 2003, referred to Rescue Task Force as San Diego’s “Premier relief agency”.
Tax I.D. Number 95-4014743
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Q: How are you physically able to do so much in so many countries? A: We have a great team of supporters in so many ways, Financial, logistic and prayer. In the primary countries where we work we have great dedicated volunteer Project Coordinators. In Afghanistan, Mr. Ghulam Riza oversees the learning centers and tailoring job training. In Cambodia, Mr. Channy Srey (Chief of Staff to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense) and his associates manage all of the container shipments of wheelchairs, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals that we ship. They receive the containers and clear them through customs and arrange warehousing until we arrive for the distributions. In Honduras we have Dr. Claudio Casas that receives the containers for us and out on the Atlantic Coast where we build our medical clinics, our local guide and translator, “Mou”, with whom we have worked since 1988, coordinates construction and always has everything arranged for incoming volunteer medical teams. In El Salvador, Ms. Cristina Amaya coordinates projects and in Thailand, Lt. Gen Somnauk M.D. and his wife, Waraporn, assist us. Q: With so many needs here “at home” why do you do so much work overseas? A: Rescue Task Force has many domestic projects. We support wounded Marines and Sailors at Camp Pendleton and Balboa Naval Hospital. We have purchased and delivered over $15,000 worth of recreational and entertainment equipment and our volunteers have donated thousands of DVD, VHS movies and games. We also provide Game-Boy and Play Stations. We bring semi-trucks loaded with goods donated by manufacturers to the area and distribute tons of such things as household supplies, disposable diapers, and non-perishable food items. We recently delivered 48,000 pounds of school supplies to Mary K. Pendleton elementary school at Camp Pendleton. RTF hand delivers a “welcome Home” back-pack to incoming wounded service members arriving at Balboa Hospital from Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.. These packs, filled with personal hygiene items, Game Boy sets and a game, books, CD player and a music CD, Visa gift cards, stationary items and stamps and clothing cost us over $600 each. We deliver about twenty packs a month. RTF was active in bringing immediate disaster relief to fire victims in San Diego County and supports many recovery efforts. RTF was a first responder to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike. RTF supports Olympicos Soccer League that provides supervised activities for about 1,200 San Diego inner-city youth. RTF has provided over 243,453 minutes of phone cards to military service members and their families. Wounded Service members are arriving at Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego. They are coming in from Iraq and Afghanistan – direct from triage in Germany. Most often, their Sea Bags (Luggage) are back at their units. They are arriving here on med-evac flights with nothing. Over the next few months there will be a need for about 145 packs (* The Armed Forces YMCA estimates that about 25% of the incoming wounded are upper limb amputees so 25% of the back packs will contain CD (Walkman) players with music CDs and electric razors along with Game Boy entertainment items and razors that require one or both hands.) In addition to the entertainment items the back packs contain a personal hygiene kit, book, magazines, stationary and pens and stamps. The packs also have clothing items, a watch and gift certificates that they can use at food outlets at the Hospital. Rescue Task Force is responding – with your help We serve where needed most. Most often that is in foreign disaster zones and in developing countries. Here in the United States we are blessed with having some degree of infrastructure for ALL citizens. Some may have to wait several hours to see a doctor. We serve those who are often six DAYS away from any medical help. Q: How can you do all that you do on 2% overhead? A: We cannot continue to do so. With the growing demands for help we have to expand our infrastructure. Our 2009 budget will request that the Board of Directors approve a budget that will call for about 8 % administration and fundraising costs. (8% based on current funding levels.) Also, our costs are kept a minimum by simply keeping the costs down. We do not have “office space”, we work from home. Much of the work that is often hired by for-profit businesses is done by volunteers. We have a great circle of local vendors that discount many services and supplies that we have to purchase. All vehicle fuel is donated by SOCO Corp. Continental Airlines donates most of our air travel tickets. Q: How do the Indians I see in the pictures got the clothes that they wear? A: The Miskito Indian villages are very remote and deep in the jungle. The natives grow simple crops, mostly rice and beans and cassava (root). They paddle their surplus crops to Puerto Lempira – Many days away via dug-out canoe. In Puerto Lempira they can sell a canoe full of harvest for the equivalent of several dollars. It is with these few dollars that they purchase items that they cannot make from trees etc. in their jungle. Items such as machete and files to dress their tools. They also buy clothes. Clothes are brought to this frontier town by local merchants on the ocean coastal trading ships. Used clothing is purchased in 100 pound bales. Men, Women and Children. The bales are broken down into sizes and sold on the street. RTF does not interrupt this fragile supply chain by donation clothing. Q: You seem to deploy often. Where is your next trip and how long will you be gone? A: We do not know. We know when our next scheduled trip back into the jungles of Honduras will be, but in that these missions are several months apart we do not know “what is next?” We respond globally to disasters and our teams often are on a plane within hours of a disaster striking. Q: Are all RTF staff members doctors, and what are their specialties? What about the volunteers? A: None of the staff are doctors. Gary was corpsman for USMC (Viet Nam) and served for many years in the Fire department so he has some medical skills, especially trauma management. Our volunteers come from all walks of life. We need doctors and dentists and nurses etc, we also need lay people to assist with clinic work: assisting with patients, loading dental syringes and holding flashlights. Volunteers run our “pharmacies” and one does not need to be a brain surgeon to hand out worm pills. Q: How many clinics does RTF have, and are there any new clinics being built? A: We have completed 3 full service clinics. Indians donate land in center of village areas and do the work themselves - we ship (via canoe) in all materials for construction that they cannot fashion from jungle Mahogany trees such as cement, rebar and roofing material. Construction work is done during the rainy season while villagers cannot tend their fields. The clinic equipment such as O.B. tables, exam table, pediatric scales – everything! Is shipped from the USA in an ocean freight container. At Puerto Lempira the cargo is loaded onto our RTF boat and many hired large dug-out canoes and transported through the jungle to the clinic site. The Ministry of Health then does the staffing. In some extremely remote villages RTF provides a bonus to help motivate health care professionals to live and work there. Construction of the fourth facility began in 2008 and was to be completed and operational in 2008. This project is woefully behind for lack of funds. Q: What is the goal of RTF? Is it to eradicate illiteracy or bring the people up to a level of health? A: In Honduras each clinic serves a central area. The goal, working in concert with the Ministry of Health, is to have 10 full service clinics. This interlocking network will put all of the villagers of the Miskito Coast jungle within one-day of canoe paddling to a clinic. Now it is often as much as 6 days travel by dug-out canoe for help. We ship ocean freight containers to our project in Cambodia. They are asking us to come there with our clinic projects as well - same arrangement as we do in Honduras. When, depends on budget. At this time we cannot take on any additional commitments. Another project is our Literacy Learning Centers for women in Afghanistan. We have fifteen centers now that teach basic literacy. Our oldest student is 56 years old - just now learning to read and write. We work in Jaghouri province with Hazara (Mongol) people. We have purchased 32 sewing machines and have hired a Hazara lady from Kabul to come to Jaghouri and teach sewing and tailoring.The goal is to provide basic literacy and basic job skills. Q: How many Honduran villages do you visit each year? Are they the same villages or do you choose different ones? A: We will typically visit a given village several times. First to re-con the site for volunteer teams and site location for clinic construction. During the course of construction we will bring 2-3 volunteer medical teams over several months. Once the clinic is up and running we leap-frog deeper into the jungle for the next project. We use the villages where we have been in the past as lay-over sites. Where we have been the communities are now stable and do not need our help. We field about 3 full-on volunteer teams a year and another 3-4 non-volunteer teams. We do not take volunteers into an area until we have researched it. We take very select volunteers that have served in Honduras into Afghanistan and Cambodia and to disaster responses. Q: On average, how long is each trip? A: Two weeks. Q: What kind of improvements have you seen in the lives of the people you help? A: Life where there was death and hope where there was none. In the La Moskitia villages of Honduras children were dying and lethargic from worms and parasitic infestations. Simple treatment cures that. In Uhsan, our first construction project, the government has now assigned a school teacher - societal progress is coming fast! In that village a farmer was recently bitten by a poisonous snake while tending his bean field. Before, we would have died - leaving his family destitute. Today, because there is a clinic, that man is well and working and supporting his very appreciative family.
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About Us
Rescue Task Force is a program of
World Emergency Relief.
EIN 95-4014743
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Rescue Task Force
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