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| Photo By: Tammy Troglin |
For several years now, the C. Crane Company has been working together with Freeplay to
offer our customers the finest in wind-up radio products. In recent
years, this cooperation has grown into a shared commitment to use the
power of radio to help make a difference in the world. As part of this
effort, C. Crane with the help of our loyal customers has donated more
than $100,000.00 in cash and Freeplay
Plus Radios to the Freeplay Foundation’s efforts to
distribute Lifeline radios to orphaned children in Africa. We recently
received excellent news from Freeplay, regarding Academy Award® winner
Tom Hanks, and his agreement to serve as the Freeplay Foundation’s
ambassador to the United States. We’re happy to share that announcement
with you.
Cape Town, South Africa....The Freeplay Foundation today announced that two-time Academy
Award® winner Tom Hanks has become their American ambassador. In
this advocacy role, Mr. Hanks will help gain support for the Foundation
in the U.S. and promote understanding of the Foundation’s work.
Using Lifeline radios, which do not require batteries or electricity,
the Freeplay Foundation provides sustained access to information to
the world’s poorest populations, especially children living on
their own.
“The extraordinary technology of the Freeplay Foundation’s
Lifeline Radio can bring vital information to isolated people all over the world,” said
Mr. Hanks. “For example, right now there are more than 13 million
children orphaned by AIDS. Most can’t attend school and can’t
afford batteries or electricity to power a radio. The Freeplay Foundation
can hand these children a lifeline to the outside world by giving access
to radio programs that teach them how to grow their small garden plots
to feed themselves, take care of their chickens or goats, and prevent
deadly diseases like malaria and AIDS.”
Freeplay Foundation Executive Director Kristine Pearson said, “We are deeply grateful
that Mr. Hanks has chosen to serve as our American ambassador.
By lending his voice in support of the most vulnerable people, especially orphans and other
children living on their own, Mr. Hanks will help bring them critical,
even life-saving information and education.”
In developing countries, radio is the primary means of communication. The Lifeline radio plays
non-stop using wind-up energy and solar power and is the first radio
ever produced solely for humanitarian use. Using a structured methodology
developed by the Freeplay Foundation, radios are distributed to youth,
community health workers, village chiefs, listening groups, teachers,
and informal classrooms in the developing world, primarily in Africa.
Recipients are trained in how to most effectively listen to radio programming
and transfer knowledge they gain to others in their community.
Mr. Hanks joins humanitarian Terry Waite, who serves as the Foundation’s European
ambassador. Mr. Waite is well known in the U.S. as the special envoy to the Archbishop
of Canterbury in the 1980s. While negotiating the release of U.S. hostages
in Lebanon, Mr. Waite was himself taken hostage, serving most of his
five years in captivity in solitary confinement.
The Freeplay Foundation works in more than a dozen African countries. It is a fund seeking,
U.S.-registered 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt charity. It works with governments,
international agencies such as the United Nations Development Program,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local communities. With
offices in Cape Town, South Africa and London, the Foundation also
enjoys charitable status in South Africa and the UK. Learn more at
www.freeplayfoundation.org
To read more news articles, please visit our What's in the News Archives.
As always, please contact us with any comments or
article suggestions you might have.
If you are interested in using C. Crane's articles on your own Web site,
please let me know. I'd be happy to take a look at your Web site and
see what we can do. Good-bye for now, Carlos.
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