October 27, 2011 – AmericasRelief & Development Team (ART) is proud to announce that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Asian American Trade Alliance Council (AATAC).

The MOU calls AATAC and AmericasRelief Team to coordinate their activities when possible in order to pursue their common objectives in humanitarian response and development in the Americas. The purpose of the MOU is to set forth the understandings of AATAC and AmericasRelief Team with regard to AATAC’s goal of having a non-profit partner as its Charity of Choice for its members. AATAC plans to facilitate the efforts of working with AmericasRelief Team through its affiliate publication THL Magazine.

AATAC is an industry trade association with a network of over 80,000 stores across North America. AATAC’s mission is to represent the convenience store industry and to assist its retail members in increasing their current and future effectiveness and profitability by providing knowledge, solutions and connections to ensure the competitive viability of their members' businesses. Typical member stores include 7-Eleven, Mobil, Exxon, Shell and many others.

AmericasRelief Team is a Florida private sector collaboration of corporations and non-profit organizations created to help Latin American and Caribbean countries in times of crisis and disaster. AmericasRelief Team reacts to immediate crisis, provides ongoing logistics assistance, and conducts plans for future events in the region that will require effective coordination of humanitarian relief. AmericasRelief Team also conducts multiple programs and initiatives as advocates, coordinators, and facilitators in the planning and implementation for the effective distribution of disaster relief to victims of
humanitarian crises in the Americas. Members of AmericasRelief Team include FedEx Express, Carnival Corporation, Western Union and others.

AmericasRelief Team and AATAC are excited to begin this new partnership to support relief and development efforts in the U.S. and the Latin American and Caribbean region.