In 2000, United Way of Miami-Dade under the leadership of Dr. Teo A. Babun created The “International Relief Advisory Committee”, the mission of the Committee was: To help build community by providing a means to be caring and responsive to the people of Latin America and the Caribbean, and to help strengthen bonds of Miami to the sister country by providing support during times of crisis.  The initial members were FedEx Latin America, and Seaboard Marine.  Juan Cento, President of FedEx Latin America chaired the committee.

In 2003, community leader and logistics expert Eric Williams started discussions with Teo Babun to expand the role of the International Relief Advisory Committee from a fund-raising program to a more active private sector collaboration of companies and non-profit organizations for planning, implementing, and coordination of humanitarian aid to the Caribbean Basin.  D.F. Young, Inc. was assigned as the logistics partner of the new organization, which was born under the name “International Disaster Response Team”.  Soon after, Carnival Corp., FAVACA, PADF, Lucent Technologies, Florida Stevedoring and Harvest International joined the team, and together with the original two members began to provide coordinated humanitarian relief to the Caribbean Basin.   

In 2005, AmericasRelief Team helped deliver medicines and medical supplies in southern Haiti in the aftermath of Hurricane Dennis.  And when Hurricane Stan swept across Central America, we helped send more than $5 million food, clothing, water filters, cots, blankets and other supplies to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and other countries in the region.

In a letter dated July 15, 2005, Florida Governor Jeb Bush encouraged the members of AmericasRelief Team to provide humanitarian assistance to alleviate suffering and help the Caribbean region recover from the devastation created by hurricanes.  Governor Bush stated that “these contributions foster goodwill and strengthen Florida’s relationship with our neighbors…” 

On December 23, 2005, the Ministry of Interior and Territorial Collectivities in Haiti selected AmericasRelief Team to develop a program to provide assistance for project management for the implementation of a national logistics disaster system in Haiti.  The cooperative partnership will allow Haiti to reinforce its response capabilities in high-risk disaster areas.

The following are our AmericasRelief Team’s Current Programs in the Caribbean Basin and Latin America:

1. PROVIDE EFFECTIVE COORDINATION
Collaborate for Effective Coordination of Relief Aid to the Americas provided by humanitarian NGOs.  Provide collaborative response mechanisms when disasters occur and facilitate coordinate relief aid logistics for the members and others.

2. ADVOCATE FOR EFFICIENT PROTOCOLS
Collaborate for Effective Emergency Management Logistics Programs and Development of Comprehensive National Disaster Plans.  Advocate for efficient logistics integration, and provide advice on state-of-the-art logistics techniques as well as effective emergency relief protocols. Also provide guidance for implementation of effective supply chain management.

3. CONDUCT EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES
Conduct Relief Aid Educational Programs. Encourage and conduct educational programs on effective processing, distribution, logistics, and capacity building.

4. GUIDE NATIONAL PLANS
Coordinate & Participate in Programs to Improve the Lives of Individuals by Positively Changing Community Conditions.  Within our core strengths, support broad range planning and implementation, plus assist in the assessing and surveying of needs and damage to help guide the effective channeling of emergency relief to the most affected areas of target countries.

AmericasRelief Team compliments the work and provides “value” to its NGO members through the organization’s network of marine and air cargo companies and others. Enabling them to enhance their organizations, meeting their vision and mission more effectively.  AmericasRelief Team underwrites its general program and operating expenses from innovative ValueAddedServices that provided from NGO members and donations provided by its members.

When it comes to our programs, many believe that AmericasRelief Team is only about “logistics”.  Yes, there is a strong element of logistics in our work, but our real heart has been to advocate, provide guidance, education, and state-of-the-art techniques to the tasks of planning and implementing the effective distribution of humanitarian aid. 

Our best known ValueAddedServices for our members and non-members is our Bank Depository of Charity Cargo program which provides access to an inventory of donated or discounted cargo and in-kind support for air carriers and shipping companies.  Members of AmericasRelief Team receive first priority.

AmericasRelief Team maintains a Bank Depository of Charity Cargo from air carriers and shipping companies.  This inventory of donated or discounted "charity" cargo and in-kind support such as: trucking, stevedoring, warehousing, bills of lading, and gantry crane space provides the relief organizations the best options for shipping humanitarian supplies fast and efficiently.

• The Bank Depository is good for humanitarian relief organizations because AmericasRelief Team has close relationships with multiple air carriers, ocean cargo companies, warehousing companies, and stevedoring groups to provide non profits with their best options.
• The Bank Depository is good for humanitarian relief organizations because AmericasRelief Team has at their fingertip every available schedule, including emergency schedules, of air carriers following a disaster in the target Caribbean Basin country.
• The Bank Depository is good for humanitarian relief organizations because AmericasRelief Team has better access to discounted or free cargo space, bill of lading, and other services.

The projects that underwrite our operating costs and help fund our general programs such as education, advocacy, etc. for Caribbean Basin humanitarian relief include: our Logistics for Charity Cargo Program which facilitates air and sea freight services to the Caribbean and Latin America with competitive rates for the movement of humanitarian cargo, and our Purchases of Emergency Supplies Program which utilizes our vast network of vendors and contacts to provide quotations on all types of products used during emergencies and for humanitarian purposes:

This expansion program allows NGOs for an efficient and cost effective coordination for all purchases of emergency supplies.  One call does it all…By using our vast network of vendors and contacts, AmericasRelief Team acts as the purchasing manager of your organization.  And because we buy from so many sources, our prices are often the most competitive.