For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 13, 2006
President Discusses Central American Relief and Reconstruction Efforts
The Oval Office
1:34 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank Secretary Rice and Ambassador Hughes for
joining three of our nation's most distinguished business leaders here at
the White House to discuss a very important project, and that's raising
money for those affected by the storms and natural disaster in Guatemala
and Honduras.
Ours is a nation that when we see human suffering, we respond, and we
responded at the governmental level because we had our military help
provide infrastructure and logistics and get supplies to people who were
hurting. We helped through USAID. And now it's time for the private
sector in our country to step up and support the efforts of those
Guatemalans struggling to get their lives back together and those in
Honduras doing the same thing.
The fund that's going to be raised is made up of private donations. People
can find out more about it on what's called -- a website called
hurricaneaction.org. I think the site went up today, if I'm not mistaken.
It's a place for people to come and access and to find out how they can
join other Americans as to how to contribute. The money will go for things
such as education of displaced families or infrastructure rebuilding, with
a particular emphasis on reforestation or on micro loans to help the
economy get back on its feet in these countries.
So I want to thank you all very much for coming. I appreciate your
interest. Thank you for traveling down to the region to take an assessment
of the needs. And most importantly, thanks for coming back and calling our
citizens to action. Appreciate it.
END 1:36 P.M. EST
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