Ad Community Supports Children in Iraq and Afghanistan - Tom Deierlein

Originally published October 30th 2008

The 3^rd Annual TD Foundation Fundraiser event is set to take place on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 6-8pm at: Google's NYC Office - 75 Ninth Avenue - New York, NY 10011

To receive an invitation send an email to tdfoundation@hotmail.com or call 917-287-5961

This very important cause, which helps needy children in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been adopted by the Advertising Community since the summer of 2006 when the co-founder, Tom Deierlein was stationed with the US Army in Baghdad, Iraq.

MissionStatement: (www.tdfoundation.org).The purpose of this organization is to help needy families and children with their most basic living needs including medical care. We arrange for medical treatment and/or purchase critical daily items such as clothes, food, water, school supplies, vitamins, as well as toys, etc. We partner with local organizations, and other non-profits like Children in Need International (http://www.childreninneed-intl.org/) and the Iraqi Children’s Project (http://www.iraqichildrensproject.com/), to locate and distribute goods and services to those in need. Our recipients are the Iraqi and Afghani children affected by the current war. This is a grassroots organization. 100% of donated funds will go to those children and families in need.

The organization is non-political. Regardless of how people feel about the war, one thing is true for all of us – we do not want to see innocent children suffer. The truly tragic thing about the current situation is that the most innocent and needy are suffering. With the mass exodus of the middle class in 2004-2006, there are precious few social institutions and places for these destitute families to seek medical care and obtain life’s basic necessities like clothes and vitamins and a simple notebook and pencil for school.

Many people frustrated with the war and the current economy want to find ways to make a difference, or do something – ANYTHING. The 3^rd Annual TD Fundraiser will provide an extremely valuable opportunity for all of us to spend some time with our industry companions and other media influentials making a true difference – a direct, specific, and tangible difference - in the lives of young children effected by war. In fact, this year we are expecting three of those young children to be in attendance and share their stories and experiences (through interpreters and family members).

About the Fundraiser: The 3^rd Annual TD Foundation Fundraiser is a cocktail party with silent auction and brief presentation on the work of the Foundation. We expect between 175-200 attendees from the advertising, media and marketing industry. Previous attendees have included senior level executives from companies that include Forbes, NBCU, MSN, AOL, Carat, JWT, Ogilvy, Starcom MediaVest Group as well as advertisers AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi, and Unilever. In fact last year’s event was covered by Fox News NY.

A Few Highlights From This Past Year:

• We have helped save the lives of 15 children by providing them with life saving surgery. This includes 6 heart surgeries, multiple burn victims, and one boy who lost his leg. Costs average $8,000/child.
• We shipped over $20,000 of medical supplies to help stock 3 new clinics in East Baghdad.
• We shipped $1,500 of children’s vitamins courtesy of an 8^th grade girl’s fundraising efforts
• We shipped more than 500 school supply packs working with two different Eagle Scouts.
• We shipped 25 boxes of clothes, shoes and supplies through the efforts of a young girl in Florida.
• We shipped soccer uniforms and equipment thanks to a grassroots partnership with Soccer Moms from Fair Haven, New Jersey.

The foundation is in the process of filing with the IRS for tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3). We were incorporated on July 30, 2007 and our Tax ID is #41-2255430.

For more about the Foundation:

See Jack Myers' article in Nov 2005 about Tom Deierlein, who was called back to Active Duty after 12 years absence in late 2005. Archives

See the 5 part MSNBC.com Series about Tom, who was shot by a sniper in Sept 2006 and creation of the Foundation.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19717176/

See the NBC Nightly News Video:
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=ca685587-a20a-4e1f-a277-53b9c9631e2d

Visit the website www.tdfoundation.org