USACF is a New York City – based, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit.
In 2003, Mark Grashow and Sheri Saltzberg journeyed to Zambia for a wedding. Afterwards, they toured several rural schools and were struck by the need. The schools had very little. There were no libraries, and virtually no textbooks, no school supplies, and no sports equipment. Many students lacked shoes and winter clothes.
Mark, a former teacher in New York City, had seen how schools throw away all their excess library books, textbooks and sports equipment. The waste and the discrepancies between the American schools and the African schools were just too much to bear.
Mark and Sheri co-founded the USACF. Their first partnership was with a Zimbabwean NGO which was working to support 35 rural schools. USACF quickly found 35 American schools willing to partner with the 35 schools in Zimbabwe. The American schools donated textbooks, library books, computers, sports equipment, school supplies, art supplies, and blackboards. In addition, their students brought in their own books, toys, school supplies, sports equipment, sneakers, uniforms and toiletries.
USACF’s first container was shipped from Brooklyn in 2005. Our partners in Zimbabwe distributed the contents and soon found significant positive impacts at its 35 schools. The program quickly expanded. More and more containers were shipped and the number of targeted schools grew to 75, then to 175, and then beyond 300. The Zimbabwe model was so successful that USACF expanded into Ghana, Tanzania, Somalia, Zambia, Uganda, and Sierra Leone.
Over the years, USACF expanded its scope of operations beyond the shipment of donations. We repair school furniture, paint schools, provide thousands of soccer balls, promote soccer tournaments, design new classroom blocks and take American volunteers to Africa to work in their schools.
USACF’s work has had an incredible impact on both African school children and American school children. African headmasters boast a new culture of reading. Test scores have risen dramatically. More students are fluent English speakers. Hundreds of students sit at their own desks, and their teachers have their own wardrobes in which to keep their belongings. Teachers work in improved learning environments. Staff morale is on the rise. American children have learned that they live in a global community and are capable of changing lives half a world away. USACF has touched and continues to touch many lives.
Hardly a week goes by without an NGO reaching out to USACF for advice or a request for a new partnership. USACF‘s door is always open and we are always ready to make the world a little better place for its children.