The formation of the Near East Emergency Donation (NEED) Committee to raise large amounts of money for urgent humanitarian efforts for refugees in the Middle East, was announced today by James A. Linen, president of Time Inc. who is serving as chairman of the board of the newly-formed organization here.
NEED consists of 37 prominent U.S. citizens in the fields of government, business, education, and journalism and is under the honorary chairmanship of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Among the members of the board of directors are several prominent Jewish leaders, including Philip M. Klutznick, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Robert S. Benjamin of United Artists Corp., Edgar Bronfman of Seagram & Sons, Admiral Lewis L. Strauss, John L. Loeb of Loeb, Rhodes & Co., and Andre Meyer of Lazard Freres & Co.
Mr. Linen said the committee will disband after two or three months after collecting large sums of money which it hopes to get from individuals, foundations and other sources. This money will be turned over to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to aid the new refugees. NEED has been granted tax exempt status by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
“In the aftermath of the Middle Eastern war, one urgent humanitarian demand is non-political and beyond international dispute: the need for emergency aid to war refugees,” said Mr. Linen. In a message to the newly-formed organization, Gen, Eisenhower called for “an immediate and massive drive to create a new private fund to aid the refugees who deserve support from all,”
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