Consul General Speeches

American Netherlands Club of Rotterdam, April 8, 2008

Good evening Alderman Kriens, Dean Molier, President de Jonge, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. It is a privilege to be here among so many enthusiastic people willing to devote their time and talents to help others.

It is a special pleasure to be in Rotterdam.  As some of you might remember, we used to have a Consulate General located right here in Rotterdam.  Though the consulate closed in 1986, the connection between the Consulate and this dynamic city is still very much alive. Some of our current staff members in Amsterdam even started their careers at the Rotterdam office.  And we remain connected with American citizens and organizations that remain, such as ANCOR.  In fact, as you have heard, ANCOR as an organization was started by the wife of a vice-consul so, in a way, we have been involved from the very beginning.

Tonight ANCOR is gathering for an activity as old as our nation itself; individuals uniting in a group setting in order to help others.I’ve been asked to talk a little bit about the U.S. tradition of fundraising.  Since our nation’s founding, Americans have relied not on governments but on themselves and on each other to meet their needs.  When French writer Alexis de Tocqueville visited the U.S. in the 1830s he noted that:

Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations. . .The citizen of the United States is taught from his earliest infancy to rely upon his own exertions in order to resist the evils and the difficulties of life; he looks upon social authority with an eye of mistrust and anxiety, and he only claims its assistance when he is quite unable to shift without it. . .in the United States associations are established to promote public order, commerce, industry, morality, and religion; for there is no end which the human will, seconded by the collective exertions of individuals, despairs of attaining.

Today, perhaps, this self-reliance has been diluted.  We are much more likely to look for government solutions for some problems – ranging from fixing potholes to building libraries – that our ancestors dealt with themselves.  But the spirit of helping those less fortunate remains strong.  In 2006 charitable donations in the U.S. reached an all-time high of more than $295 billion, with the overwhelming majority of this money being donated by individuals, not corporations or foundations.

And this grass-roots spirit is nowhere better exemplified than by the tradition of Women’s clubs in the U.S., which first came to prominence in the 19th century and have continued strong ever since.  They have contributed to libraries, hospitals and a variety of other charitable causes.

Through the miracle of the web – how did we know anything before it? – on line can be found the records of the Athens (Georgia) Woman’s Club.  I looked up the minutes from their meeting of April 1908 exactly 100 years ago.  I thought that you might find it interesting that at that meeting, with Vice President Miss Woodberry presiding:

• The committee on club support for an orphanage presented its report
• Mrs. Crawford was appointed to reach out to other women’s clubs in the region
• A letter-writing campaign in support of a monument to Dr. Crawford Long, the first physician to use anesthesia for surgery and childbirth, was reported to be in full swing, with more than 2,000 letters sent
• And finally, and I quote, “after delicious refreshments, the Club adjourned.”

This pretty clearly shows the mix of good works and good times that make up these voluntary associations, as De Tocqueville termed them.  I wish you the best of luck as you continue to support so many worthy charitable causes.