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Bush personally gives $10K in tsunami aid
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-06 09:05
US President Bush, who has pledged $350 million in U.S. aid to help victims
of Asian countries ravaged by the tsunami, has contributed $10,000 from his
personal funds to the relief effort, his spokesman said Wednesday.
In a speech on legal issues in Collinsville, Ill., Bush praised the U.S.
military for its "heroic work" in assisting tsunami victims and urged Americans
to continue to open their wallets.
"The most important contribution a person can make is cash," Bush said.
"There's huge generosity here in America."
Scott McClellan, White House press secretary, told reporters traveling with
Bush to Illinois that the president — himself a multimillionaire — has written
checks to several organizations listed on a Web site set up to direct Americans
to various reputable charities collecting private contributions for tsunami
relief. McClellan would not identify the organizations to which Bush
contributed.
Bush has been criticized for not acting quickly enough to provide U.S. funds
and other federal assistance to countries hit by the catastrophic Dec. 26
tsunami that killed nearly 150,000 people and devastated Indian ocean
communities across southern Asia.
Earlier this week Bush announced that his father, former President George
H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton would spearhead a nationwide drive for
private donations for the tsunami relief effort.
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