We are truly grateful for your support in 2013! We would like to share some highlights from the year to help you see how your donations have made a difference. Your generosity continues to fuel our mission to RESCUE , RESTORE , and RESHAPE . Please stop by our new website and say hi - we would love to hear from you in 2014!

- Jared Navarre , COO PROJECT AK-47

The U.N. reports that 12 million people have been affected by the Typhon and 4 million people have been displaced. Those who have been left behind are trying to rebuild their homes on top of the ruins of their old ones. The main industries of Leyte and Samar are coconut products, rice, and fishing, but tragically most of the coconut trees have been destroyed, as have the rice fields, and most of the fishing boats. Most of the crops and fruit trees were also destroyed, so there is little food for Leyte and Samar, and the condition will last a long time. It takes 7 years for new coconut trees to grow to fruition, so the great needs of Leyte and Samar will continue for years to come. 

Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, the original creator of the AK-47, died on December 23 at the age of 94. Often blamed for the innumerable lives taken by the gun since it's creation, Kalashnikov said it was designed as weapon of defense for his country, not as a weapon for offense. However, it is still easy to wonder what might be different today if the AK-47 had never been invented.