Afghanistan Appeal

In March of 2002, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones hosted a private fundraising dinner at their NYC residence that raised a total of $343,500 to support emergency mine clearance and survivor assistance in Afghanistan.  Most of the money raised funded Adopt-A-Minefield's Adopt-A-Team program.  This new approach to mine clearance in Afghanistan seeks to support emergency clearance of minefields all over Afghanistan- an undertaking that has had heightened importance as refugees and internally displaced people beginning returning to their homes.

Funds were transferred to the Mine Action Program for Afghanistan and funded the following demining teams:

Afghan Technical Consultants # 7 or ATC-07 for 8 months

Afghan Technical Consultants #21 or ATC-21 for 6 months

Demining Agency for Afghanistan #3 or DAFA-03 for 6 months

Mine Detection and DogCenter #5 or MDC-05 for 6 months

Mine Detection and DogCenter #6 or MDC-06 for 10 months

In addition, $15,000 will be used to support an orthopedic workshop in Ghazni run by the Comprehensive Disabled Afghans’ Programme.  This clinic produces prostheses, wheelchairs, repair devices and other mobility aids to about 2,500 landmine survivors a year.   These funds will support the clinic for approximately 3 months.

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones at the AAM Gala.