Spirit of America (charity)

Spirit of America is a non-profit company which assists Americans serving in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa to help the local people of those areas. The organization was founded by Jim Hake in 2003. For example, in 2004 it was supplying material to be distributed by Marines in Iraq to locals:

The Marines identify local equipment needs, and ... Spirit of America, after raising the money, acquires the stuff, typically for schools and medical clinics. It flies directly out of Camp Pendleton in California. Jim Hake and the Marines are a coalition of the can-do, bypassing the slow U.S. procurement bureaucracy.

SoA has solicited money for Special Forces troops operating in Afghanistan and for the 1st Marine Division in Iraq. Items provided include "school and medical supplies, sewing machines, hand tools, watches, water barrels, clothing, soccer gear and toys". They also "contributed equipment to Iraqi-owned television stations to establish a better alternative to Al Jazeera [and] helped Iraqi men whose arms were amputated by Saddam Hussein get a new start on life."

In 2010, Mr. Hake tried to formalize the ties between commanders in Afghanistan and his organization as a "Commander Support Program" (CSP) with support from senior Marine officers "who had developed a good working relationship with the group in Iraq". This resulted in scrutiny from Pentagon lawyers, who ruled that sending goods to commanders violated ethics rules. With help from John Bellinger, Jeh Johnson, General Joe Dunford and General Jim Mattis, the rules were changed to allow the CSP to operate.