•   +      Who We Are

  Marshall Plan Charities is a Texas based non-profit corporation founded by international freedom fighter Joanne King Herring. For over 30 years, Joanne has been a voice for the Afghan people in their fight against poverty, health issues, poor education, lack of clean water, and poor nutrition. In 2009, she founded Marshall Plan Charities with the intent to simultaneously provide clean water, food, health care, education, and vocational skills to rural Afghan villages, thus building a foundation of stability, economic opportunity, and prosperity. With each successful village project, the umbrella of peace will expand and the need for military intervention will diminish. Village by village we can restore hope and lay the foundation for a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.

•   +      What We Do

  Marshall Plan Charities follows an holistic approach to village redevelopment. By focusing on the 5 basic pillars of clean water, food, health care, education, and vocational skills, provided to a village simultaneously, a rural village will have the foundation necessary to be self-sufficient and prosperous. Our success stems from establishing a direct relationship with the people of the village, determining exactly what their needs are, creating a development partnership, and utilizing local labor and materials. Our approach is not to give to a village, but to provide the people of the village the opportunity to lift themselves up and provide for themselves a better future.

•   +      MPC Founder — Joanne Herring

  Joanne Herring King was born Joanne Johnson in Houston, Texas on July 3, 1929. She grew up in the affluent River Oak's subdivision in the geographic center of the city. She attended the University of Texas at Austin but left upon her marriage to the real estate developer Robert King in 1949, with whom she had two sons.

   

  Famously noted for her participation in the Houston social scene, the proverbial "socialite," she also hosted a popular local daytime talk show, The Joanne King Show, from the late 1950s to 1970s.

   

  In 1973, after she divorced King, she married the prominent Houston oilman Robert Herring, who passed in 1981. Thanks to Robert's business dealings in the Middle East, he influenced Joanne and her eventual efforts to influence the happenings elsewhere in Pakistan and Afghanistan and her work with Charlie Wilson.

   

  By the late '70s, in fact, Herring had three volunteer positions in the Middle East — she was honorary consul to Pakistan, honorary consul to Morocco, and she helped poor Pakistani villagers redesign their handmade crafts, everything from rugs and fabric to copper and silver goods, to appeal to Western consumers. Her passion for the region led to her involvement in the removal of the Soviets from Afghanistan in the 1980's.

   

  Joanne's passion to help with the recovery of Afghanistan is evident in her founding of Marshall Plan Charities. Her passion for protecting and bringing home the valiant men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces is even stronger. Through the efforts of Marshall Plan Charities, Joanne’s goal is to deliver a message of peace, a foundation of hope, and to allow our troops to return home.

   

  She currently resides in Houston.

   

Joanne Herring has spent a lifetime mastering the art of building cooperation between diverse groups. Long known within the corridors of power in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ms. Herring's role in southwest Asia was brought to American audiences on the movie screen when the story of "Charlie Wilson's War" in the 1980s was retold in 2007. She and Congressman Charlie Wilson were instrumental in forcing the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. She is credited with acquiring Saudi matching funds to covert U.S. aid that tipped the balance against the Soviets.

She worked for over 20 years among the villages of Pakistan restructuring cottage industries. Her ability to work with all parties – government ministers, factory owners and  workers – earned her Pakistan's highest medal, The Quaid y Asam.

Ms. Herring was appointed Pakistan's first and only Oman Consul General to the United States under President Zulficar Bhutto. Her success in this role inspired Afghan's President Zia to make her his personal advisor and to name her Afghanistan's Ambassador at Large to the United States.

King Hussain II of Morocco became aware of her achievements and asked President Zia to share her as a duel Consul-General, making Ms. Herring the only woman to serve two Muslim countries simultaneously as Consul-General. Ms. Herring remains the only single woman allowed unlimited entry into Saudi Arabia unaccompanied — without a Visa.

Ms. Herring's innate ability to build relationships and deliver solutions has served both governments and citizens of nations around the world. Ms. Herring continues to fight for those with out a voice. Her philanthropic contributions continue today as the founder of Marshall Plan Charities. Through her vision, Marshall Plan Charities is delivering hope and opportunity to rural villages around the world that struggle day in and day out to be lifted out of poverty and despair.

Simply put, no other American woman has the experience that ranges from the most remote villages of the world to the highest echelons of government. Ms. Herring has engaged world leaders and village chieftains and through her experience is delivering on her promise of peace and prosperity for those most affected by the ravages of poverty, famine, and human suffering.