The U.S. Air Force recently dropped 7,000 meals for the Iraqi Albu Nimr tribe. Located in the village of Zauiyat Albu Nimr, the tribe had come under assault by the ISIS terrorists. Over 300 were reportedly killed by ISIS after weeks of fighting.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
A flight is en route today from Italy to Liberia, bringing supplies to fight the deadly Ebola virus. Water tanks, washing units, protective gear, health kits are all being delivered to West Africa by the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
Read the article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
Imagine you are fleeing South Sudan‘s battlefields, searching for safety. You head to neighboring Uganda to escape the violence and the food shortages. You might have to walk for days to get there, but there is no turning back. You need to escape the fire.
Read the article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
More than 11 million people there are suffering. The UN World Food Program, because of low funding, has been forced to reduce rations for Syrians. We are going to need a bigger humanitarian aid plan.
Read the letter at the Boston Globe.
Filed under global hunger
It was on September 25, 1947 when President Harry Truman held a news conference at the White House about a “critical situation calling for immediate action by every American.” A severe hunger crisis had emerged following a summer of severe drought in Europe and also at home.
At the news conference, Truman discussed a report he received from the Cabinet Committee on World Food Programs, which had been monitoring food supplies. Truman read,
The Committee states that adverse crop developments, including those of recent weeks, both in North America and in Europe, make apparent a food shortage even worse than a year ago. The losses from heavy frosts in northwestern Europe last winter have been increased by a general European drought this spring and summer. Any significant cut in the already low rations in those countries will have most serious consequences for their rehabilitation.”
At this time in history, nations in Europe were trying to recover from World War II. While the fighting had stopped, hunger proliferated after the war. Humanitarian aid from America was crucial for keeping Europe afloat until they could rebuild.
Truman announced a Citizen’s Food Committee on this day, which would encourage Americans to conserve more food. In addition, the food report set in a motion a chain of events which culminated in the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe.
An interim food aid package was signed in December and that preceded the Marshall Plan. In addition, an outpouring of donations from Americans gave European numerous food packages during the coming winter months.
Secretary of State George Marshall, who crafted the Marshall Plan, was a member of the Cabinet Committee on World Food Programs. Both Marshall and Truman would make speeches that fall emphasizing the need for food as the basis of reconstruction and peace. That message must not be lost with today’s leadership as they seek to build peace and stability in suffering parts of the globe.
Read the article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
It all started around a bonfire one autumn night in 1945. Students at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio were fired up to begin a project to “Help those who cannot help themselves.”
Read the article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
President Dwight Eisenhower started it. President Kennedy expanded it. Some members of Congress once sought to abolish it. It’s the Food for Peace program of the United States. The initiative has fed the hungry worldwide and saved millions of lives.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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Recognizing the growing humanitarian emergencies around the world, members of the House and Senate are proposing increased funding for the International Disaster Assistance Program (IDA). Drafts of spending bills that boost IDA funding have been approved in both chambers.
Read the full article at Examiner.com
Filed under world hunger
Congress is threatening to cut food aid.
Congress can make or break our fight against hunger at home and overseas. Both food stamps, to help impoverished Americans, and the global Food for Peace program are on the line in Farm Bill meetings starting this week.
With over 49 million Americans suffering from hunger, and high unemployment rates, it makes no sense to cut back the food stamp (SNAP) program. Yet on November 1 there will be reductions in SNAP and more may be coming. The House of Representatives is proposing nearly $ 40 billion dollars worth of cuts in SNAP. Their plan also calls for the elimination of free school meals for over 200,000 children.
Where will hungry Americans go for help? They will look to food banks, but these are already overstretched and cannot make up the difference. The economy is suffering and hunger will escalate in America if Congress dismantles food safety nets.
Bob Aiken, the CEO of Feeding America says, “We anticipate that, faced with this sudden drop in their monthly food budget, many people who receive SNAP benefits will seek additional help from our food banks and the agencies they serve. Unfortunately, our food banks across the nation continue to be stretched thin in their efforts to meet sustained high need in the wake of the recession.”
Food stamps have a history of helping Americans living in poverty. In 1939 food stamps were first introduced to help low-income families. Studies showed the needy were getting more nutritious foods as a result. Grocers liked the plan because the stamps were redeemed to buy food at their stores.
As America entered World War II, food stamps were seen as vital for keeping the whole nation strong. In 1943, because Americans were back at work in large part, the need for food stamps ended. Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard called the program “an outstanding success.” The U.S. did continue food aid with school lunch programs and relief for the handicapped and elderly during these war years.
Today, Congress wants to roll back food stamps before economic recovery has taken place. Their plan puts more strain on the nation’s hungry and food bank system. Their plan takes away school meals. What they should do is strengthen the food stamp plan and the Federal Emergency Food Assistance (TEFAP) program which supports food banks. When jobs and wages start to return then take up large reductions in food stamps.
The Food for Peace program is also a major part of the Farm Bill. Congress has to decide the level of funding. Food for Peace supports hunger relief in Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Haiti, Mali, Yemen and many other countries. It’s an extension of Wickard’s World War II philosophy that “Food will win the war and write the peace.”
No country or region will have stability if it suffers from malnutrition. That is why Food for Peace, as well as the McGovern-Dole global school lunch plan, need support in Congress. As Dwight Eisenhower said, hungry children scrapping in garbage heaps cannot be expected to become apostles of peace. We need to wage war against hunger and want. Food for Peace is the largest supplier of the UN World Food Programme, the lead hunger fighting organization.
International food aid makes up less than one tenth of one percent of the federal budget. So there is no savings to cost cut here. What cuts would do is sink our foreign policy.
Congress has a lot on its plate as it starts back to work. Decisions in the coming weeks can drastically impact the hungry here at home and abroad. That will be a legacy of this Congress, how it responds to these difficult times.
Americans must continue to give their input as to how to run things. Leadership can come from any corner. Now is the stretch run for the Farm Bill. As Amelia Kegan, a policy analyst for Bread for the World says, “It’ll be an intense period, but as you well know, this is often the most important part of any race.”
Originally published at the Huffington Post
Filed under Uncategorized
Congress is threatening to cut international food aid.
The article “Food-stamp cuts might deal heavy blow to region” (July 28) justifiably raises great concern over the repeated attempts by Congress to cut food aid.
Over 50 million Americans suffer from hunger. Food banks are overstretched, and cutting back assistance will be a disaster. The cutting of food stamps will also eliminate hundreds of thousands of free school meals for needy children.
Globally, what could be more important to our foreign policy than fighting hunger. Our Food for Peace and global school-lunch programs save children’s lives, and help the recovery of nations leveled by war, disasters and poverty. This is the great humanitarian tradition of our country, the one that prevented the worst famine in history after World War II.
Today, food will determine whether there is to be peace and recovery in the Middle East and regions where there are massive flows of refugees and agriculture has suffered huge damage. The Syria crisis is alarming, with the UN World Food Program needing around $29 million a week to carry out a relief mission. Conflict and hunger are also ongoing in Mali, South Sudan and Yemen. Haiti needs food support as it tries to build its agriculture after suffering through a series of disasters.
Yet some in Congress seek to reduce funding for international food aid, even though it makes up less than 1⁄10 of 1 percent of the federal budget.
Some House members are trying to change this disconnect. Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota introduced the Global Food Security Act to put hunger back at the top of the foreign policy agenda, with a White House level coordinator. Over 30 humanitarian aid groups want this bill passed, and Congress should listen to what they have to say.
Food is the very basis of peace, a functioning economy or education. The idea that this is an area for budget cuts makes little sense, for domestic and foreign policy. It’s time Congress received this memo.
Originally published at the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Filed under global hunger
Author William Lambers 