Two hundred years ago this Christmas Eve, America and Britain received a special gift. Only nobody in either country knew about it.
Read my commentary at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Tag Archives: history
My Cincinnati Enquirer oped: Feed ‘silent guest’ this holiday
This Thanksgiving put an extra chair at your table, and make room for a “silent guest.” That guest can be one of the world’s 805 million hungry people.
Read the full article at The Cincinnati Enquirer
Filed under global hunger
My commentary in the Des Moines Register: Feed a Silent Guest this Thanksgiving
This Thanksgiving, put an extra chair at your table and make room for a “silent guest.” That guest can be one of the world’s 805 million hungry people.
Read the article at The Des Moines Register.
Filed under global hunger
My commentary in the Boston Herald: Feed a Silent Guest this Thanksgiving
This Thanksgiving, put an extra chair at your table and make room for a “silent guest.” That guest can be one of the world’s 805 million hungry people.
Read the article at The Boston Herald.
Filed under global hunger
Veterans Day and the gospel of food for hungry children
As we celebrate this Veterans Day, let’s recall a recent U.S. military mission led by a teddy bear. When the Air Force was called upon to drop humanitarian supplies in Iraq, a soldier attached a teddy bear to the cargo.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
Halloween ushers in season of the silent guest
During the Halloween of 1947, plans were being made for the arrival of the “silent guest” into homes across America. It was not a horror movie, but just the opposite.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
Hunger Games film can revive WWI era fundraiser
The opening of the new Hunger Games film offers a unique opportunity. The movie series, which is produced by LionsGate Films, has previously teamed with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Feeding America. WFP is the largest organization fighting world hunger while Feeding America is this nation’s food aid network.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
You can influence world affairs by feeding the hungry
This week is the anniversary of President Harry Truman’s historic first TV address from the White House. His speech was about America’s most urgent foreign policy issue: hunger. Europe was suffering with food shortages as it struggled to rebuild from World War II.
Read the article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
French nun a hero for saving hungry war victims
A father, searching for his two missing daughters, needed a miracle. World War II was raging. The Nazi German army had sent the girls’ mother off to the gas chamber. This desperate father had to find his girls quickly. He arrived at Sister Clotilde Regereau’s convent near Paris seeking help.
Sister Regereau had a plan to find the girls. She prayed. She worked her contacts. As reported in the New York Times, one moon-lit night the girls “were slipped inside the convent gate.” Their brothers were already at the convent.
But by no means were the children safe. The Germans were searching for Jewish people. Sister Regereau had to teach the children Catholic prayers so they could stay hidden. It was not until after the war when they were reunited with their father.
You won’t see Sister Regereau’s name in history textbooks but she was a hero saving lives during and after the war. She could not have done it without the support of people in America. With War Relief Services (today known as Catholic Relief Services), Sister Regereau coordinated the feeding of 1,000,000 children in France. Imagine these starving children’s reaction to get milk, peanut butter and meat when such items were in short supply because of the war. She said,
When I recall how the activity of War Relief Services—National Catholic Welfare Conference began, grew and developed in France, I feel as if I were reading a fairy tale, which, like all fairy tales, ends on a note of happiness and hope.”
Sister Regereau was a member of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul. Along with the Sisters of Charity this group was very active in relief work for the war-devastated countries.
Today, Catholic Relief Services, along with other aid organizations are feeding war victims in the Middle East and Africa. They are helping people overcome disasters and poverty all around the world.
If people work together and stick with it, we can bring some happiness and hope to those suffering around the world. Everyone can do what Sister Regereau accomplished. You just need to try.
Read the article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
Today in history: Truman calls Americans to save Europe from 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
Author William Lambers 