On Thanksgiving, 45 million people worldwide are nearing starvation. We can all help
While we enjoy Thanksgiving Day, let’s also dream big. Let’s envision a world where every nation can celebrate this wonderful holiday free from hunger and in peace.
That is what President Dwight Eisenhower had in mind in his 1960 Thanksgiving Proclamation: “Let us hope that someday, under a benevolent Providence and through the best use of the world’s God-given resources, each nation will have reason to celebrate its own thanksgiving day.”
During his presidency, Eisenhower started the Food for Peace program to fight world hunger. Eisenhower also had a history of taking action on Thanksgiving Day, having made a holiday appeal to Congress in 1945 that led to food aid for World War II victims.
MISSION CONTINUES
For Thanksgiving in 1960, Eisenhower encouraged citizens to take action to “support and assist the efforts which we as a Nation, working individually and in cooperation with other nations, are directing toward the solution of the world-food problem.”
That’s a mission we must continue, as difficult as it may be. The need has never been more urgent. The tragic reality is that on Thanksgiving Day, there are 43 nations experiencing famine level conditions within their borders.
The UN World Food Program says there are 45 million people worldwide on the brink of starvation as this very moment. There are millions of others not far from this utter despair.
But yet so often, this extreme hunger crisis is out of the public mind because it happens in lands thousands of miles away. Most of us cannot see the family in Yemen that, having fled bombings in a civil war, has little or no food to eat.
In Afghanistan, the spotlight has left that country since the U.S. military withdrawal in the summer. But since that time, hunger has escalated dramatically to the point where millions are in danger of famine.
And it’s not just war that is causing hunger. In Madagascar, a severe drought caused by climate change has put over a million in danger of starvation.
We have to urgently provide relief to famine affected areas. Right now there is not enough funding for relief agencies to meet this daunting challenge.
BUILD FOOD SECURITY
In addition to emergency relief we need to support longer term programs aimed at building food security within countries. This includes support for agriculture. Every nation should have a national school lunch program supported by local agriculture.
No one person or one donation will alleviate world hunger, but if everyone takes some action we can make a difference. On Thanksgiving Day, think of some way you can help end world hunger. Find some way your community, school or workplace can help fight hunger. You can hold a food drive or a letter-writing campaign asking your elected officials to support hunger fighting programs.
The Universities Fighting World Hunger coalition is a great resource for schools and communities to launch campaigns against hunger.
The online educational game FreeRice raises donations for the World Food Program, another great way for schools to get involved against hunger.
The key is making the fight against hunger a priority. Far too often, national resources are poured into expensive armaments like nuclear weapons and are completely wasted. Arms races lead to even more waste of resources.
It is our duty as citizens to make sure our precious resources are dedicated to the most important fights.
The one against hunger is the most critical for saving lives, and building world stability and peace.
And someday we can have a World Thanksgiving Day, where every nation can enjoy food for all its people.