Help Starving Children

By Damon Guinn

The Midwest is probably the last place you’d expect to hear diplomats debate worldwide hunger and international food relief. So it may come as a surprise that Kansas City was the site of this week’s International Food Aid Conference, sponsored by the USDA and USAID.

In a sense, Kansas City could be considered the agricultural epicenter of the nation. It’s home to a major board of trade for agriculture and is surrounded by states that produce a bounty of cattle, corn, grains, pigs and poultry. What better setting then for interested parties to take a place at the table and talk about the future course of food aid?

During the conference, Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, announced that the USDA will nearly double its support of a $95.5 million food aid program that benefits starving and hungry children in poor countries.

Speaking on behalf of President Obama, Secretary Vilsack reiterated the importance of providing food relief to children in need. “The president understands that if we do that and do a better job of it, then it will make (eventually) all of us much safer, because if these kids are well-fed and well-cared for at the beginning of life, then they will see that there are boundless opportunities for them.”

The announcement is good news for Children International, considering our efforts to reduce malnutrition in several of the world’s poorest communities.

Last year, we appealed to many of you for help in providing emergency food relief to sponsored children and their families, and your response was overwhelming. We raised nearly $1 million worth of food relief for struggling families who have seen the prices of food items like rice, corn and cooking oil skyrocket – in some places as much as 75 percent.

With your support, we have been able to deliver food relief when, and where, it's needed most. And our ongoing nutrition workshops and nutritional rehabilitation programs make it possible for us to take direct action in curbing hunger and malnutrition.

In a world where a child dies of hunger every 5 seconds, your support through sponsorship is a key component of a global initiative to save lives. And that can give us all a little more food for thought.

Learn more about world hunger, and what Children International is doing to curb it, by clicking the links below: