Opinion: Thanksgiving inspires us to end world hunger
At Thanksgiving in 1947, New Hampshire residents dispatched two train boxcars on a special mission. Loaded with food, they were to join up with the Friendship Train which was crossing America collecting donations to feed Europe.
It was just two years after WWII and severe drought had struck, leaving Europe with food shortages. Americans rallied to their aid during the Thanksgiving holiday.
According to columnist Drew Pearson, New Hampshire was not originally part of the Friendship Train route. Not wanting to be left out, WFEA radio put out the call for donations and New Hampshire residents responded big. Likewise, there were similar responses from Tennessee and Connecticut even though not on the train’s main route. Cincinnati was one of the stops and many donations were collected. All of America wanted to be a part of the Friendship Train.
The Friendship Train was one of several Thanksgiving events to fight hunger overseas. Catholic Relief Services was hosting a food drive at churches across the country. At their Thanksgiving meal, families set aside a chair and plate that represented one of the world's hungry. They donated to feed their "silent guest" and this led to thousands of CARE packages sent overseas to feed the hungry in Europe.
This outpouring of generosity encouraged the interim aid package passed by Congress which sent food aid to Italy, Austria and France. The following year Congress passed the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe.
For this Thanksgiving, we can each do something to stop the fast-growing global hunger crisis. The UN World Food Program (WFP) just issued a warning that the number of people on the edge of starvation is now 45 million. And there are millions more people suffering hunger that are not far from these famine conditions.
Even more shocking is the number of countries impacted. It's not just several, it is 43. We have not seen this level of extreme hunger since the end of World War II.
This Thanksgiving we too can respond to the global hunger emergency before us. We can feed the starving war victims in Yemen, Ethiopia, South Sudan and many other countries. We can provide much-needed school meals to children in Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
We can feed silent guests from these countries by donating on Thanksgiving to the World Food Program (WFP), CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children and other charities.
Rhode Island-based Edesia produces Plumpy'Nut, a peanut paste that rescues children from deadly malnutrition. We should make sure all the war-torn countries have enough supply of this food so no child starves to death. You can donate to feed many infants this lifesaving peanut paste.
At Thanksgiving, there are also ways you can donate while spending family time. You can test you family’s trivia knowledge using the online game FreeRice, which raises donations to WFP. Colleges are holding a FreeRice Challenge over Thanksgiving to raise donations and awareness of the global hunger crisis.
You can also write letters to Congress urging them to fund global food aid. Actually General Dwight Eisenhower once spent Thanksgiving Day doing just that, testifying before Congress to increase food aid for war victims.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving, just taking a few actions can help feed the world’s hungry.
William Lambers is an author who partnered with the U.N. World Food Program on the book "Ending World Hunger." His writings have been published by The New York Times, History News Network, Newsweek and many other outlets.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Opinion: Thanksgiving inspires us to end world hunger
