An Invitation
Use Your Power of Influence
Dear Friends:
The devastation wrought by major international disasters in
recent years, such as 2013’s typhoon in the Philippines, 2010’s
massive earthquake in Haiti, and the ongoing crisis in Syria,
reminds me of how valuable U.S. food aid is in addressing
humanitarian emergencies around the world. It also reminds
me of why, despite the
successes of U.S. food aid,
reforms are needed to the
programs that provide it.
When the needs after
disasters are enormous,
our government’s response
is usually immediate. In
the case of the Philippines,
the U.S. Agency for
International Development
committed $10 million to
the World Food Program
to be used to purchase
food in the Philippines and
neighboring countries. Had the typhoon struck a few months
earlier, in the previous fiscal year, such emergency funds would
have most likely already been spent on other disasters.
Fifty-five tons of nutritious emergency food was rapidly
airlifted to the Philippines from the United States. One
hundred tons of rice, prepositioned in Sri Lanka just for such
an emergency, arrived within a month after the disaster. It
would have taken three months if American ships were used to
transport rice from the United States to the Philippines.
Special Thanks
For more than 50 years, U.S. food aid has been an effective
response to humanitarian crises caused by conflict, famine, and
natural disasters. Food aid has benefitted more than 3 billion
hungry and malnourished people in more than 150 countries
over those years.
Today, our country is the largest provider of food aid, and
we are needed now more than ever. U.S. food aid has played a
significant role in preventing hunger and starvation, but we can
do better.
With smart improvements, our government can respond
more quickly when disaster hits. We can provide food that
is more nutritious, especially to women and children in the
critical 1,000-day window between pregnancy and a child’s
second birthday. We can better support small-scale farmers
in other countries by buying food closer to where it is needed.
With these changes, and for the same level of funding, U.S. food
aid can benefit an additional 17 million people per year.
This is why I am asking you to use the power of influence
God has entrusted to each of you to help our neighbors around
the world. Write and contact your members of Congress so we
can write hunger into history.
Thank you for being part of this meaningful work by
participating in Bread for the World’s 2014 Offering of Letters.
Yours in Christ,
David Beckmann
President, Bread for the World
Mexico
Belize
Mention food aid, and many people will think of
Africa because that continent has topped the list of food-aid
Guatemala
Honduras
recipients in the last few years (see page 9). In this year’s Offering of Letters, we are
broadening our understanding of food aid by highlighting Guatemala. It’s a country where
El Salvador
we can see food aid making a difference in the 1,000-day window between pregnancy and age 2.
Nicaragua
Today, Guatemala receives $51.2 million in food aid, implemented by such organizations as Save the
Children and Project Concern International. Our partners, Church World Service and