America’s lifesaving gift to the world

It was the holiday season of 1920 and a popular gift item was sweeping the nation. This was a heartfelt gift that would save the life of a starving child in war-torn Europe.

Americans in December 1920 were moved to give to a nationwide appeal by the European Relief Council. Led by Herbert Hoover, the council was collecting donations to feed the starving people of Europe just two years after World War I. The biggest war in history to that point had inevitably led to the biggest hunger crisis as agriculture lay in ruin. Children were most vulnerable to deadly malnutrition.

An article in the Chicago Daily Tribune encouraged readers to join the fundraiser stating “who can be indifferent or turn the other way.” Christmas parties and holiday gatherings included collections to feed a starving child, an “invisible guest.”

An Indianapolis Star headline read “Many Respond To Appeal.” The article said that donors in Indiana were “making a sacrifice of part of their own Christmas cheer in order to assist and entertain as an invisible guest one of the children of the famine stricken countries.”

The New York Times reported that an appeal at the Metropolitan Opera House by Herbert Hoover moved many to donate to save starving children. Hoover was the coordinator of the American Relief Administration (ARA), one of the agencies supported by the fundraising.

Our determination to save the starving children of Europe helped build America’s tradition as a humanitarian nation. We need that spirit perhaps more than ever.

There are starving children right now in Gaza that need America’s help. In war-torn Sudan people are fleeing conflict and desperately need humanitarian aid to stay alive. The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) is warning of record levels of hunger in West and Central Africa. But tragically funding is low to feed the hungry.

War victims in the D.R. of the Congo are often forgotten, but yet children there need lifesaving nutrition. If there were meals at school provided for all children in the D.R. Congo it would save lives and help give the nation some stability to overcome the chaos.

This holiday season you could be the advocate as many Americans were for Europe’s starving children after World War I. You can lead fundraising and advocacy to feed Gaza’s starving children who are suffering because of the Israel-Hamas war. It must be America’s priority to feed the victims in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, D.R. Congo, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia and so many other countries in need.

You can help hunger relief organizations like the WFP, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, UNICEF, Mary’s Meals, Action against Hunger, Edesia and many others.

A Sister with the Daughters of Charity in Tigray, Ethiopia told Mary’s Meals “I need to be the voice of the voiceless here (in Tigray). No one here has a voice.”

The hungry around the world today need your voice and action so they can get food to survive. That lifesaving food is the best gift you can give this holiday season.

William Lambers is an author who partnered with the U.N. World Food Program on the book “Ending World Hunger.”