Celebrate America’s humanitarian tradition

One of the great things to celebrate about America is our tradition of generosity in feeding the hungry. We are the nation that has saved millions of lives from starvation. When there are cries for help from abroad, we take action.

But this Fourth of July our great tradition is being shattered by the closing of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and funding cuts to global food aid. The timing could not be worse.

Sudan and Gaza are near famine conditions because of conflict. There is also severe hunger in South Sudan which is taking in refugees from the war in Sudan. In Haiti, Yemen, Congo, Mali, Syria and many other countries food is needed to save lives.

But the Trump administration is cutting back on our American food aid at a time when the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) says the needs are massive. According to WFP, "Acute food insecurity and malnutrition have increased to record levels, yet global funding is experiencing its fastest decline in years, and political momentum is weakening."

The Trump administration is also calling for the elimination of President Dwight Eisenhower’s Food for Peace program.

In the summer of 1953 President Eisenhower had food packages sent to East Germans suffering hunger under communist rule. It was a key moment in the Cold War showing America was a nation of compassion.

As Eisenhower assistant Harold Stassen would later write "The East Germans remembered who fed them when they starved and remain grateful to this day.....the whole world can thank Dwight Eisenhower for reaching out to feed the hungry Germans."

Eisenhower recognized the importance of feeding the hungry as part of our foreign policy. We need more leaders today that understand this too. The Food for Peace program eventually became part of USAID. But like so many other aid programs it is suffering budget cuts and potential elimination. These cuts harm the world's hungry.

But this Fourth of July we can also take action to save our humanitarian tradition. Remember we are a government by the people, and we have the power to save global food aid. Just as we recognize the importance of feeding the hungry at home, we need to take action overseas when there are food shortages.

For America’s birthday we could each remind our elected officials they need to save our global food aid programs. Let's boost funding and fight global hunger.

Food aid is actually one of the least expensive parts of our foreign policy and most effective. Our farms here in the United States can certainly be a big part in supplying any increase in our global food aid.

The Declaration of Independence on July Fourth in 1776, states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The most basic of the human rights is having enough food to survive. But millions are in danger of starvation across the globe. We must speak up to save our great humanitarian tradition fighting hunger and saving lives.

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