Rhode Island-based Edesia just donated 1,100 boxes of plumpy'nut food to treat malnourished children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The charity Action Against Hunger will distribute this food, which will save many children from deadly malnutrition. Still more food is needed to meet the hunger emergency in the DRC.
Edesia is a non-profit organization in Providence that produces plumpy'nut and other specially enhanced nutritional foods for children. Because donations are not easy for them to obtain, they need the support of citizens and companies in order to provide more life-saving food for children.
Millions of small children in Niger, DRC, Yemen, Guatemala, Sudan, Chad and many more countries are at risk of dying from malnutrition. Or if they manage to survive, they suffer lasting physical or mental damage, unless we do something about it.
Marie Wisecup of Edesia explains that it takes just "$1.00 a day for treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) with Plumpy’nut. When children suffer from SAM they are very sick. It is not simply a matter of meeting their food needs but rebuilding their body’s essential fat, protein and multivitamin stores. That is what Plumpy’nut accomplishes."
If every corporation in the United States followed Edesia's lead and made a donation to buy some plumpy'nut, millions of children's lives would be saved. This would mark a tremendous achievement in America's food for peace tradition.
It was 50 years ago today that President Dwight Eisenhower, on vacation in Newport, Rhode Island, made public a report on America's new Food for Peace program. School lunch programs for war-recovering Italy and Japan, flood relief for Austria and a massive food reserve for India are just a few of the examples of the early years of Food for Peace.
Food for Peace, an extension of the World War II relief effort that saved millions from starvation, was a great chapter in American history. And it's still being written with the likes of Edesia and others dedicated to fighting hunger.
The greatest chapter in America's food for peace history could be etched if people, businesses and groups came together to lead a global effort to ensure no child suffers from hunger and malnutrition.
You can donate to Edesia using Paypal at their web site.
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