It was the summer of 1946 and although the guns of World War II were silent, there was not peace. European countries were struggling to rebuild from the destruction caused by the war. Food shortages gripped the continent. Who suffered the most? Children.
A charity called Save the Children was one of many groups that came to the rescue. This organization actually had its start after the First World War as the Save the Children Fund. Established by Eglantyne Jebb in England, this charity helped the children of war-devastated Central Europe following that conflict.
After the Second World War, Save the Children again was pressed into service. By this time, the organization had expanded around the globe and included a United States headquarters. In post-World War II Austria, the Swedish Save the Children Fund helped to fight hunger.
In the summer of 1946, Save the Children was providing daily hot lunches to over 26,000 children in Vienna. Another 37,000 children were provided powdered whole milk. A combined effort by the Danish Red Cross and Save the Children Fund also provided meals to more children that summer.
Child feeding programs were critical to the recovery of Austria and other war-torn countries. Save the Children did its part to complement efforts by the U.S. Army, UNRRA and others in Europe. As Eglantyne Jebb stated, "We cannot leave defenseless children anywhere exposed to ruin – moral or physical... We cannot run the risk that they should weep, starve, despair and die, with never a hand stretched out to help them. It is essential that we should put the world in order..."
Save the Children was among those who responded to the great hunger crises which followed World War I and World War II. Today, Save the Children is one of the leaders in confronting the global hunger menace afflicting over a billion people, a crisis so massive that nearly 400 million children, more than the whole population of the United States, are suffering from hunger worldwide.
Save the Children recently teamed up with other charities on a groundbreaking report called the Roadmap to End Global Hunger. The report formed the basis for a piece of legislation now introduced in the U.S. Congress. The Roadmap to End Global Hunger (H.R. 2817) calls for a specific strategy for the United States to follow in fighting global hunger. In the following Q and A, 
we are going to find out about the Roadmap legislation from one of its key advocates, Michael Klosson, a former U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus and to The Netherlands. Serving as Chief Policy officer for Save the Children, Ambassador Klosson gives us insight into a piece of legislation which, if enacted by Congress, could change the world.
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