If you went shopping after World War II, you could walk into a store and make a life-saving purchase. Even if you were at home, you could do the same great deed simply through mail order. What was this mystery item people bought by the thousands after the war?
These were CARE packages to send to hungry people in countries lying in ruin. General Lucius Clay, commander of the American military government in Germany, made appeals to the public to send these packages. So did many others from all walks of life. This is how America reacted to the plight of those suffering overseas.
CARE Packages were sent to the hungry after World War II and this continued even during the Korean War and the early years of the Cold War struggle. In this photo, "Children of a refugee family from East Germany crowd close to get a better view of the foods in the CARE Package they received soon after they arrived in West Berlin." See a CARE order form here (photo courtesy CARE)
General Clay wrote, "when a CARE package arrived the consumer knew it was aid from America and that even the bitterness of war had not destroyed our compassion for suffering."
You had several options when buying a CARE package. There were general rations which you could send to a family, or you could have these sent to an orphanage or hospital. Another option was to buy a CARE package specially designed for infants, one with baby food.
Well, today that CARE package for infants would come in the form of plumpy'nut, the miracle food recently profiled on the NBC Nightly News. This is a life-saving food for small children.
Plumpy'nut is peanut paste that comes wrapped in a small package, like many foods you find in grocery stores; except plumpy'nut is food specially designed to provide quick nutrients to severely malnourished children. It is widely used in areas struck by conflict, natural disasters, or extreme poverty. Plumpy'nut is easy to distribute because it does not require special preparation and storage.
In East Africa, where drought has caused massive food shortages, plumpy'nut is being distributed to children. It is saving their lives. Infants need proper nutrition in what is called the critical first 1,000 days. Without the nutrients, they will suffer lasting physical or mental damage.
Thousands of children have already starved to death in East Africa because of the food shortages, but those that get plumpy'nut can be saved.
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