As the world’s largest food donor, the United States helps millions of people around the globe stave off hunger and malnutrition through its international food programs. As a faith community, we should be proud of our civil dedication to these programs. However, millions more people remain hungry and malnourished, in part because the American food-aid system is fraught with inefficiencies — and has been for decades.
For every U.S. tax dollar spent to feed hungry people in emergency situations, only an average of 40 cents goes toward actual food; the other 60 cents goes to pay administrative costs. The current food-aid system has led to spoiled food and has harmed agricultural producers in local communities.
Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Chris Coons (D-DE) have recently introduced a legislation called the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2015, which seeks to reform some of the practices that make our food aid system inefficient. The legislation will allow USAID to:
- purchase some food locally instead of shipping all food from the U.S.;
- use the most competitively priced freight when sending food from the U.S.; and
- send food directly to beneficiaries and phasing out inefficient third party distribution practices.
Take Action now! Contact your Senators on our ELCA Action Center, and tell them to support the Food for Peace Reform Act!
Learn more about this legislation on our ELCA Food for Peace Fact Sheet!
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