We
recently announced that Share Our Strength will contribute to three
organizations working to aid children and their families in the Syrian refugee
crisis: Save the Children, the World Food Programme and Mercy Corps. These may
seem like unusual grants for us, an organization working to end childhood
hunger in the U.S., so I’m writing to share how they are important to our
mission and history.
Since
2010, our priority has been to make sure every child in America has the healthy
food they need, every day, through the No Kid Hungry campaign. It will continue
to be our focus until the job is done.
Still,
we’ve never forgotten our roots. Billy and I still clearly remember that day in
1984 when we felt compelled to act on behalf of people suffering from hunger
and starvation oceans away in Ethiopia. We’ve stayed true our original mission
through limited, strategic investments to build food security in some of the
most vulnerable places in the world.
The
scale of suffering of the refugees in Syria cries out for urgent and
compassionate action. According to Save the Children, an estimated 9 million
Syrians have fled their homes. The need for basic resources like food,
water and shelter is overwhelming and organizations are challenged to keep pace
with that need. Read what the New York Times had to say about the most severely
impacted regions here.
Much
like that day in 1984, and during the catastrophic events we’ve seen since,
like Hurricane Katrina or the earthquake in Haiti, we feel a duty to support
children in crisis, wherever they are. Through contributions to these three
well-respected organizations working in Syria, we seek to build on lessons from
our domestic work and bring some measure of relief to these families.
I
found Bono’s words particularly inspiring in response to this crisis, “Where
you live should not determine whether you live or whether you die.”
Thanks
for your ongoing support of Share Our Strength,
Debbie
Debbie
Shore
Co-Founder,
Share Our Strength
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