America’s 250th birthday comes as multiple wars and disasters are causing severe hunger across the globe. The earthquakes in Venezuela, the Middle East conflicts and the civil war in Sudan have left millions of people in need of food and other aid. Throughout our history we have answered the call to action when there have been cries for help. We can do so again today. 

All Americans can be proud of our humanitarian tradition. America is at its best when we care about the plight of others, even those far away. This noble spirit is what inspired Captain Joseph Shaw’s mission after World War I. 

The year was 1919 and the young U.S. army officer was in Prague, Czechoslovakia with the American Relief Administration. Captain Shaw’s orders were to save lives from the most relentless of enemies: hunger

World War I had come to an end with the Armistice in 1918, but millions of lives were still in danger even though the fighting had stopped. This is because the enemy of hunger still remained strong after the Armistice. The war had damaged agriculture so much that food shortages were everywhere. It takes time for food production to bounce back after a war’s destruction. Officers like Captain Shaw were sent to stop the threat of hunger throughout Europe. 

Shaw was placed in charge of child feeding in Prague. Shaw was quoted in the Detroit Free Press and other newspapers “as long as I am in Prague, I am a Czecho-Slovak. I will take care that there shall not be one hungry child in the Czecho-Slovak republic.”

Captain Shaw and his team fed hundreds of thousands of children in Czechoslovakia (today known as the Czech Republic). That spirit of the American Relief Administration saved millions of lives from hunger worldwide after the war. 

As we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, we have the responsibility to carry forward our humanitarian tradition. In a world where so many resources are given to wars and armaments, child hunger is often forgotten. Recently there have been many budget cuts to humanitarian aid which has been tragic. 

Captain Shaw and the Army officers of the American Relief Administration (ARA) were determined to save children and families from hunger. We can share this noble quest of the ARA, the original A-team. 

Right now there are starving children in war-torn Sudan, Lebanon, South Sudan, Congo, Haiti, Syria, Venezuela and many other areas in need. The Iran War caused prices to go up leading to more hunger around the globe. 

The UN World Food Program’s (WFP) Acting Director Carl Skau pleads “Conflict, shocks, and disasters are forcing families to make impossible decisions about who gets to eat and who goes to bed hungry. Without action now, millions more are expected to face worsening levels of hunger in the months ahead, pushing some closer to famine.”

This 4th of July Americans can lead the global response to these tragedies of hunger unfolding before our eyes. We can save many lives from starvation by supporting the hunger fighting missions of WFP, Save the Children, CARE, UNICEF, Edesia, Mary’s Meals, International Red Cross, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Catholic Relief Services and so many others. 

We can each tell our elected officials to increase funding for global food aid. No child anywhere should go hungry. We also know that world peace depends on defeating the enemy of hunger. A world where people starve to death is not a peaceful world. 

William Lambers is an author who partnered with the UN World Food Program on the book “Ending World Hunger.” His writings have been published by the Washington Post, Newsweek, History News Network and many other news outlets.