Clinton named 14 private volunteer organizations that, along with the United Nations World Food Program, will receive $300 million in surplus U.S. farm commodities for a one-year program to provide school lunches or breakfasts to 9 million children in 38 countries.
He said that in addition to feeding hungry children, the Global Food for Education program would keep them in school.
''Under this pilot program, we will start providing nutritious food to more than 500,000 children in Vietnam,'' Clinton said in a White House ceremony. ''We will start providing high-protein bread and milk each day to some 60,000 students in 170 schools in Eritrea. And in Kenya we will start giving some 1.4 million elementary school children a nutritious meal every single day.''
Rep. Tony Hall (D-Ohio), a leading congressional advocate for action against hunger, said that if other countries join in and Congress extends the U.S. action, Clinton's initiative could lead to a 50 percent reduction in world hunger.
''I'm not sure they even realize the significance of this in the White House,'' Hall said. ''I think that if there's a legacy for this president, this could be it. I know he and probably his people are almost totally focused on getting a treaty in the Middle East, but what he did today is a great legacy.
''This is the first time we've ever had an initiative for food for children worldwide,'' Hall said. ''Ever.''
Under the initiative, organizations such as Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services and CARE are to receive commodities that the Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corp. has obtained under farm price support programs.
Although participating organizations will be permitted to sell some of the surplus commodities to cover distribution costs, the bulk of the food will go directly to school feeding programs, the White House said.
McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee and Clinton's ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization, originated the idea and pitched it to Clinton at a White House meeting in May.
Dole, who worked with McGovern to create the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, known as WIC, when they served in the Senate together, subsequently endorsed it.
At the White House ceremony, Dole said the initiative would help American farmers, in addition to the children who will receive the meals.
The initiative must be renewed by Congress after the first year if it is to continue.
Clinton called on other countries with farm surpluses to follow suit and appealed indirectly to President-elect George W. Bush to keep the U.S. program alive.
''This initiative by itself is not a solution to the global hunger problem. But it's a down payment and a beginning,'' Clinton said. ''Now it's up to Congress, the United Nations, other developed countries, the (nongovernment organizations) represented here, and the next administration to continue this fight.''
Other private organizations that will receive commodity grants under the initiative are: Adventist Development & Relief Agency, Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance, Africare, Counterpart International, International Partnership for Human Development, International Orthodox Christian Charities, Land O'Lakes, Mercy Corps International, Mercy USA, Project Concern International and World Share.
In addition, the World Food Program and the government of the Dominican Republic will receive commodity grants, according to the Agriculture Department, which is to administer the program along with the U.S. Agency for International Development and State Department.
Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.