Hunger is a ruthless tyrant. It dictates that millions of people around the world are slaves to the simple chore of finding food. For those who are starving there is little time to ponder the advantages of liberty, for they are never free from the pain of hunger. One of the missions of Catholic Relief Services is to feed hungry people overseas through emergency relief and development programs.

Thanks to the generous contributions of donors like you, we are accomplishing that mission. CRS is one of the largest nongovernmental distributors of U.S. food aid to developing countries.

But there is cause for alarm. The United Nations recently reported that the number of chronically hungry people climbed to more than 850 million people last year. It was the first time in almost ten years that this number has increased. At the same time, world governments are decreasing the amount of money they are allocating to feed the hungry, diverting it to meet the needs of many emergencies and crises occurring around the world.

Food aid is not just about feeding hungry people now. Development programs cans prevent starvation and food emergencies by planning for the future. When emergencies do arise, we must work hard to ensure that the response does not come at the expense of food development programs that are already in place and effective.

Without careful planning, CRS food development programs could be in jeopardy. Right now CRS helps 1.2 million children from vulnerable families receive nutritious meals at school. About 1.6 million orphans, disabled people and people living with AIDS and other diseases are receiving food assistance through CRS partner programs. With our assistance, more than 1.2 million mothers and infants receive vital medicine and nutritional meals. More than 1.5 million farmers overseas receive support through CRS to produce the food they need to help their families survive.

We must ensure that we can continue the kind of food programming that allows the world’s most vulnerable people to eat, grow, and thrive.