We celebrate World Food Day every year on October 16, and it marks the anniversary of founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization by the UN. On this day, the focus remains on fighting global hunger and working to eliminate it globally.
World Food Day
Significance
Nearly 150 countries join hands together and work to make World Food Day a success. There are hundreds of events and activities organized.
These help governments, NGOs, media, commoners, and businesses to collaborate with each other. These parties work to promote awareness and help those who suffer from hunger and provide healthy diets to all.
Origins
The FAO’s members started World Food Day at its 20th general conference organized in November 1979. In fact, it was the Hungarian delegation led by its Minister of Agriculture and Food, Dr. Pal Romany, that played a very crucial role.
He was the one who suggested the concept of celebrating WFD globally. Since then, WFD has been observed in nearly 150 countries, with each of them trying to raise awareness on poverty and hunger issues.
Food Security and COVID-19
COVID-19 has mitigated all the decades of efforts that were made in the fight against hunger and poverty, especially in developing countries. Starvation, malnutrition, and health issues are a serious threat to the existence of children living below the poverty line.
Loss of jobs during the pandemic has made it challenging for people to purchase goods. As the supply chain is breaking down, many communities are feeling shortages in the food supply.
When this happens, the poor get the worst affected. Even when the food is available, the costs escalate, increasing the struggle for people with almost no income to guide them.
How We Help With Food Security
Hunger and malnutrition have a very drastic effect on health. They make it challenging for people to work, take care of themselves, have a productive life, and make positive contributions to society. This effect of hunger and malnutrition acts as an obstacle and keeps those people entwined in poverty.
Compassion’s Food Security initiatives aim to address the hunger needs of the children who live in poverty. Simultaneously they also provide preventive care that supports health and wellness at a long-term level. When you donate to families suffering from COVID-19, you help them get food, vitamins, and medical care.
World Food Day Quotes
1. “Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.” — A lan D. Wolfelt
2. “We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly.” — Anna Thomas
3. “We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.” — Epicurus
4. Give your greatest respect to the food you get because what you are eating is nothing but a great gift from God. — Anonymous
5. Come together, join hands, and pledge to fight against hunger. Let us make a promise to ourselves to eradicate hunger and give food to those who need it the most. — Anonymous
6. Our minds are like our stomachs; they are whetted by the change of their food and variety supplies both with a fresh appetite.-Quintilian
7. There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. – Mahatma Gandhi
8. Food safety involves everybody in the food chain -Mike Johanns
9. There are people who work hard to ensure that we have enough foods in our plate. We consume food with great respect. We should also do our best to share it with someone who goes the bed hungry. — Anonymous
10. Food does what words can’t. Sometimes, we can’t say enough about the role played by food to bridge the divide. — Anonymous
11. We must always respect the food we get because it is the blessing of God and love from someone who cares for us. — Anonymous
12. There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger. — Pranab Mukherjee
13. “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” –Mahatma Gandhi
14. “It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.” –Simone Weil
15. “You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. This is how prayer works.” –Pope Francis
16. “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower
17. Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others. ~ Saint Augustine
18. Hunger is not a problem. It is an obscenity. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~ Anne Frank
19. I never look at the masses as my responsibility. I look at the individual. I can love only one person at a time. I can feed only one person at a time. Just one, one, one. ~ Mother Teresa
20. My motto in life is ‘If you think it, you can do it’ and if we all apply that thought we can end hunger the world over. ~ Dionne Warwick