[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 10, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               19-CENTS-A-DAY CAMPAIGN ON SCHOOL FEEDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 20, 2004, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I have come to the well of this floor many 
times to speak in support of the George McGovern-Robert Dole 
International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program.
  McGovern-Dole provides hungry children around the world at least one 
nutritious meal a day in a school setting. The Bush administration's 
own Department of Agriculture has evaluated this program and found it 
to be very effective at reducing child hunger, increasing academic 
attendance and performance, especially among girls, and strengthening 
community commitment to education.
  The McGovern-Dole program is carried out in the field by a wide range 
of partners, principally through U.S. private voluntary organizations 
and the United Nations World Food Programme, which has a special unit 
specializing in school feeding programs.
  Currently, the World Food Programme, or WFP, carries out McGovern-
Dole-supported school feeding programs in Bhutan, Bolivia, Cambodia, 
Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Tanzania 
and Uganda. But this is just part of WFP's worldwide effort in the area 
of school feeding, which reaches literally every corner of the world.
  Mr. Speaker, over 840 million people do not have enough food to eat 
on a daily basis. Three hundred million of these are children, who go 
to sleep every night without enough food to eat. Today, and every day, 
24,000 people will die because of hunger and its ugly effects. This is 
more than HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined, although 
hunger and disease are closely intertwined.
  In short, between 8 and 10 million people die needlessly every year 
because of hunger and malnutrition.
  Last year, the World Health Organization listed the top 10 health 
risks around the world. The number one risk is not cancer or HIV/AIDS 
or heart disease. It is not war or armed conflict or accidents. The 
number one health risk in the world is simply the lack of food.
  In an effort to reach out to students and communities throughout the 
United States, the World Food Programme has launched a campaign to 
raise money and awareness about the hunger and educational needs of 
children in Third World countries.
  This campaign will help shine a light on what life is like for the 
more than 300 million children who daily endure, suffer and die from 
hunger. Nearly half of these children, mainly girls, do not go to 
school. The campaign will give students in communities a simple yet 
concrete way to make a difference in these children's futures.
  The campaign is called the 19-Cents-a-Day Campaign depicted in this 
poster here. Why 19 cents? Because 19 cents is the average daily cost 
to feed a child in a school setting.
  Think about this for a moment, Mr. Speaker. Nineteen cents a day, a 
dime, a nickel and four pennies, that is half the cost of a first-class 
stamp. For about the cost of one Big Mac, a soda and an order of fries 
each month, we can feed a child for an entire school year.
  Mr. Speaker, we know that one of the best steps anyone can take to 
reduce or escape poverty is to get an education. Offering a meal at 
school is a proven method of convincing poor families to send their 
children to school, including their daughters.
  Last month, Judith Lewis, the Washington Director of WFP, traveled to 
her home State of Mississippi to officially launch the 19-Cents-a-Day 
Campaign. Mississippi is a place that knows something about hunger. 
Last year, over 392,000 Mississippi children received free or reduced 
school lunches. I am happy to report the response from the high school 
students in Brandon, Mississippi, was overwhelmingly positive, raising 
hundreds of dollars for WFP school feeding programs.
  The 19-Cents-a-Day Campaign is a great way to talk about child 
hunger, both around the world and in our own congressional districts. 
It is a great way to raise awareness and funds and engage our own 
students and communities in the fight against hunger abroad and here at 
home.

                              {time}  1300

  In the weeks to come, the campaign will be launched in high schools 
in Illinois, North Carolina, and California. I hope to launch a similar 
campaign in Massachusetts, my home State. I encourage my colleagues to 
contact the World Food Program to find out more about the 19 Cents a 
Day Campaign and how more students and communities can become involved.
  Mr. Speaker, I firmly believe we can end hunger among children, both 
here in the United States and around the world. It only takes the time, 
commitment, and political will to do so.

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