A school garden funded by Plenty provides food and education
for village children in Belize. photo courtesy of Plenty, International

Yesterday’s Seattle Vegan Examiner column looked at some of the problems associated with hunger relief organizations like Heifer International that give gifts of live animals.

World-wide, there are many groups that work to relieve hunger and poverty in a variety of important ways. Since global warming is expected to worsen poverty in many parts of the world, finding sustainable ways to increase food security should be among the important goals of international charities. Here are two organizations that work in cost-effective and responsible ways to promote food security and two that address medical problems associated with poverty that are easily cured at a relatively low cost. 

Humane and Sustainable Food Security

Founded in 1974, Plenty, International is the charitable outreach program of The Farm, an intentional community in Summertown, TN. The group began by simply giving away food to low-income people in the local community. Their international focus took form in 1976 when an earthquake left a million people homeless in Guatemala. Over a period of four years, volunteers from Plenty worked with Guatemalan famers and villagers to build more than 1200 schools, houses and public buildings.

In response to the problem of malnutrition, Plenty volunteers began to introduce methods of soybean agriculture and processing in Central America through the Central American Food Security Initiative.
Today, Plenty is involved in food security programs in Central America, Africa and among U.S. Native Americans. The group also assists communities in the application of appropriate technologies to encourage village self-sufficiency, including alternative power generation, communications, and micro enterprise initiatives.

VegFam, based in the United Kingdom, has funded hunger relief projects in over 40 countries since 1963. They provide funds for self-supporting sustainable food projects and the provision of safe drinking water, benefiting people who are often out of reach of the major charities. Food projects include tools for growing vegetables, fruit and nut tree plantings, irrigation, and wells. They also offer training in food preparation, marketing and nutrition. Seeds from crops are saved and given to neighbors allowing program expansion at no cost.  This charity is listed on Dr. Peter Singer's The Life You Can Save website.

Fighting poverty is more than food

The non-profit organization Givewell rates different types of programs, looking for those that deliver cost effective treatments that are measurably effective. They give high marks, for example, to programs that provide low-cost life-saving and life-changing surgeries. Since 1992, the Fred Hollows Foundation has restored the sight in more than a million people living in poverty worldwide, many of them children. A donation of $50 can restore the sight of one person.

In sub-Saharan Africa, as many as 100,000 women suffer from fistula, a repairable injury often associated with childbirth in young girls. Women with fistula are generally turned out of their homes because they suffer from chronic foul odor. They suffer lives of extreme isolation and poverty. A $450 donation to the Fistula Foundation buys high-quality surgery, post-operative care, a new dress and bus fare home—and a completely new life—for a young woman.