In a world of abundance, where ample food exists for every man, woman and child, almost billion people go hungry every day.

World Food Program USA (WFP USA) engages U.S. entities and citizens to support the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the largest humanitarian organization in the world, working to put hunger at the center of the international agenda and promoting policies, strategies and operations that directly benefit the poor and hungry.

With generous support, WFP provides outreach opportunities, educational activities, granting millions of dollars to WFP's relief programs and collaborating with various organizations and groups to build support for U.S. food assistance programs.

World Food Program USA (WFP USA) is a U.S.-based, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that focuses on building support in the United States for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and other hunger relief operations.

WFP USA unites organizations and individuals committed to solving world hunger. Our education, advocacy and fundraising efforts in the United States support WFP’s life-saving global food assistance and development programs.

WFP's five objectives include:
1.Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies
2.Prepare for emergencies
3.Restore and rebuild lives after emergencies
4.Reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition everywhere
5.Strengthen the capacity of countries to reduce hunger

With generous support from donors, World Food Program USA has helped channel millions of dollars to support WFP operations around the world. WFP is providing life saving food to hungry people in some the world's poorest places.

World Food Program USA is a US-based non-profit organization that focuses on building support in the United States for WFP and other hunger relief operations. WFP is a United Nations agency that carries out operations around the world to deliver food aid to those in need. WFP USA works in support of WFP, as well as other efforts to fight hunger and support food aid. We are an independent entity with our own staff and Board of Directors.

School Meals
The idea is simple; the impact is significant. Serving food at school not only helps alleviate hunger among the world’s poorest children, it also helps get them into school, providing them with an important key to a better future – an education.

Where school meals programs are offered, enrollment and attendance rates increase significantly, particularly for girls. Students also stay in school longer. Academic performance improves, as well; students with a full stomach concentrate better and comprehend material more quickly.

Thanks to WFP, more than 20 million children in over 60 of the world’s poorest countries are being fed every school day.

Focus on Women
Some 60 percent of the world’s chronically hungry people are women and girls. This is because women often have unequal access to resources, education and income, and because they participate less in decision-making.

When hunger and undernutrition affect women, they also affect their children. More than 19 million children are born annually with low birth weight, often the result of their mothers receiving inadequate nutrition before and during pregnancy.

WFP is committed to using its policies, programs and actions to promote women’s empowerment as a key to improving food security for all.

Food for Work
WFP’s food for work programs offer food as payment when people go to work—building roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, ports and other essential elements of their communities’ infrastructure. Meanwhile, food for training programs provide food for those who participate in projects that teach a skill, such as sewing or gardening, or offer education on nutrition and health issues.

Purchase for Progress
WFP supports initiatives that help empower local farmers in developing countries and address long-term hunger needs. The Purchase for Progress (P4P) program aims to give small-scale farmers access to reliable markets and the opportunity to sell their surplus crops to WFP at competitive prices. By purchasing crops from local farmers, the program helps them increase their household incomes – a critical component in solving hunger and poverty at the very core. Buying locally also helps WFP distribute food more quickly to those who need it most.

HIV/AIDS
In the developing world, food can make all the difference for HIV/AIDS patients. With food, their bodies can tolerate the drugs necessary to treat the illness. This allows them to get back on their feet, return to work and support their families. It also allows the children of HIV/AIDS patients to go back to school, since they no longer need to care for their parents at home.

Global Hunger
925 million will not get enough to eat this year – more than the populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Over 105 million hungry people in 75 countries received WFP food assistance in 2010.

20.4 million people received WFP food through Food for Work or Food for Training programs in 2009

84.1 million women and children received WFP food assistance in 2009

2 million refugees received WFP food assistance in 2009

14.1 million internally displaced people received WFP food assistance in 2009

WFP in Developing Countries
82 percent of food was purchased in the local markets of developing countries in 2009

67.1 percent of WFP’s assistance was invested in sub-Saharan African countries in 2009

Child Hunger
62.1 million children were fed by WFP in 2009

5.9 million undernourished children received special nutritional support in 2009

WFP School Meals Programs
20.7 million schoolchildren received school meals/take-home rations in 2009

46.7 percent of those schoolchildren were girls

5.2 million household food rations were issued to women in 2009

Focus on Women
60 percent of the world’s chronically hungry people are women and girls

2.8 million vulnerable women received additional nutritional support through maternal child health interventions

HIV/AIDS
15 of the 25 highest HIV/AIDS prevalence countries received WFP assistance in 2009

2.6 million people affected by HIV/AIDS received WFP food assistance in 2009

43 countries received assistance for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS prevention activities in 2009

It is because of supporters like you that WFP USA is able to provide the vital assistance necessary to WFP. And there are many, many ways you can help. To start, you can join the thousands of others who generously support our work, either through monthly or one-time gifts.

This year, WFP aims to provide food assistance to more than 90 million people in 73 developing countries, and your support is essential to ensuring we reach this goal.

Rick Leach serves as president and CEO of World Food Program USA (WFP USA). Rick established WFP USA in 1997 and led the organization until 2004.

From 2008-2010, Rick served as a senior advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) where he developed an initiative to halt the production and trade in counterfeit drugs. As part of this effort, he helped establish an international task force comprised of national drug regulatory agencies, the pharmaceutical industry, law enforcement authorities and other key stakeholders. Rick also established a program for WHO to ensure that essential health technologies are incorporated into the health systems of developing countries. From 2003-2005, he directed a global initiative to identify and build support for the public policies that would protect children from tobacco use. This effort culminated in an international conference where leaders from 30 countries adopted these policies to address tobacco use in their countries.

In 1993, Rick was appointed to run an initiative for the Clinton Administration to increase childhood immunization rates in the United States. Between 1993 and 1996 the rates increased from 50 to 80 percent. In 1996, this initiative was transformed into a permanent division of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From 1991 to 1993, Rick served as the foreign policy staff for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Hunger. Prior to his work with the Select Committee, he established and led a range of operations for U.N. agencies and NGOS, including the United Nations Children Fund, the Organization of American States, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Board

Randy Russell
Hon. Daniel Glickman
Kathryn E. Johnson
Khaliah Ali
Barbara Belmont
Samuel "Sandy" Berger
Hunter Biden
Frank Mitchell Corso
Dr. Marsha Dubrow
George Economy
Marshall Matz, Esq.
Hon. George McGovern
David Novak
Bonnie Raquet
Josette Sheeran
Carl Stern

Countries

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, Chad, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Malawi, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Armenia, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Colombia, Congo, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, Cote D'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Kenya, Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Philippines, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Yemen, Gambia, Peru, Togo

Contact

1819 L Street NW, Suite 900

WASHINGTON, DC 20036

Phone: (202) 530-1694

www.wfpusa.org

EIN: 13-3843435