Where Most Needed

Just a few days after the New York Times told us that Katrina did not in any way affect giving to other causes comes this little noted press release from the World Food Program announcing that the daily food ration in Darfur is being cut to 1,050 calories a day due to lack of funding. This will help stretch stocks through the pre-harvest period up to September when famine is at its worst. 

WFP executive director James Morris notes that last year official support reached a new peak, but this year the organization has received only a third of the $746 million it needs to continue food assistance. Is it possible that Darfur has been overshadowed by other disasters closer to home in the US? 

Let's face it: Darfur has been forgotten.  Operation USA, whose founder Richard Walden regularly criticizes the American Red Cross in places like the New York Times and Huffington Post, has a Darfur page that still talks about its activities in April, 2005 (sending a container of educational supplies).   A search on "Darfur" in the Huffington blog turns up two recent stories about a rally last week (April 28) attended by George Clooney, then jumps back to February when Darfur was used as the punch line of a stunt in some feud between celebrity journalists Nicholas Kristoff and Bill O'Reilly.

To be fair, there was some coverage of the current food situation by the New York Times and others, but much of that could be due to the celebrity attention of Mr. Clooney, Angelina Jolie, and an episode of the US television series "ER".

World Food Program is an agency of the United Nations and raises private contributions in the US through Friends of WFP (EIN 13-3843435 Form 990). The Friends group raised a very modest $5.8 million in 2004, the most recent report available.  It appears to have a staff of two, executive director Richard Leach with a salary of $120,000 and deputy director Jennifer Haefeli at $65,000.  Accounting services appear to be outsourced.