#silent guest program

During the holidays we can’t ignore the starvation taking place overseas in war-torn Yemen. The UN World Food Program (WFP) says 20 million Yemenis are in desperate need of food aid.

We can do something about it like we did after World War II when Americans fed “silent guests” during the holidays.

The “silent guest” plan ran from Thanksgiving through Christmas of 1947-48 to collect donations for…

My History News Network Thanksgiving Oped

Imagine a mystery guest coming to your Thanksgiving dinner, one you have never met.  Imagine this “silent guest” being a starving person from a war-torn or impoverished country. That is what students at Mount St. Joseph University in Ohio want you to think about this Thanksgiving. Students of the Mount’s Impact Club (Monica Brucher, Andi Saylor, Courtney Reed and Brittany Hein) are urging…

My Cincinnati Enquirer Oped: Students revive ‘silent guest’ tradition

Imagine a mystery guest coming to your Thanksgiving dinner, one you have never met. After World War II, that is what happened in thousands of American households. But it was an imaginary, or “silent,” guest: one of the world’s hungry. The “silent guest” campaign of 1947-48 asked Americans to open up their hearts and share their Thanksgiving bounty. Gov. Robert Bradford of Massachusetts, a…

Thanksgiving and the silent guest

This Thanksgiving season take a moment and let your mind wander back to the autumn of 1947. That’s when the Greatest Generation again rose to meet a challenge and help those in need. They started the tradition of setting aside a plate at the Thanksgiving table for a ‘silent guest,” one of the world’s hungry. See my full commentary at The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Invite a ‘silent guest’ this Thanksgiving and help people in need

Former Massachusetts Gov. Robert Bradford was a messenger of hope. It was the Thanksgiving season of 1947 and Bradford, a descendant of the Pilgrims, made a special radio address to the nation. The governor asked Americans to invite a silent guest into their homes for their Thanksgiving meals. This imaginary “silent guest” would be one of the hungry people in Europe. See my full commentary at The…

My History News Network Thanksgiving Column

This Thanksgiving season take a moment and let your mind wander back to the autumn of 1947. That’s when the Greatest Generation again rose to meet a challenge and help those in need. They started the tradition of setting aside a plate at the Thanksgiving table for a “silent guest,” one of the world’s hungry. See my full commentary at The History News Network

Today, the public is a powerful force in raising money and awareness about the hunger facing Syria’s war victims

Read the letter at the New York Times.

Today, I have a letter in the New York Times about ways we can help the starving Syrian war refugees. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to cut rations for these war victims because funding is so low. We can do something about it.

Read the full article at Examiner.