May 28, 2021
By Opportunity International
In May 1971, thousands of people across the United States gathered in their communities for walks organized and coordinated by the American Freedom From Hunger Foundation—an organization that would go on to aid the United Nations Freedom From Hunger Campaign (NYT). Some people chose to run long distances, and others walked for hours behind them. The energy resembled the exhausted joy we now associate with modern charity walks.
When the event took place in the early 1970s, nearly 35% of those living in developing countries were undernourished (Our World in Data), and the plight of the world's hungriest was just beginning to make national news.