Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

societies of the Mennonite Church deserve special mention for the large amount and the good quality of the wearing apparel that they contributed. So much for the American angle of the food and clothing remittance operation. It will doubtless be of interest to the donors to become acquainted with FOOD AND CLOTHING REMITTANCES 281 THE BENEFICIARIES OF THE Foop AND CLOTHING REMITTANCES We shall now try to give a glimpse of the people from whom the requests came, and to whom the food and clothing were delivered. A multitude of people with starvation staring them in the face, having used every imaginable means of secur- ing food and raiment with but slight success, received the unexpected good news, that there was within their reach the means of obtaining food from the land of plenty beyond the seas. The rejoicing that spread at the an- nouncement of the food and clothing remittance plan can hardly be imagined. At no other time in the history of the Mennonite people in Russia, had there been so much talk of their friends and relatives in America. Those who had been forgotten and perhaps in some cases slighted, in the days of prosperity were now hailed as saviors in the time of need. Mingled with the rejoicings over the op- portunity, expressions like the following were often heard: “Tf I only knew where my cousin (or in some cases brother or sister, uncle or aunt) lived in America. I know that they would help us.” Many years ago these friends had moved to America and communications were broken in course of time. Now the sages of the villages as well as old records were consulted most diligently in order to learn the whereabouts of some one who might be appealed to for help. For the sake of convenience, the A.R.A. had provided a card which presented the desire of the sender in both the Russian and the English lan- guage, and also provided space to fill in names and ad- dresses. These cards after having been filled out, were forwarded by special courier to the border of Russia, from where they were mailed in the usual way to their destination, provided the addresses were complete. But as was often the case, addresses contained only the name 282 FEEDING THE HUNGRY of the person and the state in which he was supposed to live, and frequently only the name of the person and the word “America.” What should be done with these? To send them to the dead letter office, would never do; for they repre- sented a heart-cry from some one in the clutches of the famine, or perhaps the plea.of a parent for the life of his children. They could not be lightly dismissed, simply because of their inaccuracy and incompleteness. They were forwarded to the various Mennonite centers in America, where every effort was made to bring the plea for help to the proper person. No doubt some of these miscarried, but nevertheless very much was accomplished through the efforts of such men as J. G. Evert, J. F. Harms, H