Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

. H. Neufeld, M. B. Fast, C. H. Warkentin and others. A very trying period for the petitioners from the land of famine was the time between the sending of these applications and the arrival of the first food packages, which in most of the earlier cases took between two and three months. Hope and despair as to whether there would be any returns from these efforts often played hide and seek in the minds of the famine stricken people. Most of these requests had been sent in March and April, but it was not until the end of May that the first returns were received. After the middle of June and during July and August, the precious “Pacilkas” came in larger num- bers. To deliver these to the proper person now became a far greater problem than the finding of the friend in America because of demoralized traffic conditions in Rus- sia. Even dishonesty on the part of recipients had to be carefully guarded against. But still greater than the difficulty of delivering the food was the joy of receiving such rare articles as white FOOD AND CLOTHING REMITTANCES 283 flour, sugar, lard, or bacon, etc. It was almost too good to be true. The recipient of such a package of food was considered a specially favored person; and the news of the arrival of the first packages spread through the vil- lages in an incredibly short time. By means of an orig- inally designed “wireless,” in the form of an oral relay race it went from neighbor to neighbor and village to village. As soon as the packages began to arrive in larger numbers, provisions were made to secure and distribute them more economically and efficiently. Instead of each one traveling a long distance to the large city where the A.R.A. made delivery, special escorts were engaged, who received an official authorization from the community and also one from the individual who had received notice that there was a ‘“‘Pacilka” for him. Eventually the packages were brought in carload lots to the Mennonite centers, from where they were then distributed to the individuals. It was sometimes quite difficult to get the “Pacilka” to the right person because of the many similar and like names, and the incomplete addresses. Human weaknesses were sometimes evident among the recipients of such an excellent quantity of food. Hun- ger and privations had so undermined the self-control that occasionally too much rich food was eaten after a long period of underfeeding, as was illustrated in the village of K—. A loving father one evening brought home one of these coveted packages to his family with the remark, ‘‘Children, we have starved long enough. Now we have supplies, and now let us eat!” They did eat and enjoy, but the next morning the father was dead. The rich food had been more than his famished constitu- tion could endure. It has been established to the general satisfaction of most relief workers, that the public kitchen feeding plan 284 FEEDING THE HUNGRY