United States maritime industry leaders, agricultural producers and elected officials are expected to join together on August 15 to celebrate and highlight the importance of the nation’s PL480 food aid program, better known as Food for Peace.
The event will be held at the Port of Longview in Washington, where the M/V Liberty Glory will be loaded with a Food for Peace shipment headed for the Middle East. The Liberty Glory is manned in all licensed positions by American Maritime Officers.
Expected to speak at the event are Senator Maria Cantwell, Washington Grain Commission, Seafarers International Union, World Food Program USA and Liberty Maritime Corporation, who helped organize the event.
For 70 years, Food for Peace has been America’s flagship international food aid program, which has shipped American-produced food to those most in need around the world. But recent proposals in Congress have threatened to cut the successful program’s budget.
In response, more than 130 organizations, including American Maritime Officers, penned a letter to elected officials in Washington D.C. to reject any cuts to the food aid program.