USGLC Thanksgiving

Water is Life

Coca-Cola + USAID

Africa

Did you know that many women in Africa spend more than a quarter of their time collecting water? Families can walk more than five miles just to get to the nearest water source.

Coca-Cola’s Replenish Africa Initiative aims to help provide improved access to clean, safe water to six million people by 2020. Together with more than 140 partners, including USAID, two million have already been reached. Water programs make a dramatic difference in communities, saving the lives of millions of Africans each year by preventing waterborne illnesses.

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

Business is Buzzing

USAID

Haiti

Beeswax is shedding light on opportunity for Haitian women. This sweet-smelling, renewable resource is providing new ways for women to make candles and other crafts for sale.

Haiti has faced some major natural disasters over the past decade, but our neighbors have proven resilient and determined to rebuild and grow. Through USAID’s Farmer to Farmer program, beekeepers in Haiti are reinvigorating a successful honey and beeswax industry through close partnerships with American agricultural experts.

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

Seeds of Hope

OPIC

Ukraine

Sunflowers aren’t just a pretty centerpiece. Ukrainian farmers produced more than 11 million tons of sunflower seeds for cooking products last year, thanks to help from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

American crop management programs have changed the lives of thousands of southeastern Ukraine’s farmers, raising sunflower seed production from 7 to 11 million tons in just 4 years. Here's to a sunnier future!

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

Business is Buzzing

USAID

Haiti

Beeswax is shedding light on opportunity for Haitian women. This sweet-smelling, renewable resource is providing new ways for women to make candles and other crafts for sale.

Haiti has faced some major natural disasters over the past decade, but our neighbors have proven resilient and determined to rebuild and grow. Through USAID’s Farmer to Farmer program, beekeepers in Haiti are reinvigorating a successful honey and beeswax industry through close partnerships with American agricultural experts.

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

A Slice of the Pie

Move over, turkey: this tasty American tradition is the real star of the Thanksgiving table. Pumpkin pie brings us together at the end of the meal, but there’s another kind of slice that unites us.

Our nation spends just a 1% slice of our federal budget on disaster relief, global health, and education for women and girls. It even supports our brave diplomats and Peace Corps volunteers, and funds programs that open markets for American goods. All this, and more— for just 1%!

And it’s working: America has helped cut extreme poverty across the world in half in just over two decades.

A Slice of the Pie

Move over, turkey: this tasty American tradition is the real star of the Thanksgiving table. Pumpkin pie brings us together at the end of the meal, but there’s another kind of slice that unites us.

Our nation spends just a 1% slice of our federal budget on disaster relief, global health, and education for women and girls. It even supports our brave diplomats and Peace Corps volunteers, and funds programs that open markets for American goods. All this, and more— for just 1%!

And it’s working: America has helped cut extreme poverty across the world in half in just over two decades.

Churning Success

Land O'Lakes

Rwanda

Fact: Butter makes everything better. In Rwanda, Land O’Lakes and USAID are helping dairy farmers – and their butter – go even further.

Through a $15 million program that trains farmers in dairy processing and business skills, Land O’Lakes is improving food safety and nutrition for families. Local farmer Milton Ngirente, for example, has grown his business and now provides dairy products to the national airline of Rwanda!

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

Bread on the Table

World Vision + USAID

Lebanon and Jordan

Bread or books? For millions of families who’ve fled war and conflict, life in refugee camps means daily choices between school or doing odd jobs just to buy bread.

Thanks to U.S. international affairs programs and World Vision, families don’t have to make such choices. Since the start of the Syrian refugee crisis, World Vision has helped more than two million people with food, clean water, healthcare, and more.

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

A Tradition That Unites Us

As we gather with friends and family around the table, it’s a time to share what we’re thankful for while celebrating the American traditions that unite us.

We can also celebrate the incredible impact that our nation is making around the world. From Liberia to Lebanon, America’s international affairs programs are successfully transforming communities.

Each item on the table represents a story: a new way to discover how America is helping to make the world a better, safer place.

Kernels of Change

Peace Corps + Feed the Future

Senegal

Can one small plot of land and a few kernels of corn change an entire community? Absolutely—and here’s how.

Senegalese farmer Dembo Tigana produced four times as much corn after training by U.S. Peace Corps volunteers. Through a joint effort between Peace Corps Senegal and USAID’s Feed the Future program, farmers like Tigana are provided the first seeds and the training to succeed. Each farmer also commits to demonstrating the improved techniques they’ve learned to train their neighbors, creating real change across entire communities. Now that’s a-maize-ing!

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

Nutrition is Sweet

Save the Children + USAID

Nepal

The sweet potato is one of the most nutritious foods on Earth. Did you know that the first 1,000 days of a child’s life are the most important for nutritional health?

With support from America’s international affairs programs, Save the Children works to stop malnutrition and provide children with a healthy start to life. In Nepal, a USAID-funded program has reached more than 300,000 households both before and after the 2015 earthquake. Now that's sweet!

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

Growing Grapes, Growing Economies

Millennium Challenge Corporation

Moldova

Could you imagine if one in every four people you knew were involved in making wine? In Moldova, the wine industry accounts for 20% of GDP and employs 27% of the population!

The Millennium Challenge Corporation’s program in Moldova is designed to help farmers living in poverty seize greater opportunities. Through agricultural and irrigation improvements, along with investment and trade partnerships, MCC is helping transform communities—one grape at a time.

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

Wiping Out Poverty

Global Communities

India

Whether you use a paper or cloth napkin, it’s a small but vital part of the dinner table. In India, about 1.5 million people, mainly women, earn the equivalent of $2 a day by collecting waste items like paper, textiles, or plastic to use or sell.

But through a recycling program, that's been changing. Now, women like Sarasa Satish are earning a better living—helping their families and the environment.

Global Communities, with support from USAID and U.S. foundations, has helped thousands of people in India to improve their livelihoods and living conditions through programs like these.

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

Thirsty for Change

Procter & Gamble + U.S. Agencies

What if something as simple as a glass of safe drinking water was impossible to find? That’s the reality for kids all over the world who get sick from drinking contaminated water. But that's changing.

P&G scientists invented water purifying packets that transform a dirty glass of water into one that is clean and drinkable in just 30 minutes (check out the video!). P&G's Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program – in collaboration with more than 150 organizations, including USAID, the CDC, and PEPFAR – has brought more than 9 billion liters of clean drinking water to children and families around the world, often in the wake of natural disasters.

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

A Fruitful Export

Thanksgiving dinner isn’t complete without cranberry sauce — and the U.S. is the largest producer of cranberries in the world!

This little ambassador is one of only three fruits native to North America, and is also a juicy example of how our exports support jobs here at home. U.S. trade and aid work hand-in-hand to develop new markets for our goods around the world.

The U.S. exports about $21 million in cranberries every year, accounting for more than 11,000 American jobs. Not bad for a berry!

Peas and Peace

USAID’s Food for Peace

Yemen

Why do we encourage kids to eat their vegetables? Peas provide us with lots of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals in a little package! That’s why they’re often found in the emergency food kits that our nation provides to people in need around the world.

Dried peas—along with oil and flour—have the power to save lives in places like Yemen, where 42% of its citizens are considered food-insecure. Food For Peace has also partnered with Mercy Corps, Global Communities, and Save the Children to lift up more than 378,000 people across Yemen.

Find out more about U.S. international affairs programs

Here's one time it’s ok to play with your food! Discover the stories of how our nation’s international affairs programs are building a better, safer world.

The Road to Recovery

USAID

Indonesia

It Starts With Power

NRECA International + USAID

Liberia

Water is Life

Coca-Cola + USAID

Africa

Business is Buzzing

USAID

Haiti

Seeds of Hope

OPIC

Ukraine

Business is Buzzing

USAID

Haiti

A Slice of the Pie

A Slice of the Pie

Churning Success

Land O'Lakes

Rwanda

Bread on the Table

World Vision + USAID

Lebanon and Jordan

A Tradition That Unites Us

Kernels of Change

Peace Corps + Feed the Future

Senegal

Nutrition is Sweet

Save the Children + USAID

Nepal

Growing Grapes, Growing Economies

Millennium Challenge Corporation

Moldova

Wiping Out Poverty

Global Communities

India

Thirsty for Change

Procter & Gamble + U.S. Agencies

A Fruitful Export

Peas and Peace

USAID’s Food for Peace

Yemen