history of meals for millions, soy, and freedom from ... - SoyInfo Center

corporation than they had been in the past.” For the first 9
years, no board meetings occurred and “Florence Rose and
Ernest Chamberlain ran the Foundation substantially free
from institutionalized control.
Discusses the period from 1959-1961 and the influence
of Mr. Robert Thompson, who in 1959, acting as a
management consultant, offered “to make a complete
analysis of the structure, work, procedures, and finances of
the Foundation free of charge. His offer was accepted. His
very critical and partly inaccurate report had long-lasting
repercussions that wracked and nearly wrecked MFM
during the fall of 1961. By 1962 a “Special Committee of
the board agreed that “reforms would enhance MFM’s fundraising
capabilities.” One reform was closer control of
spending. Everything came to a head at a Special Meeting
of the Board of Directors on 28 Nov. 1961, in the Pine
Room at Clifton’s Cafeteria, “when Florence Rose, Ernest
Chamberlain, and Clifford Clinton, apparently on the
defensive,” threatened to resign if the directors implemented
the Special Committee’s recommendations. After things
simmered down, new by-laws were adopted on 15 April
1962; “a highly centralized structure of policy formation
and control was established” (p. 24-36).
Internal organization: Discusses the day to day working
of the downtown Los Angeles office. “Here, assisted by 17
administrative and clerical personnel, Miss Rose and Mr.
Chamberlain strive to meet the many faceted demands
which daily bombard their office.” “The functions of this
staff divide into four categories: famine relief and
prevention; education and programming; fundraising; and
administration.” However these categories “defy any clear
division of labor and partly because MFM suffers from a
marked shortage of personnel (p. 38). Creation of an
Auxiliary and receipt of profits General Mills derives from
its sale Formula B MPF. Attempt in 1962 to open an office
on the east coast of the United States; it was closed after
less than two years (p. 42). The center of activity would
continue to be “Los Angeles, where the manufacturer of
MPF is located and where half a floor of Clinton’s has been
provided without cost to the foundation and its staff.” For
the next 14 years “the Foundation strove to preserve and
extend its contacts with representatives of agencies in the
east by sending staff personnel on yearly cross-country
trips” (p. 42-43).
Discusses Mr. Fred Hafner of General Mills, the Food
Banks Department, Dr. Donald Ebright (director of the
Extension Services Department and an ordained minister; in
1961 about one-third of MFM’s income came from church
organizations); Mrs. Hazel Hopkins (who wrote over 6,000
letters in 1960), Mrs. Jean Burden (head of the Public
Relations Department, she wrote press releases, magazine
and newspaper articles, and gathered material for the
Foundation’s Newsletter). “MFM’s unquenchable thirst for
MEALS FOR MILLIONS, SOY, AND FREEDOM FROM HUNGER 84
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funds absorbs the attention of practically the entire staff” (p.
45-48).
Chapter 4. “Conflict and cooperation within the United
States” [among organizations in the private sector] begins:
“Meals for Millions, despite its status as an NGO, is first
and foremost an American organization. No other
characteristic means more because the vitality of the
Foundation’s relief and prevention program depends
directly upon the support it attracts from organizations and
individuals within the United States” (p. 50). More than
“180 American non-profit organizations have throughout
the years assisted MFM because they share its concern for
the welfare of undernourished people. In the commercial
realm, first Gentry and now General Mills have performed
an indispensable service for MFM” by manufacturing its
MPF. MFM had often abrasive relations with the National
Information Bureau, a key non-profit agency that acts as a
guardian of standards in the field of American
philanthropy.”
“In the summer of 1946, as Florence Rose, Ernest
Chamberlain, and Hazel Hopkins sat in the basement arcade
of Clifford’s Restaurant sandwiched between the parlors of
a tattoo artist and a fortune teller, and plotted the tactics they
would use to breathe life into their infant organization, they
must have realized the enormity of their responsibilities.”
For one of their highest priorities was to win MFM a share
of the money donated by the American people to charitable
organizations. For example, the previous year, the huge and
well-known American Red Cross had spent more than $4
million on “public information and educational relations”
plus an equal or greater amount for “membership
enrollment and fund raising.” Having only a portion of the
$40,000 pledged by Clifford Clinton, Edmond Clinton,
Ransom Callicott, and Clifton’s Restaurant for working
capital, the trio realized that MFM needed, yet could not
afford, extensive publicity to attract donations. But the
problem of finances and publicity, however compelling,
distressed Miss Rose and Mr. Chamberlain no more than the
plight of the people suffering from the after-effects of the
Second World War” (p. 52-54).
A long paragraph describes the extent of hunger
reported in Europe and India.
“Impelled by the practical need for money and the
humanitarian desire to aid the starving, MFM’s staff hit
upon the deceptively simple tactic of offering MPF free to
agencies and individuals engaged in relief activities. Their
plan, if successful, would permit MFM to speedily put MPF
into the battle against hunger without an expensive staff and
would give the Foundation the publicity it needed to attract
contributions from the American public. In effect, they were
gambling that overburdened and understaffed relief
agencies, though unfamiliar with the nutritional properties
of MPF or the program of MFM, would: (1) accept a
shipment of MPF, (2) use it properly, (3) recognize its