The Loewen family, like many others, lacked adequate food during the famine of 1922.  Accounts of that famine depict a tragedy of epic proportions, as tens of millions starved to death. Human corpses littered the streets and roadways; the young and old being the most vulnerable. The United States launched massive aid relief for Russia (at Russia’s request) that is still described as one of the largest relief initiatives ever undertaken by the U.S. government. It was in response to this dire need that MCC was born, in the United States. The Mennonites in North America resolved to assist their brothers and sisters in Russia and so formed the Mennonite Central Committee (1920) for sending relief assistance to the Mennonites in Russia.

     The village of Pretoria was among the many villages that received food. A kitchen was opened and a family from the village was chosen to cook the noon meals. Children were chosen who could go to have this one meal per day. Tina remembers going to this kitchen and she remembers the white buns, the milk, and the noodle soup. There was one kind of porridge that no one liked, even though they were hungry. Even though many received life-saving meals, many people died of starvation. My father (Martin Loewen) is one who maintained that without the MCC food, he would have starved to death.

     Anyone under the age of 15 could receive a meal. They were sometimes allowed to trade with people who had no food for their children at home. These people would take their place so that they could experience what others were going through. This lasted until spring when they were able to trap gophers again, for eating. The gophers tasted incredibly good, according to Henry Loewen.