Bob Dylan, PC: Wikipedia
In 2009, Bob Dylan released a Christmas album with a charitable commitment that extended beyond the holiday season. The singer-songwriter pledged all his US royalties from Christmas in the Heart to Feeding America, with the initial donation expected to provide more than 4 million meals to over 1.4 million people in need. The project also supported 2 international organisations: the World Food Programme (WFP), which provides food assistance around the world, and Crisis, a UK charity working with people experiencing homelessness. Released in the US on October 13, 2009, the album paired familiar Christmas songs with a fundraising effort spanning the United States, the United Kingdom and the developing world.
The announcement on Dylan’s website confirmed that all his US royalties from sales of the album would go to Feeding America.
It followed Together Through Life, released earlier in 2009, and was his first Christmas album, featuring traditional carols and popular holiday songs, including “Here Comes Santa Claus”, “Winter Wonderland”, “Little Drummer Boy” and “Must Be Santa”. Dylan committed future royalties from the album to the organisations in perpetuity. Christmas in the Heart was billed by Dylan’s official website as his 47th album.
Bob Dylan’s charity album and the wider issue of food insecurity
The initial contribution was expected to provide more than 4 million meals to over 1.4 million people during the 2009 holiday season. Its network included more than 200 member food banks supporting 63,000 agencies, which helped distribute food to people facing hunger across the country. The organisation reported serving more than 25 million Americans annually, including 9 million children and 3 million seniors. He said it was a tragedy that more than 35 million people, including 12 million children, often went to bed hungry and faced uncertainty about where their next meal would come from. WFP was confronting a substantial global hunger crisis in 2009. A UN briefing dated September 24, 2009 reported that WFP’s executive director, Josette Sheeran, had welcomed Dylan’s contribution. The briefing said the hunger crisis threatened 108 million people worldwide. WFP had also said it was aiming to feed 108 million people in 74 countries that year, according to a UN briefing on September 16, 2009. A 2015 Health Affairs article by Craig Gundersen and James P. Dylan’s project linked music sales with the work of 3 organisations addressing hunger and homelessness: Feeding America in the United States, WFP internationally and Crisis in the United Kingdom.
Vicki Escarra, Feeding America’s president and chief executive at the time, said the organisation had not anticipated that Dylan would donate all his royalties from the forthcoming album. Dylan also committed all future US royalties from the album to the organisation in perpetuity. At the time, Feeding America described itself as the largest domestic hunger-relief charity in the United States. Dylan explained the motivation behind his contribution by pointing to the scale of hunger in the United States. He expressed hope that the initiative would help bring greater food security to people in need. She also noted that the initiative could raise awareness of hunger in the United States and elsewhere. Crisis worked with people experiencing homelessness in the UK. Its Christmas programme offered hot meals, including a traditional Christmas dinner, alongside companionship and support. The causes supported by Christmas in the Heart reflect a broader public-health concern: reliable access to food. Food insecurity can affect nutrition, physical health and psychological wellbeing, making it an important issue for health professionals and organisations providing food assistance. Ziliak, titled Food Insecurity and Health Outcomes , reviewed recent research on food insecurity and health among children, working-age adults and older people. It discussed associations between food insecurity and health problems, including depression, anxiety and poor health, and considered the importance of identifying people who may struggle to obtain enough food. The paper did not measure the impact of Dylan’s album or its charitable donations.