December 25, 1930

During the Drought of 1930–1931, Arkansas Red Cross director Albert Evans visited thirty-seven sharecropper homes in St. Francis County, finding just six with rations. The Red Cross had expected plantation owners to see to the food and clothing needs of their tenants, but Evans learned that this was not the case and changed his mind toward relief efforts, realizing that food distribution must be instituted quickly. The Red Cross officially initiated its food program in January 1931, with thirty-five percent of the state already on relief. In three days, 165,518 signed up for assistance. Missing from food rations, however, were meat, milk, sugar, and fresh vegetables.