The impact of losing USAID will be felt for a long time.

Michael Bowers, son of Myrt Bowers, and someone who has worked on humanitarian and aid missions for the past 26 years, spoke at Wednesday, Aug. 13’s Voices United of Rural Linn County meeting.

“It’s important that this group and others do what they can to help other people locally,” Bowers said. “What you guys are doing here, collecting items for those in need, is what we do globally.”

Bowers said that with the shuttering of the USAID program by the administration earlier this year, he can not say how many people will be impacted internationally due to the far reaches of the organization.

United States foreign assistance played key roles in the global power and diplomacy with other countries.

After World War II, the Food for Peace program was started to help rebuild some war torn countries and provide needed aid at the time. That program was officially instated as USAID during President Kennedy’s service, noting the United States could do more with soft aid than they could with military aid in some areas.

Bowers first started interacting with USAID when he was stationed in Syria during the uprising against Bahar al Assad in 2011. Bowers was stationed at Aleppo, Syria, at the time.

“I listened with my team to the items that people needed after the uprising, and one of the key items was the ingredients it would take to make bread,” Bowers said. “We were able to get those resources into Syria through the Turkey border.”

USAID was one of the organizations defunded earlier this year, and with the recent recissions act, all funding to the organization disappeared as well.

“It was a 64 year old agency that employed 5,000 people,” Bowers said.

That program was also only 0.3 percent of the United States annual budget.

Bowers said with the closure of USAID, at least 25 million contracts or grants had ended. He also noted the impact to Iowa farmers may not be fully realized yet, as some of their contracts may have been to provide crops for other countries.

“What really worries me is the future,” Bowers said. “There are still organizations willing to provide food aid to these countries, but without an investment, it can’t occur at the levels it was done previously.”

Grants being rescinded also have a direct impact on essential research being done for crops to be grown in other countries.

His other concern is that moving forward as an organization who provides aid, there are now going to be other agencies who step in to provide help that may not be aligned with his group’s interests.

“We’re also going to see the root causes of hunger and food insecurity grow,” Bowers said.

Bowers said USAID was able to survive the first term by speaking Trump’s language.

“It’s truly amazing how much has been undone in the six months of Trump’s second term in office,” Bowers said.

Some of the potential impact of USAID closure is tied up in court cases at the moment.