Wallace's Farmer, IA
09-25-07
Hunger Summit to Unite Iowans in Action Against Hunger
Rod Swoboda rswoboda@farmprogress.com
Organizers of the annual World Food Prize ceremony and celebration in Des
Moines are adding a new – and uniquely Iowa – event to the calendar this year to
focus on the state's contribution to the fight against hunger.
With Iowa's three former governors – Robert Ray, Terry Branstad and Tom
Vilsack – serving as honorary co-chairs, and a partnership of groups including
Iowa State University Extension, the Iowa Hunger Summit will unite Iowans
from around the state and from a variety of backgrounds on October 16.
An entire day of events is planned. "The Iowa Hunger Summit will celebrate
Iowa's many efforts and activities to counteract hunger; enhance public attention
to both the cause of and solution to hunger; and encourage increased action and
partnership among Iowans to continue fighting hunger," says Ambassador
Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation.
How Iowa helps fight world hunger
The high point of the event will be when Hunger Summit organizers announce
the total amount in dollars that Iowa, as a state, has contributed over the past
year to the cause of fighting hunger – whether here at home or abroad. The
announcement will take place at a "hunger luncheon" at noon on Oct. 16,
featuring a simple meal and a keynote address by David Beckmann, president of
the anti-hunger advocacy center Bread for the World and of the national Alliance
to End Hunger.
In advance of that announcement, organizers are contacting charitable groups,
community associations, civic leaders, religious communities, businesses,
schools and private citizens across Iowa to gather information on the variety of
anti-hunger projects Iowans lead or participate in. Iowans also can go to
www.iowahungersummit.org to share stories and submit information on their
activities and involvement in fighting hunger.
"I urge Iowans to let the Hunger Summit organizers know what our communities
are doing to ensure adequate food and nutrition for those who often go without,"
said Governor Ray. "Iowa's legacy of national and international humanitarianism
is one of which we should be proud."
October 16 is World Food Day
Other events focusing on issues related to hunger will take place around the
"hunger luncheon." The morning program will begin with a panel of UN
ambassadors discussing food security globally. Iowa OneVote08 will host a
bipartisan forum on issues, policy, and actions related to hunger and poverty. In
the afternoon, the United Nations Foundation is sponsoring an address by former
Rep. Jim Leach. A complete schedule is available with ongoing updates at
www.iowahungersummit.org.
Oct. 16 is celebrated globally as United Nations World Food Day and in Iowa as
Dr. Norman E. Borlaug/World Food Prize Day, in honor of the native Iowan and
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate whose agricultural advancements and dedicated
humanitarianism ushered in the "Green Revolution" in Asia, Latin America, and
the Middle East and saved more than a billion lives.
Dr. Borlaug founded the $250,000 World Food Prize, headquartered in Des
Moines, in 1986 to honor outstanding achievements that have improved the
quality, quantity, and availability of food in the world. In July, Dr. Borlaug received
the Congressional Gold Medal, America's highest civilian honor, in a ceremony
attended by President George Bush, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Sen. Harry Reid.
"The World Food Prize honors Dr. Borlaug's lifesaving accomplishments and
seeks to extend his legacy into the next generation by holding the most
significant observance of World Food Day anywhere around the globe--right here
in his home state," says Quinn. "We are proud to be working with such great
partners in making the Iowa Hunger Summit a great success and another step
toward that goal."
Facts about world hunger - Iowa too
* Studies indicate that approximately half (49.2%) of all American children will
have received food stamps or food assistance by the time they reach 20. In
addition, 51% of adults will participate in a national food assistance program at
some time during their working life (between the ages of 20 and 65).
* Around 421,350 Iowans experience "low food security" – the occasional or
recurrent lack of adequate safe, nutritious food, or the limited or uncertain ability
to access that food in acceptable ways.
* The overall percentage of food insecure households in Iowa has risen from 8%
in 1996-1998 to 10.9% in 2003-2005. Also, 46% of Iowa single-mother
households are food insecure; 40.6% of all Iowa households with children are
food insecure; and 14.9% of elderly households are food insecure.
(From the 2007 Hunger in Iowa report by Susan Roberts and Erin Feld, in
conjunction with the Drake University Agricultural Law Center)
* There are 854 million people in the world today who are malnourished – more
than the combined population of the United States, Canada and the European
Union. Around 153 million of these are children under the age of five.
* Hunger and poverty claim 25,000 lives every day; 16,000 of these are the
deaths of children. The number of chronically hungry people worldwide is
growing by an average of four million per year at current trends.
(From the UN Food & Agriculture Organization's State of Food Insecurity in the
World, 2006/2007)