WISHH/ASA, Congressional Hunger Center, the Philippines and Kansas City Honored
Food Aid Coalition Presents First Annual Awards for Global Work

Kansas City, Mo,--The Coalition for Food Aid presented its first annual awards on May 3 to honor four groups or governments for leadership in improving the health, living conditions and incomes of millions of people who live in poverty and suffer from hunger. Counterpart International President and Chief Executive Officer Lelei LeLaulu and Africare President Julius E. Coles presented the awards at the Little Theatre in Kansas City. The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Agency for International Development’s Export Food Aid Conference.

Winner of the political leadership award is the Congressional Hunger Center (CHC), with CHC Deputy Director Margaret Zeigler accepting the honor. The World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) and the American Soybean Association (ASA) jointly received the industry award that WISHH Director Jim Hershey and ASA director and soybean farmer Ron Gibson accepted. The former Agriculture Secretary of the Philippines Luis P. Lorenzo, Jr. accepted the international government award in honor of the development work of the Philippines. Kansas City May Kay Barnes accepted the U.S. government award going to the People of Kansas City, Missouri.

“We are pleased to honor the extraordinary contributions in the war against hunger and poverty,” LeLaulu said. “All the honorees have cooperated with private voluntary organizations to make a difference in a world where 842 million people do not have enough to eat.”

“The Food Aid Coalition members work in countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and we are pleased to salute these award recipients that have partnered with our efforts to respond to the world’s needs,” Coles said.

The Philippines has maintained its democratic institutions and its market-based economic system, as well as its historic ties with the United States. Former Agriculture Secretary Lorenzo was a leader in their use of food aid as an integral part of the Philippines’ transition to a capitalist economy.
Kansas City has hosted the Export Food Aid Conference for seven years. It is also home to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency’s Commodity Operations that purchases thousands of tons of U.S. agricultural commodities each year that are then distributed overseas by private voluntary organizations and others.

The CHC is a unique, nonprofit, anti-hunger leadership development organization located in Washington, D.C. CHC works with policymakers to support domestic and international food security programs and to raise awareness about domestic and international hunger. Tony Hall, the current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agencies in Rome founded CHC in 1993 while he was a member of the U.S. Congress. Reps. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and James P. McGovern (D-MA) currently co-chair the CHC.

State soybean grower organizations launched the WISHH Program in 2000. WISHH is headquartered at the American Soybean Association in St. Louis, and it finds new opportunities for U.S. soy in programs that help feed the hungry as well as stimulate economies for long-term sustainable development. WISHH has worked with multiple private voluntary organizations that are using U.S. high-protein soy to improve diets as well as encourage growth of food industries in developing countries that can use U.S. soy.

The Coalition for Food Aid is comprised of 16 US private voluntary organizations and cooperatives (jointly referred to as "PVOs") that conduct programs overseas to improve the health, living conditions and incomes of millions of people who live in poverty and suffer from hunger. U.S. food aid donations are a vital component of international assistance efforts, particularly when linked with activities that improve food security. The Coalition seeks ways to improve the use of food aid, provides information on food aid needs and uses to policymakers and the American public, and raises awareness about the relationship of food aid to US agricultural, trade and foreign policies.

For more information about the Coalition for Food Aid, contact Ellen Levinson at 202-879-0835

For more information about CHC, go to http://www.hungercenter.org/ or contact Margaret M. Zeigler at 202-547-7022 Ext 15

For more information about WISHH, go to http://www.wishh.org/ or contact Karen Edwards at 703-281-7600