Alan Shawn Feinstein Asks Mayors Help To End Hunger In America

By Eugene T. Lowe

On Friday at the plenary lunch of the 68th Winter Meeting, Rhode Island philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein called on the mayors to help end hunger in America. He told the mayors that he would “give out through my foundation, the Feinstein Foundation, a million dollars to help soup kitchens, food pantries, churches that have food closets throughout the country as a spur for fund-raising to raise more funds for the needy.” Information about the million dollars that will be given away can be found on the Web site, Feinstein Foundation.com

Mr. Feinstein will also award to ten cities with the greatest percentage of signers to a petition calling on Congress to end hunger in America $5,000 each to support local hunger programs. Twenty runner-up cities will each receive $1.000. To be eligible for participation, a city must collect petitions (signatures) of at least one percent (1%) of its population. Each city should send to Gene Lowe, staff of the Conference of Mayors their signed petitions by February 29, 2000.

Mr. Feinstein told the mayors during his remarks that 549,000 people have already signed the petition calling on the President and Congress to make a commitment to end hunger in America. He exhorted the mayors to join the petition drive. He said: “Where the 20 to 30 percent of the people in your city that cannot speak for themselves and ask you to speak for them, give them the opportunity to be heard. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if together we could bring an end to the greatest enemy of all mankind, hunger? Let it start in your city, and together maybe we can say that in our lifetime we ended hunger in America as an example for the rest of the world. What greater legacy could we leave?”