OCTOBER 2002

 

Toward Our Global Satellite Event…
Communities Mobilize around the World

On 26 October 2002, to commemorate our 25th anniversary, The Hunger Project will host a live, global satellite event that will connect over 20,000 people around the world. This historic event will be an expression of respect, commitment, hard work and financial investment, to strengthen and galvanize our entire global movement to end chronic, persistent hunger.

Last month’s newsletter shared highlights of events being organized at the front lines of ending hunger in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. This month’s newsletter will focus on events in the developed world, where investors and activists have seized the opportunity of the 25th anniversary to mobilize their own communities to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event.

Saturday, 26 October 2002
Five continents
Twenty-three countries
Sixty sites
Twenty thousand people
All together at one time
www.thp.org/25th

 

Hamburg, Germany At the Hamburg Airport Hotel, Germany’s event will kick off with a presentation on the work of The Hunger Project. To underscore our global interconnectedness, the percussion group Weltenklang-Projekt ("Sounds of the World Ensemble") will play African, Indian, Afro-American, Brazilian and European music, featuring Ashraf Sharif Khan on the sitar, and Berndt Petroschka on the tablas.

 

London, U.K. At the prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts in London, The Hunger Project-UK will celebrate our 25th anniversary. On 26 October, 200 people will fill the Princess Anne Theatre to demonstrate their global citizenship, and expand and deepen the work of The Hunger Project. The event will be a potent vehicle to raise the level of activism and investment in the U.K. for the work of ending hunger.

 

Driebergen, The Netherlands Demonstrating The Hunger Project’s principle of self-reliance, The Hunger Project-Netherlands has enlisted a corporate sponsor to defray some of the costs of the anniversary event. Musicians will play djembeés — African drums — and perform Indian mantras for the world’s well-being. According to the team, the event will be held the Dutch way, "simple and straight — pioneering and transforming, while staying connected and including everyone!"

 

Auckland, New Zealand Because The Hunger Project is a global movement, the live broadcast is not at the most opportune time for some countries. In Hunger Project fashion, however, inconvenient times are not stopping any country from participating. A committed group of individuals in New Zealand will gather for a 4 a.m. broadcast at the home of investor-activist Robert Banks. A follow-up event is planned for mid-November, to share the video of the events with a larger group of people.

 

Houston, Texas Doug Plette and Dana St. John are hosting an event at their home north of Houston, Texas, where they expect up to 50 guests. According to Doug, "I particularly want to invite all the ‘old-timers’ who used to participate. Having returned as a global investor a few years ago, I am proud to see what has happened in my Hunger Project."

 

Saudi Arabia In Saudi Arabia, where there has never been formal Hunger Project activity, Felicity McRobb, an investor, activist and volunteer animator trainer in Bangladesh, will host a high tea, with 100 people participating in the celebration.

 

Melbourne, Australia The new Melbourne Museum is the site of one of Australia’s anniversary events. The Forest Gallery, a living interpretation of Victoria’s temperate forests and a first for museums worldwide, will provide the broadcast’s backdrop. In addition to the 400–500 investors and activists, diplomats and government officials will participate in the event.

 

Santa Monica, California Members of the Santa Monica Zen Center, who invest monthly in The Hunger Project as a group, will host an event. As Bill Yoshin Jordan, head of the Zen Center, remarked, "Actively investing in The Hunger Project is a perfect structure for fulfilling our vows, as it allows us to make a real difference in the world."

 

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Jan Solomon, an accomplished opera singer and Hunger Project investor-activist, has arranged for the south Florida event to be held at the Leiser Opera Center in Fort Lauderdale. More than 150 people will gather to galvanize investment in The Hunger Project’s work. The event has already generated two US$5,000 corporate sponsors.

 

Vancouver, Canada The anniversary event in Vancouver — site of Canada’s first Hunger Project mobilization — will provide the opportunity to bring together many long-time activists at the University of British Columbia’s high-tech telestudios. For the event, an artist from the community has designed stunning table centerpieces to express global interconnectedness.

 

Listen to the Call with Joan Holmes

On 5 September, more than 250 activists around the world participated on a call with Joan Holmes to kick off the global campaign for the 25th anniversary events. On the call, Joan celebrated our diversity and common humanity:

"There will be more than 20,000 of us together on October 26th. We will distinguish and celebrate the diversity among us — but always make clear that this diversity is a beautiful, multifaceted expression of the unity and oneness that we all are."

Joan also expressed the wonderful opportunity that 26 October will be to express our global citizenry:

"One of the highlights of this occasion is that in one unit of time, thousands of people will be given the opportunity to invest their money in The Hunger Project. To invest their money in the resolution of one of humanity’s oldest and deadliest conditions. To invest their money to create a new future for humanity."

To listen to or read a transcript of the entire call, please visit our Web site at www.thp.org/25th.

Here’s How to Participate!

There will be more than 60 events held in strategic venues in all 23 Hunger Project countries around the world. In the United States, there will be more than 37 local events — ranging from a 600-person gala breakfast on Wall Street to small middle-of-the-night gatherings in Hawaii. To find out about an event near you — or to learn about hosting your own event — visit our Web site at www.thp.org/25th, or call the Global Office at (212) 251-9100.

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