July 2018
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For those organizations, initiatives, and coalitions who are interested in participating in the 2018 Iowa Hunger Summit, please also consider applying for an exhibit table. Applications for an exhibit table are DUE TODAY, August 1. For more information, check out our website at www.IowaHungerSummit.org/ |
REMEMBERING GOVERNOR RAY |
Former Iowa Governor Robert D. Ray passed away on July 8 at 89. One of Iowa's greatest humanitarians, Governor Ray had a special relationship with the World Food Prize serving as one of the honorary Co-Chairs of the Iowa Hunger Summit. World Food Prize President, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, who served on Ray's staff delivered a Eulogy at the memorial service for the Governor. It is printed below to remind Hunger Directory members of Governor Ray's extraordinary leadership in alleviating human suffering, especially of those starving and dying. |
Eulogy for Governor Robert D. Ray First Christian Church |
One of the first refugees Governor Ray rescued and resettled in Iowa was a young man who was trapped in one of the most treacherous and threatening environments on earth - Washington D.C. That person he rescued was me. He brought me and my wife Le Son and our children home to Iowa where we became part of Governor Ray's extended family. For 4 years, I worked closely with the Governor on many of his humanitarian endeavors. A few weeks ago, I was with Governor and Mrs. Ray recalling many of these experiences - and a flood of memories came back about when we were together, including: -- In the winter of 1975, at the celebration for the Tai Dam refugees from Laos, whom he had rescued and resettled together in Iowa in order to preserve their culture, language and kinship. The Tai Dam had written to every Governor in America, but Robert Ray was the only Governor to answer their plea. He convinced President Ford to permit all of the Tai Dam to come to Iowa. They have been here ever since. -- Or, on a cold January night in 1979, while he and I watched the video of a boat filled with Vietnamese "boat people" refugees, who had escaped from Communist oppression only to be pushed back out to sea by local officials fearful of being inundated because no country in the world, including the United States, was accepting any more refugees from Indochina. We watched in horror as their boat broke up in the waves, with the refugees drowning before our eyes. This so impacted Governor Ray that he wrote late that very night to the President, saying that Iowa would double the number of refugees it had resettled if only the President would reopen America's doors. His letter and lobbying in Washington worked! America's doors were reopened... Read the rest of Governor Ray's Eulogy Here |
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REGISTRATION |
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Check out the Breakout Sessions at this year's Summit!
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
2018 Kiwanis District Convention Roger Thurow and Dr. Wil Bleachman Saturday, August 11Airport Holiday Inn, Des Moines, IA |