New York – On June 8 at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in New York City, WHY (World Hunger Year) will pay tribute to the 2009 WHY-Chapin Award honorees and honor the 2008 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award winners. These honorees are being recognized for their exemplary work and dedication on issues of hunger and poverty on a local, national and worldwide level.
Wyclef Jean, 2009’s ASCAP-Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award recipient, is a multiple Grammy-Award winning writer, musician, producer, humanitarian, and Haiti Goodwill Ambassador. Jean effortlessly crosses genres, generations and geographic boundaries with his music and charitable efforts. In 2005, he established Yéle Haiti to bring back hope to his native country, Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Yéle has changed the lives of tens of thousands of children and adults through programs in education, health, environment and community development while using the power of music, sports and media to increase their impact. Over the past two decades Jean has garnered countless top 10 albums and singles for both his collaborative and solo works. His seventh solo LP, “To Sir With Love” will be released this fall. Past honoree Harry Belafonte will present the ASCAP-Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award to Jean.
Sports Radio 66 WFAN, the world’s first 24-hour all-sports radio station, is the premier sports talk radio station in the business. WFAN is the flagship station for the New York Mets, the New York Giants, the New Jersey Devils and the New Jersey Nets. However, the strength of the station goes beyond the world of sports. WFAN is a force in affecting change with its charitable efforts. The annual WFAN Radiothons - which have benefited Tomorrow’s Children’s Fund, The CJ Foundation for SIDS, The Imus Ranch, and currently The Boomer Esiason Foundation, and Mike Francesa Champions of the Heart Foundation - are demonstrations of the power of radio, as is their annual Hungerthon to benefit WHY. WFAN promotes local fund-raising events and broadcasts a two hour public affairs program every Sunday morning.
Growing Power (Milwaukee, WI) is a national non-profit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by providing equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food. Growing Power is transforming how food is grown, produced, and delivered to underserved urban populations through hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance. Their year-round Farm-City Market Basket Program provides a weekly basket of fresh vegetables and fruit at a low cost and creates a market for small farmers to sell their food, while feeding communities in “food deserts” affordable healthy food. The organization’s pioneering work to design food distributions networks earned them a 2008 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award.
Honorary Dinner Chairs
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has been an active part of WHY and its work since the beginning. Along with Harry Chapin, he served on the Presidential Commission on World Hunger. For more than 25 years, he has served on WHY’s Board of Directors and Advisory Board. In 2000, WHY honored Leahy with its first Lifetime Achievement Award.
Marilyn Bergman is President and Chairman of the Board of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and the first woman to be elected to its Board of Directors. She brings to the leadership of ASCAP the unique experience of the creator, being herself an award-winning lyricist along with her husband, Alan Bergman.
For further information on The WHY-Chapin Awards Dinner, please call 212-629-8850 or email WHYEvents@whyhunger.org.
