Whiteman Lecture
Hunger is ‘world’s greatest solvable problem,’ College community told
Hunger is “the world’s greatest solvable problem.”
That was the message delivered at Monmouth College’s 22nd Wendell Whiteman Memorial Lecture, held Tuesday morning at the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium.
“The solutions are there. We just need people to tie them together,” Alliance to End Hunger managing director Rebecca Middleton told a large crowd of students, faculty and guests.
Based in Washington, D.C., the Alliance to End Hunger is a diverse coalition of more than 90 members – corporations, non-profit groups, universities, associations, health care providers, foundations, U.S. agencies and faith-based organizations – who work together to fight hunger domestically and internationally.
Worldwide, about 795 million people suffer from food insecurity, including about 48.1 million Americans, according to Middleton. She said that worldwide total has declined over the last several decades from a peak of about 1 billion people.
For that number to continue to decrease, Middleton said it is imperative to forge partnerships across broad spectrums, sometimes between seemingly competing interests.
“It’s not relief vs. development, or status quo vs. innovation, or locally grown vs. big agriculture,” she said. “It’s not an either-or, it’s an ‘and.’”
Middleton said there are plenty of opportunities for the nonprofit sector to do more to fight hunger in the United States, where 95 percent of hunger aid comes in the form of government and only 5 percent comes from charitable organizations.
“Even if all the church donations and fund drives and other projects were doubled, it’s still a 90 percent gap in funding,” she said.
That’s why Monmouth College plans to join the Alliance to End Hunger. At the conclusion of Middleton’s lecture, Monmouth College president Clarence R. Wyatt said the liberal arts college is uniquely positioned to help fight hunger both domestically and internationally because of its innovative Global Food Security Triad.
Monmouth was a charter signatory (and the first liberal arts college) of Presidents United to Solve Hunger, which is where Wyatt met Middleton and “began a conversation that continues to this day.” Photos from the lecture are available on the Monmouth College Facebook page.
That was the message delivered at Monmouth College’s 22nd Wendell Whiteman Memorial Lecture, held Tuesday morning at the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium.
“The solutions are there. We just need people to tie them together,” Alliance to End Hunger managing director Rebecca Middleton told a large crowd of students, faculty and guests.
Based in Washington, D.C., the Alliance to End Hunger is a diverse coalition of more than 90 members – corporations, non-profit groups, universities, associations, health care providers, foundations, U.S. agencies and faith-based organizations – who work together to fight hunger domestically and internationally.
Worldwide, about 795 million people suffer from food insecurity, including about 48.1 million Americans, according to Middleton. She said that worldwide total has declined over the last several decades from a peak of about 1 billion people.
For that number to continue to decrease, Middleton said it is imperative to forge partnerships across broad spectrums, sometimes between seemingly competing interests.
“It’s not relief vs. development, or status quo vs. innovation, or locally grown vs. big agriculture,” she said. “It’s not an either-or, it’s an ‘and.’”
Middleton said there are plenty of opportunities for the nonprofit sector to do more to fight hunger in the United States, where 95 percent of hunger aid comes in the form of government and only 5 percent comes from charitable organizations.
“Even if all the church donations and fund drives and other projects were doubled, it’s still a 90 percent gap in funding,” she said.
That’s why Monmouth College plans to join the Alliance to End Hunger. At the conclusion of Middleton’s lecture, Monmouth College president Clarence R. Wyatt said the liberal arts college is uniquely positioned to help fight hunger both domestically and internationally because of its innovative Global Food Security Triad.
Monmouth was a charter signatory (and the first liberal arts college) of Presidents United to Solve Hunger, which is where Wyatt met Middleton and “began a conversation that continues to this day.” Photos from the lecture are available on the Monmouth College Facebook page.