Two former rival U.S. Senators from the Midwest will share this year’s World Food Prize, an award that is presented annually by an organization based in Iowa.
George McGovern and Bob Dole, both former presidential nominees for their respective political parties, helped create the International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program and that’s why they’re receiving the 2008 World Food Prize.
World Food Prize Foundation President Kenneth Quinn says the program was established in 2000. "Since then, it has provided meals to feed 22 million children in 41 countries and boosted school attendance by 14 percent overall," Quinn said.
McGovern, who is now 85, is a former Democratic Senator from South Dakota. Dole, 84, is a Republican from Kansas. Quinn says their program, administered through the USDA, has dramatically increased international support for school feeding operations around the globe. "For example, the U.N. World Food Program’s School Feeding Programs have nearly doubled since 2001, and in 2006 alone, it fed more than 20 million children in 74 countries," Quinn said.
Dole and McGovern will be presented with the 2008 World Food Prize on October 16 at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines. It will mark the first time since the award was created in 1986 that the $250,000 prize will be given to political leaders. Past prize winners include scientists that have improved world-wide crop production.
Learn more at www.worldfoodprize.org .