newjerseynewsroom.com

BY TERI GATTO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

East Orange native and world renowned singer Dionne Warwick and Olympic gold medal winner Carl Lewis, along with secretary-general Ban Ki-moon were among the dignitaries present at the World Food Day ceremony held at the United Nations on Thursday.

Warwick and Lewis, who grew up in Willingboro, N.J., are goodwill ambassadors for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The event, sponsored by the FAO, highlighted the ongoing crisis of world hunger.

"At a time when the global economic crisis dominated the news, the world needs to be reminded that not everyone works in offices and factories," said Warwick. "The crisis is stalking the small-scale farms of the world too, where 70 percent of the world's hungry live and work."

Sylvie Lucas, Luxembourg's ambassador to the United Nations and president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) spoke about the need to achieve food security in a time of crisis.

"We need both immediate action to meet humanitarian needs and longer-term action to increase agricultural production and to ensure food security," said Lucas. "At no time more than the present has there been a need for greater investment in agriculture."

In the Pacific, an estimated 642 million people are suffering from chronic hunger; in Sub-Saharan Africa 42 million, and in developed countries 15 million, according to the FAO's annual report.

Lewis, who won nine gold medals in track and field during the 80s and 90s, said that there are 200 million children across the world suffering from hunger and people cannot remain inactive while many of these youngsters die prematurely due to malnutrition.