Earth Equity News

Patricia Young at 85 Battles for the World's Hungry. By Nora Boustany, WashPost, October 25, 2008. "Patricia Young's early childhood was spent on a farm in Monmouth, Ill., in a time of plenty. Golden cornfields, chickens, hogs and cows kept everyone busy and well fed. She tagged along happily during harvests, taking lemonade to workers and neighbors pitching in. Young, the U.S. coordinator of World Food Day [October 16], has spent half her life immersed in the business of fighting hunger. Now 85, she finds herself working overtime, even weekends, instead of slowing down as a global food crisis collides with a global financial crisis. Young holes up in a small corner office on K Street NW in Washington and works the phone. She coaxes donors to submit their pledges and implores her media contacts to finalize arrangements for handling the annual World Food Day teleconference. She recruits authorities to help, handles e-mails and crafts reminders to key participants. Throughout her career, Young has stoked discussions about food security, climate change and trends in agriculture at schools and policy groups, in farming communities and among concerned citizens around the world. She guides her mega-outreach program with military precision and gentle determination... She still keeps a rigorous 8-a.m.-to-4-p.m. schedule."