The threat of terrorism is a prime concern for any world leader, however the menace of poverty and hunger are just as dangerous, according to Queen Elizabeth, who said as much during opening remarks at the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria.

Key quotes:

"Poverty, hunger, environmental degradation, the scourge of HIV/Aids, the lack of educational opportunities, are all among the legacies which the world has not been able to overcome," the Queen said. "They continue to threaten global stability just as the menace of terrorism and unresolved conflict posed new and sinister challenges to it."

"It puts our association in a strong position to meet the pressing challenges of our time -- eradicating poverty, creating a fair and open trade environment, bridging the digital divide, combating terrorism and building a more peaceful world for us all," [said Queen Elizabeth].

John Peiser has a been a WHY donor and Hungerthon volunteer for many many years. When he celebrated his 50th birthday this past weekend, he decided to do something a little different. In lieu of gifts, John asked his family and friends to donate to Hungerthon, WHY's largest annual fundraiser. His friends and family answered the call enthusiastically, raising roughly $6,000 for WHY.

The following are just a few of WHY's most recent successes that were made possible by people like John and other Hungerthon donors:

WHY connected thousands of individuals to emergency food and services throughout the United States through its National Hunger Clearinghouse 1-800 Glean-it phone line. NHC receives more than 1,500 telephone calls each month . mostly from individuals in need of food assistance.

WHY partnered with the New School University for the 2nd annual Harry Chapin Awards Forum: Journalism Meets the Grassroots on June 17, 2003. This free, public event gave journalists, direct service providers, performing artists and students the chance to share stories from the frontlines in the war against hunger and poverty.

WHY co-hosted a media session for community-based organizations in the New York area. This media and publicity training workshop was developed by WHY to serve the needs of grassroots service providers. The session was presented in partnership with the NYC Coalition against Hunger and St. John.s Bread of Life.

To make your contribution to WHY, click here.

The Mid-Atlantic Food & Farm Coalition is hosting its 5th annual Future of Our Food and Farms Summit on December 4-5, 2003, in Wilmington, Delaware. This regional summit was created to promote agriculture, learn about trends in food distribution, and find ways to promote healthy eating and reduce hunger in the Mid-Atlantic region. Keynote speakers include Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner, Carol Tucker Foreman and Michael Rozyne.

A couple of new items are on the agenda, including Minority Farming Training (sponsored by U.S. Department of Agriculture/CSREES) and Youth Voices in Agriculture Workshop: Working With Youth to Strengthen the Regional Food System.

On December 5, the 3rd Annual Hunger Congress will take place. The Hunger Congress is a fantastic opportunity for people interested in hunger issues throughout the Mid-Atlantic region -- and the media -- to hear from key government, elected officials, and hunger advocates about current state and federal legislative policies that will affect hunger in that region. This year, the Hunger Congress will focus on fighting the systemic causes of hunger, the complexity of the poverty issue, and working together to develop workable solutions to improve the lives of low-income children and families in the nation.

The Hunger Congress will be hosted by Food Resources Alliance at the Wyndham Wilmington Hotel from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The event will feature Senator Thomas R. Carper; Patricia Beebe, president & CEO of the Food Bank of Delaware; Ellen Teller, director of government affairs, Food Research & Action Center; and Eric Bost, Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services for the USDA.

According to Katrina vanden Heuvel, who writes the "editor's cut" column for The Nation, the Bush administration's ramped up enthusiasm over the Gross Domestic Product showing an annual growth rate of 8.2 percent and a drop in monthly unemployment from 6.1 percent to 6 percent was unwarranted. The Bush administration, however, isn't the only organization rousing her ire.

"Headlines like 'Bloom is on the Economy,' (The New York Times, 11/8) or 'Tough Times Over?' (Washington Post, 11/9) seem foolish, even mean-spirited, when families, communities and whole states are struggling to survive," said vanden Heuvel, taking her fellow journalists to task. "Consider that in Bush's home state of Texas, according to the Houston Chronicle, 54,000 children have been dropped from the federal-state health insurance program due to budget cuts."

Key quote:

"The economic policies of the Bush administration," economist Jeff Madrick, observes, "have been about as crude and destructive a cocktail of stimulants-- lavish income and estate tax cuts for upper-income Americans, elimination of taxes on dividends, stepped-up military and homeland security spending--as we have ever seen. The result is short-term growth and long-term damage...the administration's policies will weaken the economy over time, fall particularly harshly on its working middle and low-income citizens, and fail to prepare the nation for a century of far more intense global competition."

"The test of our progress," President Franklin Roosevelt said some sixty-six years ago, "is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

The world turns the spotlight on the AIDS epidemic today, and with the lives of millions of people on the line, many world leaders are recognizing the role poverty plays in the spread of the disease. Roughly 40 million people are infected with HIV worldwide, with at least 25 million people affected in Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), less than 100,000 people in Africa receive treatment for AIDS/HIV and roughly 6 million people in poor countries desperately need antiretroviral drugs.

Poverty and HIV/AIDS feed on each other in the third world. Poverty prevents impoverished nations from buying the necessary drugs to treat their people. Those who are starving and malnourished already have compromised immune systems, allowing the AIDS/HIV to ravage them more easily. The disease devastates economic development by debilitating and destroying entire generations. For instance, the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa has weakened the most active farm workers, wiping out income potential and access to food which further the hunger crises.

WHO is rolling out a campaign called "3 by 5" to put 3 million people on AIDS treatment by the end of 2005. The Washington Post reported that WHO will not provide or pay for the treatment but will give countries the advice and expertise they need to start their own programs, telling them where they can buy the least expensive AIDS drugs, offering them a kit for training and certifying community health workers, publishing how-to clinical guidelines for practitioners, and disseminating lessons from other programs' successes and failures as they occur. WHO experts estimate $5.5 billion is needed to put 3 million people on treatment in the next two years.