We thank you for your support and participation in helping change the public conversation
about hunger in America and the world, and making the end of childhood hunger a national priority. Together we have done some innovative stuff that made a difference! |
One of Our Earlier Programs
Broadcast live on April 25, 1983 in Los Angeles and San Diego markets, and subsequently in Houston and Palm Springs.
|
The three-hour television broadcast END HUNGER TELEVENT featured performances by Burt Lancaster, Gregory Peck, John Ritter, Jack Lemmon, Valerie Harper and many others. The innovative presentation debunked the prevalent myths about hunger (scarcity, inevitability, no solutions, and the belief that individuals can’t really make a difference), updated the audience with the latest findings about hunger and identified specific actions that individuals could take.
Enthusiastically supported by many private voluntary organizations working directly to battle the effects of hunger, the creators of the Televent also developed a volunteer clearinghouse, the Action Support Center for Ending Hunger. Under this umbrella organization, more than 150 organizations identified opportunities for volunteers. When viewers of the Televent called in, they were sent information describing these opportunities and connecting them with appropriate organizations. The End Hunger Televent was the first attempt to present the issue of hunger in a way that avoided showing demeaning pictures of starving children, yet spoke clearly and firmly about the problem. At the same time, individual action was encouraged so that Americans could become partners with the poor as they worked for self-reliance and independence from hunger. The End Hunger Televent was awarded the Silver Medal for Public Service Programming at the New York International Film and TV Festival in 1983. After the Televent, the Action Support Center for Ending Hunger and the Los Angeles World Hunger Event (an organization that funded and produced the Televent) merged to become the End Hunger Network, to use the media to stimulate the increased awareness and involvement which is needed to enact solutions to hunger. |