FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Church of Scientology of Pasadena and Youth for Human Rights International Cosponsor Forum on Hunger 

The Church of Scientology of Pasadena hosted a forum July 30, 2011, “Reversing Hunger—Violation of the Most Basic Human Right.”  With upward of 11 million in Somalia now facing famine, and more than 1.7 million Los Angeles County residents struggling with hunger, forum participants and guests explored the problem and discussed possible solutions and preventive measures to tackle this vital issue.

Community and religious leaders join forces to propose solutions to hunger
Community and religious leaders join forces to propose solutions to hunger in a forum “Reversing Hunger—Violation of the Most Basic Human Right,” held at the Church of Scientology of Pasadena July 30, 2011.

Sponsored by Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI), the forum was moderated by Church of Scientology of Pasadena Human Rights Director Tim Bowles, with presentations by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca; Pasadena Chief of Police Phillip Sanchez; Irving Sarnoff, founder of the Friends of the United Nations; Steve Huang, Nourish the Children; Sammy Jacobs Abbey, United Nations Volunteer from Ghana; Betty McWilliams, Foothills Unity Center; Krista Baysdorfer, Youth for Human Rights; and Khaine Thidar Aung,  Los Angeles Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).  

In the invocation, Rev. Alfreddie Johnson Jr., founder of World Literacy Crusade and pastor of True Faith Christian Church of Compton, said it is intolerable that in Los Angeles one of every 10 people goes hungry—more than in any other county in America.

With four years remaining of the UN’s 15-year Millennium Development Goals, with its target to reduce world hunger 50 percent by 2015, Mr. Sarnoff of Friends of the United Nations emphasized the need to rethink, review and reverse allocation of resources.

This was seconded by Chief Sanchez, who estimates there are 1,300 homeless in Pasadena.  Sanchez believes providing food alone will not solve the problem—it must be coupled with education, training and jobs.

Church of Scientology of Pasadena President Eden Stein offered the use of Church facilities as a meeting place to coordinate actions to raise awareness and combat this critical problem.

Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making education on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights broadly available. For more information, visit www.youthforhumanrights.org.