August 30, 2005

15^TH HOLDING LITTLE HANDS FOR THE AMERICAS LUNCHEON September 22, 2005

Event casts rare spotlight on the most impoverished children
 in the western hemisphere

(Washington D.C.)   In a joint effort among Members of Congress, Ambassadors and their respective spouses, the 15^th Holding Little Hands for the Americas Luncheon will take place in  Washington, D.C., on September 22, 2005, at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel.  There are few  events of this scale that take place in the U.S. to focus attention on the need to care for children in this hemisphere who are orphaned, abandoned, living with terrorism and exploitation and too often hungry. 

 “This luncheon is a call to action,” says Anabella Jordan of Charlottesville, Virginia, who started the Ivy Inter-American Foundation in 1987 and is the wife of David Jordan former U.S. Ambassador to Peru. “We tell the stories of children like those I saw when we lived and worked in Peru, thousands who were victims of terrorism, left without families, hungry and without the community resources we are accustomed to in this country.”  To date, the Ivy-Inter-American Foundation has raised more than $1.5-million for impoverished children in the western hemisphere. 

This year’s event will raise money for grants to organizations that care for children in five countries: Argentina, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua, and, in the U.S., in Washington, D.C and Dodge City, Kansas.  In addition, the Ivy Humanitarian Prize will be awarded to recognize an individual who has done extraordinary work to alleviate the suffering of children and their communities in the Americas. The recipient of the 2005 Prize is F. William B. Wasson of Mexico, founder of Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Our Little Brothers). For more than four decades, F. Wasson has provided shelter, care and education to thousands of children in Mexico, Central America and Haiti. 

First Lady Laura Bush, who is the luncheon’s honorary chair, wrote for the last Holding Little Hands luncheon held in 2002, “thanks to your work, the Americas are strengthening friendships and working together to nurture and protect all our children.”  This year’s luncheon will be chaired by Franki Roberts, wife of the U.S. Senator from Kansas, and Mary Hinojosa, wife of the U.S. Representative from Texas, Monica Bordon, wife of the Argentine Ambassador to the U.S., and Analia Stadthagen, wife of the Nicaraguan Ambassador to the U.S.  This year’s speaker will be Mrs. Diana Villiers Negroponte, who has long been concerned with the problems of the hemisphere’s orphaned and abandoned children. 

Anyone interested in making a donation to help some of the most impoverished children in this hemisphere may add their donation to this year’s grant total via www.ivyinteramericanfoundation.org.

CONTACTS:
Ellen Beard
434-245-8300

Ana Utley
202-298-5534

RETURN TO TOP