OUR HISTORY

The bi-partisan, non-profit Congressional Hunger Center (CHC) will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2003! Its success in educating leaders to fight hunger comes in part from its connection to the former House Select Committee on Hunger. Founded in 1983 by Congressmen Benjamin Gilman, Mickey Leland, and Tony Hall, the Select Committee on Hunger was known for its efforts to find real solutions to national and international hunger and poverty.

Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) chaired the Select Committee until he lost his life during a humanitarian mission to the Horn of Africa in 1989. Leland felt strongly that hunger could be ended and lamented, "I cannot get used to hunger and desperate poverty in our plentiful land. There is no reason for it, there is no excuse for it, and it is time that we as a nation put an end to it."

Congressman Tony Hall (D-OH) succeeded Leland as chairman of the Select Committee on Hunger until the House of Representatives unexpectedly voted to eliminate all its Select Committees in 1993. Hall responded by embarking on a 22-day fast, an act that helped to bring Republicans and Democrats together to create the Congressional Hunger Center. In 1994, former Congressman Bill Emerson (R-MO) joined Tony Hall as the first co-chair of our bi-partisan Center. Today, CHC is co-chaired by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA).