Ashley Aakesson’s fight against hunger around the world, and especially in Haiti, has won her the first Congressional Hunger Center Alumni Leadership award.
“It’s a great honor,” said Mrs. Aakesson, executive director of the local Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti, who will receive next week in Washington, D.C.
“The staff of the (Congressional Hunger Center ) and people who sit on the board, and the people who have been involved and gone through the program, really are some of the best in the world in fighting hunger, in fighting poverty,” she said.
The Congressional Hunger Center is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization that administers the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellows Program and the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Program, named in honor of the two late congressional leaders who dedicated their careers to fighting hunger and poverty, according to the center’s website.
“Ashley has done a very fine job in leading our organization, especially since the earthquake (in Haiti on Jan. 12),” said Charles Sternbergh, chairman of the board of trustees of the local Children’s Nutrition Program in Haiti. “She’s been very effective as a leader to create alliances for us so we can expand our work in Haiti and reach a larger number of people.”
Mrs. Aakesson said her passion for food security grew while she was in college in her native Ohio after reading two books about hunger.
“I realized hunger is not about not having enough resources to go around, but about politics, economics and sometimes cultural beliefs and practices, but that we can change it,” said Mrs. Aakesson, who was in Haiti when the earthquake happened and has gone back many times since.