[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 65 (Friday, April 7, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E870-E871]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   SAINT LARRY: OKLAHOMAN OF THE YEAR

                                 ______


                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, April 7, 1995
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to my very dear 
friend, the Reverend Larry Jones, head of Feed the Children, a 
humanitarian organization dedicated to feeding hungry children and 
helping people to lead normal and productive lives.
  Feed the Children has delivered food and medical supplies to such 
countries as Haiti, 
[[Page E871]] Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Armenia, and war-torn 
Bosnia. He has also delivered food to cities across the United States. 
On several occasions, Feed the Children has distributed tons of food to 
needy families in my congressional district in New York. For these 
efforts, and a lifetime of humanitarian service, Reverend Jones has 
been recognized as Oklahoman of the Year for 1994 by the magazine, 
Oklahoma Today.
  Reverend Jones discovered his calling to help suffering children 
while on an evangelical mission in Haiti where he witnessed heart-
wrenching scenes of hunger. Then he vowed to dedicate his life to 
service in behalf of hungry people all around the world.
  I recall toward the end of the Haiti crisis last year, Reverend Jones 
and I arranged to have two planeloads of medical supplies and food 
delivered to aid the suffering people of Haiti. The military dictators 
then in power attempted to block the visit, but Reverend Jones 
persevered and after a few days delay, he took the plane full of 
supplies to Port-au-Prince.
  Reverend Jones has a very deep understanding of the problems of the 
suffering of the poor. Earlier this year in testimony to the Ways and 
Means Committee on the welfare reform bill, he reminded Congress that 
in its zeal to reform the system, they must not forget those who have 
been left out of the mainstream of our wealthy society. Reverend Jones 
was joined at the hearing by spokesmen from Jewish, Catholic, and 
Protestant denominations in an appeal for compassion that has crossed 
religious lines.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to be a friend of Rev. Larry Jones who 
has dedicated his life to helping those who are less fortunate. In 
tribute to him and for the edification of my colleagues, I call 
attention to an excerpt from an article in Oklahoma Today, in which he 
was recognized as the Oklahoman of the Year for 1994.

       The profile of his organization, on the other hand, has 
     never been higher. In 1994, Jones' Oklahoma City-based 
     charity delivered truckloads of donated canned vegetables, 
     antibiotics, wheelchairs, hams, coats, underwear, water 
     purification tablets, books, powdered milk, Christmas candy, 
     and stuffed animals to seventy countries around the world. 
     His organization has heated orphanages in Romania, started 
     loan programs in the Philippines, and supported prenatal 
     clinics in Russia and a home for disabled children in Africa. 
     Jones traveled to Rwandan refugee camps, to Bosnia and 
     Croatia in the midst of war, and during last summer's trade 
     embargo, delivered a planeload of food and medicine to Haiti 
     just hours after President Bill Clinton announced the U.S. 
     Marines were going in.
       Here in the United States, Jones' trucks delivered millions 
     of pounds of supplies to food pantries in places known to be 
     wanting, like Appalachia and Harlem, and places where hunger 
     is more hidden, like Vermont and Denver. He bought a vacant 
     college campus in the heart of Oklahoma City and established 
     a job training program there, then loaned one of the 
     buildings to Head Start. His organization provided disaster 
     relief during catastrophic flooding in south Texas and 
     pinpointed the eight most destitute school systems in each of 
     the fifty states and sent each student a care package at 
     Christmas.
       All of this--the $90 million charity, the fleet of trucks, 
     the rides sitting on sacks of food in armored cars into 
     countries at war--has happened, Jones maintains, without any 
     planning on his part.
       ``Imagine,'' he says, ``you're standing there, and someone 
     hands you a rope and asks you to hold it. Turns out the rope 
     is attached to a hot air balloon, and you just go.''
       For fifteen years, that ride has been Feed the Children.
       

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