[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 142 (Saturday, October 10, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MRS. MINAL KUMAR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PATSY T. MINK

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 9, 1998

  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to give 
thanks for the life of Minal Kumar, an extraordinarily dedicated and 
effective advocate for the health of women and children in the State of 
Hawaii. As the only public health nutritionist on the island of Kauai, 
Mrs. Kumar, in the span of only six years, managed to triple the number 
of clients served by the State Department of Health's Women, Infants, 
and Children (WIC) programs and for the first time extended WIC 
programs to the island of Niihau.
  Minal Kumar's special mission was to encourage women to breast-feed 
their infants because of the significant health benefits breast-fed 
babies enjoy and because of the special bond that breast-feeding 
promotes between mother and child. Mrs. Kumar is remembered with great 
fondness by the people of Kauai for her commitment to the health of 
women and children and for her personal contribution to relief efforts 
after Hurricane Iniki devastated the island.
  It has been almost a year since Minal Kumar's passing, but she has 
not been forgotten by her many friends and admirers on Kauai. A garden 
at the Kauai office of the Hawaii Department of Health was dedicated 
this past summer and a memorial fund benefiting Hawaii Mothers' Milk 
has been established in her name. I send my heartfelt aloha to Minal's 
loving family--her husband Dr. Krishna Kumar, daughter Roshni, and son 
Akash--and I ask all of my colleagues to join me in honoring the memory 
and special contributions of Minal Kumar.

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