[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 171 (Wednesday, December 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H7452-H7453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HUMANITARIAN YANK BARRY, FOUNDER OF THE GLOBAL VILLAGE CHAMPIONS
FOUNDATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, with a lot of enthusiasm, I rise to
recognize and to acknowledge a renaissance man, a man with a sense of
humor, who, along with his wife, Yvette, was determined to help make
the lives of children around the world much better. Yes, he had a sense
of humor, and he was also a musician, and he visualized a day without
hunger, hoping for it to be December 31, 2013. Yank Barry has many
sides to him, but enthusiastically, he takes each challenge--some that
he has overcome in life--and put on the boxing gloves and simply won.
I am excited that he joined in partnership with Gary U.S. Bonds and
Muhammad Ali to form the Global Village Champions Foundation not just
for boxing but really to take boxers and box the troubles of the world
away. In the course of his work, he has served almost 1 billion meals--
954 million--on his way to 1 billion. He also didn't take ``no'' for an
answer in working to release five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian in
Libya a few years ago, which was not an easy task.
So along with his 30-year music career, jamming with Jimi Hendrix,
writing jingles, and, yes, singing with the Kingsmen of ``Louie,
Louie'' fame, we can be grateful that he and his wife, Yvette, turned
to a very important challenge, the Global Village Champions Foundation,
which strives to become the undisputed world leader in private
humanitarian delivery of nutrition to needy persons everywhere,
sustaining human life and helping to eradicate hunger from the face of
the Earth.
As someone who has worked with the Congressional Children's Caucus,
it excites me to note that he continues to provide support for the
children that we are already supplying with meals and other
necessities. He spans the Global Village Champions team to include
people with diverse skills and a determination to make a difference in
the world.
For more than 17 years, he has joined with his friends Muhammad Ali
and Gary U.S. Bonds. They haven't boxed, they haven't sung, but they
have worked to put a light in the darkness of the lives of so many.
His career has spanned many aspects. He even wrote jingles. He even
was able to put forward a unique form of music. But I would say that
one of his greatest challenges and greatest successes is that
everywhere he goes, he takes his product that he has developed,
Vitapro, and he changes the hearts and minds of those who are
suffering.
He started donating some of his food products to various charities
and NGOs in Canada and the U.S. Soon, Yank's dear friend Muhammad, as I
indicated, joined the Global Village, and they brought food, medical
supplies, clothing, and educational tools to refugee camps and
orphanages in areas stricken by disaster all over the world, from
Africa to Bulgaria and places beyond our imagination. As well, he
worked with those like Celine Dion, Michael Jordan, Buzz Aldrin, and
many others.
{time} 1030
As a result of his ongoing fight against hunger, Mr. Barry has
received nearly two dozen awards since 1995, including the India
Humanitarian Service Award; the Bahamian Red Cross Humanitarian Award;
the Cote d'Ivoire Humanitarian Award; the Juarez, Mexico, Hands of Love
and Hope Award. And it goes on and on and on.
He does not do this for the awards. He does this for the simplicity
of being able to go into Bulgaria, where those fleeing from the
oppression of Syria were in camps that were not ready for humankind.
Because of his frustration and because of his heart, he decided to look
for hotels that he could lease so he could move some of these desperate
Syrian refugees that were already oppressed, already having lost loved
ones, into those hotels with clean water and places for their families
to be.
As I chatted with him, I was moved by the story of a family of 17. He
didn't think anything of moving them out of a room smaller than a
classroom and giving them space in a hotel so that they could live in
dignity and maybe even think of going back to a Syria that would be
free from oppression and devastation.
And so it is good that--his roots being in our neighboring country,
Canada--he came here to the United States to make a difference.
I am delighted today to recognize Mr. Yank Barry for his humanitarian
service to all of the world and to be able to say to him, Well done in
life. Continue to serve and save others.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute and to recognize the
humanitarian deeds of an icon in the music industry and a giant on the
world scene to eradicate hunger from the face of the Earth. Yank Barry
was born in Montreal,
[[Page H7453]]
Canada in 1948. A gifted musician, Yank enjoyed 27 years in the music
industry as a singer, composer, arranger and producer. His career began
in 1965 as the lead singer of the Footprints, singing Never Say Die and
in 1967, he became the lead singer of the touring Kingsmen, best known
for Louie, Louie. He has enjoyed success in the field of advertising
jingles including Kellogg's Raisin Bran, Dr. Pepper, Kodak, Red Lobster
and General Motors.
Barry pioneered the first quadraphonic album--now known as surround
sound--along with Robert Lifton and Ben Lanzarone at Regent Sound
Studios in New York in 1970. In 1971, he recorded the rock opera ``The
Diary of Mr. Gray'', which put him on the cover of many trade magazines
and produced the Broadway show ``Let My People Come'' at the Imperial
Theater in 1979. He has also appeared on the The Mike Douglas Show, The
Merv Griffin Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Sally
Jessy Raphael Show. And in 1975, Yank was commissioned by the White
House to write and compose ``Welcome Home P.O.W.s''.
In 1990, Yank developed Vitapro, a dehydrated soy-based meat-
replacement product. While traveling on business, Yank witnessed
desperate living conditions that touched his heart. He started donating
some of his food product to various charities and NGOs in Canada and
the U.S. Soon Yank's dear friend Muhammad Ali joined Global Village
Champions and they brought food, medical supplies, clothing and
educational tools to refugee camps, orphanages and areas stricken by
disaster all over the world.
In 1995 Yank Barry founded the Global Village Champions Foundation
which has been used as a vehicle through which Yank, Muhammad Ali,
Evander Holyfield and numerous other World Class Champions have
provided nearly a billion meals to people in need across the globe.
Celine Dion, Michael Jordan, Buzz Aldrin, King Mohammed VI of Morocco
and Dr. Michael Nobel are only a few of the exceptional people who have
joined Yank as he strives for ``A Day Without Hunger'' on a global
scale.
As a result of his ongoing Fight Against Hunger, Mr. Yank Barry has
received nearly two dozen awards since 1995 including the India
Humanitarian Service Award 2008, Bahamian Red Cross Humanitarian Award,
the Cote D'Ivoire Humanitarian Peace award and the Juarez, Mexico Hands
of Love and Hope Award for his determined efforts to deliver food and
bring hope to hungry people around the world. In November of 2010 Yank
received the Gusi Peace Prize for Social Services, Philanthropy and
International Humanitarianism in Manila, The Philippines. Yank was also
named Philanthropist of the Year at the GLA 2011 Awards in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. This award was presented by The Leaders Magazine and
the American Leadership Development Association. The most recent
acknowledgement of Yank's humanitarian efforts is his nomination for
the 2012 & 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. These awards are a byproduct of Mr.
Barry sharing his good fortune in a tangible way.
Most recently, Yank Barry and the Global Village Champions Foundation
along with Evander Holyfield have freed more than 50 Syrian refugees,
many of them children who are now beginning new lives in Bulgaria. The
families, who fled Syria, are getting a chance at a fresh start and
living. Yank's goal is to provide these refugees with stable living
conditions and food.
Working hand-in-hand with local agencies and NGOs, he has helped
countless people in their time of need, often traveling to politically
unstable areas when very few would lend a helping hand. Yank's goal is
to have delivered 1 billion meals by Dec. 31, 2013.
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