by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
“Michael recognizes this is a problem that is solvable,” said Olivia Wilde about global hunger and acclaimed designer Michael Kors, the 2016 recipient of the McGovern-Dole Leadership Award from World Food Program USA. The actress returned to her hometown of Washington, DC earlier this month as part of a fashionable toast to Kors’ leadership and philanthropy in tackling the issue of hunger around the world.
Olivia Wilde
Since 2012, the designer and his signature brand have been raising money and awareness around the critical issue through a multi-year partnership agreement with the U.N. World Food Programme. Many people associate Kors with his clothing designs, handbags and watches, but the fruits of his efforts have yielded more than 13 million meals for the hungry around the world. As WFP USA President Richard Leach pointed out, the impact of the meals is on more than just the stomach since the distribution of food actually draws youths to school; thus, the disenfranchised are gaining an education as well as ensuring they “get one nutritious meal a day” because simply, “you can’t learn on an empty stomach.”
Richard Leach, WFP USA President and CEO
What fashion designer could get an award without an entourage of models to support him? Cody Horn, Jessica Hart, Cameron Russel and Beverly Johnson were all in attendance along with Wilde to help up DC’s style quotient for the night. The award, named for titans of governance and advocacy Sen. Bob Dole and Sen. George McGovern, attracted big names from fashion and international affairs turning out to fete Kors and his work. On hand was United States Chief of Protocol Peter Selfridge, White House Social Secretary Deesha Dyer, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Vice President Joe Biden, joined by his wife Dr. Jill Biden and son Hunter.
Michael Kors and Beverly Johnson
Hunter Biden, chairman of the board for WFP USA shared stories of how hunger is a personal probing subject that binds us together and immediately initiates a physical reaction in an audience when you talk about it—even if you’ve never truly felt the pain of the neediest and that feeling is the driving force to help make a difference. “My education and passion for the issue comes from the 2 people I admire most in the world, my mom and dad,” said Hunter as he introduced his father to the crowd.
Hunter Biden
Cue the Vice President, humble and warm—beaming with pride at his son and the leadership he exhibits in all the causes he tackles. “This guy turned out better than me,” glowed Vice President Biden as Hunter stood by.
VP Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden
His remarks bore the classic charm people have come to endear from the Vice President. Biden shared memories of the aging Senator Dole and the late Senator McGovern from his own days serving in the Senate and described them both as the type of lions you would always want on your side when it comes to a fight. “They both got in to public life for others, not themselves,” he said of both men, acknowledging that even if there were partisan differences, both represented a higher calling to serve and it’s one of the reasons hunger became an important issue for both men. “Hunger wasn’t a partisan issue. They understood instinctively. The places they were raised. The time when they were raised.”
The Vice President echoed the underlying emotion that his son described when looking at the hunger issue around the globe. “When children go hungry anywhere…they’re not somebody else’s children. They are our children,” said Biden as he tried to effectively communicate the helpless feeling of a hungry child in a land where you know can help them for a day or a week but you can’t ever really help for good. The words set off the type of mental argument that is both necessary but frightening – is the hunger epidemic too great to fix?
Hunter Biden and VP Joe Biden
Michael Kors doesn’t think so. “I came to this issue because I’m an optimist and a pragmatist,” said Kors, echoing the introduction from Wilde that he really believed he could make a difference on the way to the ultimate solution. “Talking to our customers is our strength…that’s the way we approach talking about hunger.” With an issue so lofty, the logical Kors realized that you had to take a one-at-a-time approach, as difficult a pill as that is to swallow, and that the sum will be the impact.
“You give a child the plate of food and you have given them not just the nutrition but you’ve given the family a reason to send their children to school,” said Kors with a grateful smile and a hopeful glint in his eye. The problems are linked to one another, but the solutions are as well, and with the help and support of groups like WFP, even helping the needy one at a time will spread the answers this world needs to see a brighter tomorrow.
