Mercy Corps To Open First Interactive Action Center To End World Hunger On World Food Day

Mercy Corps, the global relief and development organization, will take action on Thursday, October 16 to fight the number one risk to health worldwide - hunger - by opening the world's first Action Center to End World Hunger. 

New York Governor David Paterson will kick off the grand opening celebration at the Irish Hunger Memorial Plaza in Battery Park City. 

The week of October 16-22 will be declared "Hunger Action Week" on behalf of the City of New York, and the ceremony will close with the cutting of a giant ribbon to officially open the state-of-the-art interactive multimedia Center. 

Located across from the Irish Hunger Memorial, the Action Center will help to bring the significance of this memorial to life, linking historic accounts of hunger and poverty with current crises worldwide.

Mercy Corps' Action Center to End World Hunger is designed to illuminate the complex causes of hunger and poverty, bring to life the daily experiences of aid workers and the communities they serve, and provide a unique platform for direct transformative action - whether visitors have one minute, one hour, one day, one week, one month, one year, or one lifetime as the bold, red lettering reads along the outside of the storefront style "LEED" Platinum Rated building that is the first commercial space in New York City to achieve this rating. 

Designed by nationally prominent Edwin Schlossberg and his team at ESI Design, Mercy Corps' new 4,000-square-foot Center will feature highly interactive, media-rich exhibits that utilize new technologies such as a custom-designed Google Earth Tool and numerous RSS feeds that provide breaking news from around the world.

Another key component of the Center's exhibits will be a welcome video hosted by Emmy Award-winning actress/comedienne/writer Tina Fey of NBC's 30 Rock.  Guests will view the video in the "briefing area," which will offer an overview of the issues of hunger and poverty.

In addition to Fey's involvement, Ann Curry of NBC's Today Show and CNN's Nic Robertson will narrate part of the "Training Towers" exhibit, a set of four interactive towers that highlight specific global challenges related to hunger and poverty, as well as case studies of how local residents and aid groups like Mercy Corps are working together to address these challenges.