It's a miracle I was able to finish my oversized Po' Boy sandwich this afternoon at the Parkway Diner in New Orleans. It's even more of a miracle they were able to serve it. Like the entire neighborhood, the restaurant was flooded when the levees broke during Hurricane Katrina. But after being evacuated, owner Jay Nix and his sisters and nephew eventually fought their way back as have 288,000 others, about 63% of New Orleans pre-storm population.

Two weeks ago Melinda Gates used the E word. I want to share what she said, and what Bill Gates said too, and why it is so directly related to the way we confront hunger and other seemingly unsolvable social issues.

America has been said to be the world's first "new nation." Before the United States was conceived, the boundaries of nations were formed around shared history or ethnicity -- each group set apart. In contrast, the American founding concept was occupancy of the same space.

I've just returned from New Orleans where I visited Share Our Strength's partners and friends to see firsthand the progress and challenges that the city faces two years after Hurricane Katrina.

Last month, a coalition of advocates celebrated the bittersweet 20th anniversary of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. At the time, it was viewed as the first step in a larger effort to eradicate homelessness, but subsequent efforts never materialized.

As an employee of The Timberland Company, I am one of thousands of dedicated, civic-minded individuals who use our service hours to give back to our global community.

With media attention to gun violence in Newark, Chicago, Philadelphia and other urban communities beginning to increase, ABC News this week ran a story about a new program in the emergency room, created by a trauma surgeon, that is less about medicine than it is about bearing witness.

I recently traveled to Iowa to visit an ethanol plant. Over the din of the machinery, here are the sounds that I heard:

On Sunday the Washington Post published an op-ed by the director of the trauma unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

As a native of the Sudan, I have been deeply involved in aiding those in the Darfur region of my country -- but the conflict is no longer contained to the Sudan.

I read an article on Saturday that is, without question, one of the most disturbing I've read in many years. New York Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert wrote that the number of Chicago public school children killed since the start of the most recent school year as a result of gang or random violence has reached 34.

This morning the leaders of many of the national anti-hunger organizations met at the Capitol with key Democratic Senators from the Senate Democratic Steering Committee that is trying to schedule action on the Farm Bill Reauthorization that includes so many federal food and nutrition programs.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Doris Votier demonstrated the great courage and leadership of which ordinary people placed in extraordinary circumstances are capable.

Last week I cut a map out of the New York Times and asked my assistant Alice to laminate it for me so I could carry it in my pocket as a constant reminder. It was headlined "Ominous Trends in Infant Mortality in the South."

April 25th is the first time the United States will officially observe National Malaria Awareness Day. The President is hosting an event at the White House to commemorate what has been celebrated by the rest of the world as Africa Malaria Day since 2001. A forgotten disease that was eradicated in the United States, malaria affects over 500 million individuals a year, killing a child in Africa ever 30 seconds.

March 23, 2007 -- It had been less than five months since I first visited New Orleans as a Share Our Strength-Henckels Cutting Edge Student.

Every year since 1948, BBC has organized a series of lectures in which a leading public figure addresses a worldwide radio audience about important contemporary issues. This year the Reith lectures, named in honor of the BBC's first director general will be delivered by Jeffrey Sachs.

On Friday Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu gave a keynote speech at NYU's annual conference on social entrepreneurship. Speaking easily and without notes, lacing his comments with self-deprecating jokes, he was powerfully eloquent on the issues of race and poverty in America:

This past week, the political establishment has been obsessing over who "won" and who "lost" stage one of the so-called "money primary." But the first incumbent-free presidential election in 55 years should first and foremost be about ideas and leadership.

Some of the work of Zachary Steinberg and Jeremy Berman, founders of Students for International Medical Action (SIMA), has been recounted in a recent post on Sharing Witness. They recently met with the Share Our Strength staff to report on their experiences bearing witness to the medical care crisis in Ethiopia.

"So, are you a missionary?" A retired South African physician asked me, his contempt not thinly-veiled. I'd tried to explain why my colleagues and I had come to his country during our many conversations. But, the doctor mistook my words; I was on a "mission."

Since the global health community acknowledged close correlations between malaria and HIV, there have been great strides made towards joint prevention of these two deadly diseases.

During the past few years, the world has watched Cote d'Ivoire in a state of crisis due to the continued fighting between the north and the south. The real crisis, though, is just under the political surface, "paludisme." (For those of you who are like me and don't speak French, we are talking about the Ivory Coast and malaria.) Malaria is the reason for 80% of the hospital visits in this country.

Recently I was asked to write a letter about the work of Parker J. Palmer and I thought that work might be of interest to readers of Sharing Witness. I first met Parker in March 1990 at a week-long retreat he facilitated for a small group of Kellogg National Fellows in Taos, New Mexico. We connected deeply on that occasion, and we have remained close since.

My colleague Jeremy Berman and I began our organization, Students for Medical Action (SIMA), over three years ago when we were first-year medical students. Since that time we have sent dozens of second-year medical students and George Washington University (GW) faculty to Ethiopia, linking them with Ethiopian medical students and medical professors. This year we have organized SIMA's first fourth-year medical student rotation in Ethiopia, and I am currently writing you from a small internet cafe off the bustling streets of the Piassa in downtown Addis Ababa.

I went down to the Gulf Coast to help with the animal rescue effort in New Orleans ten days after Katrina swept through the area. Due to the chaos that still reigned, animal rescue efforts were just beginning and rescue groups were still struggling to put together deployment plans for their volunteers.

Victoria Hale from the Institute for One World Health, the first nonprofit pharmaceutical, delivered a keynote address this weekend at the Social Enterprise Conference at the Harvard Business School.

At Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care we spend much of our time these days "pushing a rock." The moment we get some leverage and propel it forward, some calamity gets in the way and pushes it right back. Nonetheless, we know that our holistic approach is the only way to combat many of the health, social, environmental and educational challenges faced by every family that walks through our doors.

When I read Billy Shore's op-ed about his visit to Arlington National Cemetery, I realized I've been waiting to see a reflection like his for several years. The White House and Pentagon have done so much to make the final stage of military sacrifice invisible, so every experience is individualized and isolated - like Billy's personal excursion to Arlington.

I fly by Arlington National Cemetery and pass its gates several times a week as so many of us in Washington do every time we travel between office and airport. Lately I've felt its pull, and last month I arrived shortly before it opened at 8 a.m.

The symbol of hope for me today is a pink mosquito net. On Monday, we met Esperanca Afonco at the Pediatric Hospital in Luanda. She was admitted a week ago due to complications with malaria. We did not see her until the end of our day because she is in the pediatric AIDS/HIV (SIDAS) ward hidden behind the hospital.

Not since the Ford Assembly Line has there been mechanization such as this. Like putting an automobile together by hand with every necessary part, the 'Integrated Plus Days' through the Measles Initiative are fighting malaria and other diseases such as measles and polio, providing healthy children for our future.

"Malaria Kills. Kill Mosquitoes" That is the saying on over a million yellow bracelets that were handed out throughout Nigeria in 2006. Imitating the cause marketing sensation, LiveStrong wristbands, these yellow bracelets are all over the country, namely in rural areas of Nigeria.

As the CEO of Chrysalis, a homeless agency with three offices throughout Los Angeles, I always heard the same plaintive cry from my peers - "Why isn't anybody paying attention to this tragedy?" If people only knew what was going on, we thought, they would surely respond with the funds and attention needed to address a population of homeless in our County of over 88,000 - significantly larger than any State.

I recently returned from my second trip to Haiti in the past 9 months and I can't wait to return! While it is nearly impossible to find an encouraging word about Haiti in the U.S. press, I found plenty to celebrate at Wings of Hope, a school and community for children with severe special needs in Fermathe, Haiti.

I started YouthBuild years ago because I had heard clearly from young people in East Harlem that they wanted to make a difference, rebuild their own communities, and help their neighbors. They told me that one day we would spread love around the world. In Gulfport, Miss., I am watching their vision come to life.

On Friday while driving to Maine for the long weekend, I got the same little twinge I always get when passing through New Hampshire. I can't help wondering if any presidential candidates are out and about in the first primary state, and if I know the folks they might be out and about with.

Today I attended the White House Summit on Malaria. For reasons of space and security the event was held a few blocks from the White House at the National Geographic building across the street from Share Our Strength.

"No one person is your hero. You take a little something from all of them," said New Orleans chef Leah Chase last night to a crowded ballroom of Timberland employees about the civil rights icons she knew and fed. Timberland was holding their annual sales conference a few blocks from the French Quarter. As a member of the Timberland board of directors, it was gratifying to see Timberland's commitment to bear witness, engage in service, and rebuild the community.

Each winter many low-income families face the difficult choice between heating their homes or buying food. A national study released in the November issue of Pediatrics shows that the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), also known as fuel assistance, can help protect young children's growth and health from seasonal pressures put on their family to "heat or eat."

You probably noticed the many news stories the day after Thanksgiving about the official start of the Christmas shopping season, now known as Black Friday (because it is traditionally when retailers begin turning a profit, or operating in the black), and the almost unimaginably long lines waiting for the midnight openings of doors at Best Buy stores and other retail outlets. There were even some frightening stampedes caught on tape as malls racked up a record $9 billion in sales. Most of the news anchors closed out their broadcasts with a wisecrack or shook their heads good naturedly, but there was also something a bit unnerving about the sight.

Each year, over 3.5 million people experience homelessness, including 1.35 million children. Beginning in the early 1980s, the number of homeless Americans grew dramatically, and the face of homelessness changed from the middle-aged white males of Skid Row to include working men and women, families, children, ethnic and racial minorities and an overall younger population. Click here for demographic information on homelessness.

On October 17, 2006, the board of Venture Philanthropy Partners was privileged to host Patty Stonesifer, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in a special event for VPP founding investors, new supporters, friends, board members, and team. Patty, joined by her colleague Allan Golston, President, US Program, candidly shared what she has learned as the foundation has stepped up its efforts to reduce inequities in the United States and around the world.

On November 15th, the USDA released a report that confirms a lot of what people living in and working with low-income communities have known for some time: that hunger is a serious problem in our country. According to the report, 12 percent of Americans - 35 million people - were unable to put food on their table for at least part of last year. And yet, these 35 million Americans are no longer being classified as "hungry," they are being designated as having "low food security."

On Tuesday November 7, 2006 America exhaled. A long held breath was slowly released and with it we let go of fear and embraced change. The congressional elections had more to do with justice than politics. It was not about embracing a political party; it was about embracing the foundations of the democracy we claim. America became America again and we showed the power of our collective. Without conversation or coordination the nation acted in unison to send a message to the world.

I am a doctor for invisible children. They are not really invisible, but for all the attention they get from our current and future political leaders, you would think they are less substantial than the average cartoon character. I work in the Grow Clinic for Children at Boston Medical Center, a multi-disciplinary program that serves malnourished infants and toddlers.

Every election year, the horrors of hurricane season and the mock horrors of Halloween are followed by Election Day, which some find the scariest of all. Certainly this year the mud-slinging and negativity were terrifying, and gloomy predictions made it seem as if American-life-as-we-know it hung in the balance.

America could really use a civics lesson. And it's about to get one. The National Conference on Citizenship, a federally chartered nonprofit founded in 1946 to strengthen civic ties, released the first Civic Health Index, tracking changes in the awareness and engagement of the citizenry over the past three decades. It presents a bleak picture - steep declines in most of the 40 measures that were analyzed, including how much people trust one another and major institutions, and their connections to their communities.

With the midterm elections just weeks away, get ready to hear a lot about "protecting our senior citizens." Year after year, it seems politicians only know how to talk about older adults (almost always referred to as "our senior citizens") as if they were delicate pieces of china. We owe older adults health and income security, of course. And it’s clearly worth debating how best to achieve it.

We are entering the third age of American unionism. The world of work has been transformed twice before, and we are currently in the midst of another major shift. Work is now decentralized, workers are mobile, and they want to take their benefits with them. A huge portion of the workforce now consists of independent workers, and too many of them have fallen through the widening cracks in the old system.

The Good Deeds Community Center had standing room only when we arrived for the Oxfam America-NAACP town hall meeting with residents of Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss., to mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. There was energy in the air. Folks had come to listen and be heard. And heard they would be.

There’s a common misperception that global health problems are too complex to be solved – and that investments in development are likely to fail or be wasted. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Within this most modern of communications devices, our esteemed provocateur has invited me to offer some thoughts on issues affecting America’s most vulnerable citizens and, more particularly, to provide a voice for the voiceless among us. A very good subject! And a welcome idea.

Recently, I attended the annual conference for the American Association of Diabetes Educators, a group of health professionals whose purpose is to help people live with diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes is fast becoming the most serious health crises in the U.S. A third of all children born today (and half of all Latinos) are expected to become diabetic in their lifetimes.