Say
Ya Ali! Yank Barry was born Gerald Barry Falovitch on January 29, 1948 in Montreal, Quebec. The philanthropist along with his friend and partner Muhammad Ali have fed over 515,000,000 meals to the needy around the world over the last eighteen years. Founder of Global Village Champions Foundation Yank has been the recipient of over 15 international humanitarian awards including the prestigious 2011 Global Leadership Awards 2011 Philanthropist of the Year presented by The Leaders Magazine & The American Leadership Development Association in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Here Yank holds forth in an exclusive freewheeling interview with Norman Kumar and Chris Daniel Wong both from the editorial desk of The Leaders Magazine. Yank, as we all know was a rock musician, arranger and producer, following which he did a largish stint as a sports management business owner before becoming, arguably one of the world’s largest producers of ready-to-eat foods. Tell us Yank, you are now the toast of Malaysia after the big impact you made announcing a million meals for deprived Malaysian children. What made you a philanthropist? Most certainly, as your bio reveals you were not born with silver, golden or a diamond studded spoon. “Historically, musicians, entertainers and athletes are known for their philanthropy. Look at Sir Elton john, earning a million and a half dollars in one night giving it out, CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies who make many times more don’t usually do that!”. Oh yes, indeed, you are so right Yank (laughs all round). “Musicians and athletes do it all the time, politicians only in election year (more laughs), so growing up
in the music business, it is very customary for one to do it for cancer research, drug prevention and so on.” Says Yank, one of your most popular campaign globally was when you hit the road and travelled the world over highligthing drug abuse, what made you do it? “ I was once a drug user, and instead of letting parents talk to youngsters, I wanted to tell them how bad it was for their future. To highlight this, I used to take two eggs and throw them on a hot pavement, and when they sizzled, I would tell them, this is what “coke” can do to your brains. I have buried friends like Jimi Hendricks, John Belushi and more recently Richard Prior to this malady”. Providing continued support for the children that we are already supplying with meals and other necessities. Expanding his Global Village Champions team to include people with diverse skills and a determination to make a difference in their world, Yank together with a clutch of celebrities led by his best friend, and arguably the world’s best known athlete Muhammad Ali, Yank’s Global Village has been encouraging people around the world to apply their caring attitude to their own community and help out a local food bank or volunteer at a shelter. “We are determined to realize the vision of having provided One Billion meals to hungry people and fostering an atmosphere of hope for a better future,” he avers. For more than 17 years Yank Barry, Muhammad Ali, Gary “U.S” Bonds and the rest of the Global Village Champions have worked to provide more than 545 million meals to hungry people around the World. Yank’s determined efforts to provide meals
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THE LEADERS
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to needy children were recognized recently when Mr. Barry received the 2010 Gusi Peace Prize for Social Services, Philanthropy and Humanitarianism.” Our primary focus is A Day Without Hunger. This is a challenging task given the extraordinary political and economic conditions in many parts of the globe, he replies when asked what lies ahead. The Global Village Champions Foundation works closely with Non-Governmental Organizations and volunteer organizations around the World to bring nutritious food, fresh water and medical supplies to people in need.” With your help, we can accomplish so much more. We encourage you to volunteer in your local community and lend your compassion and gifts to help us accomplish our vision of A Day Without Hunger”, he says feelingly. Okay tell us how did you get on this platform of feeding the hungry? “It was a feed the hungry project for Ethiopia with Quincy Jones but it went horribly wrong as we chose fruits and cheese which went bad. Till then my only connection with food stuff was my dad who was a butcher!” “Then somewhere in the late eighties after I had quit the sports management business and was on a last committed trip to South Africa, I met a gentleman called Lee Trevino who was into making ready to eat meals for the military as well as disaster management, and since there was this Ebola virus scare out of Africa, he had trouble getting orders.” So you helped him out? “Using the good offices of Muhammad Ali I was introduced to world leaders, sheikhs, emirs, presidents and prime ministers, and since the food was such that all you needed was water and fire, I could generate a lot of business, but let me tell you, since Ali is such a foodie, the wife made a chicken salad out of that vegetarian product, a hamburger out of vegetarian beef and some great spaghetti and when Ali, the world’s greatest salesman as I chose to call him sampled the fare, he snarled that it was super and couldn’t make out the difference.”
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and sell the agriculture product in three years time, as well as the small agro projects that we have set up will help them grow their own vegetable, use fifty percent for themselves and sell the rest for cash.” He also plans to boost tourism as he says that the neighboring Dominican Republic is flush with five star resorts and says the Haitians have had their share of ‘bad karma’ and are wonderful people who deserve a start all over again. Added Yank, “So while Ali introduced me, I kept those connections alive, networked with them, sent them small gifts, wished them on their birthdays and anniversaries. Obviously, Bahamas’ happened and I set up business there and then gradually bought over Lee’s company Vita-Pro and promised myself whatever I saved in tax would go to charity and then it all began, and I even had the food too! This was like contagion. It just caught on.” Surprisingly Yank has adopted 2013 kids to date globally and knows six hundred of them by name and continues doing so, and even after the recent treble disaster that rocked Japan, Yank was there two days later and his team of forty doctors from Global Village continues to be based in various affected areas as well even as we speak. “Needy people, he says, are needy people, regardless of caste, color, creed or religion. Today the world is a global village, it’s so small, we need to get together and help people.” He claims that his foundation does not accept donations, “There is no page on our website where you can donate, as we don’t have a bank account but each of our efforts is completely filmed and documented to the dot, and those wishing to partake can do so by tying up with us.” Haiti is among one of Yank’s latest projects even as he is buying land there and pushing agro projects actively as well as planting more than 15 million trees including mango trees to rebuild the shattered economy as well as ecology of a place he calls “heaven”. In a reply to a question as to how this would help the Haitians, Yank says, “ They will make
Yank has had his share of bad luck for over eight years after a run in with George Bush, and he had his share of battles which he won, and also ended up losing his daughter, “Stand up for your convictions, no matter what and you will win.” He admits that he is not the same man, and that he is a little more untrusting and skeptical, but at the same time he is tying up with other global NGO’s like “Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières and has begun organizing and inviting people to be a part of his Global Village by spending a little and reaping rewards like tickets to world boxing championships on the ringside, and at rock concerts as well, and says, “The whole idea is to create awareness, give rewards and get more people involved.” At 63 he has had his share of bad press, and says it doesn’t affect him or his work and his ideals are simple, “For example if I tie up with any organization in helping the deprived people in Malaysia, then the money collected stays in the same country! My line is, help us get to the finish line and everyone wins.” His advice to young leaders is, “Network as much as possible, if there are five in a big club, get to know one, you will come to know the other four!” To a question as to what would be his favorite quote, he says, “I am a bad painter and I once made a mural outside my house in blue, and wrote below How big can you dream! You can make it happen, and you don’t need to be Superman”.