Charity marks 1 billionth meal for needy with St. Vincent de Paul ceremony

An international non profit that specializes in providing meals to people in need celebrated its "One billionth meal" on Monday with its third "Christmas in January" event through the Global Village Champions Foundation at a downtown Phoenix shelter.

Global Village Champions Foundation has donated over 250,000 meals to St. Vincent de Paul in Arizona and has strong ties to the original founders of Celebrity Fight Night including Jimmy Walker and Yank Barry, and includes famous Arizona residents like Muhammad Ali.

"It took us a little longer than we thought, but its one billion today guys," said co-founder Yank Barry.

The organization served its first meal nearly 20 years ago with founders Muhammad Ali, Yank and Yvette Barry in the Benton Harbor, Mich., Soup Kitchen where 50,000 meals to the homeless were delivered, said Glenn Selig, a spokesman for the group.

The group has grown into an international organization but its ties to the Valley remain strong: The event Monday concluded with the Global Village Champions Foundation donating $10,000 and 150,000 meals to St. Vincent de Paul.

"Our kitchen puts out 4,000 hot meals every single day and without supportive organizations like Global Village we couldn't do that," said Stephen Attwood the chief operations officer of St. Vincent de Paul.

The milestone commemorated Monday attracted the attention of former pro athletes, many of whom work with the foundation, but NFL Hall of Fame nominee Nick Lowery said the issue should be important to everyone in the Valley.

"Everybody on this planet, whether we are the most famous athlete in the world like Muhammad Ali, or whether we are someone who happens to be homeless, we are all important, we are all equally important," said Lowery.

Ali, who was released from a Kentucky hospital last week, was unable to attend the event.

Phoenix Suns' ambassador Steven Hunter also made an appearance and said the team's community outreach efforts allow employees to do a lot of work with St. Vincent de Paul.

"It's a great way to give back to the community," Hunter said.

The billion meals have been recorded through "shipping documents" and "portion sizes".

"Twenty years ago we started counting and I told (Muhammad) Ali 'We're going to feed a billion meals'," Yank Barry said. "(Ali) wasn't phased. He just said, 'Let's shake up the world again'."

For more information on Global Village Champions Foundation you can visit theirwebsite

To volunteer at or donate to St. Vincent de Paul you can refer to theirvolunteer page http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2015/01/12/st-vincent-de-paul-mealsabrk/21651975/