Muhammad Ali helps deliver food to poor in Mexico

05/08/2000

By Nancy San Martin / The Dallas Morning News

CIUDAD JUAREZ , Mexico - Boxing legend Muhammad Ali threw punches in the air Sunday, each blow aimed at helping wipe out hunger in this overpopulated city.

Mr. Ali led a parade that included Yank Barry, whose VitaPro soy food extender became a target of federal and state investigators in the mid-1990s.

With a smile and the mischievous look that became his trademark in the ring, Mr. Ali made his way across the international bridge linking Juarez with El Paso . He sought to bring attention to the efforts of a missionary group that has been feeding poor children in Juarez for nearly 40 years.

The group. Christ for Mexico , sometimes has problems transporting the goods through Mexican customs. But with Mr. Ali on the front seat of a trolley leading a truck loaded with food and toys across the bridge, getting past the bureaucracy was easy.

"Hey, Ali, we did it," Mr. Barry, founder of Global Village Market, shouted as the group drove into Juarez .

At a gymnasium packed with children on the outskirts of the city, Mr. Ali's group handed out 2 tons of soy-based powdered food from Global Village, a Canadian company that distributes low-fat, high-protein products.

Mr. Barry headed VitaPro Foods Inc., a company that sold a soy food extender to the Texas prison system in the mid-1990s.

Mr. Barry and the former head of the Texas prison system, James A. "Andy" Collins, were the subjects of a 1998 federal indictment alleging a kickback in v ol v ing the prisons' VitaPro purchase.

When mixed with water, the beef- or chicken-flavored powder Mr. Barry donated Sunday has a consistency much like ground beef. Eight tons of food will be delivered over the next few months in Juarez, enough to feed 2 million children, organizers said.

While members of the Christ for Mexico organization had heard vague rumblings about Mr. Barry's past, they wee most interested in the offer of food.

"There is no business goin g on between us," said Irma Valadez Tovar, daughter of the organization's founder. "It was all donated, and thank God for that."

Mr. Ali, 58, has been involved in humanitarian relief efforts for three years.

"They told us ... [Mr. Ali] is famous," said Victor Hu go, 12, as he watched the former boxer carry babies and distribute toys inside the gymnasium. "He looks strong. I bet he can still fight."

Mr. All retired from boxing in 1981.

"He still looks like a champ," said Ruben Jaques, 30, of Juarez , who brought his 7-year-old son to meet Mr. Ali. "Meeting someone of his caliber goes a long way. He is a formidable figure."

Global Village usually responds to natural disasters, but Mr. Ali wanted to start focusing on other needy groups, such as the Christ for Mexico organization, which the company learned about in December.

"We started looking for smaller groups that we could watch grow," Mr. Barry said.

Christ for Mexico , which runs four missions, three clinics and an orphanage in Juarez , is mostly known for feeding children who scour the city's dumps.

Suzie Valadez, who heads the missionary group, said, "Wherever the dump moves, I go." She began her missionary work in 1984 and now feeds 3,000 children a month.

Back to Main Press