Feb. 21, 2008

Former Governor Robert Ray and Kenneth Quinn, former Iowa SHARES director and current president of World Food Prize Foundation, will give a presentation Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at Simpson College in Great Hall as part of the Iowa History Center’s 2007-2008 lecture series.

The pair will be discussing their roles in aiding the relocation of Tai Dam refugees in Iowa in the 1970s.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford asked state leadership with help resettling refugees who had fled from their homelands during the Vietnam War. Gov. Ray—and thousands of Iowans—responded to the plight of those displaced by the war.

In addition to bringing many refugees to Iowa, Gov. Ray also founded Iowa SHARES, which provided supplies, food and medical personal to refugee camps in Southeast Asia. The organization received widespread support from Iowans, who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in a few months time.