The Angel Of Rock

It is a sad irony that in a land of great abundance where there is so much food, many people still go hungry. The problem is getting all that surplus food to the people who need it.

One man dreamed up a unique solution, and, as CBS News Anchor Dan Rather reports, he's making it rock 'n' roll.

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Armed with plastic wrap and a cooler, 49-year-old Syd Mandelbaum is not your typical rock concert groupie.

Backstage is where you'll find him and his band of volunteers collecting food for the nation's hungry.

"My dream is to feed anyone that hungers in the United States," Mandelbaum says.

Mandelbaum's anti-hunger crusade is a tribute to his parents who came to this country after nearly starving to death in a Nazi concentration camp.

"I would like to use their experience to help end hunger here in the country they immigrated to," he says.

To do that Mandelbaum lives two lives. By day he is a scientist, but at night he's the angel of rock. "We now feed over 2 to 3 million people a year just with the concept of contractual obligation," he says.

Mandelbaum arranges for rock groups and artists such as the Rolling Stones and Tina Turner to put in their performance contracts that all leftover food from their tours be donated to local charities through his organization Rock and Wrap It Up.

So far, 130 bands and 1,000 volunteers have signed on. But Mandelbaum's dream doesn't stop there.

"I am looking to increase to over a million people a day being fed," he says.

He's expanding Rock and Wrap It Up to include school cafeterias, the film industry and political campaigns.

While Mandelbaum's organization puts food on the tables of the hungry, it also satisfies the hunger of a son honoring the experience of his parents.

Even the politicians are getting into the act now. The Democratic and Republican parties have agreed to donate leftover food from their primary night functions and political fund-raisers.

You can contact Rock and Wrap It Up through its Web site or by telephone at 877-691-FOOD. You can email Syd Mandelbaum at [e-mail].