Add Passion And Stir

There are over 13 million kids heading back to school this month in the U.S. that are living with hunger. Please be inspired by two episodes from our 2022 series on Food is the Most Important School Supply. Hear directly from kids affected by hunger and teachers and school administrators witnessing hunger in the classroom, as well as changemakers from federal, state, and local government that are making sure kids get fed at school. These changemakers include:Dawn Amano-Ige, the First Lady of HawaiiDr. Sara Bleich, Director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity at the USDADr. Miguel A. Cardona, United States Secretary of EducationJohn Giles, the Mayor of Mesa, ArizonaJennie Gordon, the First Lady of WyomingLevar Stoney, the Mayor of Richmond, Virginia, andTom Vilsack, United States Secretary of AgricultureWe hope you are moved and inspired to fight childhood hunger. Go to nokidhungry.org to learn more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#d

Ashley Graham, Development Director at New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Foundation, and Rhonda Jackson, Louisiana Director for the No Kid Hungry Campaign, describe the path from deep social inequities to Hurricane Katrina to New Orleans’ recovery and resurgence. Graham talks about Share Our Strength’s role in sparking collaborations and initiatives to support the rebuilding efforts, including bringing delegations of supporters into areas of need. “Those delegations were interesting because they are people who might not otherwise be sitting around a table together, but we put them on a bus and tried to show what was working in the recovery and try to find ways to get engaged either financially or through their talents… there were lots of amazing ripple effects from those trips," she says. Jackson outlines the ongoing challenges of combatting childhood hunger in New Orleans, despite the city's rich culinary culture. “It was even hard to convince schools and principals and administrators that childhood hunger was

Chef, food writer, food critic, and author Ruth Reichl discusses the transformative power of food and culture. “One of the great things to me about food is that you have the ability to touch these moments of grace throughout the day simply by biting into a perfect peach and going, ‘oh my God, I'm glad I'm alive,’" she marvels.Her new book, "The Paris Novel,” explores the connection between food and joy. Reichl’s love of food and culture and food writer background shapes the book’s main character, who travels to Paris and rediscovers herself through food, art, and other cultural experiences. She also talks about the recent changes in the restaurant industry. “Food has always been my way of seeing the world. I have always looked at the world food-first,” says Reichl.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this very special encore presentation of Add Passion and Stir we will revisit our conversation Pierre Ferrari, the former President and CEO of Heifer International, and Matt Bell, chef and owner of South on Main restaurant in Little Rock, as they share insights about creating value in poor communities. Since the first airing of this episode, Pierre has now retired and is writing a book about ending rural hunger around the world.Ferrari speaks about the success Heifer International has had in poor agricultural communities throughout the world by driving social psychological change before anything else. “We work with communities that could almost be described as clinically depressed...the despair is so deep…they feel condemned to this situation,” he says. Heifer uses value-based training to demonstrate to people their own ability and capacity to make change. “Without that psychological shift, nothing we do, no animal, no training will actually catch hold,” he notes. Bell has first-hand knowledge of the succe

Activist, author, and nonprofit founder Sam Daley-Harris has been using and training people on transformational advocacy for almost 50 years and is optimistic about America’s future. “With transformational advocacy, you're trained, encouraged, and succeed at doing things as an advocate you never thought you could do, like meeting with a member of Congress and bringing them on board to your issue,” he explains. Advocates he works with are making big changes on issues like hunger and climate change. “I’m optimistic because I have my eye on volunteers and what volunteers are doing. If I had my eye on the news, I would be pessimistic.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Michael Schlein, President and CEO of Accion, talks about how his nonprofit is providing access to financial systems for people all over the world who currently do not have access to tools like bank accounts, loans, or digital financial transactions.“Two billion people are left out of and poorly served by the global financial system. Their lives are so much harder than they have to be, and we're trying to change that,” he says. Advances in technology like satellite imaging have made it possible to reach many more business owners. “I think this is a ‘once in a lifetime’ moment, and we're trying to seize this moment to really change the world,” he believes.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mayor Sharon Weston Broome of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Mayor Mattie Parker of Fort Worth, Texas are Chair and Vice-Chair of the Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger, a bipartisan alliance of almost 400 mayors from across the country. “I think the first thing that the Alliance capitalizes on is a firm understanding that the most powerful thing Americans can use is their bully pulpit to any cause,” says Mayor Parker. Mayor Broome agrees. “There are a lot of best practices that we can hone in on and we can work together to advocate for legislative measures at the federal, state, and local levels.” Listen in to learn about some innovative ideas that have already been shared among the mayors in the Alliance and how these initiatives are reducing childhood hunger in their communities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

India’s children are hungry. Gauri Devidayal, Co-Founder and Director of The Food Matters Group,and Pankaj Jethwani, physician and Executive VP at W Health Ventures, are working to solve that problem. Devidayal is using her platform to draw attention and funding to the cause while Jethwani is helps run holistic nutrition programs. “I think India's one of the greatest nations when it comes to hospitality. It's just something that comes innately to people,” says Devidayal. “That's ridiculous, as a child, to go through eight hours in the morning before a first meal and still expect to learn, still expect to thrive,” Jethwani believes. “We've served 400,000 children. It's a drop in the ocean. It's not even a drop in the ocean - it's a micro-drop in the ocean.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Charles Watson, CEO of Tropical Smoothie Café, talks about how the restaurant industry is uniquely positioned to make a difference on child hunger. “The American consumer is demanding and one of the things that they're demanding - which is good - is purpose,” says Watson. “[They’ll] give you their money… but [they] also want to see that you're giving back and that you're doing something positive.” He proposed a "CEO Pledge to End Hunger" which aims to raise funds to support summer food programs, potentially preventing millions of children from going hungry. “We need sunshine, we need happiness, we need taking care of one another,” he concludes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jamila Robinson, the new Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appétit, discusses her vision for the magazine and more broadly how food can be a powerful force for good in the world. “I'm very curious about how other people experience food and how food drives culture for other people, and that curiosity allows for other people to feel seen, and so it also changes the way that we approach stories,” she says. She wants the magazine to cover food culture for everyone along with sustainable food practices. “I do think it's important that we think about where our food comes from, who's producing it, and the impact that it might have on our environment.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Well before the school year ends for American children , advocates like USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Stacy Dean and Hawaii-based consumer advocate and substance abuse counselor Zahava “Zee” Zaidoff are planning how to feed kids over the summer. “The experience of hunger, in and of itself, is a terrible thing. But hunger amongst children is so much more devastating... They don't need food just to maintain, but also to grow and thrive,” says Dean. Many layers of government, organizations, and individuals are ensuring that kids get access to meals during the summer months. “This is not just about the kids that we're trying to feed. This is about - fortunately and unfortunately - systemic change that has to happen around the entire system,” Zaidoff emphasizes.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Food and culture writer Alicia Kennedy and chef advocacy trainer and Table81 founder Katherine Miller discuss food justice and how we can make important improvements in our food system. “We operate with this idea that we should be able to have any [food] we want whenever we want it, at whatever price that we wanna pay for it,” says Miller. “It's an artificially constructed system that keeps our food affordable in certain places and makes it unaffordable and unattainable in other places.” Kennedy writes about food justice, food sovereignty, and food apartheid. “Food justice is not merely the ability to access fresh food. It is the space, time, energy, and ability to cook it and serve it in a way that provides a nourishing, complete and aesthetically pleasing dish according to one's cultural standards,” she states.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Daron Babcock, CEO of Bonton Farms located in a low-income neighborhood in South Dallas. Bonton Farms is one of the largest urban farms in the United States and its programs are addressing a variety of barriers residents face including housing, education, nutrition, and economic self-sufficiency. “[Systemic inequity] is built on the faulty idea that there's this American dream that everybody can access and if you don't, then there's something wrong with you,” says Babcock. “My new neighbors just happened to be born into a place that had very little to offer them, and their human potential got squashed in the process… The bad news is yes, we designed that and we have to own up to it. But the good news is, we can redesign our future - it doesn't have to stay that way.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jimmy Chen, founder/CEO of Propel and Ofek Lavian, founder/CEO of Forage, explain how they are harnessing the power of technology to ensure more people can easily access government food benefits. “We believe that well-fed people have many problems, but hungry people have only one,” saysk Lavian. Both companies make it easier for people to access and maximize benefits online and through apps. “We build technology because we see it as the tool that is underappreciated and underutilized in this sector to create the outcomes of… safety net programs meeting their promise for Americans,” says Chen.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bestselling author Thomas Kostigen talks about climate change and specifically how we can all decrease our carbon footprints by making different food choices. “If we were to embrace more types of food rather than what is just basically pushed upon us by the food system, then we might have a chance to change things in a bigger way,” he says. ““It isn't that easy to understand how much [each] food stores carbon.” Kostigen recently partnered with actor and philanthropist Robert Downey Jr. on Cool Food: Erasing Your Carbon Footprint One Bite at a Time, which serves as a guide to help us all make better food choices. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The pain and suffering children in poverty endure, is a choice.  NOT their choice, not their parents’ choice, but a policy choice made by politicians in Washington DC. In this very special episode of Add Passion and Stir, we will examine the plight of the millions of American children who live in poverty and struggle with hunger.  We provide a 360o view of the issues from many perspectives.  Including those of Author and Child Advocate David Ambroz;Congressman Jim McGovern;Second Harvest Food Bank executive director Rhonda Chaffin;New York Times’ senior writer Jason DePerle; Research scientist Dr. Renee Ryberg;Harvard Professor Dr. Jack Shonkoff;Pediatrician Dr. Kimberly Montez; andAmerican Academy of Pediatrics CEO Mark DelMonte  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this very special episode of Add Passion and Stir, we are going to talk about challenges and solutions in the fight for equity in America. We found three incredibly compelling stories that address the solvable problem of inequity in all its forms in the United States. We will hear from Bonton Farms CEO Daron Babcock, Investigative Journalist Aldore Collier, and Dr. Michael McAfee, President and CEO of Policy Link; three visionaries who saw past obstacles that others found too daunting and are now sharing their strength to create z more equitable America for all of its citizensSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this special encore presentation, we re-visit our conversation with CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp, who shares her perspectives on the current events in the Middle East, her own mental health challenges, and ending child hunger.“Stand up for your friends, because they're hurting right now, and they need every voice they need, every hug they need, every text or email or call you can make,” she says about the war between Israel and Hamas.“Problems like hunger and poverty are not going to be solved at an international or even a federal level, they're going be solved at a community level.” These issues are interconnected.Listen in to learn how to help kids here and abroad.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jack Shonkoff, director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, talks with us about the science around trauma and toxic stress in child development. “I never talk about toxic stress or excessive stress activation without also talking about adaptation and resilience and the fact that you can build resilience against that,” he says. “There's huge variability and sensitivity to these kinds of traumas… the early experiences shift the odds, but they don't determine exactly what's going to happen.” Shonkoff also shares broader insights about how science can be helpful to the public.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.