How to Give Back and Fight Food Insecurity this Holiday Season

Published Nov 25, 2024, 8:05 AM

Today on The Bright Side, we’re talking about giving back and extending a helping hand this holiday season. CEO of Feeding America Claire Babineaux-Fontenot joins Danielle and Simone to talk about how her organization is combating hunger across the country, and how we can all do our part to help alleviate food insecurity.

Hey Bessies, Hello Sunshine.

Today on the bright Side, we're getting the tools to give back during this holiday season. CEO of Feeding America, Claire Babineau Fontaneau, joins us to share what we can all do to fight food and security and show up for each other every single day. It's Monday, November twenty fifth. I'm Danielle Robe.

And I'm Simone Voice, and this is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to share women's stories, laugh, learn and brighten your day.

On My Mind Monday is brought to you by Missus Meyers Clean Day, inspired by the goodness of the garden.

Simone.

There's no better way to kick off the week than with a good source of inspo.

What's on your mind today?

Well, you say inspiration, I think you have to hear what I have in store first. What do you mean I'm coming in hot today?

Okay?

Starting with this question, Danielle, what is the last thing that made you cry?

Okay?

Well, I have to go back a little bit because I turned the spigot on of my crying when I was about twenty eight and it has since never turned off. I don't know if that's like a common thing, like once the faucet turns on, you just can't turn it off. So I cry it a lot. I cry at movies. I cry if I'm frustrated, I cry. I cry all the time. I cry if I like see something sad or something hopeful.

When's the last time you cried? I don't know if I could pinpoint mine.

Yours are probably with your kids, Like if you saw like Logan do something amazing.

No, I'm not going to cry over that. I'll be so happy. But that's not the thing that's going to make me cry. You know, it's funny that you said that the spigot turned on for you at twenty eight.

I think that's a real thing.

That we go through these transitions in life that really open up the floodgates. I feel like my spigot was open to like high school. Then when I went out into the world, I shut it off. But when I became a mom, it opened up in unexpected ways, Like new things will make you cry when you become a mom, like seeing kids and you know, getting harmed in movies or you know, the subject matter has a greater impact on you. That being said, I am still the same teenager that I once was, because I teared up the other day watching the Wicked trailer.

Your kidding, just.

Just putting myself in the headspace of like being in the theater and watching it like I'm gonna cry. So I preemptively cried watching the trailer.

Oh my God, like because for good makes us cry, that song makes us cry, but like, is there something more to it?

I always am a sucker for like a good crescendo or like really heartfelt string arrangement. You know, music just really gets to me. I am emotionally intertwined with music. So ye, trailers, you know, they engineer them for emotion, and they got me.

Yeah.

You know what, now that you've said that, I know the last time I cried. Anything that has to do with a veteran makes me lose it. I can't handle it and soldiers all over. It doesn't matter what country.

I lose it.

Well, we both have been reading The Women I sobbed. I cried a lot reading that book because it is all about veterans.

So I'm with you there.

But the reason why I'm asking you about this is because the New York Times put out a quiz that tells us what kind of crier we are. So they partnered with author and clinical psychologist ad Vingerhoutz, who Mind You has spent more than two decades studying when and why we cry to help us understand what makes us tear up.

So there's a twelve question quiz.

It tells you if you're an attachment, compassionate, sentimental, or societal crier.

Or maybe you're not a crier at all.

Maybe you're just a stoic, you know, with a ice cold blackheart. But that's not me because I took the quick and I've learned a lot about myself.

What did you get?

I'm an attachment crier and a compassionate crier, So what does that actually mean? Okay, so I'm going to read this for Batam from the New York Times. Attachment criers enjoy developing deep, trusting relationships with the people in their lives, and those strong connections can sometimes turn on the water works.

They're saying.

Separations and reunions may also evoke in emotional reaction and attachment criers. This tracks for me because weddings, I'm a mess.

Yeah.

Same, And then compassionate criers show sensitivity toward people who are experiencing misfortune or suffering, and their empathy motivates them to lessen others' pain. Studies have found that those who feel empathy are more likely to cry easily.

Experts have suggested.

That this might be because highly empathic people have the ability to experience other people's distress alongside their own.

Also tracks, one of my close friends was pregnant and found out her husband was cheating on her, and she called me and was crying. I was trying to hold it together for her, but I lost it. And so the compassionate crier makes that makes a lot of sense for me. If my friends are in pain, I cry with them same.

You know that story I told a couple weeks ago about my friend who thought she was going to lose her baby. It's perfect example of that. I was like sobbing right along with her, and there's like no containing it. There are two other results that you can get from this quiz. A sentimental crier responds emotionally when they see good things happen. So if they see someone showing concern for another person, someone being altruistic, or even just like achieving an impressive goal, sentimental criers tend to get a little weepy at that. And then finally, societal criers are the people who are invested in the well being of groups. So that could be people who are really invested in their family members or even in their religious congregation. And this means that these types of criers actually get emotional whenever they see people that they love and care about in conflict with one another. That's an interesting dynamic that is really interesting when you think about the types of criers in your life.

Who do you think of? Danielle.

My grandma's a sentimental crier. She's like she will have like a holiday dinner and stand up to make a speech and she'll be like, hello everybody, and we're like, already, who is this?

Didn't even say anything. My mom's mom, Oh my god.

She cries at everything, but tears the thing. Tears are such a release. I actually think there's such a beautiful part of the human experience. We actually release oxytocin when we cry, and so they're made to sort of re energize rejuvenate us. That said, like, when I go through a breakup and I'm crying, it exhausts me.

I wake up exhausted. Do you ever feel that if you have a big cry?

Oh yeah, thousand percent, like a full day cry, like a you.

Know you got a yeah, Like that's naughty one.

Yeah, exactly. You know what's funny. And I don't know that any of it. Dy else agrees with me. This is like my simone theory on crying. But the feeling that I get after a good cry is the same feeling that I get after I step out of a salt water ocean.

That's very interesting.

I wonder if it has something to do with like the salt quality and the tears and the ocean. I don't know, it just feels it's the exact same sensation.

I love that for you because I never feel better than when I get out of an ocean. So if that's what you feel when you cry, I'm so happy for you.

You know this.

This conversation feels very fitting for our episode today because we just had an opportunity just now to understand our emotions better through the kinds of things that make us cry, and also understand everyone else around us and how they process emotions too. And I think the more we can understand each other, the more we can connect and that is the purpose.

That's why we're here.

One hundred percent, and that's part of I think what Thanksgiving is about, which has come up this Thursday, and it's a day for gratitude and spending time with loved ones, connecting as you said.

But here's the thing.

It also is a day that centers largely around food and there are millions of people across the country that experience food and security, which means they don't have enough food to eat or don't know where their next meal will come from. I'm really passionate about this issue because we have so much food in our country. There is an abundance of food, and so much of it is going to waste.

We could really be solving this problem.

Well.

Today is a chance to feel empowered around this issue because we have Claire Babineau Fontane on the show. She's the CEO of Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger relief organization in the country, and she's here to tell us all about the organization's effort to fight against hunger and what we can do today to help alleviate food insecurity.

That's after the break, stay with us.

Thanks to our partners at MISSUS Meyers. When it comes to cleaning, it's more fun if it smells like the garden. Missus Meyer's collection of household products Smell, grate and pack, a punch against dirt and grind. Visit missus Meyers dot com. Claire Babineau Fontino, Welcome to the bright Side.

Well, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

We're really excited to have you. I feel particularly passionate about the issue of food and security because in a country like ours, where grocery stores are just overflowing with aisles of food, we waste so much food, tons of food each year, and there's no reason that anyone should be struggling to find their next meal in America, and yet the reality is completely different. The USDA's recent Food Security Report found that around forty seven million people in the US live in food and secure households. And what's really upsetting to to me is that nearly fourteen million of them are children, meaning one in eight kids in America are food and secure. So I think, before we get into solutions, I'd love to take a step back. What does it actually mean to be food and secure? And it's core, it's really about whether or not people have consistent, predictable access to the food that they need, and the reality, the sad truth is that nearly fifty million.

People in this country don't, and as you said, nearly fourteen million of them are children. Inside of those big numbers are actual, real people. They include real grandmas who are famous for particular recipes that they've always been the ones who made that over a holiday, and that knowing as I do, that there are millions of grandmas out there who are making impossible choices right now about am I going to pay for my utility bills? Or am I going to pay for my medicine? Or am I going to have enough food? So over the holidays, I'm reminded of those grandmas and it causes me to find more energy to work harder to make certain if fewer and fewer of them ever have to make those kinds of choices.

Well, Claire, we got to give you your flowers real quick. Because of your advocacy in this space, you are named one of times one hundred most influential people of twenty twenty. Belated congratulations too, because that is such a huge accomplishment and I think part of the reason why you're such an essential voice in this space is because of your compelling backstory. You grew up with one hundred and seven siblings through childbirth, adoption, and foster care, with about fifteen to sixteen children living in one house at one time. I've heard you say that your parents essentially operate did a food pantry out of your home. How did you harness your experience and your upbringing into the advocacy that you're doing today.

My childhood has everything to do about everything that I aspire to be in the world. My grandparents on both sides were actually sharecroppers. Neither my parents had the privilege of graduating from high school, and something that I've known my whole entire life, all sixty of my years, I've had a keen awareness that we do not need to look to distant shores to find children experiencing hunger, because hunger was right here. So my mom did not chide us, nor that my father that we better eat our broccoli because they're hungry children in Africa, as many of my friends' moms might have chided them. It was not necessary for them to find a distant place. So I'm sure that in direct response, to your question. I'm sure that everything that I do I do imperfectly. But I certainly am working to apply all of the investments that have been made in me by my parents, by my brothers and sisters, for whom I was mostly an annoyance, by the way, and by so many people throughout the course of my life. I'm hoping to leverage all of those things for this. The most important opportunity I've ever had in my life to serve is the chance I get right now inside the privilege of being CEO Feeding America.

I often talk about my grandmother Bonnie on this show. She was extremely poor.

She had one pair of shoes that she wore to school every day and they were falling apart, and they didn't have enough food at home. But she always told herself that her education would be her ticket out, and she wound up becoming such an incredible activist and public servant because she always prioritized her education. And you mentioned that you enjoy privileges that some of your other family members don't have. What do you think is that set you apart?

Well, I've never had that question asked in exactly that way, and the most honest answer is I don't know, mostly because contrary to what I'm told i'm supposed to say, when people say, oh, congratulations, you earned that, I'm supposed to say thank you, and I'm supposed to act as if I think that's true. I don't think I have somehow earned this opportunity. There are people who are smarter than I am. I have family members who worked harder than I did. I have brothers and sisters who had obstacles in front of them that I have never had in front of me, and for whom success is getting up in the morning, brushing their teeth, going off and going to work. But what I'd say was a key differentiator for all of us in our family was although there are one hundred and eight of us, and I know that's a hard number for people to wrap their heads around, my parents, and especially my mom, she saw each of us as individual children of hers for whom she had a responsibility. So you didn't tend to get lost in our family. What was so extraordinary, in addition to how many of us there is in our family, was how there was space created for us to realize our own individual potential.

Having gone through food in security, you must have just a very unique perspective on how you want to fight food in security. Now that you're at the helm of feeding America, what are the efforts that you've put in place to fight this.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. I was just thinking about it today on what it meant for me to have a lot of expectations that I put on myself and others put on me as well, and to find myself in school and unable to find have any food, to truly have no money, no gas, no food, and going into a salvation army in the town that I was going to school in and having someone treat me with such kindness and dignity and respect, and the contrasts that I felt between the shame of my head being down when I walked in and the sense of belonging and grace that was given. So I certainly have an aspiration in the work that we do, that we meet people where they are, and that we expect of ourselves, that we create dignified spaces for people, that we work on wrong perceptions around whom it is that experiences hunger in this country, that we use our platforms to make it more likely people have more choice. Those things, for sure.

What are those misconceptions, Claire, We have data that show that most people in this country, no matter what their political leanings are. Other ways you might slice and disis that we have this misconception that most people experiencing hunger in the country are lazy. Nothing could be farther from the truth, and we have data that shows that that's simply not true. I'll throw out this fact that were you to take out children and the elderly and people with unique challenges like physical challenges, etc. The vast majority of people experiencing hunger in this country have at least one job. Wow, many of them have more than one. And we have lived expertise around that on this very podcast. From what you were said just a few minutes ago about your grandmother, wouild you characterize that as laziness. Of course, not the most resourceful, vigilant, hardworking people that I get to meet or people in this country experiencing hunger.

So that's one of the things. So along with the perception of laziness comes shame and some people actually sometimes there are resources that could be so helpful to people, but they don't get access to them because of the shame and because of the stigma.

We have to take a quick break, but will be write back, stay with us, and.

We're back with Claire Babino Fontanelle.

Well, I know that our bright side besties are extremely compassionate and empathetic, and they're going to want to know what they can do to help. How can we come alongside your efforts at Feeding America. Where's a good place for us to start? And let's say, just give us three actionable things that we can do right away.

So may I make certain that everybody understands what Feeding America as a network is. This is just in case, yes, please, I'm hoping you all know and you're all already doing at least one of the three things that I'm about to say. But Feeding America is a network that includes hundreds of food banks all across the country. So when you think about food banks, think about big warehouses where food comes to for ultimate distribution inside of communities, and over sixty thousand agency partners and meal programs. So when you think about those, they are you typically pantries. Some pantries are big, some pantries are little, small, church basement pantries. So we run the gamut of these types of embedded organizations inside of local communities all across the country. So we're throughout the country, all fifty states, and when or do they go as well. So that is the Feeding American network. To give you one more round on that to get a sense of scale. In twenty twenty we provided meals to write around sixty million people and we provided six point seven billion meals, So huge, huge network. And although we have a national presence, we are fiercely local. So now to your question about what people can do, I like to put it in three you can donate. A data point for you to know is that the actual food in securior eates in this country are higher today than they've ever been other than during the economic downturn of two thousand and eight two thousand and nine. Since the USDA started recording food in security eights, they're higher today than they were at the peak of the pandemic. Right however, fundraising is significantly down, So donate if you can donate what you can donate money, if you can donate food, if you can donate. The second one would be volunteer. If you go to Feeding America Org, it's a great resource for you to figure out one where you can actually put your resources, the resources that you have to donate it. Also it has a food bank locator on it, so you go in and you put the zip code of the community that you care the most about, and what will pop up will be an organization in our network that's serving that community. You can reach out to them to donate. You can also reach out to them to go and volunteer. Now, I've got to tell you, I don't know what you think when you think about volunteering, but I have volunteered and lots of banks and there's a lot of joy inside of that volunteering. I've seen so many parents bring their kids. I've seen kids connecting with their parents in different kinds of ways because they're doing something that's not centered on them, but that's centered on their communities. I've seen elderly people go out and find community and fight social isolation because they've got a team of people that they get to volunteer with them. They know that they're doing something good. So you can definitely go and volunteer. You can volunteer all by yourself, or you can come up with a cute little team that goes and volunteers. But volunteer. That would be the matter two, and then the final one would be advocate. We each have a voice, and those voices matter, and they're so powerful when they all come together for good. Meeting America as a non partisan organization, it's not five partisan, it's not partisan. We learn from people experiencing hunger what matters the most to them. We learn whom it is that's in those long lines. We learn why it is they're in those lines, and what it'll take to get them out of those lines. They tell us they're the experts. Then engage in advocacy that's designed to make certain that that happens. You can join us an Unfeeding America dot orgy. There are opportunities for you to engage in advocacy with us as well. And again, doesn't matter what your party affiliation is. All that matters is that you agree that it is simply unacceptable for people in this country, the richest country and the history of civilization, to not be able to find the food that they need to thrive. That's all you have to really be aligned on, and then we've got pathways for you to be a part of the change that's necessary.

I love that you mentioned volunteering. I think it's actually really important to volunteer, because if we're not experiencing this ourselves, sometimes it can be hard to jump that empathy gap and really come alongside and support people who do need it. And it also reminds you that this could happen to any of us. This could happen to me tomorrow, this could happen to me next year. I have some really fond memories of volunteering at the Bowery Mission in New York with some of my friends, and we would do it on Thanksgiving or around Christmas. And I'm so glad that you mentioned that because it just reminded me that I want to get back into doing that.

Absolutely, I feel gratified every time I find out about anyone who's giving back in a positive way to their communities. I feel that makes us part of the same, big old community. So thanks for every bit of that. And you know, one of the things I feel to do that I want to make sure I don't let too much time pass without saying, is if you are listening and you yourself are struggling to make ends meet, please reach out as well. So go to Feeding America dot org. Still put in that zoom code, and there'll be someone in this network who are rolling their sleeves up to try to make certain that you get the resources that youn need. And by the way, a lot of people who volunteer at Feeding America have received resources as a part of the Feating America network. People experiencing hunger are not a monolists. They have resources, they want to share the resources that they have. They're talented, hard working, and dedicated as a rule, so it is often the case. And one last point that I'm inspired to say based upon your comment is, especially like during disasters or during COVID, there's so many people they used to volunteer at the food bank or at their pantry, and they never imagine they'd find themselves on the other side of the right and then there they are, yes, And many of them tell me when I meet them, and tell others with whom I work, I will get back on the other side of that line and I won't forget what it felt like to be on this side.

When we think about food and security, I can't help but think about food waste as a big part of this. The US wastes approximately thirty to forty percent of its foods apply each year. That's an incredibly high percentage. It's about one hundred and eight billion pounds of food, and yet there's millions of Americans who can't access food. So there's like a paradox here that I think is highlighted by food waste and the distribution system.

Are there ways during the.

Holidays or tricks that you can share for eliminating food waste, even home by home.

Yes, absolutely. So let's start with the fact that Feeding Merrick's the largest food waste recovery organization in the United States. We have an initiative that we're undertaking right now called the Food Rescue Challenge, and a little tag for it is turn Access into Access Right And in it we're going to go after another billion pounds, another billion pounds of perfectly edible, nutritiously dense food. So, in terms of what individuals can do, I keep sending people Defeeding America dot orgy. We've got lots of helpful information there. But in your day to day there often is number one. Don't buy stuff you don't want right and eat the stuff you do buy. There's that part. Another is that often we have things in our cabinets that are perfectly edible that we thought we were going to use but we didn't. And you can take those things and bring them down to your local pantry or your food bank in the town that you live in and or care about, and provide and donate those foods in that way as well. You can use your voice with large organizations where you've witness wayte happening. So there's some common sense things that each of us can do, and then all together it just translates into what I'm hoping for, which is a real movement to end hunger in this country. And even inside of some of these really regrettable and avoidable things that we've talked about around hunger, that happens with bright sides, like in the middle of a global health pandemic, we figured out ways that could significantly reduce food and security, and we did a lot of them. We learned about the power of the child Tax Credit, the single biggest lever, if you will, tool in reducing child poverty. We put it in play during COVID and it worked. We found out what happens when America is excited and understands and energize around the cause of hunger, that we find ways to donate, we find ways to volunteer, and we find ways to advocate during those times. So we've got proven methodologies that came out of COVID that we are applying right now, and that give me a lot of reason I believe to be optimistic. Another source for optimism for me is that I visited all fifty states in Puerto Rico during the pandemic. Every place I went to, there were people who, in the middle of the global health pandemic, even when they're risk to them, rolled their sleeves up. In every community I went into and did neighborly things, they made certain that the people around them had access to food. So it reinforced what I had hoped was true of America, that we are fundamentally a good nation, that when we know better, we do better, that we can come together. I've seen us do it, and it's one of the great gifts of this work for me.

Claire, thank you so much for sharing your time with us today.

Thank you so much, Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much. Claire.

Claire Babino Fontano is the CEO of Feeding America.

That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, We've got another edition of Shelf Life. Namonte and Keimo and Mitch Anderson join us to talk about their book, the latest Reese's Book Club pick.

We will be Jaguars.

Join the conversation using hashtag the bright Side and connect with us on social media at Hello Sunshine on Instagram and at The bright Side Pod on TikTok oh, and feel free to tag us at Simone Voice and at Danielle Robe.

Listen and follow The bright Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

See you tomorrow, folks.

Keep looking on the bright side.

The Bright Side

Start your day with The Bright Side, a daily podcast from Hello Sunshine. Co-hosted by journalist, T 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 223 clip(s)