ad-free
Channel / Source:
TEDx Talks
Published: 2016-12-21
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HakCAdPrlms
five years ago I learned that we can transform the health of our next generation and all we have to do is replace dangerous misconception with truth and compassion I come from a place of privilege every day I get to decide if my children eat fresh local and even organic food I have the opportunity every day I teach my children to love a variety of food that's
nursing full of flavor aroma and texture I never have to work if my children are going to run out of food and I never have to put them to bed with an empty belly unfortunately this is not the case for one in five children in the United States it's much worse in my hometown one in four children do not know where their next meal is coming
from and often go to school on able to learn at their maximum capacity I want you to imagine the last time you experienced hunger did you get a headache do you feel nauseous or her are you like me and get aggravated frustrated extremely impatient and just a little intolerable now imagine walking over here for it your refrigerator opening and I just see that it's completely anti
and you walk over to your wallet to learn use you not have money to buy food for the rest of the month this is food insecurity food insecurity can also occur when a person does not have enough money to buy nursing to they might rely on pancake mix are instant noodles to feed their children every single day breakfast lunch and dinner this to is food insecurity
while students security impacts everyone's health negatively it is particularly crushing the children nursing suit is critical to a child's mental emotional and physical development what a person does not have access to food they feel shame alienation and even any qualities they feel they're powerless over their food choices as a registered dietitian I spent the last fifteen years working with food assistance programs such as snap formally
known as food stamps women infant children known as wake the national school lunch program and many more I thought it was empathetic to hunger in the United States while I knew nearly fifty million people are impacted by food insecurity daily I never took the time to be a witness to hunger in my private practice I jumped at the opportunity to teach my clients how to adopt
a healthy lifestyle I was eager to persuade my clients to cook with fresh produce I even went so far I call food poisonous and toxic if it came and a box source process I like many other health care professionals was missing an important piece of the puzzle I never stopped and asked my clients if they could afford the very foods I was asking them to buy
is it was five years ago I became the president of a large food pantry where we serve six hundred families throughout the year when I started I was harboring and harboring a nasty horrible and who harassing little secret I assumes our clients coming into a food pantry would be taking advantage of our program in some cases I thought some of our clients would be an educated
and even lazy my misconceptions about poverty were completely wrong I assume so that the majority of people who are poor Warsaw because of generational poverty at the expense of taxpayers according to the United States Census bureau thirty four percent of our population has had one speller poverty lasting two or more months why all less than three percent of our population lives in chronic poverty the entire
four years of that study in other words the majority of people in the United States experiencing food and security in poverty do so because of temporary situations such as the loss of a job a disability diagnosis the birth of a child my misconceptions were wrong and unfortunately there are many people who share my same misc to make it worse to make it worse there are many
people in the United States who need and qualify for food assistance but do not utilize programs because of their own internal I Shane's and the social stigma surrounding food assistance programs last year I was recruited by the academy of nutrition and dietetics you leader in the community voice project the purpose of this project was to bring the real faces of hunger to Congress not just statistics
and for the first time my wife I had the opportunity to sit down and listen so the stories of my clients who lived with an often overcame hunger I heard powerful messages I resourcefulness and motivation during that time I had family members community members neighbors and friends reach out to me and privately said I have a story and I want to share with you they had
three things in common the first thing about of poverty was situational second they were and still are leaders in our community who contribute to society every single day third they were so embarrassed that they had to use food assistance program for a short period of time that they did not let me take their story public in the certainly did not want me to take it to
Congress during this time I had a childhood friend approach me sickly and see I have a story for you but I don't think it's what you're seeking I've never been homeless I'm not a survivor of domestic violence and I'm not a single mom but I used to wake and it seemed to me she talked about having a great life in Colorado and going to the doctor
to learn that she is not only pregnant with baby number two that baby number three twins a couple months go by and she learns that whatever twins was diagnosed with spina bifida unable to breastfeed she had to rely on specialized medical formula to feed her twins on top of new and profound medical expenses she was paying twelve hundred dollars a month for formula this is more
than the average mortgage payment in the United States she talked about going to the grocery store scene in your mind the cashier says I'll floor tiles for whipped verification I'll for my friend was mortified not only is there an impatient line behind her but now the entire store is aware that she is shopping with food assistance to buy her groceries and to make it worse lady
directly behind us excuse me excuse me but is that the new iPhone how it is place it will not necessarily interesting isn't it from that point forward my friend talked about shopping in the middle of the night when her kids were sleeping going across town so no would recognize her she described having a love hate relationship with food assistance she loved it because she is able
to nurse her twins she hated it because a social stigma she received if we're serious about improving the health of our next generation we must dismantle the stigma associated with food assistance programs in order to do that we need to understand that the face of hunger is fluid face of poverty is constantly changing at a moment's notice any one of us at any time can find
herself in a life changing situation such as a natural disaster a divorce a death of a family member a breakdown of a car we ought to visualize the real face of hunger as someone with a swollen belly visible ribs and skinny lands the reality is the real face of hunger looks like you and me one day I was setting up the food pantry having a great
day in this gentleman walked in and he looked amazing twenties thirties where is so he came up to me said who's in charge I immediately got super excited because you know what my mind and think I'm gonna attack I'm gonna get a donation for the food pantry and guess what I'm gonna be able to help more people when I told him I was in charge he
held his head low and he whispered two months three kids and a wife go home to hear that today while again my assumptions I work with a life changing program called the roots Matthews Berger women which children's program at misericordia university this program is breaking the cycle of poverty two generations at a time the women were children's program inspires and empowers women to achieve a four
year college education in this program we teach the women that food assistance is a hand up not a hand out unfortunately this is not the normal messaging in our society if we're gonna win the war on hunger in our communities we my shift away we top treat in view poverty and food assistance in the United States if you have ever utilize food assistance programs such as
the national school lunch program be proud don't be afraid to talk about how it transforms your life which you have pass your spelling test would you have graduated would you be where you are today if you do not have access to school once every single day what I want for you is to understand the power of your words speak out against the social stigma surrounding food
