WEBVTT

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 Today is July 31st 2015. My name is Christi Navarro Malaney interviewing

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for dinner, 2040 oral history project.
I am interviewing Mr Jason Matthews

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at a su core building on a sut campus.
Good morning. Good morning. How are

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you? I'm doing very well. How are you?
I'm good. Thank you. I'm just gonna

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move that a bit. Great. So, can you
tell me a little bit about your uh

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where, when and where? And you were
born? Sure. Um I was actually, I was

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born in Renon Nevada, uh and then
moved to Tucson when I was one. Um And

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so I can't say I'm a native to
Arizona. Um uh and people will tell you if

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they're a neighbor named to Arizona.
Um So I'm in the other 70% that's not

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non native of Arizona, but I have to
say I was, I've been an Arizona

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resident for at least 37 years. So

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tell me a little bit about your
parents and the importance of maybe did

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they kind of expose you to? I know
you've worked a lot of nonprofits and

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things like that. Tell me a little bit
about your family. Absolutely. Uh

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And it's something I'm very
comfortable talking about. Um, my, my mom was

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17 when she had me and uh I never met
my father. I didn't have any uh

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siblings. And so she raised me by
herself and uh the experience of living

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in poverty, uh being in the being the,
the, you know, the recipient of

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government programs, public
assistance, um uh food stamps at the time. Um

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the the benefits of even receiving
food at a food bank, getting help from

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others, um, has really framed why I'm
here today. Um, not only in the, um

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, it's been a contributing factor in
my drive and ambition. Um, as my mom

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never graduated from high school, um,
she certainly didn't go on to

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college. Um, and it's, it's, to me
it's, I'm always trying to help others

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and other families, other parents, um,
other, uh, individuals that have

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gone through what I had gone through
and hopefully can achieve, um, the

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kind of success that I have and even
more, um, that, that's, that they can

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possibly do and if I can be a part of
that, um, that's great. And when my

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, uh, my mom passed away when I was 21
and actually when she was 38 and

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which is always a strange one. You
know, my next birthday, I'll be

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actually living longer than she was,
um, reflecting upon even in that time

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, which really kind of, um, uh, really
solidified this role of how can I

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work to help repair the world. Um And
I actually, uh this is, uh came in

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later in life, someone who is, you
know, uh embraces my, uh, my Jewish

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heritage. And there's this concept of
uh T Kam, which is repair the world

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and how can I do my part to help
repair the world for other individuals?

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And, uh, it's just, it's my, my honor
and pleasure and it keeps me happy

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and keeps me motivated and it's, it's
something that um is just a great,

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it's my North Star that keeps me
going. Do you share this story with

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others that are going through the
struggle right now? And are they, what

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is their reaction? I do? Um And I feel
that that um especially as a rate

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relates to human services and relates
to food insecurity and hunger and

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poverty. Um And a lot of these kind of
services, it's very important to

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share these stories um to help
individuals see that they're not the only

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ones going through it. Um There's so
many aspects that, um well, it's,

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these are embarrassing, sometimes,
shameful, hurtful, hard, um uh uh

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aspects of life and it's, it's not
easy for someone to open up about this.

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Um You can run, um, you know, I run
parallels, you know, and, and, you

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know, through my own history where I
have, uh I've gone through a divorce

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and gosh, if you, you know, as soon as
you mentioned, you got a divorce

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and I realized, oh my gosh, yeah,
there's so many other people have

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divorce stories and it's just, I think
that and that's just one small

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example. But uh to me sharing this
story and to try to humanize it and to

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see that it's not the other, it's not
some, you know, poverty or hunger or

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homelessness, it's not some other
person that lives some other place. Um,

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that, um, uh, we can visit and then
come back, um, that it is a part of us.

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Um, it's, and also make it real and
tangible as opposed to something that

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can be manipulated into a myth or a
legend. Um, unfortunately, in my

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personal opinion, you'll have a lot of
these stories that turn into, well

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, that's the, raise yourself up by
your own boots, stamps, bootstraps.

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It's the, um, um, that drive and
ambition and that, you know, that's, you

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know, good, you know, kind of, I don't
know, again that those kind of big

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mythical kind of things. Um, that to
me is, it's a fall, it's a fallacy.

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Yeah, there was a lot of myself that
helped in these kinds of aspects but

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really when telling the story and, and
sharing this and not only to

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humanize it, but also to humanize

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how I got there and how people can
help with it if it was not for the rest

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of the community that helped me and
helped my mother. Um, I wouldn't be

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here. It's not, I can't just say that.
Yeah. As a, as a strapping young,

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seven year old, I could have totally
done all those things, you know, or

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as a, you know, a very, you know, um,
crafty 10 year old. I could have

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done blank, um, or even as a really
scrappy 15 year old. I mean, it's, it

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doesn't, there has been so many other
markers throughout my life which, uh

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, included my, you know, my mother and
some of that stuff and at times it

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didn't, but it was also the, you know,
the, the other families that kind

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of adopted me, you know, on the block,
you know, and made sure that, you

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know, I had a safe place to go when my
mother was working nights at a bar

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, um, that it was, you know, teachers
and coaches that, um, uh, you know,

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made sure I did my homework and made
sure that, uh, you know, um, you know

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, yelled at me when I need to be
yelled at and, and kind of re guided me

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and recall calibrated me. Um And I
share this story because it's not just

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to humanize the aspect of poverty, but
it's also to see how the community

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in Tucson, the community that I was
around me by people just giving just a

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, a little bit of time and a little
bit of attention to someone that is in

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need. They were able to make a
tremendous difference and it wasn't just

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one person, it wasn't just five
people. It was, it was, there's this

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community, time and time and time
again that reinforced it that helped me

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get to this point today. And now my
obligation and, and in my honor now is

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to be a part of that community that
helps others. And so by sharing that

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story, it's not just to, to get the,
oh, so sad. It's more the or to get

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sympathy. It's really, and not only
just to humanize it, but then to try

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to channel that into even if you did
one thing. Um And even if you do that

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one thing over again, that could be
something that could make a big

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difference. Is it hard to get that
message across sometimes in the

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community that doing that one thing
would make such a, like almost a

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domino effect. I mean, people probably
think no or don't even realize that

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it's in their own backyard. It's very
difficult. Um uh it's, it is the um

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there's that old story of the, of the
guy who's walking on the beach and

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picking up the starfish and throwing
it into the ocean. And the, the, the

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nice, friendly kind of optimistic ST
uh aspect is like, well, you know,

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how can you save all the animals in
the ocean? And what difference does it

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mean to you? And, and the guy who
picks up the Starfish looks at and says

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, well, I'm making an addition, a
difference to this starfish and he

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throws it back in the ocean. Um, well,
the cynical view is like, well, you

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know,

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does that eat starfish even care what
you get? You know, I mean, are you

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by picking up the starfish, are you
giving your germs to it and actually

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killing the starfish? I mean, and I
mean, you don't even know, maybe that

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starfish is already dead. I mean, all
these different things and I think

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that it's um to your, to your
question, it is you see that a lot,

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especially when it comes to say voting
behavior and even an impact of

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charitable giving. Um Why should I
give blank um or give blank attention

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when that will never be a part of the
bigger change? And you'll see

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to me kind of the, the reaction to
that is the shift from transformational

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change, big change to smaller
transactional incremental change, not even

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incremental, just transactional to
where it's easier to

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build someone a house through habitat
for humanity and not picking on

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habitat for humanity. They're a great
organization, they do great things,

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but it's easier to build someone a
house in a Saturday afternoon than to

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spend time with that family and to
deal with the root causes of why they

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need the house in the first place. And

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I think people know that I think
people know that these are big, hard

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issues. Um And to me, it comes down
to, it's, it's seen your role in your

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place, your, your, your, your moment,
your, your opportunity within a

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community and that turning outward and
understanding that no matter where

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you are, you have benefited from
things that are completely out of your

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control that you may not even know
about. Um And you are also a

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contributing factor to other people's
benefits, whether you know about it

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or not. And it's just that sense of
awareness and by

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getting to having people to take the
time and it takes, it's, it's not

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just like one amazing conversation. Um
It, it's typically a series of

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conversations and to demonstrate that
change, that's the transformation.

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The challenge is, is that the issues
that we're dealing with get to be so

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big ending hunger, uh Indian poverty
um that you don't know where to start.

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Um And uh I've had too many of, you
know, again, coaches and teachers,

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you know, have told me like, well,
gosh, you know, um you know, uh this

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project is too big. Where do you
start? And it's like, well, you know, you

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know how to eat an elephant, you know,
one bite at a time, you know. Um

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and were, you know, it's, it's, but
it's also it's demonstrating with, um

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even as you take a journey and also
understand that sometimes that the

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outcome is not going to be,

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it's sometimes the outcome is the
journey it's not the actual destination

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and that it's the practice that, you
know, even when in the talk of ending

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hunger or in my colleagues and ending
homelessness for as long as they

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will be human beings, there will still
be hunger and homelessness. But

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through the journey and developing a
better system and a better practice

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of how we interact with those human
beings that are facing hunger and

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homelessness that gets us to where we
need to be. That is the real goal.

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Um And, but to just say like, you
know, I am the director of starting a

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long term journey in order to increase
food insecurity over generations is

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not only will not fit on a business
card, but it is, but it is you're

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gonna lose people immediately and it
doesn't include that sense of call to

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action that inspires people or at
least it garners enough bandwidth and

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attention to get them to pause for
three seconds in order to say, oh yeah

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, hunger is bad, got it. And we should
end that. It's the next question.

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It's the how that's the hard thing. Um
And so it's been my, my honor and

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privilege to have conversations like
that with everyone I can find but

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just showing how their little actions
have a compounding effect. And what

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I don't think people see and I've only
seen in doing this for a while is

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that the compounding effect is the
compound effect in you not the compound

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effect in the people you're working
with. It is when you build a culture

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of philanthropy,

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it's a culture within yourself. It's
not. And then that's something that

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you then teach within your family,
within your friends, within your

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Children. And that culture of
philanthropy is something that you as you do

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this over time as a practice. That is
when you will see that kind of

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transformation change. Um There is and
this is not, it's not a new concept

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, it is something that um that
institutions of faith have been doing for a

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very long time. It is what? Well,
really ingenious brand management have

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been doing. You know, there's some
people who just love Apple products and

00:15:19.379 --> 00:15:23.177
they love them, you know, why do they
love them? But why, and it's the

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same thing that an Apple iphone is the
same as a Samsung Galaxy phone.

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They do practically the same things.
Um But they have changed, they built

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a culture of devotion um that, that
brand has become part of their own

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personal identity.

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True. But now how do you get that kind
of um let's talk about that culture

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of philanthropy. How do you develop
that within the community itself? I

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mean, you said it's, it's within
oneself. How do you, how d how does that

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process start

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deliberate

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and

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intense repetitive engagement?

00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:18.486
Um And also understanding where not
only where your audience is at, um But

00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:22.956
understa understand the constraints in
which they're, they're facing. Um I

00:16:22.989 --> 00:16:30.366
have the privilege and the luxury to
spend and to get paid to talk about

00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:34.635
these issues. Um to study these
issues, to affect change within this area

00:16:34.668 --> 00:16:37.106
.

00:16:37.139 --> 00:16:45.139
I am a fraction of a minority um that,
that gets to do that. Um And

00:16:46.869 --> 00:16:49.066
understanding

00:16:49.099 --> 00:16:57.099
where people are, how these issues may
or may not impact them. Um understa

00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:03.826
understanding, not just the, the
culture of where they are, but and it's

00:17:03.859 --> 00:17:07.967
not just culture and race and
ethnicity and gender and sexuality, but it's

00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:15.506
a culture of time and space. And that
is something that by understanding

00:17:15.539 --> 00:17:22.176
that it allows you to have those
deliberate conversations. Um And so you

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meet people where they are and then we
have conversations, you can't go

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into someone and say that especially a
working poor family. Um If someone

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were to come to my mother when she was
raising, you know, a little bratty

00:17:35.818 --> 00:17:43.486
little boy probably at the time. Um
and wanted to stop and say, look, you

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know, Jamie gosh, I know you're just
on your way to go work nights and I

00:17:49.578 --> 00:17:52.647
know you're just leaving your son here
and he's eight years old and we're

00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:56.835
leaving him alone because he's because
that there's no child care. Um But

00:17:56.868 --> 00:18:03.045
do you have 15 minutes to talk about
food insecurity? No, she's gonna say

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I gotta get to work. Um and don't talk
to my kid, you know, and so it is,

00:18:10.439 --> 00:18:15.246
it's creating that space, it's
undertaking the time to understand and to

00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:20.897
build a relationship and it doesn't
have to be like that long. And, and

00:18:20.930 --> 00:18:25.967
even the word relationship is
something that is, it's needs to be

00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.127
redefined because it's a great word.
But I think it turns into like, well

00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:33.006
, you know, we don't have a time to
build a relationship, you know, but

00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:39.996
even understanding that even in small
conversations, you can, you can

00:18:40.029 --> 00:18:46.117
develop a tie and a seriousness and a
deliberateness that connects people

00:18:46.150 --> 00:18:52.045
and time that building a culture of
philanthropy starts with those

00:18:52.078 --> 00:18:58.526
incremental, deliberate building those
connections and time and then doing

00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:05.617
that with individuals, someone who has
passion on the issue and it doesn't

00:19:05.650 --> 00:19:08.535
have to be knowledge, it doesn't have
to be an expertise, it's just

00:19:08.568 --> 00:19:15.045
interest and passion and then getting
them to connect with someone else.

00:19:15.078 --> 00:19:20.285
Um To me that is the true form of
advocacy. Um but it starts with a

00:19:20.318 --> 00:19:22.647
conversation.

00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:28.236
The trick is, is then to channel once
you spark the energy and that fire,

00:19:28.269 --> 00:19:36.269
it's then channeling that into action
um that reinforces the conversation

00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:43.565
and the, then the physical action
further reinforces the conversation and

00:19:43.598 --> 00:19:50.285
then you switch from, you give them
the opportunity to then be that change

00:19:50.318 --> 00:19:57.335
agent, not just through actions, but
then for them to share that story. Um

00:19:57.368 --> 00:20:05.368
that is that is how social academics
start to borrow Gladwell's term um

00:20:06.250 --> 00:20:10.565
that tipping point kind of work and it
doesn't like one person, there are

00:20:10.598 --> 00:20:15.117
very few people that can stand on the
stage and rally tens of thousands of

00:20:15.150 --> 00:20:22.305
people and get them to do blank and to
get them to do blank. Well, um but

00:20:22.338 --> 00:20:28.545
by starting small and, and reaching
people where they are in individual

00:20:28.578 --> 00:20:34.516
conversations, that is how you
mobilize people to mobilize the community.

00:20:34.549 --> 00:20:41.377
Um And that is how you build a culture
of philanthropy. It's how you build

00:20:41.410 --> 00:20:47.035
a culture of anything really. Um It,
but using the targeted focus of

00:20:47.068 --> 00:20:50.946
philanthropy, if that's the right
verb, basically using kind of switching

00:20:50.979 --> 00:20:57.295
the word around. That is where you can
demonstrate that. Um And um there's

00:20:57.328 --> 00:21:02.085
a lot of proven methods that have
shown that over time. Um The challenge

00:21:02.118 --> 00:21:10.118
is, is that it is not only hard, it's
slow and things that are hard and

00:21:10.150 --> 00:21:15.456
things that are slow in the modern day
age are, are, are, it's, well,

00:21:15.489 --> 00:21:23.489
they're just less appealing. Um They
want easy and fast. Um And um there's

00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:28.127
been, there's been ways to kind of
manipulate that a little bit on, you

00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:33.006
know, the hooks, you know, how can we
get you to come and pay attention to

00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:37.166
us, you know, and there's marketing
ideas, there's advertising ideas,

00:21:37.199 --> 00:21:43.887
there's um to use our habitat for
humanity example. Um They would argue

00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:48.186
that by getting him to build a house
that is the hook that gets them

00:21:48.219 --> 00:21:52.597
connected with the issue. Um It's kind
of just depends on what they do

00:21:52.630 --> 00:21:57.026
next after that. But so let's go back
a little bit and let's talk about um

00:21:57.059 --> 00:22:01.467
the role of education in your life
and, and the impact that it had. Can

00:22:01.500 --> 00:22:06.016
you tell me a little bit about um
where you went to school or any teachers

00:22:06.049 --> 00:22:09.956
or mentors that you mentioned them
that were instrumental? Absolutely. Um

00:22:09.989 --> 00:22:17.989
So, um being raised in Tucson, um I
was very fortunate to have um amazing

00:22:20.390 --> 00:22:27.035
uh teachers in my life, especially in
uh uh public school. Proud Ranger uh

00:22:27.068 --> 00:22:34.887
from rank on high in Tucson. Um and
had incredible teachers. Um Christine

00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:42.920
W Hopkins is one of them that was um
actually dynamic and um pushing me

00:22:43.368 --> 00:22:51.368
and challenging me out of complacency.
Um And uh you know, she was the one

00:22:52.078 --> 00:22:57.956
who, um you know, she was an English
teacher, um which my, my further

00:22:57.989 --> 00:23:02.276
degrees or one is in English
literature. Uh Probably no coincidence, but

00:23:02.309 --> 00:23:09.236
the um uh she was the one when I went
to go see the um uh the school

00:23:09.269 --> 00:23:12.696
counselor in high school during that
time, I think it was junior year or

00:23:12.729 --> 00:23:17.196
whatever. And they said, well, you
know, the school counselor said, well,

00:23:17.229 --> 00:23:20.246
guess what, you know, looking at, you
know, what your grades are and where

00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:24.426
you are, you know, gosh, this, you
should probably, you know, just go down

00:23:24.459 --> 00:23:27.766
this particular path and start in a
community college and, and go down

00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:31.785
this path. It would probably be the
the smart thing to do. And I, and, and

00:23:31.818 --> 00:23:36.305
I went back and reported that to her
and she just said, no, no, that's not

00:23:36.338 --> 00:23:39.196
for you. No, no, no, you're gonna, I'm
gonna give you someone else to talk

00:23:39.229 --> 00:23:43.887
to. And she was the one who said you
need to dream bigger. You need to,

00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:49.285
you need to be more aspirational, you
could do this. Um You just need to,

00:23:49.318 --> 00:23:55.857
you know, she believed in that aspect
and that was just, it's, it was now

00:23:55.890 --> 00:24:01.065
, especially for education that was
game changing. Um, I've also been very

00:24:01.098 --> 00:24:06.815
fortunate to have a lot of, um, great
coaches. I have no athletic ability

00:24:06.848 --> 00:24:14.848
whatsoever. Uh, but it is a lot of
great coaches that, um, allowed me to

00:24:15.529 --> 00:24:22.736
try hard. Um, and, um, I always like
to joke that rank on high's football

00:24:22.769 --> 00:24:29.196
team was so bad that anyone could try
and which was really great for me

00:24:29.229 --> 00:24:37.229
because, but that allowed me the
opportunity to, um, to, hm, probably, and

00:24:38.368 --> 00:24:42.117
then just kind of working this out for
the first time. It allowed me to

00:24:42.150 --> 00:24:49.686
work out a lot of my challenges at
home on the field and, and whether or

00:24:49.719 --> 00:24:56.107
not we won the game, it was the
journey and that allowed me and the trust

00:24:56.140 --> 00:25:02.176
in that especially and just, you know,
and even to this day, I may not

00:25:02.209 --> 00:25:07.406
know everything I, you know, I
certainly don't have the athletic ability

00:25:07.439 --> 00:25:15.439
again. Um, but my goal is that work
you and if I can just put in that time

00:25:17.029 --> 00:25:23.156
and that drive, that's going to help
me get to where I need to be. Um And

00:25:23.189 --> 00:25:27.736
because of that, um, that really
helped in trying to identify a lot of

00:25:27.769 --> 00:25:33.196
leadership positions, whether it was
captain of teams or kind of

00:25:33.229 --> 00:25:38.347
shepherding into like student council
clubs or those kinds of things. And

00:25:38.380 --> 00:25:42.897
which was very helpful and I
definitely very formative. And especially

00:25:42.930 --> 00:25:49.315
because at that time with my mother
working nights a lot and working

00:25:49.348 --> 00:25:52.897
weekends because she worked in, uh, as
a bartender, waitress for most of

00:25:52.930 --> 00:25:57.867
that time during high school. Um, I
just wasn't around, I mean, I was just

00:25:57.900 --> 00:26:03.416
at home by myself. And so if, uh, I
needed a place to be, um, just because

00:26:03.449 --> 00:26:08.416
I don't have, there was just myself at
home. Um, and so that really helped

00:26:08.449 --> 00:26:15.075
a lot and there's, I knew we got to a
point to where I was, um, getting to

00:26:15.108 --> 00:26:17.906
a point where my mother couldn't
support me and could not really

00:26:17.939 --> 00:26:24.666
understand what I was doing. Um, and
that led to some really hard, hard

00:26:24.699 --> 00:26:31.285
things. Um, it was Christine Walt
Hopkins who actually, um, encouraged me

00:26:31.318 --> 00:26:37.617
to shoot big and apply to a school,
not in state and I applied to, uh, and

00:26:37.650 --> 00:26:42.835
actually got into Oxido College. Um,
but yeah, that was a huge achievement

00:26:42.868 --> 00:26:46.315
and it was actually her alma mater.
Um, I'm sure that she had a great

00:26:46.348 --> 00:26:51.946
letter that helped with that. Um But
it was also facing up against that

00:26:51.979 --> 00:26:58.726
the reality of poverty, which the
tuition was so astronomically high that

00:26:58.759 --> 00:27:03.976
I couldn't afford to go. Um And not
even having the debt resources to do

00:27:04.009 --> 00:27:11.805
that. Um And that, that kind of tug
and tool and that was hard. Um But I

00:27:11.838 --> 00:27:17.666
was fortunate enough to um you know,
go to the U of A um which is almost

00:27:17.699 --> 00:27:20.526
like the fifth year of high school for
a lot of people, first eight year

00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:28.559
schools. Um But um and I was very
fortunate to, to finally, over time find

00:27:29.469 --> 00:27:34.656
that kind of, of connection within
political science um and English

00:27:34.689 --> 00:27:42.689
literature um to really help me um
just find that passion and channel that

00:27:42.809 --> 00:27:48.285
passion into something tangible. Um
For me, political science reading has

00:27:48.318 --> 00:27:51.276
always been something that I've always
enjoyed to do, still enjoy doing.

00:27:51.309 --> 00:27:56.156
Um Storytelling is something that I've
always embraced. I probably

00:27:56.189 --> 00:28:01.256
wouldn't be able to describe it then.
I certainly do now. Um And so the

00:28:01.289 --> 00:28:05.877
English literature part was very easy
on the political science side. I was

00:28:05.910 --> 00:28:10.387
very fortunate to, to get a
scholarship and have some support from family

00:28:10.420 --> 00:28:15.117
members like a, a great grandmother
that I barely knew. Um And I was able

00:28:15.150 --> 00:28:18.496
to go to a program called close up in
my senior year in high school, which

00:28:18.529 --> 00:28:23.585
was a four day intensive in Washington
DC. And I knew right then that I

00:28:23.618 --> 00:28:26.996
wanted to work in public service. I
didn't know what that meant. I didn't

00:28:27.029 --> 00:28:30.097
know. I think I said I want to work in
politics. I don't even know what

00:28:30.130 --> 00:28:35.387
that meant at the time. Um, but that
was,

00:28:35.420 --> 00:28:42.226
that experience was able to broaden my
entire change, my entire

00:28:42.259 --> 00:28:49.436
perspective on the world and to see
how, um, I, I remember very distinctly

00:28:49.469 --> 00:28:53.436
standing up, you know, uh, there was
on the Capitol, there's a veranda

00:28:53.469 --> 00:28:58.795
that looks out onto the mall. Um And I
remember standing there thinking

00:28:58.828 --> 00:29:02.746
about all the things that have
happened there, the things that I just

00:29:02.779 --> 00:29:09.156
didn't even really appreciate. Um and
thinking to myself that this is a

00:29:09.189 --> 00:29:14.397
place of change and that, and that
this is profound for a 17 year old. I

00:29:14.430 --> 00:29:20.156
have no idea where this came from but
um that I, that I had ownership in

00:29:20.189 --> 00:29:25.976
this, but I also had responsibility to
this and literally, and like my

00:29:26.009 --> 00:29:30.717
hands were on the granite and just
thinking to myself like, wow, I have I

00:29:30.750 --> 00:29:35.127
own and I'm responsible for this. Um
And so many people have been before

00:29:35.160 --> 00:29:40.776
me and so many people will be here
after me. And so what, what can I do?

00:29:40.809 --> 00:29:46.897
And so, and that really informed that
political science um uh background

00:29:46.930 --> 00:29:52.256
um in that emphasis and I'm still a
political geek. I love election

00:29:52.289 --> 00:29:59.176
seasons. That's my sporting season. Um
I um I can really go full nerd on

00:29:59.209 --> 00:30:05.706
that whole thing. So I just won't. Um
But it's been interesting because

00:30:05.739 --> 00:30:12.776
political science and helped me start
to understand the behaviors of

00:30:12.809 --> 00:30:19.967
collective groups, which has been a
wonderful foundation for work in human

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:26.607
services and studies and poverty. Um
It is um

00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:32.926
we tend to think of elections of all
about being one candidate. No, it's

00:30:32.959 --> 00:30:39.506
the collective decision of a bunch of
people and how a campaign, not a

00:30:39.539 --> 00:30:45.746
candidate, but a campaign of time and
of marketing and of energy

00:30:45.779 --> 00:30:53.779
influences that collective action and
both in negative and positive senses.

00:30:53.838 --> 00:30:59.315
And that has been, I've always looked
at that lens in the work and trying

00:30:59.348 --> 00:31:04.887
to help people in poverty because um
it's, it's funny how, you know,

00:31:04.920 --> 00:31:10.217
people ask like, why are people poor?
Why, what you could do one thing,

00:31:10.250 --> 00:31:13.476
what would you do? Um if you have all
the resources in the world, what

00:31:13.509 --> 00:31:18.256
would you do? Um And it's like, well,
it gets complicated, you know,

00:31:18.289 --> 00:31:21.857
because really you need like a, I
would build a time machine, you know,

00:31:21.890 --> 00:31:27.217
and, and change the entire, you know,
the world back to another one big

00:31:27.250 --> 00:31:31.226
moment, you know, or, you know, I, I
would, you know, completely move an

00:31:31.259 --> 00:31:35.756
entire population from one community
to another community. Um And it gets

00:31:35.789 --> 00:31:42.967
hard quick. Um So those things um led
me uh graduate from the U of A uh uh

00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:49.085
moved up to the big city Phoenix uh to
get a job because um there's less

00:31:49.118 --> 00:31:52.956
opportunity up there. I actually ended
up going to u and got my master's

00:31:52.989 --> 00:31:57.565
in public administration. Um And which
was tremendous, what was great

00:31:57.598 --> 00:32:04.986
about this program here. Um And uh um
I will definitely say this and for,

00:32:05.019 --> 00:32:09.186
for the, the record, make sure to pay
your alumni dues. Um Got me involved

00:32:09.219 --> 00:32:14.085
in the alumni association. Um but

00:32:14.118 --> 00:32:19.516
the practitioners at the issue of
college public programs um and in the

00:32:19.549 --> 00:32:25.696
Masters of Public Administration
Program, um they were just not only just

00:32:25.729 --> 00:32:33.686
instrumental but just, just so
exciting. Um They were rock stars and they

00:32:33.719 --> 00:32:40.805
were able to demonstrate change, not
just the theoretical um but actually

00:32:40.838 --> 00:32:45.295
, it's nice to read this book, but
let's go try it with real people. You

00:32:45.328 --> 00:32:48.946
know, it's, it's one thing to be able
to say, you know, like we're going

00:32:48.979 --> 00:32:53.285
to talk about how to mobilize people
and, you know, the public hr systems

00:32:53.318 --> 00:32:55.916
and all these different things and
it's like, that's great. So now let's,

00:32:55.949 --> 00:33:00.176
this is how we actually worked with
this union to get this done. Um And

00:33:00.209 --> 00:33:02.575
these were the positive things that we
were able to do and here's some of

00:33:02.608 --> 00:33:06.926
the challenges that we were actually
able to do and that has been

00:33:06.959 --> 00:33:13.847
fantastic um through that um
internship. Um um I was uh through that

00:33:13.880 --> 00:33:19.295
program, I got a uh a management
internship with the City of Tempe. Um um

00:33:19.328 --> 00:33:27.328
My emphasis was on city county
management. Um And just the, how this

00:33:27.939 --> 00:33:35.206
industry works and how the
relationship it has with its constituents and

00:33:35.239 --> 00:33:40.936
its taxpayers. And, um, that's been
absolutely amazing. So, so I'm gonna

00:33:40.969 --> 00:33:44.545
go back to a little bit when you were
at U of a, were you a first

00:33:44.578 --> 00:33:49.156
generation college student? Um, yeah,
with my mom. Um, later on I found

00:33:49.189 --> 00:33:53.726
out that I had other family members
that had gone to college when my mom

00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:59.397
passed away. Um And um, so when I
started college, I didn't actually know

00:33:59.430 --> 00:34:05.085
of, I very, very small family. Um and
a lot of kind of a military brat

00:34:05.118 --> 00:34:09.046
family where people are all over the
place. Um And when my mom passed away

00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:15.606
, it was my fourth year in school when
she passed away um in April of that

00:34:15.639 --> 00:34:20.635
year. So, right when I was just about
to, to look like graduating with a

00:34:20.668 --> 00:34:26.686
poly sci degree, um And so I freaked
out and um I actually turned my minor

00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:30.615
into another major and stayed an extra
year. Um Just, it was good for

00:34:30.648 --> 00:34:37.635
everybody. Um, especially for me. Um
But in that, um an uncle that um

00:34:37.668 --> 00:34:42.925
didn't know really existed anymore, uh
resurfaced and he was in the

00:34:42.958 --> 00:34:50.006
military and he was a doctor. Um
wonderful funny story how um his son than

00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:55.865
uh literally went to the same high
school as I did. Um And when the, the

00:34:55.898 --> 00:35:01.456
August after this, the I graduated in,
in May uh started and everyone said

00:35:01.489 --> 00:35:06.606
do you have this brother? And no, and
just didn't, just didn't know each

00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:10.816
other. So, yeah, what were some of the
challenges is that since you were

00:35:10.849 --> 00:35:15.456
starting college and you were? It's
the news, I mean, there's no one to

00:35:15.489 --> 00:35:19.217
really go talk to about the issues or
problems that you may encounter as a

00:35:19.250 --> 00:35:22.287
first generation college student. You
know, what did you do? And how did

00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:28.836
you tackle them? The biggest challenge
is having to work full time and go

00:35:28.869 --> 00:35:36.869
to school. Um And so I've been working
since 15.5. Um and um I was pretty

00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:42.945
much working almost full time, even my
last couple of years in high school

00:35:42.978 --> 00:35:50.546
to help support the family. Um and um
that just was compounded going to

00:35:50.579 --> 00:35:57.247
school because now you have more
expenses. Um And while I was very, very

00:35:57.280 --> 00:36:02.967
fortunate and I remember um at the U
of A and there was a financial aid um

00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:08.247
uh professional um that remembers
going to her office to fill out your va

00:36:08.280 --> 00:36:11.336
forms and all these different things.
And she's like, this is the first

00:36:11.369 --> 00:36:15.787
time in your life, you're going to be
grateful you're poor. Um And I, I

00:36:15.820 --> 00:36:19.327
kind of looked at it and like part was
like, I'm not poor and like, yeah,

00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:27.360
I'm like, really poor, like, but um
she was able to really keep my, my

00:36:28.099 --> 00:36:34.566
student loan debt um down um
tremendously for my undergraduate, um which

00:36:34.599 --> 00:36:40.365
I'm very thankful for. Um but even
with the aid that I was received, that

00:36:40.398 --> 00:36:46.316
I was able to receive, it still wasn't
enough to support myself. Um And so

00:36:46.349 --> 00:36:51.385
I, yeah, I've been working, you know,
absolutely full time since then, so

00:36:51.418 --> 00:36:57.967
that constraint of time. Um and this
is kind of goes into, you know,

00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:01.526
people always ask, you know, what,
what is the disadvantage of, of being

00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:09.477
poor. Um And I say it's not really
income but it's time. Um There's, you

00:37:09.510 --> 00:37:14.247
know, there's a lot of people that are
out there that um live in self

00:37:14.280 --> 00:37:21.106
sufficient communities that don't
really need a lot of income. Um And, but

00:37:21.139 --> 00:37:25.436
when you do need a lot of income, you
need to spend that time to earn that

00:37:25.469 --> 00:37:31.057
income. And if there's not really good
jobs to do that, then you need the

00:37:31.090 --> 00:37:35.986
time to do so. So for me, the biggest
constraint of being a first year was

00:37:36.019 --> 00:37:43.827
, is not only not having a, the income
or support system, the financial

00:37:43.860 --> 00:37:51.376
support system to help with that, but
it also wasn't the, the um I mean,

00:37:51.409 --> 00:37:56.756
we talk a little bit also and in our
work and hunger and, and poverty is

00:37:56.789 --> 00:38:03.557
that the support system that teaches
you resiliency. Um And I was

00:38:03.590 --> 00:38:08.155
fortunate to get into a like a bridge
program for poor students and

00:38:08.188 --> 00:38:14.845
minority students um the Summer Bridge
program which was nice. Um And I

00:38:14.878 --> 00:38:19.336
know there's versions of it. Um and I
think they do an ok job of just

00:38:19.369 --> 00:38:23.997
making sure that you, you, um, have a
place to, to, to, you know, touch

00:38:24.030 --> 00:38:28.816
base with. But what was the, the big
irony? I didn't know this at the time

00:38:28.849 --> 00:38:35.767
is that there, the solution was come
to these meetings,

00:38:35.800 --> 00:38:43.247
spend more time that you don't have
with us to come do counseling to come

00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:49.276
do group meetings. Um, and, um, we'd
really like you, I mean, because that

00:38:49.309 --> 00:38:54.307
you need that support system and I'm
like, that's great. I got to go to

00:38:54.340 --> 00:38:59.747
work now. Um, and since I don't have a
car because I can't afford a car,

00:38:59.780 --> 00:39:05.695
it takes me 45 minutes to ride there
on a bicycle. Um So that extra, you

00:39:05.728 --> 00:39:11.807
know, gap of time, um I'll come to the
meetings when I have time. And so,

00:39:11.840 --> 00:39:17.276
and I'm sure that it makes sense, but
it's

00:39:17.309 --> 00:39:24.166
not being a first generation. It's not
having someone that says something

00:39:24.199 --> 00:39:30.526
to the point of like, don't take that
job. Ok. And it was the job I had in

00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:34.436
high school. And I was, you know, for
me at that, at that particular

00:39:34.469 --> 00:39:42.365
juncture in my life, I was wor I
worked long and hard enough to get to a,

00:39:42.398 --> 00:39:45.287
you know, assistant manager to earning
more money. So I was thinking about

00:39:45.320 --> 00:39:52.686
more money and so it was worth the,
you know, the two hour long commute,

00:39:52.719 --> 00:39:56.885
um, you know, on both sides in order
to do that. And if, if someone were

00:39:56.918 --> 00:40:01.566
to then say, you know, Jason, they're
not really paying you that much. Um

00:40:01.599 --> 00:40:08.666
And what if, you know, your time is
actually valuable? What if you were to

00:40:08.699 --> 00:40:16.217
try to find a job on campus that
doesn't actually pay as much, but it's

00:40:16.250 --> 00:40:21.186
not going to, it's only going to be
like the difference of like $3 but you

00:40:21.219 --> 00:40:26.675
can literally walk there from class,
you know, and that would have been

00:40:26.708 --> 00:40:29.695
that kind of guidance that you just
don't have, you don't have someone

00:40:29.728 --> 00:40:34.796
who's gone through that journey. And
so I think that um and having

00:40:34.829 --> 00:40:37.896
conversation with other people that
done like summer bridge programs and

00:40:37.929 --> 00:40:41.365
people that are trying to work in that
field, I'm like, you need people

00:40:41.398 --> 00:40:45.727
that have actually gone down that
journey to then help with the people

00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:49.247
that are starting that journey. It's
the old story of, you know, one

00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:52.675
person falls down into a hole and
doesn't know how to get out. So the

00:40:52.708 --> 00:40:55.526
person jumps down there with them
because they've been gone there before

00:40:55.559 --> 00:41:02.017
they know the way out. Um You need
someone that knows the journey. Um And

00:41:02.050 --> 00:41:06.467
can literally say like, I know income
is a big deal, huge deal. Oh my gosh

00:41:06.500 --> 00:41:08.356
, that's probably the only thing
you're thinking about because you're

00:41:08.389 --> 00:41:14.416
thinking about paying your bills. Um
Let's get you income, but let's try

00:41:14.449 --> 00:41:19.586
to do it in a way where you can do
both. At least you can study easier. So

00:41:19.619 --> 00:41:25.566
that was, and that was hard. I mean,
my, my grades suffered for it. Um, I

00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:32.916
, I certainly wasn't the best student.
Um, I probably had a, you know, I'd

00:41:32.949 --> 00:41:38.706
be generous to say, I see average in
my undergraduate as overall. Um, and

00:41:38.739 --> 00:41:44.086
it's, you know, my basic, uh, my core
curriculum classes, the requirements

00:41:44.119 --> 00:41:51.436
that you need to do, um, versus my
major. Um, my major I gave time to that.

00:41:51.469 --> 00:41:57.077
I wanted to, you know, my stuff that I
had to take, I'd squeeze that in,

00:41:57.110 --> 00:42:01.796
you know. Um And, and that's, that's
hard. So let's talk about how you

00:42:01.829 --> 00:42:07.736
became involved in your current
organization. Yeah, great. Um So I work at

00:42:07.769 --> 00:42:13.615
the uh the Valley 79. Um I am their
director of India Hunger. Um I've been

00:42:13.648 --> 00:42:21.267
there since last September, uh excuse
me. And um um but I've been working

00:42:21.300 --> 00:42:29.247
in human services um and anti work
going on 13 years um from the start of

00:42:29.280 --> 00:42:33.135
, from my master's degree and that
connection with the management

00:42:33.168 --> 00:42:38.316
internship position at the city of
Tempe. My first real job after that

00:42:38.349 --> 00:42:43.756
internship ended was with um a
nonprofit called Tempe Community Council,

00:42:43.789 --> 00:42:51.666
uh which serves as their um the city's
nonprofit, basically uh nonprofit

00:42:51.699 --> 00:42:58.675
arm and they really started to work
into not only community building um

00:42:58.708 --> 00:43:04.905
but also uh work and homelessness and
uh anti poverty work and those kinds

00:43:04.938 --> 00:43:09.296
of things. I was there for 8.5 years
uh rose to Assistant director, Chief

00:43:09.329 --> 00:43:13.896
Program Officer. Uh looked for another
opportunity to kind of broaden my

00:43:13.929 --> 00:43:18.695
scope. Uh was able to go over to
United Food Bank, which is a regional

00:43:18.728 --> 00:43:23.736
Food Bank um that covers all the East
Valley to New Mexico um as their

00:43:23.769 --> 00:43:28.155
chief development officer in charge of
fundraising marketing um and uh a

00:43:28.188 --> 00:43:35.557
bunch of other things and then that
really solidified that work in hunger

00:43:35.590 --> 00:43:42.026
um and working in uh especially food
insecurity and that I got some fun

00:43:42.059 --> 00:43:49.135
stories from the food bank. Um but
that was able to, that underscored that

00:43:49.168 --> 00:43:56.986
importance of food insecurity and
hunger. And to me, I'm way biased. Um

00:43:57.019 --> 00:44:01.537
and what I'm allowed to work on um at
the Valley on the United Way, which

00:44:01.570 --> 00:44:06.655
is to really coordinate um both on a
strategic level and a kind of uh uh

00:44:06.688 --> 00:44:13.686
more of a tactical level, the the
ending hunger plan for Maricopa County.

00:44:13.719 --> 00:44:21.537
Um and how we play a part in
coordinating that plan through convening of

00:44:21.570 --> 00:44:29.017
people um rallying support, um raising
money allocating money, starting

00:44:29.050 --> 00:44:36.247
trying programs, testing issues, um
taking things to scale the things that

00:44:36.280 --> 00:44:44.280
work. Um And then repeat and until we
can um um achieve our, our current

00:44:44.958 --> 00:44:49.106
goal, uh We have a 2020 goal of trying
to reduce uh chronic food

00:44:49.139 --> 00:44:53.477
insecurity in Maricopa County by two
thirds. That's two thirds of 82,000

00:44:53.510 --> 00:44:57.356
families or households. I'm sorry.

00:44:57.389 --> 00:45:01.436
So I'm gonna just kind of touch on
the, you mentioned Food Bank stories.

00:45:01.469 --> 00:45:05.186
Yeah. Can you share some of those? I
have lots of food bank stories. Yeah

00:45:05.219 --> 00:45:09.046
, I would love to. Um So I think food
banks are fantastic. I think that

00:45:09.079 --> 00:45:15.227
it's um uh and United Food Bank um
where I had the honor of working with

00:45:15.260 --> 00:45:22.405
and under the mentor of Bob Evans who
um was um he came to me and he said

00:45:22.438 --> 00:45:26.666
like I only have a year left. Um You
know, but I would love to work with

00:45:26.699 --> 00:45:31.486
you and here's an opportunity and I
want, you know, you to be great for

00:45:31.519 --> 00:45:35.977
our organization and maybe you can get
something out of it too. So, um in

00:45:36.010 --> 00:45:41.896
that um we were actually able to um as
a chief development officer, being

00:45:41.929 --> 00:45:47.267
in charge of raising revenue and
telling and the communications of that

00:45:47.300 --> 00:45:51.885
organization. OK. Um

00:45:51.918 --> 00:45:59.918
OK. The um it was the opportunity and
uh to really work with individuals

00:46:03.019 --> 00:46:11.019
that are at the very beginning of the
journey towards abject poverty. Um

00:46:13.570 --> 00:46:21.405
And so it is in, there's something
about because the, the issue of hunger

00:46:21.438 --> 00:46:26.307
is, is very, very difficult in United
States and, and, and Arizona to

00:46:26.340 --> 00:46:29.635
really grapple with because

00:46:29.668 --> 00:46:37.206
the definition is wrong. Um We talk
about even hunger and it's no very few

00:46:37.239 --> 00:46:40.756
people talk about food insecurity,
food insecurity is even seen as a wonky

00:46:40.789 --> 00:46:44.856
kind of term that I have used. I've
told that story so many different

00:46:44.889 --> 00:46:50.155
times. Of this is what food insecurity
is and it's, it's wonky, they're

00:46:50.188 --> 00:46:53.646
like food but like what do you, what
do you mean the food is, is when you

00:46:53.679 --> 00:46:57.945
say it's insecure, like like is it, is
it bad for you? Like it just, it

00:46:57.978 --> 00:47:04.675
just confuses people? So then people
will default to oh hungry people. Uh

00:47:04.708 --> 00:47:11.566
And because it's easier for people to
get to. So at the food bank in

00:47:11.599 --> 00:47:17.046
trying to generate resources and
generate volunteers for this particular

00:47:17.079 --> 00:47:23.526
issue, you quickly realize that not
only is it a hard issue for people to

00:47:23.559 --> 00:47:28.126
talk about and to understand, but even
the people that are seeking the

00:47:28.159 --> 00:47:32.345
services, they don't want to talk
about it, they don't, they want to get

00:47:32.378 --> 00:47:40.378
in, they wanna get out. Um And because
there's so much shame and guilt and

00:47:40.708 --> 00:47:48.708
stigma that goes not just with
poverty. Um but with food, it to look

00:47:49.019 --> 00:47:52.006
yourself in the mirror

00:47:52.039 --> 00:47:59.747
every morning and say I can't beat
myself well, not feed yourself, period

00:47:59.780 --> 00:48:05.816
, feed yourself well. Nor my kids

00:48:05.849 --> 00:48:13.046
is an embarrassing, horrible
admission. And

00:48:13.079 --> 00:48:20.686
to move beyond that, to ask for help
is an incredible act of courage and

00:48:20.719 --> 00:48:23.186
bravery.

00:48:23.219 --> 00:48:26.467
Some of the most bravest individuals
I've ever seen are those that have

00:48:26.500 --> 00:48:33.727
crossed the threshold of a food bank
because they have, in most cases,

00:48:33.760 --> 00:48:40.586
things have gotten so bad that they
have to, it's a point of desperation.

00:48:40.619 --> 00:48:47.327
Um But the opportunity at a food bank
to work with those individuals and

00:48:47.360 --> 00:48:51.595
to gain their trust

00:48:51.628 --> 00:48:57.717
is that there's an opportunity there
to then

00:48:57.750 --> 00:49:05.750
help them in a way that can be
transformative, that could prevent them

00:49:06.179 --> 00:49:12.686
from becoming a chronic homeless
individual can prevent them from making

00:49:12.719 --> 00:49:17.595
horrible decisions on

00:49:17.628 --> 00:49:24.747
crime, prostitution, um, abandoning
their Children, these kinds of issues

00:49:24.780 --> 00:49:26.916
,

00:49:26.949 --> 00:49:32.327
food insecure hungry people, our

00:49:32.360 --> 00:49:34.376
desperate,

00:49:34.409 --> 00:49:39.517
desperate people make irrational
choices

00:49:39.550 --> 00:49:47.146
and that's where things get bad quick.
Um, and it's real easy if you're

00:49:47.179 --> 00:49:55.179
hungry. Um If you haven't eaten well,
you're not thinking clearly. Um uh

00:49:56.389 --> 00:50:04.296
in the Jewish tradition, um we fast
for 26 hours in Yom Kur on the day of

00:50:04.329 --> 00:50:08.006
a tournament

00:50:08.039 --> 00:50:14.456
about hour 18 into that fast. I'm
thinking less about what's being said

00:50:14.489 --> 00:50:21.106
and the services and more about what
I'm going to put in my stomach. Um

00:50:21.139 --> 00:50:25.635
You know, eight hours from that point,
you're not focused, you're not

00:50:25.668 --> 00:50:31.217
thinking clearly. Um it even has the
opportunity of making physical

00:50:31.250 --> 00:50:37.155
changes to your body um to where it
could almost debilitate you. And

00:50:37.188 --> 00:50:43.436
that's just by not eating well, let
alone starving. So, in those stories,

00:50:43.469 --> 00:50:48.595
not only does it help you really
understand? What does,

00:50:48.628 --> 00:50:52.557
what does hunger look like in Arizona?
What does it look like in, in the

00:50:52.590 --> 00:50:58.767
United States? And it helps you see
the shift. And this is part of the

00:50:58.800 --> 00:51:02.356
storytelling is

00:51:02.389 --> 00:51:06.095
hunger in America is less about
starvation and it's more about

00:51:06.128 --> 00:51:08.316
malnutrition

00:51:08.349 --> 00:51:15.057
and, and that's very difficult for
people to understand and it's also very

00:51:15.090 --> 00:51:20.227
difficult for people to react to. It's
easier to react to someone who's

00:51:20.260 --> 00:51:26.115
starving. It's harder to react to
someone who's facing malnutrition. Um If

00:51:26.148 --> 00:51:29.655
they're starving, you give them food,

00:51:29.688 --> 00:51:33.146
it doesn't matter what that food is.

00:51:33.179 --> 00:51:39.126
It could be a Twinkie, it could be a
cheeseburger. Um It doesn't matter.

00:51:39.159 --> 00:51:47.159
Um And a structural challenge is
within food banks. Um And it's not,

00:51:50.438 --> 00:51:53.577
there's a, some incredible work that's
been been done and it's gonna seem

00:51:53.610 --> 00:51:56.686
like a criticism of food banks. So
it's not a criticism. They play a very

00:51:56.719 --> 00:52:03.717
important role on the emergency
response but the the need within the

00:52:03.750 --> 00:52:09.166
emergency response. Food system is so
vast

00:52:09.199 --> 00:52:15.396
in Arizona. This is the statistical
part of the interview. Um One in four

00:52:15.429 --> 00:52:17.566
Children

00:52:17.599 --> 00:52:23.916
are food insecure and that's growing
to one in three. It's like 29%

00:52:23.949 --> 00:52:31.949
one in five adults. It's 20% one in
seven seniors

00:52:32.179 --> 00:52:36.115
in Arizona that are food insecure

00:52:36.148 --> 00:52:41.077
in the last Feeding America hunger in
America study from 2014. So last

00:52:41.110 --> 00:52:48.456
summer, that's about 1.1 million
people in Arizona. Um that face food

00:52:48.489 --> 00:52:52.135
insecurity at some time.

00:52:52.168 --> 00:52:59.706
Um We only have 6.5 million people in
the state that's a high estimate. Um

00:52:59.739 --> 00:53:07.739
That's a lot of people that are facing
this issue. Um And since food

00:53:08.699 --> 00:53:13.776
insecure people don't look like poor
people, they don't have when and when

00:53:13.809 --> 00:53:17.807
I say that it's uh I I borrow some
term from colleagues in homelessness.

00:53:17.840 --> 00:53:22.856
It's like the great thing about
homelessness is that it's easy for people

00:53:22.889 --> 00:53:26.816
to get their heads around. They can
understand it because they could see

00:53:26.849 --> 00:53:34.017
it. They may stereotype it. They may
think man with a beard shopping cart

00:53:34.050 --> 00:53:39.747
got it homeless. See it got it. Ok.
Even though that's only 15 to 20% of

00:53:39.780 --> 00:53:44.896
total homeless population, um mostly
it's individuals that are working and

00:53:44.929 --> 00:53:48.186
families and Children and those kinds
of things. But it's easy for you to

00:53:48.219 --> 00:53:54.365
get, to get around that when you go to
hunger. They think. Oh, Sub Saharan

00:53:54.398 --> 00:53:59.416
Africa flies all over their eyes,
bloated stomach. Gotcha. That's what

00:53:59.449 --> 00:54:06.267
hunger is in America. You're like, no,
it's not, it's, you know, it's

00:54:06.300 --> 00:54:09.675
actually someone's probably gonna be
obese,

00:54:09.708 --> 00:54:16.066
someone who is going to have chronic
health issues. Um,

00:54:16.099 --> 00:54:23.267
60% of that 1.1 million people, uh, in
Arizona, um, work 32 hours plus a

00:54:23.300 --> 00:54:31.300
week. Um, it's, it's people like you
and me, they're doing everything that

00:54:31.610 --> 00:54:36.546
they're supposed to do but it's not
enough. Um, it's a, it's, it's a, it's

00:54:36.579 --> 00:54:43.646
a poverty issue and specifically
working poor issue. It's, it's not zero

00:54:43.679 --> 00:54:49.626
income. It's mostly they have not,
there's not enough income. So that's

00:54:49.659 --> 00:54:55.486
one big theme, one big story, um, that
you, that really, really drives

00:54:55.519 --> 00:55:01.186
home at a food bank. A second big
story and, and this is my language is

00:55:01.219 --> 00:55:07.756
that I never really understood this
issue. Until working at a food bank is

00:55:07.789 --> 00:55:10.077
that

00:55:10.110 --> 00:55:16.655
we as a society have a very bad
relationship with food and that bad

00:55:16.688 --> 00:55:24.688
relationship with food is just at its
utmost visible visibility. Just it's

00:55:25.590 --> 00:55:33.590
just, it's glowing with visibility at
a food bank. Um In how people, what

00:55:35.148 --> 00:55:41.006
they eat, the food choices, they make
the food that's thrown away. Uh The

00:55:41.039 --> 00:55:46.577
choice dilemma with food. Um

00:55:46.610 --> 00:55:52.686
cooking, there's so many other, it's
just a bad, bad relationship with

00:55:52.719 --> 00:55:56.026
food. Um

00:55:56.059 --> 00:55:59.977
How that you see that is

00:56:00.010 --> 00:56:07.296
people will choose easy, convenient,
even in desperation,

00:56:07.329 --> 00:56:12.405
easy, convenient because that is what
we as a society in the marketplace

00:56:12.438 --> 00:56:18.595
demands more. Sometimes it becomes the
only option, easy, convenient over

00:56:18.628 --> 00:56:23.796
time builds a codependency to

00:56:23.829 --> 00:56:28.925
wow, lack of resiliency skills.

00:56:28.958 --> 00:56:33.146
I see more people and you can talk to
a lot of different food banks. It's

00:56:33.179 --> 00:56:35.796
from one of these weird kind of like
stories that kind of pops up in the

00:56:35.829 --> 00:56:41.997
food bank world. Easy Mac, which is
like a brand of, of, you know, mac and

00:56:42.030 --> 00:56:48.635
cheese. Like you can microwave one of
the highest demand items.

00:56:48.668 --> 00:56:54.695
Rice and beans is harder because not
everyone knows how to cook rice and

00:56:54.728 --> 00:56:56.836
beans.

00:56:56.869 --> 00:57:02.557
Um and they'll prefer something that
can be microwaved over something that

00:57:02.590 --> 00:57:09.037
you have to cook. Um fresh fruits and
vegetables. Not just only like I

00:57:09.070 --> 00:57:13.186
used to think it was like that was a
luxury item still is, is also not

00:57:13.219 --> 00:57:15.606
preferred.

00:57:15.639 --> 00:57:18.727
There's people who don't know how to
grow, not just grow up, but they

00:57:18.760 --> 00:57:22.967
don't know how to prepare and cook
these fresh fruits and vegetables. And

00:57:23.000 --> 00:57:26.945
, uh, and sometimes brains already go
into like, oh, yeah. You know, like

00:57:26.978 --> 00:57:29.376
kale and Swiss chard and all those
different things. Like, what are you

00:57:29.409 --> 00:57:31.977
gonna do that? It's like, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:57:32.010 --> 00:57:34.526
We're dogging tomatoes.

00:57:34.559 --> 00:57:40.526
We're talking iceberg lettuce. We're
talking potatoes. We're talking these

00:57:40.559 --> 00:57:45.747
kinds of staple traditional things. I
just don't know how to cook it. So

00:57:45.780 --> 00:57:50.497
they won't pick it. You know, I would
much rather have instant mashed

00:57:50.530 --> 00:57:58.530
potatoes than a b like a £5 bag of
potatoes. Um That those two big stories

00:57:58.530 --> 00:58:02.916
at a food bank have what then seeing
the opportunity of affecting that

00:58:02.949 --> 00:58:06.885
change at, at the Valley Sun United
Way. That was the big opportunity for

00:58:06.918 --> 00:58:14.787
me because what food banks do really
incredibly well is that they're

00:58:14.820 --> 00:58:21.086
excellent at ending hunger today

00:58:21.119 --> 00:58:26.807
tomorrow, we don't know.

00:58:26.840 --> 00:58:32.675
So as long as you can provide a system
for people to come back

00:58:32.708 --> 00:58:40.708
to the food bank used to be, it was
episodic hunger.

00:58:41.039 --> 00:58:45.796
It's now changing to supplemental
food.

00:58:45.829 --> 00:58:49.827
That's a different conversation.

00:58:49.860 --> 00:58:53.816
It, the food bank tradition was born,
actually born in Phoenix, born in

00:58:53.849 --> 00:58:58.747
Saint Mary's um a food bank um
connected with the Catholic Diocese. Um

00:58:58.780 --> 00:59:04.445
Amazing, absolutely amazing. Um And
they've been, they do incredible,

00:59:04.478 --> 00:59:11.236
amazing things. Um But even in that
tradition,

00:59:11.269 --> 00:59:14.967
it is the food bank was always seen as
kind of that, that food pantry that

00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:20.956
, you know, the pastor would have for
emergency situations

00:59:20.989 --> 00:59:27.977
when it shifts from that one time
emergency to. Yep, you're gonna keep

00:59:28.010 --> 00:59:33.517
coming back. That's a different
conversation. So what the value and united

00:59:33.550 --> 00:59:38.115
way is looking at is when you work
with chronic food insecurity, the

00:59:38.148 --> 00:59:41.666
definition of chronic food insecurity
um from the US Department of

00:59:41.699 --> 00:59:48.836
Agriculture is individuals that are
rec that seek and receive an emergency

00:59:48.869 --> 00:59:56.796
food source. Three out of four weeks
in a month and or seven out of 12

00:59:56.829 --> 01:00:03.916
months in a year, they're the frequent
flyers. Um

01:00:03.949 --> 01:00:10.206
Data is very hard in food and uh and
food uh uh uh systems. Um just

01:00:10.239 --> 01:00:16.977
because we're, it's still new. Um And
because f food insecurity and hunger

01:00:17.010 --> 01:00:20.767
relief really started in the faith
tradition um which there's a wonderful

01:00:20.800 --> 01:00:25.807
, beautiful things about that. Um But
the downside is that when you have a

01:00:25.840 --> 01:00:29.486
bunch of volunteers running a food
pantry, they're less concerned about

01:00:29.519 --> 01:00:35.916
data collection and more concerned
about feeding the immediate line of

01:00:35.949 --> 01:00:41.977
people in front of them as it helps
them um demonstrate their faith. Um

01:00:42.010 --> 01:00:46.706
And the beauty in that is that it's
judgment free and its immigration

01:00:46.739 --> 01:00:50.186
status or any of these other things
like that just disappear, which is

01:00:50.219 --> 01:00:58.219
fantastic. Um The downside is that
telling the story with data is less of

01:00:58.300 --> 01:01:04.467
an issue and less of a of a demand
that's starting to change slow. Um So

01:01:04.500 --> 01:01:10.905
chronic, to give an idea, the estimate
uh with America accounting is that

01:01:10.938 --> 01:01:18.938
of that 1.1 million people in Arizona.
Um There is about 620,000

01:01:20.458 --> 01:01:27.296
individuals that are facing some type
of chronic food insecurity,

01:01:27.329 --> 01:01:30.115
I'm sorry. Uh Just regular food
insecurity. Oh The chronic food insecurity

01:01:30.148 --> 01:01:34.566
, we estimate that close to half of
those individuals are chronic food

01:01:34.599 --> 01:01:40.477
insecure. So when we look at 82,000
households within Maricopa County, um

01:01:40.510 --> 01:01:44.336
and a household, uh can be a household
of one or a household of 10. Um

01:01:44.369 --> 01:01:48.336
because that's what the data tells us.
We estimate that that could be

01:01:48.369 --> 01:01:56.369
upwards of around 200,000 to 300,000
individuals within Maricopa County

01:01:56.378 --> 01:02:01.227
that are chronic food insecure. So
when we look at chronic food insecure,

01:02:01.260 --> 01:02:05.436
that's when we're looking at people
that again, that's the combination of

01:02:05.469 --> 01:02:10.416
people who have zero income and people
who have, they're working full time.

01:02:10.449 --> 01:02:14.865
That's a different story and a
different conversation. So let's, I'm

01:02:14.898 --> 01:02:19.126
gonna back up just a little bit. You
mentioned the definition of um, food

01:02:19.159 --> 01:02:23.416
insecurity. Can you go talk a little
bit about what that is? Absolutely.

01:02:23.449 --> 01:02:31.449
Uh So food insecurity is not
starvation. Food insecurity is not knowing

01:02:33.239 --> 01:02:41.126
where your next meal is coming from.
If you are food secure, you know that

01:02:41.159 --> 01:02:45.195
you are going to eat and you know
where your meal is gonna come from. You

01:02:45.228 --> 01:02:51.586
have that sense of security. So not
only is food insecure, having the lack

01:02:51.619 --> 01:02:59.619
of that. Um but what it creates is
stress and anxiety. So again, food

01:03:02.750 --> 01:03:08.816
insecure individuals are not starving.
They are just intermittently eating

01:03:08.849 --> 01:03:13.256
without any kind of knowledge of when
that's going to happen. So when they

01:03:13.289 --> 01:03:21.289
do eat, they will overeat, they will
hoard food, they will just make

01:03:23.648 --> 01:03:30.416
really odd choices around food um
because it's a scarce resource. And so

01:03:30.449 --> 01:03:33.936
when they do have the opportunity to
eat, they will try to pack as many

01:03:33.969 --> 01:03:38.615
calories as they possibly can and then
take it with them. And h um the

01:03:38.648 --> 01:03:43.166
best demon demonstration of this um
and almost like a like a, a key

01:03:43.199 --> 01:03:50.456
indicator. Um And my wife works as a
preschool teacher. Um really easy to

01:03:50.489 --> 01:03:55.247
tell food insecure kids because
they're the ones who don't eat other

01:03:55.280 --> 01:04:01.396
snacks and they put the leftover
snacks in their pocket.

01:04:01.429 --> 01:04:06.057
It's stress and anxiety, you're saving
it for later. Um Happy food

01:04:06.090 --> 01:04:09.405
insecure kids eat all their snacks

01:04:09.438 --> 01:04:13.967
because they know they're going to get
some more snacks. It's just that

01:04:14.000 --> 01:04:18.106
little example is what happens with
all food insecure individuals in some

01:04:18.139 --> 01:04:23.986
way, shape or form. Um So that would
be the definition of that and then

01:04:24.019 --> 01:04:27.727
chronic is just obviously that over
time. So let's talk a little bit about

01:04:27.760 --> 01:04:31.057
um you mentioned the importance of
data and that it's not being collected.

01:04:31.090 --> 01:04:36.967
Why is it? Um I I understand why it's
not being collected. But why is it

01:04:37.000 --> 01:04:41.845
important to help for people to
understand the food issue, the food and

01:04:41.878 --> 01:04:45.796
security issues?

01:04:45.829 --> 01:04:48.675
And there's this old expression, I
think from Mike Bloomberg, you know,

01:04:48.708 --> 01:04:56.086
believe in God, everything else use
data. Um So, um it's probably a bad

01:04:56.119 --> 01:04:59.977
expression but the, um,

01:05:00.010 --> 01:05:08.010
uh dad tells a story. Um, it proves
the story. Um, granted, you know, and

01:05:09.039 --> 01:05:13.396
I learned this in, in, in politics,
data can be used against you and it

01:05:13.429 --> 01:05:16.436
doesn't matter, you know, whatever you
come up with for data, someone else

01:05:16.469 --> 01:05:21.615
will come up with data that counts
your argument. Um But without data,

01:05:21.648 --> 01:05:27.606
then it's just hearsay and guess work.
And so data is so critical in order

01:05:27.639 --> 01:05:34.546
to tell an accurate, reliable,
dependable story of what you're trying to

01:05:34.579 --> 01:05:37.865
make an argument for

01:05:37.898 --> 01:05:45.077
why it's so critical with food
insecurity. Then hunger is that you're

01:05:45.110 --> 01:05:53.110
working in and within an issue that
many people will argue does not exist

01:05:54.559 --> 01:06:00.517
in the United States. Um

01:06:00.550 --> 01:06:05.327
And this, this is where data can be
used against you.

01:06:05.360 --> 01:06:11.945
The example of poverty and obesity are
linked

01:06:11.978 --> 01:06:17.175
that freaks people out because it
doesn't make any sense. How can you have

01:06:17.208 --> 01:06:21.537
someone that is starving to be
overweight? That doesn't make any sense,

01:06:21.570 --> 01:06:28.095
right? Um But if you think that food
insecurity is starvation, yep, that's

01:06:28.128 --> 01:06:31.586
how it makes sense like, but you're,
you should be like the flies all over

01:06:31.619 --> 01:06:34.206
your eyes and a blood stomach you
should be completely and totally

01:06:34.239 --> 01:06:42.017
decimated. Um, that's what starvation
is. That's what hunger is. Um, but

01:06:42.050 --> 01:06:47.497
if you switch from food insecurity as
malnutrition

01:06:47.530 --> 01:06:52.115
and you say, like, well, actually, uh,
you know, someone who's, you know,

01:06:52.148 --> 01:06:58.506
food insecure, um, they have scarce
resources and in scarce resources,

01:06:58.539 --> 01:07:06.057
they're going to be as efficient with
the dollar per calorie as they can.

01:07:06.090 --> 01:07:12.445
One of the best examples of the most
efficient caloric $2 examples out

01:07:12.478 --> 01:07:18.615
there is the quarter pounder with
cheese. Um, it's amazing. It's like,

01:07:18.648 --> 01:07:26.648
what, 1500 to 1,802,000 calories for
under $2

01:07:26.688 --> 01:07:33.606
from a pure, like scientific fact.
That's incredible. That's amazing. Oh,

01:07:33.639 --> 01:07:41.287
my gosh. I mean, just, that's great.
Um, but that's your primary food

01:07:41.320 --> 01:07:47.615
source that you're always going to.
And, um,

01:07:47.648 --> 01:07:54.385
a related, like antidote one I heard
on one podcast AAA family

01:07:54.418 --> 01:08:00.807
practitioner who is working in, uh
Washington DC. And she had this one

01:08:00.840 --> 01:08:06.445
saying that has always stuck with me.
Why do poor people eat poorly? The

01:08:06.478 --> 01:08:11.675
answer because it tastes good

01:08:11.708 --> 01:08:15.796
and related back to my own story

01:08:15.829 --> 01:08:23.829
when you're poor. Not only is time a
luxury, but normalcy is a luxury

01:08:24.430 --> 01:08:30.335
and there is nothing that makes you
more normal

01:08:30.368 --> 01:08:35.045
than going through a drive through or
ordering a pizza, just like everyone

01:08:35.078 --> 01:08:43.078
else who's tired on a Friday night.
Um, that's what people do. Um,

01:08:43.588 --> 01:08:48.126
I see that lady with, you know, that
suburban full of, of cars taking

01:08:48.159 --> 01:08:54.646
their kids to go get a happy meal. Why
can't I take my kids to it? Oh, and

01:08:54.679 --> 01:09:00.076
that's cheaper than cooking and it
takes less time to cook. I'm gonna do

01:09:00.109 --> 01:09:02.107
that.

01:09:02.140 --> 01:09:08.696
That's hard because that story is very
difficult. It's hard to tell data

01:09:08.729 --> 01:09:16.506
on that. Um So the data is so critical
in order to tell that story. The

01:09:16.539 --> 01:09:21.474
challenge is, is that once you shift,
it's easy to get support for

01:09:21.507 --> 01:09:23.795
starvation,

01:09:23.828 --> 01:09:30.246
it's actually really easy to get
started. And I mean, no elected official

01:09:30.279 --> 01:09:37.385
who wants the image of, you know,
emaciated, you know, uh people wandering

01:09:37.418 --> 01:09:42.726
the streets like some zombie
apocalypse movie. Ok. Um They will be all

01:09:42.759 --> 01:09:48.045
over that in a second. OK? But once
you shift it to malnutrition,

01:09:48.078 --> 01:09:53.196
then it gets hard because now you're
dealing with like people get really

01:09:53.229 --> 01:09:59.976
concerned about choices. Um I've heard
this time and time again,

01:10:00.009 --> 01:10:06.256
you know, those people, it's always
those people um

01:10:06.289 --> 01:10:10.897
especially those people who receive
snap benefits or food stamps um with

01:10:10.930 --> 01:10:14.687
that extra money that they get with
all that extra money, which for an

01:10:14.720 --> 01:10:18.476
individual is maybe an extra $100 a
month, you know, all that extra flush

01:10:18.509 --> 01:10:25.385
with cash money that they have. Um I
being sarcastic um is if they just

01:10:25.418 --> 01:10:30.147
were making smarter choices and just
weren't buying all that, you know,

01:10:30.180 --> 01:10:34.836
all those chips and soda and
everything like that, you know, they wouldn't

01:10:34.869 --> 01:10:39.135
be so fat, they wouldn't get, you
know, um those chronic health diseases

01:10:39.168 --> 01:10:44.817
of, you know, the top three using data
happened to be diabetes,

01:10:44.850 --> 01:10:50.046
hypertension and osteoporosis. Those
are the top three.

01:10:50.079 --> 01:10:53.515
they're just making bad choices. They
just don't know enough. They just,

01:10:53.548 --> 01:11:00.515
they're just choosing this, this path,
this lifestyle. I like to. Then I

01:11:00.548 --> 01:11:05.826
love these arguments. Um, I actually
get almost, probably inappropriately

01:11:05.859 --> 01:11:11.256
excited about it. Um, it's a little
bit of that poly sci aspect of it.

01:11:11.289 --> 01:11:16.796
It's like, oh, we're going to have an
argument. Um but um I would say this

01:11:16.829 --> 01:11:24.696
is the opportunity for change. Um the
um is the um I say, ok, I hear you.

01:11:24.729 --> 01:11:30.166
I this is. Mhm. Ok, great. Um

01:11:30.199 --> 01:11:34.256
Do what's more expensive?

01:11:34.289 --> 01:11:38.826
A bag of apples or Cheetos

01:11:38.859 --> 01:11:44.107
they say bag of apples because those
Cheetos are, you know what, $2 for

01:11:44.140 --> 01:11:48.406
like, I don't know, a giant bag of
Cheetos, you know, it's gonna cost me

01:11:48.439 --> 01:11:56.439
like 3 $4 for that bag of apples. Um
Do you, you can just grab an apple

01:11:56.810 --> 01:12:00.576
and eat out there? That's great.
Wonderful. Ok, great. Um ok, so what's uh

01:12:00.609 --> 01:12:08.467
what's more expensive um you know, top
ramen um or

01:12:08.500 --> 01:12:11.595
a whole chicken

01:12:11.628 --> 01:12:14.987
and they'll be like, well, whole
chickens obviously more but I mean,

01:12:15.020 --> 01:12:18.567
that's, you know, they should just
know, you know that, but if you cook it

01:12:18.600 --> 01:12:22.296
the right way you can get like three
meals out of that. Oh, ok. You're

01:12:22.329 --> 01:12:26.726
assuming and then ask people. So do
you know how to break down a chicken.

01:12:26.759 --> 01:12:30.647
Do you buy the whole chicken, like
right from a butcher, like, oh, I'm

01:12:30.680 --> 01:12:35.237
sorry. Do you have a grocery store
that actually in your neighborhood

01:12:35.270 --> 01:12:40.836
that's easy for you to get to. That
has a butcher in it where you can

01:12:40.869 --> 01:12:46.555
actually buy a whole chicken for you
to break down. They're like, oh, no,

01:12:46.588 --> 01:12:49.496
my butcher just breaks it down for me
and I just get the, the, you know,

01:12:49.529 --> 01:12:53.866
the good breast meat like, oh, that
sounds really nice. You know, not

01:12:53.899 --> 01:12:58.756
everyone has all of those things you
just described and I say so you have

01:12:58.789 --> 01:13:01.366
the time to cook,

01:13:01.399 --> 01:13:06.015
you know, and then, and then, but that
kind of conversation is different

01:13:06.048 --> 01:13:12.256
and it's a hard conversation. Um
because it starts to talk about the root

01:13:12.289 --> 01:13:19.086
causes of food insecurity and the root
causes of poverty and that's hard.

01:13:19.119 --> 01:13:24.237
That's, and then it gets, it gets hard
quick. Um you know, assuming that

01:13:24.270 --> 01:13:28.135
people know how to cook things. And
one of the, this is, it's

01:13:28.168 --> 01:13:31.616
controversial for me to say this, but
it one of the, the, the hardest

01:13:31.649 --> 01:13:34.996
things that are out there and I know
it's not intended that way is the,

01:13:35.029 --> 01:13:40.726
the snap the Snap Food Stamp challenge
where they say take a week living

01:13:40.759 --> 01:13:46.897
on a food stamp budget. What could you
do? I made the argument that anyone

01:13:46.930 --> 01:13:50.976
could do anything in a week. Ok. Um
And I've seen people be really

01:13:51.009 --> 01:13:54.055
successful in that because they're
like, yeah, I'm just gonna eat Cheetos

01:13:54.088 --> 01:13:58.027
and I'm gonna eat, you know, ramen for
a week. I can do that for seven

01:13:58.060 --> 01:14:03.326
days. Ok. I can even feed my kids like
that for seven days. Um, on the

01:14:03.359 --> 01:14:07.515
eighth day I know I'm gonna change and
go back to healthy habits. Ok, if I

01:14:07.548 --> 01:14:11.006
choose to do healthy habits. Ok. And
people are like, no, you're supposed

01:14:11.039 --> 01:14:14.706
to eat healthy. They're like, no, I
have X number of dollars. You know, if

01:14:14.739 --> 01:14:19.296
I want to win this game, I'm going to,
you know, I'm gonna stretch that

01:14:19.329 --> 01:14:24.967
dollar as much as I possibly can.
Right? I say that's nice. Ok, why don't

01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:29.046
you do this snap month challenge?

01:14:29.079 --> 01:14:37.079
Do that over time. Um do that over
weeks of working weeks of kids in

01:14:37.479 --> 01:14:43.857
childcare, weeks of kids taking them
to sports. Um that gets hard quick

01:14:43.890 --> 01:14:47.925
because then you're like, oh my gosh,
like why are my Children so

01:14:47.958 --> 01:14:50.385
lethargic?

01:14:50.418 --> 01:14:54.226
Why don't my kids wake up? Why don't
they have any, any energy? Why don't

01:14:54.259 --> 01:14:56.796
they go out and play? It's like, oh
yeah, cause they're eating

01:14:56.829 --> 01:15:02.147
cheeseburgers every night, they're
drinking soda all the time, you know,

01:15:02.180 --> 01:15:08.675
that gets hard quick but to deal with
the root causes of that is not only

01:15:08.708 --> 01:15:10.906
income

01:15:10.939 --> 01:15:18.939
but what to do with that income. Um Do
they know how to do a budget?

01:15:20.180 --> 01:15:23.487
You know, and then I start the
opportunity of change that I kind of joked

01:15:23.520 --> 01:15:27.726
about earlier but is to have larger
conversations on who taught you life

01:15:27.759 --> 01:15:29.836
skills.

01:15:29.869 --> 01:15:32.647
You know, was it, did you, did you,
were you lucky enough to have a parent

01:15:32.680 --> 01:15:37.196
at home? They taught you how to cook,
they taught you how to break down

01:15:37.229 --> 01:15:43.156
that chicken, you know. Um, another
funny ironic thing that comes out, um

01:15:43.189 --> 01:15:47.187
, is, um, uh,

01:15:47.220 --> 01:15:55.036
during Thanksgiving fun fact, um, 40%
of all charitable, uh, cash and food

01:15:55.069 --> 01:15:58.366
donations for food banks in the city
of Arizona. And I think across the

01:15:58.399 --> 01:16:04.515
entire nation comes in from November 1
to December 31. Ok. It's the giving

01:16:04.548 --> 01:16:09.976
season. Um, and it's when food is, has
their moment in the spotlight. Ok.

01:16:10.009 --> 01:16:12.476
The great irony is like, well, people
like to eat 12 months out of the

01:16:12.509 --> 01:16:20.509
year, not just two sidebar. Um, but
the, how this really becomes ironic is

01:16:21.168 --> 01:16:24.326
one of the more popular, I don't think
it's the most, but one of the more

01:16:24.359 --> 01:16:32.156
popular giving opportunities during
Thanksgiving is the turkey drive.

01:16:32.189 --> 01:16:38.256
So this is why I asked, like, do you
know how to cook a turkey?

01:16:38.289 --> 01:16:44.147
Do you know how to cook a turkey for
two people?

01:16:44.180 --> 01:16:49.897
If I were to hand you a frozen £12
turkey right now, would you know how to

01:16:49.930 --> 01:16:54.937
thaw it, break it down, break those
down into, say smaller meals that can

01:16:54.970 --> 01:16:59.147
spread over the course of a week. Um
And when you give that turkey during

01:16:59.180 --> 01:17:02.675
Thanksgiving, are you expecting them
to do that or they ex you expecting

01:17:02.708 --> 01:17:06.277
them to have the same kind of normal
and Rockwell kind of experience that

01:17:06.310 --> 01:17:10.416
you get to have at home.

01:17:10.449 --> 01:17:14.317
How are you helping them?

01:17:14.350 --> 01:17:19.946
That's a harder conversation. And that
kind of example is that's what's

01:17:19.979 --> 01:17:23.976
difficult when you start shifting into
the malnutrition argument because

01:17:24.009 --> 01:17:27.437
it's not just malnutrition of the
caloric intake, but it's also

01:17:27.470 --> 01:17:34.756
malnutrition of the community of self
that support system that's around

01:17:34.789 --> 01:17:41.175
that individual. And that is the,
that's the big challenge and that's so

01:17:41.208 --> 01:17:48.845
that is so very critical. It is very
hard to tell that story. Um You can,

01:17:48.878 --> 01:17:53.805
you can connect the dots with people
that are having these chronic health

01:17:53.838 --> 01:17:58.246
issues um that happen to be poor and
food insecure. But by the time you

01:17:58.279 --> 01:18:02.687
get to that point now you're having a
different conversation. Now you're

01:18:02.720 --> 01:18:07.726
playing defense. Um Now you're working
with someone who has diabetes and

01:18:07.759 --> 01:18:12.036
is poor and has food insecure.

01:18:12.069 --> 01:18:17.277
That's hard, that's really hard.
You're not in prevention anymore. You're

01:18:17.310 --> 01:18:24.756
in treatment. Um It's a medical issue
now. Um But to get people to before

01:18:24.789 --> 01:18:28.996
that comes, that's what's hard to say
like, well, what are, what's the

01:18:29.029 --> 01:18:34.416
data points that tell that story, I
can make arguments that it is, it is

01:18:34.449 --> 01:18:40.937
those poverty statistics. It is um uh
you know, measuring resiliency

01:18:40.970 --> 01:18:46.706
skills. Um It is actually taking, you
know, food security assessments. Um

01:18:46.739 --> 01:18:51.086
It is, and there's a lot of other kind
of data points which were really

01:18:51.119 --> 01:18:56.967
good on an individual level, but get
harder on a larger level. Um, because

01:18:57.000 --> 01:19:02.076
you have to build enough trust to sit
down with someone for them to say,

01:19:02.109 --> 01:19:06.656
yep, I can't feed my kids. I need
help. And how is that done? I mean,

01:19:06.689 --> 01:19:10.305
because like you said, they have to
build that trust and how do you sit

01:19:10.338 --> 01:19:18.338
that person down and say this person
at a time? That's hard. And,

01:19:20.100 --> 01:19:22.976
and I'm really excited that the Valley
in the United Way is doing this

01:19:23.009 --> 01:19:27.937
work. And then we, we've embraced this
concept and this is a new stuff.

01:19:27.970 --> 01:19:34.265
How do we do it in an appropriate
culturally competent way?

01:19:34.298 --> 01:19:40.256
We as the nonprofit sector, we as the
charitable sector need to stop doing

01:19:40.289 --> 01:19:44.237
stuff to communities.

01:19:44.270 --> 01:19:52.270
We're really good at it. Um without
understanding our privilege, without

01:19:52.319 --> 01:19:59.467
understanding our role in this world
um to understand the luxury that we

01:19:59.500 --> 01:20:03.717
have to work on these particular
issues,

01:20:03.750 --> 01:20:08.095
but we're not going to be effective.
We need to change to, instead of

01:20:08.128 --> 01:20:14.196
doing something to communities and to
individuals, how can we work with

01:20:14.229 --> 01:20:16.496
them?

01:20:16.529 --> 01:20:21.916
And that's, it's a subtle shift, but
it's a, it's a paradigm shift. It is

01:20:21.949 --> 01:20:26.826
a, it's, it's, it's, it's hard. It's
like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

01:20:26.859 --> 01:20:30.647
And you know, you're starting to see
some things. But gosh, I've had some

01:20:30.680 --> 01:20:34.756
, some wonderful conversations with
colleagues and the nutrition field and

01:20:34.789 --> 01:20:39.717
public health field. And it's hard.
It's like you just because you just

01:20:39.750 --> 01:20:42.397
want to get in there and you see all
these problems and it's like, look

01:20:42.430 --> 01:20:50.430
lady with these kids stop doing that,
you know, do this. You know, you

01:20:51.600 --> 01:20:56.385
should wag your finger at someone and
Titi tisk and judgment, judgment,

01:20:56.418 --> 01:21:01.836
judgment, you know, don't you see what
you're doing to your kids? Of

01:21:01.869 --> 01:21:08.746
course they do, they see it but
they're trying to, they got other problems

01:21:08.779 --> 01:21:13.916
that are much more pressing to make a
parallel back to the challenges of

01:21:13.949 --> 01:21:16.756
being a first year student

01:21:16.789 --> 01:21:22.006
in college. It is without that lack
of, of cultural competency and

01:21:22.039 --> 01:21:27.206
understanding where they are and how
each it's gonna be different for

01:21:27.239 --> 01:21:32.256
everybody. Um There's gonna be some
commonalities but the, but the biggest

01:21:32.289 --> 01:21:35.336
commonality is just taking the time to
get to know that person and get to

01:21:35.369 --> 01:21:43.076
know that community. Um And without
understanding that not only helps you

01:21:43.109 --> 01:21:47.826
, you're never going to solve the
problem by understanding that community

01:21:47.859 --> 01:21:53.706
and understanding that individual, it
allows you to not only really

01:21:53.739 --> 01:21:58.925
understand the root causes, they're
going to just be slightly different

01:21:58.958 --> 01:22:04.567
how an uh an amazing strategy we're
doing at the vaccinated way is we have

01:22:04.600 --> 01:22:11.107
shifted from just a county wide plan
to more place based plans and a place

01:22:11.140 --> 01:22:15.095
could be a community, it could be a
school, it's a place. And what that

01:22:15.128 --> 01:22:21.385
allows us to do is change the
conversation from, well, everyone in the

01:22:21.418 --> 01:22:27.586
county is the same because we're all
Arizonans. Um, and everyone that's

01:22:27.619 --> 01:22:34.226
food insecure is the same there.
Great. Um Nope, that's wrong. Um, there's

01:22:34.259 --> 01:22:39.397
gonna be some commonalities. Um,
certainly, um, in data can show us that

01:22:39.430 --> 01:22:44.305
even in the 82,000 chronic households.
Yeah. Ok. We get that. But how,

01:22:44.338 --> 01:22:48.805
what made people food insecure and
what's going to help them get out of

01:22:48.838 --> 01:22:53.206
food insecurity to be food secure and
what made them poverty and move them

01:22:53.239 --> 01:22:58.647
in, out of poverty. How that impacts
people that live in? Maryvale is

01:22:58.680 --> 01:23:01.527
going to be different than Deer
Valley. That's gonna be different than

01:23:01.560 --> 01:23:04.737
Guadalupe. That's gonna be different
in Gilbert, that's gonna be different

01:23:04.770 --> 01:23:08.425
in Scottsdale, that's gonna be
different in South Phoenix. That's gonna be

01:23:08.458 --> 01:23:15.937
different in, in, uh, uh, Sun City
because this place that we live in

01:23:15.970 --> 01:23:20.175
Maricopa County is its own state.

01:23:20.208 --> 01:23:26.286
It's huge and there's a lot of people
last census information, close to

01:23:26.319 --> 01:23:31.595
4.1 million people. It's the same
geographic areas like West Virginia or

01:23:31.628 --> 01:23:35.536
something like that. It's just
ridiculous. It's a huge area. It's, it

01:23:35.569 --> 01:23:40.437
takes two hours to drive from one side
of the metropolitan area to the

01:23:40.470 --> 01:23:46.206
other side, you know, in two hours, I
can be in Mexico. Ok. I mean, that's

01:23:46.239 --> 01:23:54.239
, that's big and without understanding
where those places are, you're not

01:23:54.259 --> 01:23:59.376
gonna ever have the opportunity to
have the conversation to build trust

01:23:59.409 --> 01:24:03.527
and so it's different. It's gonna take
longer to do it. But if you can

01:24:03.560 --> 01:24:08.476
earn that trust with an individual and
in that community, you can start

01:24:08.509 --> 01:24:13.027
dealing with so many other issues that
wrap into that, the other challenge

01:24:13.060 --> 01:24:16.416
and opportunity. And, and again, why
we're, I'm excited what we're doing

01:24:16.449 --> 01:24:20.946
at the United Way is that we also have
to understand that these are not

01:24:20.979 --> 01:24:26.456
just a one issue that helped them do
this. OK? That made them food

01:24:26.489 --> 01:24:34.489
insecure. Um It's layered. Um, it's a
lot of things. OK. Uh And that's,

01:24:35.539 --> 01:24:41.425
that's a challenge because it's, I, I
use the example of like when, um

01:24:41.458 --> 01:24:46.385
I'll go back to like the divorce
example. Um,

01:24:46.418 --> 01:24:51.925
very rarely a relationship falls apart
because of one thing. Um, it's

01:24:51.958 --> 01:24:57.467
usually a number of things over
compounded over time. Um, yeah, maybe it

01:24:57.500 --> 01:25:01.027
could be one thing but really if you
start peeling away that onion, you

01:25:01.060 --> 01:25:06.006
know, it wasn't just the affair, it
was a lot of other things that kind of

01:25:06.039 --> 01:25:12.777
led to that. And how did you work with
someone? So, you know, as someone

01:25:12.810 --> 01:25:16.326
who has worked, you know, not worked
with my friends, I work with my

01:25:16.359 --> 01:25:20.765
friends. Um, but it's, uh, um that's,
that's what I work in human services.

01:25:20.798 --> 01:25:28.798
Um, they, uh um some friends that have
gone through this and

01:25:29.609 --> 01:25:35.487
it's, those are hard conversations
over time to build the trust in order

01:25:35.520 --> 01:25:40.586
to even identify and articulate what
those root causes are. And that's

01:25:40.619 --> 01:25:46.217
hard for somebody you have a
friendship with on a hard personal topic.

01:25:46.250 --> 01:25:50.866
Well, one of the hardest personal
topics out there is food insecurity and

01:25:50.899 --> 01:25:58.536
poverty. Um, and to de,

01:25:58.569 --> 01:26:03.425
in order, uh, when you develop a
friendship with someone you have earned

01:26:03.458 --> 01:26:11.036
and demonstrated a level of trust
where you can do almost anything. The,

01:26:11.069 --> 01:26:15.116
the Arizona test is a true friend, is
someone that's gonna help you move

01:26:15.149 --> 01:26:23.149
in July. Ok. Um, you know, uh, you
know, a not so real friend is like, oh

01:26:23.390 --> 01:26:27.237
, it's December. Yeah, no problem. You
know, my true friend is gonna be

01:26:27.270 --> 01:26:32.506
out there at seven o'clock in the
morning when it's 100 degrees already

01:26:32.539 --> 01:26:36.876
and move all the stuff in the hottest
day of the year because it's always

01:26:36.909 --> 01:26:40.156
the hottest day of the year when you
move. That's what a true friend is

01:26:40.189 --> 01:26:45.956
gonna do there and they're not gonna
hesitate. Ok. Um

01:26:45.989 --> 01:26:52.506
That is the kind of trust that you, I
think you need to aspire to and, and

01:26:52.539 --> 01:26:55.826
, and everything needs to be coined
towards it. It needs to be more

01:26:55.859 --> 01:27:00.756
personal. That's how you deal with
root causes. That is very difficult,

01:27:00.789 --> 01:27:04.476
very easy on one on ones and it's, you
know, I've heard some people and

01:27:04.509 --> 01:27:07.765
kind of hearing this, they're like, so
what we need to do is build armies

01:27:07.798 --> 01:27:10.817
of social workers and counselors and
just dive into these communities. I'm

01:27:10.850 --> 01:27:15.826
like, yeah, that's not realistic. Um
That's my question. How do you do

01:27:15.859 --> 01:27:21.296
this in in play space, but you can,
and there's already models that are

01:27:21.329 --> 01:27:24.496
out there that help with this. And so
like, one of those models is even in

01:27:24.529 --> 01:27:29.416
the faith community and the faith
community has demonstrated how you can

01:27:29.449 --> 01:27:36.527
mobilize and impact change within a
large group of individuals towards

01:27:36.560 --> 01:27:40.885
something positive. And

01:27:40.918 --> 01:27:44.726
it's not the one, sometimes it does
seem like it's the one pastor or the

01:27:44.759 --> 01:27:50.656
one rabbi that is out there working
with 500 families. That's not the

01:27:50.689 --> 01:27:58.217
truth. What that pastor or what that
rabbi is doing is they build that

01:27:58.250 --> 01:28:06.250
cohesive network of trust that extends
um going back into you're asking me

01:28:06.899 --> 01:28:14.899
of like the culture of philanthropy,
if you can get individuals to not

01:28:14.909 --> 01:28:22.586
only understand an issue and give them
a positive rewarding opportunity to

01:28:22.619 --> 01:28:27.946
take action in that particular issue
that generates an excitement that

01:28:27.979 --> 01:28:32.987
they want to do more of and they're
gonna tell more people of

01:28:33.020 --> 01:28:38.805
you do. That's how communities are
built. Um

01:28:38.838 --> 01:28:45.916
sports teams fandom. How do people
become fans? How do people stay fans?

01:28:45.949 --> 01:28:50.446
How do people pass on that fandom to
their Children?

01:28:50.479 --> 01:28:53.135
It's because they're really excited
about it and then they take them to a

01:28:53.168 --> 01:28:55.906
shared experience and they have a
really good time and it changes their

01:28:55.939 --> 01:29:00.555
life in that way and it becomes a part
of their life. Um It's a culture of

01:29:00.588 --> 01:29:08.588
fandom. Um a culture of philanthropy
is doing that not only with people

01:29:08.819 --> 01:29:14.196
that want to affect change, but it's
also how to work with a community

01:29:14.229 --> 01:29:21.086
that needs to be changed. Um It's
working with individuals and spreading

01:29:21.119 --> 01:29:26.345
that kind, demonstrating trust,
demonstrating love because it all comes

01:29:26.378 --> 01:29:29.906
back down to love. You can't do it
with hate that's gets harder that way.

01:29:29.939 --> 01:29:37.939
Um But it is, that is a, you can do
that. And there's a examples where you

01:29:38.458 --> 01:29:42.376
where like really good positive
examples in the faith community have done

01:29:42.409 --> 01:29:50.246
that. We've also seen where um
specifically around the food security issue

01:29:50.279 --> 01:29:56.546
if you can get a breakfast in the
classroom started at a school. Um And

01:29:56.579 --> 01:29:59.826
Arizona is really bad when it comes to
food and security for Children. As

01:29:59.859 --> 01:30:04.217
I mentioned, the one and for um
Children um really bad when it comes to

01:30:04.250 --> 01:30:09.717
larger kind of programs that are out
there. Um And while we have very good

01:30:09.750 --> 01:30:15.147
, um because it's federally mandated
um free, reduced lunch and meal

01:30:15.180 --> 01:30:21.326
programs for schools because they have
to do it. Um The, the participation

01:30:21.359 --> 01:30:26.256
rate in those programs is very low,
especially around breakfast. Um And so

01:30:26.289 --> 01:30:31.265
, and just again, to give you an idea
in a lot of the schools that we're

01:30:31.298 --> 01:30:34.987
working with, especially in high need
areas I'm talking about and high

01:30:35.020 --> 01:30:40.717
need in this area is looking at the
percentage of Children that qualify

01:30:40.750 --> 01:30:47.196
for, for free and reduced lunch in a
school. Um So in high, 90% above 70%

01:30:47.229 --> 01:30:51.246
and above. Um and there is a lot of
schools, a lot of schools that

01:30:51.279 --> 01:30:58.256
surround the Tempe campus right here.
Um, and

01:30:58.289 --> 01:31:05.126
what they find is that, um, kids don't
just jump off the bus and run

01:31:05.159 --> 01:31:10.296
straight to the cafeteria to eat, to
get that food. What happens like kids

01:31:10.329 --> 01:31:17.506
, our kids and they run to the
playground with their friends and they

01:31:17.539 --> 01:31:21.527
won't wanna be seen as the poor kid.

01:31:21.560 --> 01:31:27.527
Even in, I've seen this and even in
schools where 100% of the Children are

01:31:27.560 --> 01:31:33.449
free and reduced, hey, they still
don't want to be seen as the poor kid.

01:31:34.509 --> 01:31:36.509
Then they want normalcy.

01:31:38.220 --> 01:31:41.756
You can even compound that with the
pressures that are placed on schools

01:31:41.789 --> 01:31:45.826
for school performance and test
performance and how that's reduced the

01:31:45.859 --> 01:31:50.786
amount of play and resource and, and
recess time enough time for them to

01:31:50.819 --> 01:31:56.286
hang out with their friends. The
social time I go back to why do poor

01:31:56.319 --> 01:32:00.546
people eat poorly because it tastes
good

01:32:00.579 --> 01:32:08.006
kids. They're, yeah. Uh cafeteria on
the left playground with my friends

01:32:08.039 --> 01:32:14.487
on the right. You know, if I have 30
minutes I'm gonna go play and they do

01:32:14.520 --> 01:32:19.666
, they're just being Children and
that's great. You know, there's nothing

01:32:19.699 --> 01:32:24.635
wrong with that. Um, and then they
show up and, you know, they have a

01:32:24.668 --> 01:32:29.006
teacher who was asked, you know, when
is lunch 15 times a day, you know,

01:32:29.039 --> 01:32:31.866
because they haven't eaten anything
and they're gonna just, they're gonna

01:32:31.899 --> 01:32:36.206
just plug it out to lunch. The
participation rate is on average between 20

01:32:36.239 --> 01:32:44.239
40% in those areas. But so if you let
kids be kids, you just, you know who

01:32:44.500 --> 01:32:48.777
, you know, the community that you're
working with. Um and you understand

01:32:48.810 --> 01:32:52.765
them, you've taken the time to
understand them at their base root level.

01:32:52.798 --> 01:32:56.647
Children are gonna be goofy and weird.
Ok, great. Good for them. Right.

01:32:56.680 --> 01:33:00.967
 There's nothing wrong with that. Um

01:33:01.000 --> 01:33:05.437
by switching to a breakfast in the
classroom model. Now you have 100% of

01:33:05.470 --> 01:33:10.817
your kids that are getting free and
reduced lunch, um, breakfast. Um, now

01:33:10.850 --> 01:33:13.786
they're all eating

01:33:13.819 --> 01:33:17.817
and now they can be successful. But
we've seen in place is that once you

01:33:17.850 --> 01:33:25.850
start that kind of program. Mhm.
Different conversations happen. Um, not

01:33:26.039 --> 01:33:30.647
only do you see kids showing up on
time to class because they have another

01:33:30.680 --> 01:33:35.135
incentive to go show up to class and
they can get food. They just played

01:33:35.168 --> 01:33:37.607
or maybe they're running late. But
gosh, you know what, I don't want to

01:33:37.640 --> 01:33:45.640
miss breakfast there. It also gives
you a chance to, hm, eat with an adult.

01:33:48.970 --> 01:33:50.970
And that's a big thing. It's a little thing that we take for granted, but

01:33:53.869 --> 01:33:59.487
for some of these kids they actually
don't eat with adult. You also get a

01:33:59.520 --> 01:34:04.555
chance to share a meal with peers.

01:34:04.588 --> 01:34:09.357
Think about how many joyful occasions
that you've had in your life that

01:34:09.390 --> 01:34:13.487
involved sharing a meal.

01:34:13.520 --> 01:34:18.456
It's part of who, uh, part of
humanity. Um

01:34:18.489 --> 01:34:24.237
And to do that with peers, even at
work, how often around the lunchroom

01:34:24.270 --> 01:34:28.956
table? Have you been able to share
some time with your peers? Well, kids

01:34:28.989 --> 01:34:32.635
need that too. That's their work. They
go and do their job, which is at

01:34:32.668 --> 01:34:38.296
school. It changes that dynamic. It
also allows you not only to feed the

01:34:38.329 --> 01:34:43.946
nutritious food, but then you can
actually work with a teacher to say why

01:34:43.979 --> 01:34:48.467
is nutritious food important?

01:34:48.500 --> 01:34:53.336
Yes, this f some food is fun to eat
every once in a while. But what

01:34:53.369 --> 01:34:58.046
happens when you eat all this bad food
over time? Oh I feel bad. You know

01:34:58.079 --> 01:35:01.826
what happens when you eat this? Oh I
feel pretty good. You can have those

01:35:01.859 --> 01:35:07.226
conversations. You could have that
education outcome. Um You could talk

01:35:07.259 --> 01:35:11.916
about, you know, um be negative
behaviors in a classroom. You could talk

01:35:11.949 --> 01:35:17.897
about absenteeism, you can talk about
eventually grade detainment cause

01:35:17.930 --> 01:35:24.656
more butts and seats repeated. I've
heard helps with school achievement. I

01:35:24.689 --> 01:35:29.376
mean sarcastic but that is, that
really adds to that opportunity. And that

01:35:29.409 --> 01:35:33.376
is a theory in place that is how you
deal with food insecurity in place.

01:35:33.409 --> 01:35:37.946
It can also allow you that once you
actually have removed that food

01:35:37.979 --> 01:35:42.416
insecurity off of a household that now
a parent doesn't have to worry

01:35:42.449 --> 01:35:47.987
about breakfast and now they can shift
those resources into dinner. That

01:35:48.020 --> 01:35:53.086
helps a little bit. Um I've even seen
opportunities in some schools where

01:35:53.119 --> 01:35:56.586
they actually instituted. Um, not only
they have a breakfast in the

01:35:56.619 --> 01:36:00.397
classroom and they have the free and
reduced lunch that they started

01:36:00.430 --> 01:36:08.430
dinner in the classroom or dinner at
school where now families can come to

01:36:08.439 --> 01:36:13.046
school and have dinner, um, that maybe
paid $2 a meal. They're paying the

01:36:13.079 --> 01:36:18.586
market rate, which is fine. That's
great. Um, but now those families can

01:36:18.619 --> 01:36:24.520
talk to each other, the families can
sit down and share a meal together.

01:36:24.588 --> 01:36:26.588
They can build a support system

01:36:27.708 --> 01:36:31.777
with the commonality of their, of
their Children who and their friends,

01:36:31.810 --> 01:36:37.015
the, the kids can go play, the parents
can sit and have a meal together.

01:36:37.048 --> 01:36:42.496
Hm. Like that's parent engagement. Um,
why is sharing that meal so

01:36:42.529 --> 01:36:50.529
important? It's community, it's love.
Um, that is

01:36:53.009 --> 01:37:01.009
to, to me, uh, uh, food is, is, is, is
an act of love. Uh, food is that

01:37:01.079 --> 01:37:06.937
when I use the term nourishment, it
nourishes your soul. Um, I demonstrate

01:37:06.970 --> 01:37:13.317
love, uh, with my wife and people that
I care about by cooking them a meal.

01:37:13.350 --> 01:37:21.350
Um, and there is something that
happens when you, when, hm, it's, it's,

01:37:22.680 --> 01:37:28.046
it's animal, it's an animal behavior.
When animals are eating, they have

01:37:28.079 --> 01:37:34.826
to be less stressed, helps with the
digestion. It helps you focus, you're

01:37:34.859 --> 01:37:39.126
not in that fight or flight kind of
situation. It, it, it, it, it lowers

01:37:39.159 --> 01:37:46.397
your blood pressure. It, it allows you
to relax and

01:37:46.430 --> 01:37:51.006
when you do it in a communal sense
with a family, with your neighbors

01:37:51.039 --> 01:37:56.937
within a school. And that's even in
the, the uh the whole concept of place

01:37:56.970 --> 01:38:04.970
, even in a home or in a shared space,
a third space that allows

01:38:05.798 --> 01:38:07.897
individuals

01:38:07.930 --> 01:38:15.930
the time to make those connections, to
share stories, to practice um

01:38:16.798 --> 01:38:24.798
listening uh to, to problem solve. Um
That is, you know, there, there was

01:38:25.739 --> 01:38:30.357
a time when there was not a word of
therapy and counseling.

01:38:30.390 --> 01:38:34.336
Um You just had a good family
connection and there's people you could talk

01:38:34.369 --> 01:38:38.576
to about good things and bad things.

01:38:38.609 --> 01:38:42.437
The dinner table allows you to do that

01:38:42.470 --> 01:38:49.946
and the more we can have that
repeated, um

01:38:49.979 --> 01:38:55.916
Some of the very best memories of my
life have been and even with my

01:38:55.949 --> 01:38:59.366
mother who's past, have been

01:38:59.399 --> 01:39:04.836
her, teaching me how to cook and then
us eating that food together. Um

01:39:04.869 --> 01:39:09.706
That's how I honor her memory is by

01:39:09.739 --> 01:39:14.925
Bye demonstrating that

01:39:14.958 --> 01:39:17.067
West

01:39:17.100 --> 01:39:22.916
more and more people that I love and

01:39:22.949 --> 01:39:27.366
even the opportunity to

01:39:27.399 --> 01:39:34.876
show people that that's, it's ok to
let the barriers break down to let the

01:39:34.909 --> 01:39:39.826
stresses of the day break down because
you know what,

01:39:39.859 --> 01:39:44.906
at least we can sit down and have a
good meal. You know, that's beautiful.

01:39:44.939 --> 01:39:50.397
And that is where you can, you can
demonstrate trust, you can earn trust

01:39:50.430 --> 01:39:58.116
, you can demonstrate and earn love.
And that's where change happens.

01:39:58.149 --> 01:40:01.345
We just, that's where continuing of
good things happen. And it's

01:40:01.378 --> 01:40:03.626
reinforced

01:40:03.659 --> 01:40:06.296
when we're alone

01:40:06.329 --> 01:40:14.329
that's hard. Um That is that sense of
isolation and desperation and

01:40:18.699 --> 01:40:20.885
pessimism

01:40:20.918 --> 01:40:28.437
that is for someone who's alone um And
to reconnect people on their terms

01:40:28.470 --> 01:40:32.616
in a way that makes sense to them and
building that con that network,

01:40:32.649 --> 01:40:38.796
that's where you can actually get
things done. Um Or just continue things

01:40:38.829 --> 01:40:44.555
if you think about people ask me, you
know, what does, what is a good

01:40:44.588 --> 01:40:49.166
community look like? What does um good
old maso and this hierarchy of

01:40:49.199 --> 01:40:53.265
needs? You know, what does self
actualization really look like? And to me

01:40:53.298 --> 01:40:58.196
, it is the,

01:40:58.229 --> 01:41:05.527
you see it at home of a family that is
safe enough, secure enough,

01:41:05.560 --> 01:41:09.857
confident enough with enough love and
trust and listening and they have a

01:41:09.890 --> 01:41:13.217
para meal together

01:41:13.250 --> 01:41:17.946
and I've used that example and people
be like the, do you if I were to ask

01:41:17.979 --> 01:41:22.317
you like, how many times did that
happen in your life? And people will

01:41:22.350 --> 01:41:25.717
think back to

01:41:25.750 --> 01:41:30.946
that time, the last time that their
grandmother was in their house usually

01:41:30.979 --> 01:41:38.979
over a holiday or a birthday
celebration um or a wedding or a funeral. Um

01:41:40.970 --> 01:41:45.406
common thread, it's food,

01:41:45.439 --> 01:41:50.527
it's a meal, it's not just food, it's
not just like, you know, big raw

01:41:50.560 --> 01:41:56.586
produce that's out there. It is
someone took the time to prepare that for

01:41:56.619 --> 01:42:03.286
you and they want you to eat it and,
and then you can do, you can

01:42:03.319 --> 01:42:06.937
reciprocate, you could do the same for
them. That's how you can build the

01:42:06.970 --> 01:42:12.166
trust. It's, it's beyond the concept
of breaking bread with someone. Um,

01:42:12.199 --> 01:42:17.425
it's deeper and that's where you can
store memories. Um, and those

01:42:17.458 --> 01:42:23.086
memories can then be reinforced as
those trusting building blocks that you

01:42:23.119 --> 01:42:30.857
can then handle bigger things. Ok. So
we're at 142.

01:42:30.890 --> 01:42:36.506
All right.

01:42:36.539 --> 01:42:40.675
Ok. This is a continuation of the Herr
interview. Let's talk about the

01:42:40.708 --> 01:42:45.317
goals and the mission of, um, your
organization, please. Absolutely. So,

01:42:45.350 --> 01:42:53.350
at the Valet and United Way, um our
mission is to mobilize a caring uh

01:42:53.909 --> 01:43:01.305
community. Uh And we demonstrate that
through uh tackling um key

01:43:01.338 --> 01:43:08.616
initiatives um that we feel are vital
to a successful thriving community.

01:43:08.649 --> 01:43:15.376
So, um our core um initiatives are to
ensure Children you succeed uh

01:43:15.409 --> 01:43:20.217
increase financial stability and then
end chronic homelessness and, and

01:43:20.250 --> 01:43:25.857
chronic hunger. Um big things, um
commonality through some of those is

01:43:25.890 --> 01:43:32.116
poverty. Um But sometimes not. Um So
that is definitely something that uh

01:43:32.149 --> 01:43:37.506
we are focusing in on. Ok. So let's
talk about. Um we've kind of touched

01:43:37.539 --> 01:43:41.265
base over a little bit about the, the
main issues or the challenges facing

01:43:41.298 --> 01:43:49.298
um facing Arizonans with food
insecurity. OK. So the, the main issues um

01:43:50.489 --> 01:43:56.946
that uh for those in Arizona that are
facing food insecurity really comes

01:43:56.979 --> 01:43:59.836
down to

01:43:59.869 --> 01:44:03.397
um

01:44:03.430 --> 01:44:11.430
uh its most basic level is a lack of
income, um a lack of sufficient

01:44:11.439 --> 01:44:19.439
income, um specifically, um a lack of
time um in order to either achieve

01:44:19.890 --> 01:44:27.890
that income or as a, as a result of
not um having enough income, you have

01:44:27.989 --> 01:44:34.265
to use more time because work more
hours. Um And then um kind of a third

01:44:34.298 --> 01:44:39.406
thing and this is dependent. Um uh
It's a little bit of a problem

01:44:39.439 --> 01:44:44.675
statement, but it's also an
opportunity statement. It is a lack of or a

01:44:44.708 --> 01:44:49.336
challenge of community. And I say
challenge as opposed to lack is that in

01:44:49.369 --> 01:44:54.506
some of the communities that we're
working in uh in place. Um That's

01:44:54.539 --> 01:44:58.845
actually the thing that they have
going for them is community. Um And that

01:44:58.878 --> 01:45:03.717
is an incredible asset that you can
actually work with um in other

01:45:03.750 --> 01:45:07.876
communities, other places, there is no
community and that's a huge

01:45:07.909 --> 01:45:11.906
challenge. Um And, and they don't know
their neighbors, they don't want to

01:45:11.939 --> 01:45:16.726
know their neighbors. Uh They are
living in complete and total isolation.

01:45:16.759 --> 01:45:22.946
Um And so it is, those would be some
of the, the three top issues. OK. Can

01:45:22.979 --> 01:45:30.265
you um tell, explain to me your um
definition of food sustainability?

01:45:30.298 --> 01:45:35.626
So, from my definition of food
sustainability

01:45:35.659 --> 01:45:42.515
um is beyond the

01:45:42.548 --> 01:45:48.226
uh it's beyond kind of a food systems
kind of frame. Um And specifically

01:45:48.259 --> 01:45:55.866
on, you know, the growth of food and
um the production of food. Um and the

01:45:55.899 --> 01:46:01.567
sale of food, that's part of my bias
of working in food and security. Um

01:46:01.600 --> 01:46:09.217
that um in most cases, the growth in
production of food is a luxury yet it

01:46:09.250 --> 01:46:16.536
does influence it, um especially in
cost. Um And it's also in kind of

01:46:16.569 --> 01:46:23.006
going back into uh the overarching
story of, of people's bad relationship

01:46:23.039 --> 01:46:27.687
with food uh in this country,

01:46:27.720 --> 01:46:35.720
a poor food system or a, a poor
understanding of a food system um

01:46:36.548 --> 01:46:40.916
reinforces the bad relationship with
food. So if you don't know where your

01:46:40.949 --> 01:46:46.946
food comes from, um you don't know the
kind of cost or time that it took

01:46:46.979 --> 01:46:53.187
to produce that food. Um You can just
think that I should, it's my, it's

01:46:53.220 --> 01:47:00.135
my right as an American to get
strawberries year round. Um why not? And

01:47:00.168 --> 01:47:04.987
they should be cheap, right? Um And,
and that's a challenge and that's,

01:47:05.020 --> 01:47:09.925
that's part of that bad relationship
with food um to and in part of any

01:47:09.958 --> 01:47:16.366
even kind of work. A more of a local
example is um the state of Arizona

01:47:16.399 --> 01:47:24.326
has an agricultural history, um a rich
agricultural history. Um in some

01:47:24.359 --> 01:47:28.446
cases, especially during the
wintertime, we grow more food in the state

01:47:28.479 --> 01:47:34.925
than we consume. Um because when it's
cold everywhere else, it's warm

01:47:34.958 --> 01:47:39.906
enough here. And so we can grow winter
lettuce, we can grow winter

01:47:39.939 --> 01:47:44.826
vegetables. Um we can grow citrus, but
there's incredible that we uh

01:47:44.859 --> 01:47:50.187
produce a lot of, of, of cattle uh for
market, there's a lot of these

01:47:50.220 --> 01:47:54.696
different things. Um But if you don't
know that and if you don't

01:47:54.729 --> 01:47:59.406
appreciate that um or just have a
basic understanding of what that that

01:47:59.439 --> 01:48:05.476
what that is but also what that means.
Um or if you don't care about it,

01:48:05.509 --> 01:48:10.567
um, that changes your whole concept of
what a food system and food

01:48:10.600 --> 01:48:16.406
sustainability actually is. Um, if you
expect there to be always cheap

01:48:16.439 --> 01:48:22.925
beef um without any ramifications and
to see how that's connected to

01:48:22.958 --> 01:48:29.076
Arizona and California's water issue.
Um, mm, I mean, that's you, you kind

01:48:29.109 --> 01:48:32.277
of lose something there like again if
you expect there to always be fresh

01:48:32.310 --> 01:48:36.437
strawberries year round, um or if you
expect there to always be plentiful

01:48:36.470 --> 01:48:43.666
, cheap ground beef. Um Without any of
that secondary question, that's the

01:48:43.699 --> 01:48:48.147
definition of a bad relationship with
food. So I think that so to in my

01:48:48.180 --> 01:48:52.467
frame in the food security lens is

01:48:52.500 --> 01:48:57.055
with food sustainability, you have to,
to change that relationship with

01:48:57.088 --> 01:49:05.088
people's food um and have a
sustainable relationship with food and that

01:49:05.119 --> 01:49:09.567
involves where it comes from, how it's
produced. What does it mean to have

01:49:09.600 --> 01:49:16.385
seasonal food? Um But it's also, it's,
to me, it is part of that change

01:49:16.418 --> 01:49:22.876
that has that relationship with food
is how can we demonstrate that

01:49:22.909 --> 01:49:30.909
locally grown seasonally produced food
is superior than not? Um And that

01:49:33.659 --> 01:49:39.845
is such a statement of luxury of
luxury and privilege. Um And that's the

01:49:39.878 --> 01:49:45.756
issue. My challenge is that
unfortunately. Um And I say this with as much

01:49:45.789 --> 01:49:50.015
respect and as someone who is within
this, the system,

01:49:50.048 --> 01:49:57.996
the question of food sustainability is
a question at a point of privilege

01:49:58.029 --> 01:50:06.029
and that's hard. Um Again, poor people
don't care. Um Poor people have

01:50:06.708 --> 01:50:13.666
other things to worry about. Um If
you're, if you have a sick kid, the

01:50:13.699 --> 01:50:19.107
only thing you think about is that
sick kid, you can't, if you were

01:50:19.140 --> 01:50:23.246
worried about paying your mortgage or
rent, you're not thinking about the

01:50:23.279 --> 01:50:29.286
sustainability of your food, just
don't care. Um

01:50:29.319 --> 01:50:34.925
E an example of this is that again,
you work in, in, in food and hunger a

01:50:34.958 --> 01:50:39.607
lot and I hear amazing stories from
individuals and with a lot of heart

01:50:39.640 --> 01:50:42.845
and a lot of passion, they're doing
incredible things and I'll hear like

01:50:42.878 --> 01:50:48.006
what we really need to do to solve
this whole food insecurity thing. Jason

01:50:48.039 --> 01:50:55.095
farmers markets everywhere. I'm like,
hm, that does sound awesome. Um And

01:50:55.128 --> 01:50:58.796
I know what you're, I know why you're
saying that because you're trying to

01:50:58.829 --> 01:51:04.116
increase local food production in a
sustainable um seasonally produced way

01:51:04.149 --> 01:51:09.967
that could potentially also start um a
form of business and economic

01:51:10.000 --> 01:51:16.967
engine for local communities. I
totally get that. Got it. But

01:51:17.000 --> 01:51:22.687
if I had the choice between a $5 pair

01:51:22.720 --> 01:51:29.876
or do you use that $5 at a Walmart?
And if I'm poor,

01:51:29.909 --> 01:51:33.246
I think I'm gonna go to Walmart

01:51:33.279 --> 01:51:37.437
because I could get a lot more stuff.
And now I say stuff, I mean, food to

01:51:37.470 --> 01:51:41.756
feed my family, like meals for my
family as opposed to I'm sure which is a

01:51:41.789 --> 01:51:46.555
very delicious $5 pair. Um And it may
be the very best pair I've ever had

01:51:46.588 --> 01:51:53.107
in my life. OK. But I don't care about
that. So that is a big challenge in

01:51:53.140 --> 01:51:56.826
under it's part of that cultural
competency.

01:51:56.859 --> 01:52:00.897
We need to understand the position and
luxury of even asking these

01:52:00.930 --> 01:52:05.357
questions and what that actually means
to even the systems that we're

01:52:05.390 --> 01:52:10.607
trying to affect change. Ok. So let's
talk about um how do we change the

01:52:10.640 --> 01:52:17.906
relationship with um about um food
insecure um relationship with food? Yes.

01:52:17.939 --> 01:52:20.937
 Thank you.

01:52:20.970 --> 01:52:27.956
Building trusting relationships, one
person, one community at a time

01:52:27.989 --> 01:52:31.805
and working to some of the natural
advantages that may already exist. And

01:52:31.838 --> 01:52:36.536
this is actually, this is, this is
actually exciting because I think this

01:52:36.569 --> 01:52:41.437
is actually one of the easier things
to do. Um And this is where you can

01:52:41.470 --> 01:52:46.366
strategically use a lot of the passion
between food sustainability and

01:52:46.399 --> 01:52:51.987
food systems work um in a very
positive way,

01:52:52.020 --> 01:52:57.256
work with communities that have good
relationships with food. OK. Um That

01:52:57.289 --> 01:53:02.496
and part of that good relationship
with food is even how you, you uh a

01:53:02.529 --> 01:53:07.345
family comes together to prepare that
food. So, in Arizona, there's a

01:53:07.378 --> 01:53:14.595
large population of native born
multigenerational Latino communities. Um

01:53:14.628 --> 01:53:21.916
It is beautiful how they build family
and community in multigenerational

01:53:21.949 --> 01:53:29.696
ways. Um That is a part of having a
good relationship with food. I learned

01:53:29.729 --> 01:53:33.925
in Tucson and being again, not a
native but close enough to a native to

01:53:33.958 --> 01:53:41.156
Arizona. Um, there's something
beautiful around making tamales together.

01:53:41.189 --> 01:53:45.666
It's, that's a good food system.
That's a good relationship with food

01:53:45.699 --> 01:53:52.147
because it's doesn't cost a lot. It's
delicious and you do it together as

01:53:52.180 --> 01:53:56.536
a family and when you make tamales,
well, they don't have to be that bad

01:53:56.569 --> 01:54:00.116
for you. Um, they're certainly better
for you than buying them from a

01:54:00.149 --> 01:54:07.086
store. Um, it's the same kind of
concept when in other communities that do

01:54:07.119 --> 01:54:12.126
uh the L DS community has a, the, has
an amazing rich tradition in, in

01:54:12.159 --> 01:54:18.857
Arizona, the kind of family parties I
do around canning. Oh my gosh,

01:54:18.890 --> 01:54:25.326
that's incredible. Growing food, local
food um in their backyard or in a,

01:54:25.359 --> 01:54:30.166
in a shared community farm and then
canning and saving the extra food. If

01:54:30.199 --> 01:54:35.866
you break that down, that is not only,
you know, education and what's a

01:54:35.899 --> 01:54:40.256
good food system, what it means to
grow your own food, what it means to

01:54:40.289 --> 01:54:45.576
budget, what resiliency skills are
reinforced in there and family skills.

01:54:45.609 --> 01:54:50.467
I mean, that's a good definition of uh
that's a good food system that is a

01:54:50.500 --> 01:54:55.567
good relationship with food. So
leveraging with those, those natural

01:54:55.600 --> 01:54:59.326
advantages and learning from them. And
how can we take some of these kinds

01:54:59.359 --> 01:55:03.756
of traditions that make sense that are
already prove it's not a proven

01:55:03.789 --> 01:55:06.717
thing. It's just what we do. It's how
we live our life. That's how we've

01:55:06.750 --> 01:55:10.015
always lived our life. It's not a big
deal. It's just, this is what we do.

01:55:10.048 --> 01:55:13.126
We've always done this. I make tamales
banana. What do you want? You know

01:55:13.159 --> 01:55:19.366
, and it's, and you see those things
but we have to look beyond the, we

01:55:19.399 --> 01:55:24.675
have to look more into those communal
things. Not the individual things.

01:55:24.708 --> 01:55:28.376
Yes, we could teach everyone how to
cook.

01:55:28.409 --> 01:55:36.409
Why, for whom? For you? You know, I
mean, I, I'm very fortunate I know how

01:55:37.930 --> 01:55:43.845
to cook. Um, it's, it's a practice,
um, that will never learn everything

01:55:43.878 --> 01:55:47.925
but it's so much more enjoyable when I
could cook for somebody when it's

01:55:47.958 --> 01:55:53.616
for myself. I like, like crap. Ok. I
just do. And again, this is not, it's

01:55:53.649 --> 01:55:59.296
not, this is obvious things. It's, is
the example of like, when, you know

01:55:59.329 --> 01:56:03.175
, you have a married couple and like
one of the partners leaves for the

01:56:03.208 --> 01:56:06.206
weekend, the other person who stays at
home eats like crap because they're

01:56:06.239 --> 01:56:09.647
cooking for themselves. Ok? Or they're
not cooking, they're just eating

01:56:09.680 --> 01:56:14.006
whatever comes in front of them.
Right. Um, that's what isolation does to

01:56:14.039 --> 01:56:18.925
you because if it's just for yourself
then it doesn't really matter. I, OK

01:56:18.958 --> 01:56:26.416
, I'll just, I'll have cheese and, and
nacho chips. You know. You know, my

01:56:26.449 --> 01:56:31.135
wife, my dear wife, who I love when
I'm working late, she makes herself

01:56:31.168 --> 01:56:35.576
quesadillas. I don't know why she
doesn't make herself quesadillas. Ok.

01:56:35.609 --> 01:56:38.175
Because, and I asked her one time,
like, why do you make yourself

01:56:38.208 --> 01:56:41.336
quesadillas? She's like, it's the
first food and I, I was able to prepare

01:56:41.369 --> 01:56:46.607
for myself. I'm like, oh, that's cute.
You know, it's great. Um, and then

01:56:46.640 --> 01:56:49.576
I understand that, you know, so we
kind of root down but when you cook for

01:56:49.609 --> 01:56:53.456
someone else then you can introduce
because now you're like, I want not

01:56:53.489 --> 01:56:57.786
only this to be delicious for you, but
I don't want to make you fat or

01:56:57.819 --> 01:57:04.906
poison you. Ok? And so I'm gonna care
about it. OK. And, and, and because

01:57:04.939 --> 01:57:09.687
it's not only, it's, it's, it's again,
when you cook for someone, it's a

01:57:09.720 --> 01:57:15.506
demonstration of trust and it's a
demonstration of love. Um That is a

01:57:15.539 --> 01:57:20.345
better relation. That's that better
relationship with food. So tell me um

01:57:20.378 --> 01:57:24.326
your thoughts um about or I guess the
organization's thoughts about the,

01:57:24.359 --> 01:57:29.647
the growing gardens in the area or
growing your own. Um Is that

01:57:29.680 --> 01:57:35.897
sustainable? Is that it can be? Yeah.
And so um does that help solve the

01:57:35.930 --> 01:57:40.305
problem? I think it helps

01:57:40.338 --> 01:57:45.996
on the issue of changing relationship
with food. Um which I think is a

01:57:46.029 --> 01:57:52.376
stepping stone that helps with
addressing food insecurity. Um The

01:57:52.409 --> 01:57:57.107
challenge is, is that um where are you
growing that food? And who are you

01:57:57.140 --> 01:58:02.656
growing the food with? And who is it
for? Um If it's just for you, for

01:58:02.689 --> 01:58:07.906
your family, that's good that changes
your individual and your family's

01:58:07.939 --> 01:58:11.196
relationship with food. And that's
fantastic. And hopefully those skills

01:58:11.229 --> 01:58:15.437
can be reinforced and developed over
time. Excellent

01:58:15.470 --> 01:58:20.876
to address the food insecurity
component. Why don't you grow some of that

01:58:20.909 --> 01:58:24.107
food for your local food bank?

01:58:24.140 --> 01:58:29.647
Why don't you show others in your
neighborhood

01:58:29.680 --> 01:58:37.607
how to grow food? Um My wife, she, she
has to have a little garden at her

01:58:37.640 --> 01:58:43.845
preschool because I would not let her
do anyway. Um

01:58:43.878 --> 01:58:46.987
Just four year olds growing radishes
and carrots and they think radishes

01:58:47.020 --> 01:58:53.656
and carrots are the most delicious fun
things in the world that is a way

01:58:53.689 --> 01:58:56.826
of teaching nutrition,

01:58:56.859 --> 01:59:02.496
teaching a better relationship with
food to where you develop a taste for

01:59:02.529 --> 01:59:08.857
food. Um, that a practice, it becomes
fun and interesting. It's not

01:59:08.890 --> 01:59:12.527
something that this whole knowledge of
like, oh my, my parents maybe eat

01:59:12.560 --> 01:59:18.305
all the vegetables, anything you're
made to do. You don't wanna do that.

01:59:18.338 --> 01:59:21.317
Uh, because it sucks and it's boring
and you don't want it. That's awful.

01:59:21.350 --> 01:59:25.206
It's, it's seen in a negative. But if
you're like, yeah, I grew that

01:59:25.239 --> 01:59:28.277
broccoli,

01:59:28.310 --> 01:59:33.496
it's delicious but I made it. I grew
that, that's a different conversation.

01:59:33.529 --> 01:59:36.336
That's part of the different
conversation with food and applying those

01:59:36.369 --> 01:59:39.487
different. It's not just learning in
it, but then applying the knowledge

01:59:39.520 --> 01:59:42.987
with other people. It's not just
learning how to cook, it's cooking with

01:59:43.020 --> 01:59:50.086
people. That's how you shift from. I
love people that grow gardens, but

01:59:50.119 --> 01:59:57.015
add on to that, grow food for others.
It's not just to feed yourself, feed

01:59:57.048 --> 02:00:02.015
others outside of your network and
leverage the natural opportunity that

02:00:02.048 --> 02:00:04.737
comes with food,

02:00:04.770 --> 02:00:09.296
cook for other parents that are in
your kid's school instead of having a

02:00:09.329 --> 02:00:14.437
play date and just sending your child
out into the, to the ether to go and

02:00:14.470 --> 02:00:18.756
play with some other and just hoping
that they come back, like, why don't

02:00:18.789 --> 02:00:23.595
you have a play date where you
barbecue something, you cook something

02:00:23.628 --> 02:00:28.726
together as two families. I'm not
saying you have to do it every week. But

02:00:28.759 --> 02:00:31.416
does that then you get to know the
people that your kids are playing with

02:00:31.449 --> 02:00:37.126
, you know, um, that changes that kind
of conversation. And gosh, wouldn't

02:00:37.159 --> 02:00:41.036
it be amazing to if it, it's something
that came out of your own garden

02:00:41.069 --> 02:00:46.366
and let that be a conversation
starter. I've seen,

02:00:46.399 --> 02:00:50.286
it's almost like, it's almost like dog
walking. It's a really weird thing.

02:00:50.319 --> 02:00:56.717
It's like dogs can really break down
those barriers and start a level of

02:00:56.750 --> 02:01:03.067
conversation that builds trust gardens
do the same. I've seen that. Um,

02:01:03.100 --> 02:01:11.100
it's cu it's curious, it's weird that
way, but it's a positive weird.

02:01:13.458 --> 02:01:18.487
Ok,

02:01:18.520 --> 02:01:21.925
continuation of an interview

02:01:21.958 --> 02:01:26.437
with Mr Matthews. I, I'd like to ask
you a question. You mentioned, your

02:01:26.470 --> 02:01:31.506
wife is a kind a preschool teacher.
Can she see? I know you mentioned

02:01:31.539 --> 02:01:35.506
about the snacks and she sees them
saving it. Can she see when Children

02:01:35.539 --> 02:01:39.956
are hungry and what it, how it affects
them in the classroom? Absolutely.

02:01:39.989 --> 02:01:45.897
Um, yeah. Um, and it's not just with
her, her and her experience but um in

02:01:45.930 --> 02:01:52.196
having conversations with other um
teachers um throughout the valley, um

02:01:52.229 --> 02:01:54.946
uh

02:01:54.979 --> 02:02:02.027
um uh the impact of food insecurity
and the impact of um of poverty. But

02:02:02.060 --> 02:02:07.036
how it kind of effectuates and as
demonstrated through food insecurity can

02:02:07.069 --> 02:02:15.069
especially be seen and just
attentiveness, um temperament um uh just

02:02:16.619 --> 02:02:21.737
how pleasant of a kid they are and if
they're paying attention. Um and

02:02:21.770 --> 02:02:26.576
it's not, to me it, it's when you say
it like that, I automatically think

02:02:26.609 --> 02:02:30.095
about my own experiences and I'm like,
yeah, when I'm hungry, I'm cranky

02:02:30.128 --> 02:02:34.567
and I'm not paying attention. Um, and
it's just because your, your minds

02:02:34.600 --> 02:02:39.076
on some something else, um, that I
think is kind of the immediate, um,

02:02:39.109 --> 02:02:42.916
kind of food insecure. I think some of
the larger, some of the longer term

02:02:42.949 --> 02:02:46.015
, especially when you're working with
some of those chronic food insecure

02:02:46.048 --> 02:02:54.048
over time is, um, you'll see how

02:02:54.180 --> 02:02:59.706
someone who's eating poorly over a
long period of time is going to start

02:02:59.739 --> 02:03:07.739
to show those signs of, of being
lethargic, of decreased energy, of just

02:03:09.750 --> 02:03:13.567
kind of all over the place. Like it's
not just, it's like, it's, it's a

02:03:13.600 --> 02:03:17.687
chronic state of, of lack of
attention, but it's also kind of like highs

02:03:17.720 --> 02:03:23.437
and lows. Um, and, and it's, it's more
than just like, yeah, they had a

02:03:23.470 --> 02:03:25.817
bunch of sugar right, for the lock in
and now they bounce out the walls.

02:03:25.850 --> 02:03:32.527
It's, it's more of like their, their
whole body chemistry is off and that

02:03:32.560 --> 02:03:40.560
is, that can be demonstrated over
time, you know, and even just, um, she

02:03:40.750 --> 02:03:46.576
has seen where, uh kind of to
demonstrate the lot that bad relationship

02:03:46.609 --> 02:03:53.687
with food with, even at a, at a young
age, even how rewards are done. Um

02:03:53.720 --> 02:04:01.720
And, um, but she's, she's seen and to
me this is a demonstration of our

02:04:02.168 --> 02:04:09.277
overall bad relationship with food.
but how often we use food as a reward.

02:04:09.310 --> 02:04:14.107
Um, that's part of that reward system.
Um, you got a promotion, let's go

02:04:14.140 --> 02:04:22.140
out to dinner. Um, we uh birthday
dinner. Um, and, um, when you're poor

02:04:23.509 --> 02:04:29.187
that becomes even more when your food
insecure that is amplified. Um I

02:04:29.220 --> 02:04:35.196
remember my own experience where, um,
my mom, when something good happened

02:04:35.229 --> 02:04:41.446
, we would go to Sizzler, ok? And
because it was, you know, steak and

02:04:41.479 --> 02:04:44.647
shrimp and the all you can eat, you
know, salad bar or whatever like that

02:04:44.680 --> 02:04:50.237
for 799. Um, but that was, it was a,
it was a big deal. You're gonna go to

02:04:50.270 --> 02:04:53.147
Sizzler. I mean, because something big
happened, you know, like we got a

02:04:53.180 --> 02:05:00.076
tax refund. Yeah, Sizzler. Right. And
so, um, but what she's seen with a

02:05:00.109 --> 02:05:05.437
preschool is that if you're trying to
demonstrate

02:05:05.470 --> 02:05:13.345
good forms of reward through praise,
um, and teaching praise and empathy

02:05:13.378 --> 02:05:19.385
amongst peers that doesn't involve
food, it's different, it's a different

02:05:19.418 --> 02:05:24.946
conversation um, that we're still kind
of trying to process it because

02:05:24.979 --> 02:05:29.546
it's, it's strange, you know, and she
will even say, like, you know, um,

02:05:29.579 --> 02:05:33.987
it's not real unless they get like a,
like a treat,

02:05:34.020 --> 02:05:38.055
you know, like it's not like, you
know, and she's kind of been kind of

02:05:38.088 --> 02:05:42.536
processing like they could, you know,
they could do this amazing project

02:05:42.569 --> 02:05:46.406
or they could just demonstrate an
amazing empathy to their, to, you know,

02:05:46.439 --> 02:05:50.626
their peer. But if they don't have
like a good thing to eat that comes

02:05:50.659 --> 02:05:54.726
with it, then it's not like a real
thing. Um They didn't see the meaning

02:05:54.759 --> 02:06:00.765
behind it. It's hard. Can you talk a
little bit about what you think the

02:06:00.798 --> 02:06:05.496
um why it's important? What is
important for the future of food insecurity

02:06:05.529 --> 02:06:13.529
? What? Mm. Um Yeah. So the future of
food insecurity and how to really

02:06:15.750 --> 02:06:20.726
address food insecurity and it won't
take, it's not gonna happen overnight.

02:06:20.759 --> 02:06:22.866
 Um

02:06:22.899 --> 02:06:26.425
It's really reinforcing a lot of
things that, that we had discussed

02:06:26.458 --> 02:06:34.458
earlier. It is the um it's a better
understanding of our food system. It

02:06:34.520 --> 02:06:40.675
is changing that relationship with
food. Um And it's also, it's just

02:06:40.708 --> 02:06:47.976
changing our relationship with our
fellow human beings. Um It, it's gonna

02:06:48.009 --> 02:06:56.009
take a shift away from the stealth to
others um and others outside of your

02:06:56.029 --> 02:07:00.885
own immediateness. Um I say that a
lot, they're like, yeah, I really paid

02:07:00.918 --> 02:07:03.916
all my attention to my kids. Kids
don't count. Of course you're gonna pay

02:07:03.949 --> 02:07:08.237
attention to your kids. Um I hope
you're gonna obviously take care of your

02:07:08.270 --> 02:07:15.817
kids. Um But it's caring about other
people's kids. It's caring about the

02:07:15.850 --> 02:07:22.076
um the senior who lives by him or
herself on the street. Um There is a

02:07:22.109 --> 02:07:28.027
really bad example of this, that is a
heartbreaking example. A few months

02:07:28.060 --> 02:07:35.425
ago, there was a story um through
social media um of um an individual who

02:07:35.458 --> 02:07:41.876
was uh an older individual, I think it
was like 80 between 80 plus. Um,

02:07:41.909 --> 02:07:49.909
and he ended up calling 911 and the
nine because he was starving at home

02:07:51.060 --> 02:07:58.015
and the 911 operator, um, sent over a
police officer with groceries and

02:07:58.048 --> 02:08:04.046
with some prepared, um, sandwiches and
things like that. Now when I

02:08:04.079 --> 02:08:07.086
started sending that over people like,
oh, that's beautiful that they're

02:08:07.119 --> 02:08:11.487
just, they focused on the police
officers that responded

02:08:11.520 --> 02:08:17.876
and I said, you know, um, that is
nice. Thank goodness we have these

02:08:17.909 --> 02:08:24.345
public servants, um, who have to care
about and have been charged with a

02:08:24.378 --> 02:08:31.187
duty to care about other people. Ok.
Um, that's their job. Thank goodness

02:08:31.220 --> 02:08:39.220
we have them. Um, but imagine if he,
that older gentleman lived in such a

02:08:39.418 --> 02:08:44.027
caring community that, that his
neighbors knew that he was going to the

02:08:44.060 --> 02:08:50.126
hospital to have this procedure done.
Um, they noticed he wasn't around,

02:08:50.159 --> 02:08:56.156
they, they looked, they looked for
him. They, they cared enough to ask,

02:08:56.189 --> 02:09:02.156
they cared enough to say hi. Um, and
that, you know, they noticed when he

02:09:02.189 --> 02:09:05.135
came home and they went and checked on
him and they said, do you have

02:09:05.168 --> 02:09:11.626
everything you need? Um, a caring
community doesn't need to have the

02:09:11.659 --> 02:09:17.015
resort to where he has to call. He's
had such little connection with the

02:09:17.048 --> 02:09:22.166
people that he lived around and lived
with in a, in a neighborhood, they

02:09:22.199 --> 02:09:28.765
had to call the police in order to
have people bring him food.

02:09:28.798 --> 02:09:33.916
So the the future and I think the
solution is how can we build more of

02:09:33.949 --> 02:09:39.976
that outward focus? How can we ask
ourselves, you know, who else can we

02:09:40.009 --> 02:09:47.756
work with? Who else can we connect
with? Um And seeing how that is not an

02:09:47.789 --> 02:09:50.345
act of,

02:09:50.378 --> 02:09:54.805
it's actually in a strange way, it's
actually an act of selfishness, uh

02:09:54.838 --> 02:10:00.626
selflessness. Um actually selfishness
by turning outward, you can actually

02:10:00.659 --> 02:10:05.345
, you're gonna get a lot more out of
it. Um It's not just the whole like,

02:10:05.378 --> 02:10:11.987
you know, giving gifts is better than
receiving gifts, but it is,

02:10:12.020 --> 02:10:14.826
don't you want to live in a community
where everyone is happy and healthy

02:10:14.859 --> 02:10:17.147
?

02:10:17.180 --> 02:10:24.546
I mean, maybe the opposite is less
appealing, but you have an effect to

02:10:24.579 --> 02:10:31.015
that you can help your neighbors be
successful just by saying hi to them.

02:10:31.048 --> 02:10:36.317
Um by taking the time to ask how their
kids are doing by, you know, if

02:10:36.350 --> 02:10:39.196
you're out in the yard, mowing your
yard and you see the, you know, their

02:10:39.229 --> 02:10:44.006
neighbors, kids playing, you know,
keep an eye after them. You know, you

02:10:44.039 --> 02:10:46.746
don't have to tell them how to raise
their kids. But just, gosh, if you

02:10:46.779 --> 02:10:51.996
see it, you know, a car that's
speeding down the road, I hope you look

02:10:52.029 --> 02:10:55.805
after that kid. You know,

02:10:55.838 --> 02:10:59.656
and then if they do that for you,
that's a good thing too. You know, and

02:10:59.689 --> 02:11:07.689
if we're all looking outward then
it's, uh, you're gonna benefit from it.

02:11:08.079 --> 02:11:13.737
Um You know, you're gonna have that
support system, that resiliency.

02:11:13.770 --> 02:11:18.765
That's how we really address the food
insecurity. So let's talk a little

02:11:18.798 --> 02:11:23.385
bit uh quick question about what you
um So you mentioned the goals for

02:11:23.418 --> 02:11:30.187
2020 were to eliminate 22 3rd of
chronic food insecure. So what do you

02:11:30.220 --> 02:11:35.446
think the goals will be for 2040 for
the reality by 2040? What are you

02:11:35.479 --> 02:11:43.479
hoping? The reality of the 2040 is
food insecurity? Mm Great question. Um

02:11:45.009 --> 02:11:53.009
A I think that we will, we'll be,
we'll be able to achieve our goals. Um

02:11:54.640 --> 02:12:02.640
But there will be more work to do and
the,

02:12:03.159 --> 02:12:11.159
the trick or kind of the, the, the
challenge statement is, how do we,

02:12:11.619 --> 02:12:19.619
how do we see the product of success?
And what does that look like? And so

02:12:19.720 --> 02:12:24.206
the an opportunity and I think a
little bit of a of a to stretch ourselves

02:12:24.239 --> 02:12:28.397
and to push it is in a way we need to
either need to add to our goals or

02:12:28.430 --> 02:12:32.876
we need to adjust our goals and

02:12:32.909 --> 02:12:40.909
what does success look like? Um And
redefine that. So if it's just about

02:12:42.529 --> 02:12:49.416
ending chronic hunger for 82,000
households, that sounds wonderful. How,

02:12:49.449 --> 02:12:54.987
tell me how and what does that look
like? Um

02:12:55.020 --> 02:12:59.076
It's, we would already make the
argument that we are going to address the

02:12:59.109 --> 02:13:06.607
root causes of food insecurity. Great.
What does that look like? Um That

02:13:06.640 --> 02:13:09.706
means happy, healthy communities. That
means people that are happy and

02:13:09.739 --> 02:13:15.626
unicorns and rainbows. Great. What
does that look like? And so it's taking

02:13:15.659 --> 02:13:21.687
that time and challenging ourselves to
go one step further and we at the

02:13:21.720 --> 02:13:26.036
United Way. Um I, I know I say this a
lot and probably get some rolling of

02:13:26.069 --> 02:13:29.765
ice, but

02:13:29.798 --> 02:13:35.326
I just don't want it just to in
chronic food insecurity with these

02:13:35.359 --> 02:13:41.265
households. Um and places in Maryvale
in Central city, South and Guadalupe

02:13:41.298 --> 02:13:47.487
and these other communities around
Maricopa County.

02:13:47.520 --> 02:13:51.317
I wanna be a part and work with the
community to transform it into the

02:13:51.350 --> 02:13:56.786
very best places to live in the valley
and not to gentrify it. No, no, no

02:13:56.819 --> 02:14:01.696
, no. It's, it's to raise that element
of community pride where they take

02:14:01.729 --> 02:14:09.729
care of each other that they, our
definition of success should be. How can

02:14:10.199 --> 02:14:14.256
we get the families and households
that we're working with and the

02:14:14.289 --> 02:14:18.187
businesses that we're working with to
become a future donor and volunteer

02:14:18.220 --> 02:14:21.107
the United Way

02:14:21.140 --> 02:14:24.876
that's different. It's not to like,
how do we get all the, how do we

02:14:24.909 --> 02:14:27.796
mobilize all these donors and
volunteers to do all this stuff like this?

02:14:27.829 --> 02:14:31.476
OK. How do we grow our donor database?

02:14:31.509 --> 02:14:36.857
Um to get someone to the point that
they're so confident and have enough

02:14:36.890 --> 02:14:40.536
resources where they can donate that
time? They have an abundance of time

02:14:40.569 --> 02:14:44.277
so they can donate, they have an
abundance of resources to donate cash.

02:14:44.310 --> 02:14:50.976
They have, we have s we have smart and
reinforced that element of

02:14:51.009 --> 02:14:56.746
philanthropy to where they now have
received it. They've appreciated it.

02:14:56.779 --> 02:15:03.506
They see the value of it and now they,
they feel it's their time

02:15:03.539 --> 02:15:10.206
to repair the world and give back,
that is a better measurement. Um

02:15:10.239 --> 02:15:14.366
That is, that's not written down
anywhere, but that should be kind of that

02:15:14.399 --> 02:15:21.687
level of, of, of, of goal attainment,
uh individual household community.

02:15:21.720 --> 02:15:26.916
Can you tell me um what policy changes
or other um cha changes at the

02:15:26.949 --> 02:15:32.777
state level that you think could make
an impact um to achieve these goals

02:15:32.810 --> 02:15:40.810
? Yeah. Um This is when it gets, it
gets hard um

02:15:43.909 --> 02:15:49.946
changing policies and changing the
attitude that victimizes and shames the

02:15:49.979 --> 02:15:57.656
poor um as a philosophy and the
policies that go behind that um or come

02:15:57.689 --> 02:16:03.036
from, that is very key um at the state
level. Um So what does that look

02:16:03.069 --> 02:16:11.069
like? Um That is um reducing TF
benefits from 24 months to 12 months. TF

02:16:11.609 --> 02:16:19.609
is public assistance um that is um not
requiring everyone that has a snap

02:16:20.039 --> 02:16:27.175
card, food stamp card um to have their
photo ID on it. Um

02:16:27.208 --> 02:16:35.208
That is um understanding the
importance of a livable wage. Um that is

02:16:38.058 --> 02:16:43.275
understanding that to really increase
economic development in a community

02:16:43.308 --> 02:16:48.836
, people need a good transportation
system, a good reliable transportation

02:16:48.869 --> 02:16:56.869
system. Um Those are just some big
policy things but the,

02:16:57.129 --> 02:17:02.986
but it all starts with a philosophy
shift

02:17:03.019 --> 02:17:08.885
and the philosophy shift is, and uh to
say paradigm shift is, is really,

02:17:08.918 --> 02:17:15.796
it's a philosophy and I think it's
almost, it's deliberate. Um

02:17:15.829 --> 02:17:21.866
If you, if you believe that the best
way to prevent something is to scare

02:17:21.899 --> 02:17:25.667
the heck out of people,

02:17:25.700 --> 02:17:33.700
um that will have some impact but it
doesn't solve it. Um Fear

02:17:36.679 --> 02:17:43.676
it, it can only be so much of a
deterrent. Um You can only build, you know

02:17:43.709 --> 02:17:49.435
, you can always build a bigger wall,
you can always arm yourself more,

02:17:49.468 --> 02:17:57.316
you can always isolate yourself just a
little bit more. Um uh

02:17:57.349 --> 02:18:00.696
and that doesn't work, it doesn't
solve anything. You just, you're just

02:18:00.729 --> 02:18:08.729
pushing it to the side. Um And so if
you make it so unappealing to be poor

02:18:09.370 --> 02:18:16.696
um through guilt and shame and
victimization and to make, to make being

02:18:16.729 --> 02:18:20.486
poor, like the worst thing you could
possibly imagine ever doing. Because

02:18:20.519 --> 02:18:25.077
my gosh, you would be the, you know,
you would be the laughing stock of

02:18:25.110 --> 02:18:29.577
your community of your family and why
would you do that to yourself? Oh my

02:18:29.610 --> 02:18:37.610
gosh. Um A lot of those policies
reinforce that the existing policies. Um

02:18:38.349 --> 02:18:42.396
But that doesn't change anything. And
what happens? I think that the

02:18:42.429 --> 02:18:48.944
challenges and this goes back to one
of the very first questions is

02:18:48.977 --> 02:18:54.775
when you asked, why do I share this
story? My story because if you think

02:18:54.808 --> 02:19:00.896
that it can never happen to you, it's
easy to point fingers and to make

02:19:00.929 --> 02:19:07.717
the other and all those different
things. Um And where you see

02:19:07.750 --> 02:19:14.706
bipartisanship, where you see people
coming across the aisle um is when

02:19:14.739 --> 02:19:21.355
there's things that impact us all and
all of a sudden it is a public good.

02:19:21.388 --> 02:19:26.435
 Um So you can see, yeah,

02:19:26.468 --> 02:19:33.046
everyone has a veteran in the family.
They know a veteran, veteran issues

02:19:33.079 --> 02:19:35.635
are very popular.

02:19:35.668 --> 02:19:39.866
Um They're not, not, nothing's perfect
but there's attention to it and

02:19:39.899 --> 02:19:45.116
then there's a level of priority to it
and urgency behind it good. And it

02:19:45.149 --> 02:19:51.896
should be I get that um not everyone
has a poor person in their family

02:19:51.929 --> 02:19:59.929
that they know of or they want to talk
about um to use a parallel with the

02:20:00.370 --> 02:20:06.956
gay marriage argument is that once it
was seen, once you created an

02:20:06.989 --> 02:20:12.516
environment where it was safer and
comfortable to come out and talk about

02:20:12.549 --> 02:20:20.549
the issue of what is to be gay and
lesbian, questioning, transvestite. Um

02:20:21.588 --> 02:20:24.786
Then you could actually talk about
what it means to be a human. And live

02:20:24.819 --> 02:20:31.206
in that world and the issues of love
and equity and even equity, it was

02:20:31.239 --> 02:20:33.747
like, it's funny because it started
off being, like, equity and not

02:20:33.780 --> 02:20:37.196
everyone really understood what equity
meant. And so they gave the

02:20:37.229 --> 02:20:43.087
tangible example of love and like, oh,
love. Ok. Yeah, I love people, you

02:20:43.120 --> 02:20:49.286
know, I mean, you know, it's ok. I, I
can understand that, um, when things

02:20:49.319 --> 02:20:51.827
started to shift,

02:20:51.860 --> 02:20:57.305
um, and there's change, I think when
it comes to poverty and food

02:20:57.338 --> 02:21:02.855
insecurity is that people don't think
the r are gonna be hungry, they

02:21:02.888 --> 02:21:07.635
certainly never think they're gonna be
starving. And so changing the

02:21:07.668 --> 02:21:11.907
conversation, seeing how it could
impact them, seeing how it could impact

02:21:11.940 --> 02:21:16.046
their community. Um, and I'm sorry,
but when you have one in four Children

02:21:16.079 --> 02:21:19.706
, one in five adults and one in seven
seniors in Arizona that are facing

02:21:19.739 --> 02:21:23.896
food insecurity, it's happened to
people that they know they're just not

02:21:23.929 --> 02:21:27.827
talking about it. Um, because they're
ashamed of themselves and they're

02:21:27.860 --> 02:21:32.917
afraid that, you know, um, they're
afraid that you're gonna judge them. Um

02:21:32.950 --> 02:21:37.066
, and so don't talk about it, you
know. Yeah. How do you start this

02:21:37.099 --> 02:21:41.426
conversation? So,

02:21:41.459 --> 02:21:47.327
1 to 1 around the dinner table, you
have to practice what you, what you

02:21:47.360 --> 02:21:55.360
preach. Um, the challenge is, is that
where the root of the answer to your

02:21:55.679 --> 02:21:59.126
question is,

02:21:59.159 --> 02:22:03.157
it's very difficult because how we
communicate has been different is

02:22:03.190 --> 02:22:10.007
changing and it's so much easier to
find an echo chamber to isolate

02:22:10.040 --> 02:22:18.040
yourself. Um And to just find the
people that agree with you um modern

02:22:18.360 --> 02:22:25.077
technology and just preference has
make it so easy to find people that

02:22:25.110 --> 02:22:32.355
only agree to you. Um Imagine a social
media platform that had an

02:22:32.388 --> 02:22:40.388
algorithm that instead just gave you
more if you wanted to see flipped it.

02:22:40.530 --> 02:22:42.530
So it, everything that you wanted to see it gave you the opposite,

02:22:46.549 --> 02:22:50.726
your whole world would change real
quick or you just stop using that

02:22:50.759 --> 02:22:56.516
social media platform because it's
yucky. Um It's not what you wanted. Um

02:22:56.549 --> 02:23:01.766
that plays out in the public space
very quickly. Um It plays out in the

02:23:01.799 --> 02:23:06.077
neighborhoods we decided to live in,
it plays out in the conversations we

02:23:06.110 --> 02:23:11.426
have with our family members, all
those different things. It um so it's

02:23:11.459 --> 02:23:17.305
gonna take some courage on ourselves
to actually have those conversations

02:23:17.338 --> 02:23:21.976
with other people who don't agree with
you. That's hard. That's probably

02:23:22.009 --> 02:23:26.775
the hardest thing. Um You know, I
mean, it's hard enough to make friends.

02:23:26.808 --> 02:23:28.976
Now. You want me to make friends with
people that don't agree with me. Oh

02:23:29.009 --> 02:23:37.009
my gosh. But you know what we all eat.
Um uh There is, I've had incredible

02:23:38.558 --> 02:23:46.456
conversations with people that I
politically vehemently disagree with. Um

02:23:46.489 --> 02:23:53.275
God, we've had great meals and we've
had some, I threw that meal in the

02:23:53.308 --> 02:23:59.337
shared space with that shared meal.
I've been able to at least

02:23:59.370 --> 02:24:05.766
understand where they're coming from.
I mean, I'd agree with it. I will do

02:24:05.799 --> 02:24:09.696
my best to convince them otherwise.
You know, they will do the same with

02:24:09.729 --> 02:24:15.407
me. But gosh, at least we're having
the conversation

02:24:15.440 --> 02:24:23.440
finding those times. My bias is with
food because again, we all gotta eat.

02:24:24.929 --> 02:24:26.929
That's the opportunity. But it's the challenge. And if you don't, if you

02:24:29.370 --> 02:24:34.055
don't take the time to cook, if you
don't take the time to share a meal

02:24:34.088 --> 02:24:36.305
with your own family, you're
definitely not going to do it with somebody

02:24:36.338 --> 02:24:42.616
you don't agree with. Um And that's
what's so unique about. Um And I think

02:24:42.649 --> 02:24:46.275
that there's, um this is a little bit
of my English literature background

02:24:46.308 --> 02:24:51.566
coming in the best stories are the
ones with conflict. There's some

02:24:51.599 --> 02:24:55.726
conflict that brings people together
over something, something's happening

02:24:55.759 --> 02:24:59.185
that wasn't planned and brings people
together. That's why you have so

02:24:59.218 --> 02:25:04.626
many uh movies that revolve around
marriages and deaths and, you know, uh

02:25:04.659 --> 02:25:08.816
something like that, it's

02:25:08.849 --> 02:25:14.646
how can you utilize even existing
opportunities. Um In the Jewish

02:25:14.679 --> 02:25:22.456
tradition, there is um the, you know,
the, the cedar table and um over

02:25:22.489 --> 02:25:28.507
Passover and it's encouraged and it's
a Mitzvah to bring in people that

02:25:28.540 --> 02:25:34.587
aren't Jewish into your house and
share a meal with them. And this year

02:25:34.620 --> 02:25:42.620
the Passover story. Um and through
that action in my family, I have had

02:25:43.040 --> 02:25:50.226
incredible conversations with
Christians about religion, which is not

02:25:50.259 --> 02:25:53.855
another easy topic to do that people
have a lot of passion and beliefs

02:25:53.888 --> 02:25:59.467
behind and we've had amazing
conversations and disagreements, but we did

02:25:59.500 --> 02:26:06.305
it over a meal and it was ok and we
spent hours with each other and we're

02:26:06.338 --> 02:26:11.046
friends. That's good. Now, we can
continue to have conversation about

02:26:11.079 --> 02:26:14.616
other things because we at least you
done that. That is, I think is how

02:26:14.649 --> 02:26:19.685
you start. So, my final question, um,
can you share your fondest food

02:26:19.718 --> 02:26:21.997
memory?

02:26:22.030 --> 02:26:30.030
I have a lot of fond food memories. Um
Yeah. Um and uh it is I, and it's

02:26:30.819 --> 02:26:34.805
funny because my icebreaker for
community conversations is, is actually

02:26:34.838 --> 02:26:38.696
that exact question, which is funny.
Um So I've had a chance to think

02:26:38.729 --> 02:26:44.956
about it and to share a number of
memories. Um

02:26:44.989 --> 02:26:49.226
hm. So sure too. Um One I was already
thinking about when I was talking

02:26:49.259 --> 02:26:56.986
about my mom. Um excuse me, there is
my mom was a military brat but raised

02:26:57.019 --> 02:27:03.275
in Georgia and um so she loved to cook
Southern fried chicken and biscuits

02:27:03.308 --> 02:27:10.946
, uh homemade biscuits uh uh scratch
uh drop biscuits specifically. And I

02:27:10.979 --> 02:27:16.516
have multiple, I'm, I'm thinking about
three or four dozen or so times in

02:27:16.549 --> 02:27:21.605
my life, but specifically I'm thinking
about the smells and the sounds and

02:27:21.638 --> 02:27:28.135
the tastes that from those specific
meals of

02:27:28.168 --> 02:27:34.316
mom, getting out the big cast iron
frying pan, mom getting the oil out,

02:27:34.349 --> 02:27:38.816
she's got the chicken, she's got the
brown paper bag with the flour and

02:27:38.849 --> 02:27:44.976
the Lowry seasoning salt and her
shaking the bag, um, that sound of the

02:27:45.009 --> 02:27:51.577
first drop of fried, deep fried food
and this, this, the explosion of

02:27:51.610 --> 02:27:57.907
grease and, um, sounds sometimes they
like, ah, you know, it, it's

02:27:57.940 --> 02:28:01.025
flattering up on her and it's kind,
even though it happened dozen, dozen

02:28:01.058 --> 02:28:03.507
of times, it's always gonna be that
one little spark that get lands in

02:28:03.540 --> 02:28:09.366
your arm and hurt burns you. Um, the
smell of the, I mean, even salivating

02:28:09.399 --> 02:28:15.077
and thinking about it, it is the of
the smell of fried chicken, of the

02:28:15.110 --> 02:28:21.025
salt and the, the, the baked bread and
in the house. And really that was

02:28:21.058 --> 02:28:25.587
just, that was the meal. It was that
and we would, I even, I remember the

02:28:25.620 --> 02:28:28.717
plates and we would just talk and that
would be like an afternoon

02:28:28.750 --> 02:28:33.236
experience. It wouldn't just be like
an hour experience. Be an afternoon.

02:28:33.269 --> 02:28:36.346
Incredible memories. And that's how I,
I remember and think of my mom.

02:28:36.379 --> 02:28:43.907
Second amazing meal was the one with
my wife Emma. And we were in Siena

02:28:43.940 --> 02:28:51.940
Italy and we, um we just got engaged
and we had an engagement trip. Um If

02:28:53.308 --> 02:28:57.296
you really want to help secure the
deal with marriage, do it right before

02:28:57.329 --> 02:29:01.596
you go to a two week trip to Italy. I
just saying just that's gonna grease

02:29:01.629 --> 02:29:09.025
you out. Um, but the, um, the um we
were

02:29:09.058 --> 02:29:17.058
in a ravine um in the shadow of the
city hall in Siena Italy. Um and we

02:29:18.338 --> 02:29:26.046
were in this farm that was actually a,
um, a rehab uh place for uh

02:29:26.079 --> 02:29:30.546
individuals that were, um, coming out
of either prison or some kind of

02:29:30.579 --> 02:29:35.206
like drug or addiction issues. And
what they did was they actually had the

02:29:35.239 --> 02:29:42.846
, the dozer coming out work, the farm,
raise the animals, grow the food

02:29:42.879 --> 02:29:47.467
and there was a restaurant there and
they produced the food, they packaged

02:29:47.500 --> 02:29:52.185
the food, they processed the food,
they then cook the food. They then sold

02:29:52.218 --> 02:30:00.218
the food in this restaurant. And to
have for them,

02:30:01.280 --> 02:30:07.196
the production, the growth, the
cooking, the serving of the food was done

02:30:07.229 --> 02:30:15.229
with such an uh an aspect of pride and
love and trust because this was not

02:30:16.519 --> 02:30:22.217
just a meal. This is them
demonstrating

02:30:22.250 --> 02:30:25.525
an aspiration

02:30:25.558 --> 02:30:33.558
through food and this is them proving
themselves and that intense form of

02:30:33.989 --> 02:30:41.989
emotion behind and care behind that
meal produced the most amazing product

02:30:43.700 --> 02:30:51.700
that II I can. Everything from uh lima
beans that were grown right over

02:30:52.440 --> 02:30:58.997
there that were harvested, warmed from
the sun and is literally plucked,

02:30:59.030 --> 02:31:07.030
washed on the table. Um And the
creaminess of the beans and the goat

02:31:07.950 --> 02:31:11.176
cheese from those goats right over
there that you could hear in the

02:31:11.209 --> 02:31:18.536
background that were made and the
bread that was baked and the pasta and

02:31:18.569 --> 02:31:23.417
tomato sauce from, you know, um I
think that they didn't grow the wheat.

02:31:23.450 --> 02:31:26.616
So they, they, they, that was the one
thing that was brought in. But from

02:31:26.649 --> 02:31:31.007
the tomato vines that are right over
there. And to see part of the

02:31:31.040 --> 02:31:36.736
presentation is that they would bring
forth representatives or people that

02:31:36.769 --> 02:31:39.717
help prepare your meal, grow your meal
and they would, they would

02:31:39.750 --> 02:31:45.736
introduce the meal to you. And to say
this is, this is what you're eating

02:31:45.769 --> 02:31:52.456
and just the, the s the seriousness
and the pride that they had in, in

02:31:52.489 --> 02:31:55.747
talking about this food. You're,
you're just, you're not having a meal,

02:31:55.780 --> 02:32:01.337
you're just, you, you are, you are
digesting with your soul and your

02:32:01.370 --> 02:32:04.266
stomach.

02:32:04.299 --> 02:32:12.299
What they wanna be, the change that
they wanna be? Um That's incredible. I

02:32:12.838 --> 02:32:20.838
mean, that's, it's not, yeah. Uh but
it was through a meal, we heard their

02:32:21.290 --> 02:32:25.757
stories through this meal. Um We saw
the change they wanted to be through

02:32:25.790 --> 02:32:32.327
this meal. Um That's amazing and
that's the kind of stuff that and that is

02:32:32.360 --> 02:32:37.926
when I see the transformative power of
food, the transformative power of

02:32:37.959 --> 02:32:42.837
sharing a dinner, sharing a meal
together. Um That's the kind of

02:32:42.870 --> 02:32:48.646
opportunity you have. Last question.
Just one more. Why do you do what you

02:32:48.679 --> 02:32:53.146
do the job you do

02:32:53.179 --> 02:32:59.157
have to um

02:32:59.190 --> 02:33:07.190
it goes back to um my, my faith, it
goes back to um my, that, that saying

02:33:08.888 --> 02:33:13.696
of Tikaram which is to repair the
world and to pair the world is not from

02:33:13.729 --> 02:33:21.135
a sense of, of a top down approach to
where you, you have to, you, it's

02:33:21.168 --> 02:33:26.907
like, you know, from a position of
privilege. It's just knowing that

02:33:26.940 --> 02:33:31.116
we're on this world and there's people
in this world and there's gonna be

02:33:31.149 --> 02:33:37.096
times when this world is not at its
good point and the people are not

02:33:37.129 --> 02:33:42.555
going to be at a good point and it's
more a stewardship and obligation. Um

02:33:42.588 --> 02:33:49.266
, you didn't just pop on here out of
accident. Um

02:33:49.299 --> 02:33:54.635
There was a series of things that
happened, um, for you to be here to you

02:33:54.668 --> 02:33:59.366
, for you to exist and it's not just
what happened with you, but it's your

02:33:59.399 --> 02:34:07.399
entire history of what was, what is
and what will be and if we all just

02:34:08.190 --> 02:34:14.837
take a little bit of time and to help
repair the world in our own way, um

02:34:14.870 --> 02:34:20.946
This will make it better for when
we're gone. Um So that's kind of the

02:34:20.979 --> 02:34:23.635
overarching philosophy

02:34:23.668 --> 02:34:29.696
two, then I can have a second reason
is

02:34:29.729 --> 02:34:37.729
I, I have to do it because I benefited
from it. Um God, I, I wanna be the

02:34:41.338 --> 02:34:48.126
Christine Walt Hopkins who took the
time to care for a student. Um uh I

02:34:48.159 --> 02:34:53.616
wanna be that social worker that
helped, you know, at that office, you

02:34:53.649 --> 02:35:00.327
know, that one day I wanna be the the
counselor um who um took the time to

02:35:00.360 --> 02:35:07.135
reach out and say, are you OK? Um It
is those

02:35:07.168 --> 02:35:13.706
since I benefited from it, I have the
obligation

02:35:13.739 --> 02:35:21.739
um And I have to, to do it for others
because if I don't,

02:35:23.500 --> 02:35:27.896
by failing to do that.

02:35:27.929 --> 02:35:32.577
I'm not only disrespecting what they
did for me, I'm cheapening their

02:35:32.610 --> 02:35:36.546
service. Um,

02:35:36.579 --> 02:35:43.667
and it's, it's, it's not selfishness
is not the word for it. It's just,

02:35:43.700 --> 02:35:50.866
it's, it's just disingenuous and it's
fraudulent and it's a crime, um, at

02:35:50.899 --> 02:35:56.407
the most heinous level. Um, and I
just, I just can't do that. I can't live

02:35:56.440 --> 02:36:01.917
with myself that way and I guess the
third thing is just fun. It really is.

02:36:01.950 --> 02:36:07.866
I love this stuff and it's working
with people is,

02:36:07.899 --> 02:36:13.757
it's fun. It's, it's such a joy to be
able to do this. Um, it's

02:36:13.790 --> 02:36:19.516
frustrating and it's not easy, but
that's the fun part for me. Um, and

02:36:19.549 --> 02:36:23.275
it's complicated and it's weird and,
you know, because people are weird

02:36:23.308 --> 02:36:28.757
and they're complicated and they're
awesome and, but it's, that is, um,

02:36:28.790 --> 02:36:36.790
yeah, that's a joy in it. What's the
most rewarding part of your job?

02:36:37.360 --> 02:36:39.786
The,

02:36:39.819 --> 02:36:45.986
it's, it's making a difference but
it's helping people.

02:36:46.019 --> 02:36:49.530
Yeah. Thank you very much.