Kathy Nolting at PBS says “let’s do what we do best, and do it together.”
In her announcement this month, Nolting gave us “a service challenge,” “feeding 100 million meals.” This spring, PBS mobilized volunteers to collect donations for local food banks and schools around the country. They asked for contributions of canned food and school supplies, as well as monetary donations to families in need, adding, “The challenges are what inspire and move us.”
We agree that food drives are a great way to help families in need. We’re children ourselves who love getting together to eat and take part in collective experiences. But we see another side of this service challenge. It takes up resources, money and time. It costs more to process and distribute donated food than it does to provide food directly to families in need. Even when calculating savings to families, services like food drives are costly. Many serving communities have food banks that are tax-exempt — so they rely on community involvement and partnerships for funding and resources. But the increased impact of a food drive is a result of charitable giving at a time when our country is facing severe budget constraints. And these extra resources add to the credit card bill you might just run up because the food drive was a distraction.
The implication is clear: Don’t waste a single cent on helping families in need. Do it, and do it over and over again. It’s a good feeling, but don’t forget the real cause of hunger: access to nutritious food.
That’s why we’re throwing down the gauntlet. We’re offering to commit to eliminating hunger in America within 10 years — one food drive at a time. The Center for a Livable Future at the Gates Foundation is sponsoring its first Food Security Challenge — an online competition that will solicit innovative solutions to a range of hunger issues. We’re calling for global organizations, businesses, entrepreneurs and philanthropists to challenge themselves to think differently about their impact on hunger.
We want to make change happen. We’re excited about a challenge that seeks to drive change in the right direction and at scale. And we hope people see opportunities to take part in your local food drive. But we’re not tired of seeing poor people ask for food, seeing firsthand their struggles to get by. We want to do more than give them a snack and a fresh hug. We want to build a society of opportunities that are better and stronger than the one we have. To that end, we believe that every food organization in America needs to rethink the role it plays in feeding, providing, and serving its communities. We’ll be working alongside those interested in strengthening their organizations as they do so. The challenge is already being driven by those in the trenches. We can’t wait to see how these solutions will transform the lives of millions of Americans.
To the millions of children in need of nutritious food: Your passion and imagination are our greatest resources. Take an idea and run with it, big or small. You’re a force of change.
Evan Mack of Seattle is a program officer in the Gates Foundation. Abbe Wright of Buffalo, N.Y., is a program officer at the Clinton Foundation.