- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of Think Tank with Steve Adubato has been provided by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Making a difference.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

Valley Bank.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

Holy Name.

This place is different.

New Jersey Institute of Technology.

NJIT makes industry ready professionals in all STEM fields.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Here when you need us most.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

And by New Jersey Sharing Network.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by BestofNJ.com.

All New Jersey in one place.

[MOTIVATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with Mark Dinglasan, who is a director of the New Jersey Office of Food Security Advocate.

Mark, good to see you again.

- Good to see you again, Steve.

- Let everyone know what the office is about, and why it's so important as we kick off this program, totally dedicated to issues of sustainability, food security.

Will be a panel of discussion after this with three leaders in that field.

Russ Berrie Awardees, for making a difference, particularly in the area of food security, sustainability.

Your office please.

- Absolutely.

So again, it's great to see you.

I'm getting flashbacks to to when I was talking to you in October of 2020.

- Right.

- This office, the office of the Food Security Advocate is the first of its kind in the nation.

Legislation in New Jersey for this office was passed in September of 2021.

It is an office wholly dedicated to creating collaborative multi-factor effort that support, uplift, and co-create efforts around how can we create true food security.

It sits in the executive branch of state government, and I will be collaborating with all the state departments, as well as with as many stakeholders as I can in the communities that we serve that are dedicated to this work.

- Help us understand this, the difference between food insecurity and food security.

Talk about that Mark.

- Absolutely.

Food insecurity.

The most common definition that we use is a lack of consistent access to sufficient food for everybody in your household.

And I tell everybody all the time to take what I say with a grain of salt.

And I was saying this even when I was on the front lines of this work that we tend to, as a sector, as programs, we tend to focus on food insecurity, right?

But true food security, the roadmap was actually given to us in 2001 by the United Nations.

And 72 countries signed onto this definition, including the United States.

True food security exists when all people, at all times, have economic, physical, and I add social access to safe, sufficient, nutritious food for dietary, and I also add cultural preferences, for an active and healthy lifestyle.

- Mark put this in perspective for us, as this program is seen in 2020 through, we're taping at the end of 2022.

At this point what are the most, what do the most reliable statistics tell us?

'Cause statistics are numbers, but they're really not numbers, they're about people.

How many people in the state of New Jersey are food insecure right now?

- I think the pandemic has really thrown our ability to gather strong, relevant data through the loop.

But I can say that I think a good measure, it's from a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report, and it said that in 2020, one in 12 people in New Jersey was food insecure.

That means one in 12 people did not have consistent access to sufficient food for everybody in their household.

But Steve, let me emphasize 'cause you've touched on something very, very important.

When we talk about numbers, we treat people like numbers right?

So I think important data, when we have this conversation, is also that qualitative data.

The anecdotes that are here, and I think most of us, all of us that are doing food security work, have many, many anecdotes from 2020 all the way until now of single moms, multiple kids, dads, family, individuals that have never had to go to a food bank or a food pantry that now have to go to food bank or food pantries.

I was at a local food pantry, you know, in Franklin where they have at least one client a week that tells their CEO, you know last year I was one of your donors.

So the data- - Now they're on the other end.

- Correct.

Correct.

So the data that says one in 12 are food insecure in 2020, important, keeps our eye on the ball.

But not losing sight of those anecdotes that still hold true now in 2022 are super important as well.

- Yeah.

Statistics are about human beings.

- Correct.

- Particularly when you're dealing with a serious issue like this.

Mark, let me ask you this.

So you know, we have these leaders on right after you who are making a difference in their own way.

They're heads of not-for-profits.

- Yeah.

- But you've also told our producers that this is about long-term.

So let me ask you this.

There is no magic fix, no magic bullet, if you will, and I don't even like using that term.

But question, one public policy change improvement that needs to be made that would move us in the direction of more long-term solution or improvement in this very serious widespread issue, and problem of food insecurity is what?

What is one thing government must do that we're not doing now?

- It's so funny that you ask that, because quite literally, I believe this is something that you and I touched on when we last spoke as well.

- Absolutely.

- And I'm not being coy when I say this, Steve.

I truly think that one of the public policy changes that government can do has already happened.

- By creating your office?

- Correct.

Because- - I knew you were going there Mark.

- Because I know, I know the three leaders that are on this panel, champions of food security work.

And I know for a fact that they have board members and team members and they themselves go home at night wondering to themselves, how can I clone myself?

Because there's absolutely not enough time in the day to focus on the immediate need that my organization addresses, while at the same time focusing on long-term upstream work.

And then magically, all of a sudden, well, not magic, it was with great intention.

New Jersey creates an office that can be wholly dedicated to bringing leaders together.

And then New Jersey, asks one of the colleagues of your three panelists- - Few seconds, Mark, go ahead.

Few Seconds.

- You should join it, to lead this office.

So public policy has made this ambitious goal of bringing everybody to the table to work together.

- Hey Mark, sorry for cutting you off.

One of the solutions- - No worries.

- We don't have is creating more time, so.

(Steve and Mark laugh) Mark, I can't thank you enough for joining us, and folks right after this, three leaders making a difference every day in their communities, respected communities, and some national organizations as it relates to the complex issues of food insecurity, food security, and its connection to sustainability, climate change, et cetera.

Mark, thank you, you and your team, we wish you all the best.

- Absolutely best of luck to you Steve.

- You got it.

Stay with us we'll be right back.

To watch more Think Tank with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We continue our conversation dealing with the issues of sustainability and food security with a distinguished panel of Russ Berrie awardees for Making A Difference.

You'll see the website, the Russ Berrie Making A Difference awards website come up and nominate someone who is making a difference in your community.

A so-called unsung hero if you will, making a difference.

We're honored to be joined by Randall Solomon who is Executive Director of Sustainable Jersey at the College of New Jersey.

Julie Kinner, Julie, did I say that right?

Kinner?

- Yes, yes, perfect.

Thank you, I'm not perfect.

I just said that correctly.

Julie Kinner is the Vice President of Operations at a great organization called Table to Table and finally Gary Oppenheimer is the Founder and Executive Director of AmpleHarvest.org.

All of their websites will be up as they are speaking.

I want to thank all of you for joining us.

Again they are Russ Berrie awardees for Making A Difference.

Randall, let me ask you this.

All of you come at the issue of sustainability and food security.

For some would say, "Hey wait a minute, "what the heck does sustainability "have to do with food security?"

Randall, talk to us.

- Well the biggest threat to food security is climate change and we just assume that all far parts of the globe and the country are gonna send us their food for essentially our electronic chits and the paper that we push.

We don't produce enough food locally to support our population and then within New Jersey, municipalities and schools who we work with have a tremendous frontline impact on food security.

So in schools, school cafeterias, feeding programs, they deal with food waste, how to compost it.

Figuring out who gets it.

Municipalities also run and support food banks.

So there's a very strong connection between sustainability, the work that we do in communities and food security.

- Randall, I was remiss.

Because we've met before and I've been honored to host the Russ Berrie awards for Making A Difference for well over two decades and I've met all of the winners, I was remiss in not allowing each one of you to talk a little bit about your organization.

Randall tell us what Sustainable Jersey is at the College of New Jersey, please.

- Sure, we're a nonprofit that works with state agencies but specifically to help municipalities and schools implement solutions to their sustainability problems.

Municipalities and schools are frontline implementers of a lot of the solutions but they don't have a lot of capacity.

So we do research to identify best practices and solutions and we provide them with resources, guidance, technical systems and grants to implement programs.

Julie, tell us exactly what Table to Table is as your website comes up please.

- Absolutely.

So Table to Table is a nonprofit food rescue organization working out of Bergen, Hudson, Essex and Passaic Counties.

We've been around for about 23 years.

We have six refrigerated trucks out on the road every day picking up food that would be wasted from grocery stories and catering places that are delivering them directly to agencies feeding the hungry.

About a year and a half ago we launched an app called Table to Table I-Rescue that allows volunteers to pick up the food and deliver it to agencies themselves.

So we really have boots on the ground in all ways possible.

- Thank you very much.

Gray, talk about AmpleHarvest.org as we put the website up.

- Good morning and thank you.

AmpleHarvest.org is a 13-year-old, nationwide program.

It's the only program of its kind.

Its focus is on enabling today, more than 1000 food pantries in all 50 states to receive surplus, locally-grown food from America's 62 million gardeners and we're not a food rescue program in the sense of many other programs.

What we do is we educate and then enable a gardener to learn that they can donate food and be able to donate that surplus harvest directly to a local food pantry.

This happens on a sustained and yes, sustainable basis.

- And Gary will not say this but he has been named a CNN Hero.

So congratulations on that.

- Thank you.

- Do this for us.

There are a couple of statistics I want to put into context.

And this really got my attention and it should get everyone's attention watching right now.

40% of all food produced in the United States is thrown out.

Julie, what is up with that?

- It's a really good question.

You know, what we're talking about when we talk about 40% is anything from what you purchase and don't use out of your own refrigerator, goes back to what's left on the fields.

It's why AmpleHarvest is so wonderful, working with the farmers because with small farmers, when they have something that's left over, then they can share it.

But the 40% is just insane.

It's just an insane number and we do everything we can to rescue as much as we can of that 40%.

- Randall, I see you nodding because?

Yeah, it's a huge issue.

And I think a lot of it starts in schools.

School cafeterias waste a tremendous amount of food and obviously these schools are feeding all of our children and young people every single day.

But in addition to wasting all this food, they're teaching our students wasteful habits.

They're teaching them that food doesn't matter and that it's okay to waste the food.

Because just the assembly line operation where all these regulations coincide to force kids to have things on their plate that they're not interested in.

The food's not always super high quality.

And it's just kind of slopped onto a bunch of trays and then when they don't eat it, no one really cares.

It doesn't matter and it all goes into the garbage and we're teaching them an ethos that they're gonna carry through for the rest of their lives and for most parents, I think would be horrified about that and we don't even really see it.

But again, it's creating a culture of not caring about food and not caring about wasting food.

- The question of food security is something we have focused on, food insecurity.

Something we have focused on, issues we have focused on from a variety of perspectives.

And that's why have this panel of Russ Berrie awardees for Making A Difference is so significant.

Gary, I want to come back on this issue.

Even though Julie touched on it, I want you to elaborate on it.

Global warming, again from your perspective, from your organization, AmpleHarvest.org's perspective.

What is the clear connection between global warming and food security?

Make it clear in a way that the average person and we have an exceptional audience, anyone watching right now could say, "Oh, that's the issue."

Because it's one thing to be clear about school cafeterias and other places where food is thrown out, 40% of all food is thrown out.

We get that.

It's unacceptable but help us understand the global warming piece please.

- Sure and by the way, it's 40% of food but 50% of produce in America is lost to waste.

So the food that we don't eat, the food that is lost to waste is food that didn't get to people who were food insecure and could really, and should really be getting it.

So that's what that connection between food waste and the lack of nutritious food for people but what happens to the food that is lost to waste after it is wasted?

When food decomposes in an anerobic environment it breaks down and on a pound for pound.

- Hold on back, an anerobic environment I'm sorry?

- I'm sorry, when you throw food into a garbage bag and then you put it into the waste treatment, to a landfill, it breaks down without oxygen.

That produces methane.

Methane has 20 times the impact of carbon dioxide as a climate change gas.

So when you're throwing away food, whether it's food that you threw away in your kitchen or maybe food that was thrown away by a supermarket or any other place, food that is lost to waste exacerbates climate change and according to Project Drawdown, the wasted food is the number three contributor to climate change in the world.

So the connection between how we are malnourishing our nation by not providing people with the food that we already have, and exacerbating climate change is tightly interwoven and that's why food recovery, food rescue and in our case, food waste prevention programs are so critical.

To not only nurturing the people but also nurturing the planet.

- Important that you lay that out and I want to shift gears again.

Because there's no one way to come at these issues or the issue of food insecurity slash food security.

So Julie, let me ask you.

As we're taping this show at the end of 2022, to be seen after that.

Inflation is real, it's not a matter of statistics or bar charts.

It is real for people.

What is the clear connection between inflation and food security?

Talk about it.

- Yeah there is truly a strong connection between the two.

What we're seeing in the partners that we deliver food to is longer lines again.

We're seeing more and more people standing and waiting for food and when asked why or when asked, "What's happened?"

Because we saw the lines back when COVID hit in March of 2020 and that dwindled a bit.

That we thought, okay, we got through it, we're good.

And it's happening again and the inflation, the cost of fuel, as everything rises, imagine your paycheck is the same or what you're getting from SNAP or WIC is the same.

- These are federal governmental programs to support.

- Yes.

- People who are struggling with putting enough food on the table.

Go ahead.

- Yes.

- It used to be called food stamps, new name.

Correct, thank you.

Please, if you could.

- Yes.

- Pick up your point, 'cause Randall, I'm coming back to you and Gary on the issue of inflation as well.

Please Julie, pick up your point.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- So you're earning the same amount that you were, when prices were lower.

You are receiving the same amount of SNAP or the same amount from WIC.

And now all of a sudden, it's harder to bring home two bags of groceries, now you're reduced to one.

And your thought process has changed completely.

Can I pay for the heat?

Can I pay for the air?

Can I pay for my car?

My insurance, as everything is going up but we're not getting more money.

So our lines are longer, people seem to be struggling more now than ever which is so frustrating to us.

- You know, as Julie's talking about this Randall, what strikes me is also the question.

It's one thing to say, talk about how challenging it is to put food on the table as inflation becomes more and more real and tough choices.

Difficult, painful choices are made by too many.

The other question is, what about the impact of those who are donating food?

Who are trying to give back?

That's the whole spirit of the Russ Berrie awards is giving back to others.

And someone says, "Hey, wait a minute.

"I have to worry about myself "and we can put food on our own table "but we can't contribute in the way we would like to.

"Donate food, donate money to a nonprofit "in the community, making a difference."

Please Randall, talk about that.

- Sure, well the good news is that when there's a recession, when there's a natural disaster, when there's something like COVID, there's a lot of money, typically coming from the federal and state government and a lot of that money was going to food banks.

So I think for a lot of those community institutions, they were pretty well supported through the pandemic and they did amazing work and bravo, and they deserve all the accolades that they're getting.

I think also municipalities can play an important role in plugging those gaps.

So there's a lot of food that's wasted in restaurants and in grocery stores.

Because no one has the ability to get to it, to give it to the food banks and give it to the people.

Food banks often.

- Hold on one second Randall.

But what can a municipality do?

That's a private entity, a restaurant.

What's the role of the local government?

- They often need help with vehicles and they need places to store food and they also can use help conducting outreach to those local businesses who might want to, might not want to give the time of day to a local nonprofit.

So a lot of food banks and food panties look to local governments to smooth the path and grease the skids for their programs.

And then on the school side, again, schools generate a lot of food waste but we have programs to help schools start to divert food from the waste stream doing things like what I refer to as share tables where if you've got food that could be reused, some fruit with the skin on it or packaged food, instead of throwing it out, you can put it on a table where other students can take it.

Or where it would be collected by a local food bank or food pantry.

- Randall, we're talking about this issue of inflation and its direct connection.

Very direct connection to the issue of food security.

When it comes to gardeners right?

Inflation and gardeners, talk about that.

Gary, please.

- Anybody who has some soil and some sun can grow a garden and the food that you grow for yourself right off the bat reduces your own purchasing needs because obviously you eat what comes out of your backyard but when you've grown more than you use, you can then donate that surplus.

We've actually partnered with Bonnie Plants that their program Grow More, Feed More to educate and encourage gardeners across America to deliberately grow more explicitly for donation and that's taken off in a huge way and we're partnering with the Home Depot to help all of their gardening customers learn that the solution to hunger is in their backyard.

So this is a real, great opportunity for people in the community, even if they're cash-strapped themselves to be able to reach into their backyard, instead of their back pocket, to help their neighbors in need.

So as you see everyone's website up, respectively their organizations and also the Russ Berrie website and I know our team, in post-production will do that.

Again, let me repeat what I said earlier.

If there is someone making a difference, if you believe someone is making a difference in the community, real impact, the Russ Berrie Award is a financial reward and look on their website to find out more about it.

Our commitment as part of our Making A Difference series is to promote not for profit organizations making a difference and yes, to promote others finding a way where they can make a difference.

So let me ask you Julie, right now, someone's watching and saying, "Wow, that food security issue, it's a terrible situation."

Or, they know it's affecting them more directly.

What can someone right now, someone watching right now, what can and should, I take that back.

Not should, we don't tell people what to do.

What could they do if they wanted to?

Please, Julie.

- There's a couple of things.

First, visit our website, www.tabletotable.org.

It gives you all of the information about where we're delivering to, who we're delivering to, our programs that we're running.

Anything that we're doing that's current.

We also have our website, or our app that I spoke about earlier.

- Say it again, the app again?

- The app is Table to Table I-Rescue and the app is amazing.

Truly amazing.

It is a way for volunteers to claim a rescue.

We call it claiming a rescue.

They claim it and then they're given on the instructions, they go to places like Acme or Trader Joe's and they pick up the food that would be wasted and then they take it in their cars and they deliver it directly to the places.

- They transport it?

- Yep, in all four counties.

Bergen, Hudson, Essex and Passaic.

- Okay, we got a minute left.

Real quick Randall, from your perspective.

What can people do if they want to make a difference?

- They can join their community's Green Team.

So every municipality at every school in Sustainable Jersey have a committee of volunteers and elected officials and staff who coordinate their efforts to implement the Sustainable Jersey actions.

And it's citizens that really drive that, so get involved.

And you can go on our website and you can look up your town and school and see who to contact.

- Gary, final word on this.

If people want to make a difference, please.

- This is the Garden State.

If you garden, if you know people who garden, remind everybody that they can donate the surplus food from their gardens.

The season's gonna be starting soon.

Go out and buy seeds.

Go out and buy Bonnie Plants or any other seed plants that you want.

- Bonnie Plants?

- Bonnie Plants is the largest supplier of seedlings in America.

They're in every garden center, and your supermarket.

Tomato plants, pepper plants.

The plants are ready to go, in the ground, grow and produce food for you.

- To Gary, to Julie, to Randall, to all the folks who have been recognized by the Russ Berrie Foundation for Making A Difference.

We thank you for joining us, all of you in talking about this issue.

And for those of you who watch us on a regular basis, know that this is part of an ongoing commitment we have.

Not just to featuring not for profits.

But continue to talk about issues of food insecurity and sustainability and climate change and trying to make sense of all of that and make a difference.

We thank all of you, we thank you for watching.

I'm Steve Adubato, we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

Valley Bank.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

Holy Name.

New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

And by New Jersey Sharing Network.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- Hello, I'’m Dr. Luke Eyerman, a family medicine specialist at Holy Name.

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