Bearing Witness

Yesterday’s Extraordinary Opportunity with the Nation’s Governors

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

For the second year in a row the Democratic Governor’s Association invited Share Our Strength to update them on the progress of our strategy to end childhood hunger. So yesterday morning at the J.W. Marriott, Josh Wachs and Melissa Roy and I spent about 20 minutes with the Democratic Governors before they went into their private session.

Governor O’Malley introduced me to describe our strategy, and Arkansas Governor Beebe followed my remarks with comments about the progress of No Kid Hungry in Arkansas. West Virginia’s newly elected Governor Tomblin asked to be recognized and shared some ideas about school based efforts in his state. Governor Nixon of Missouri who was inspired by our team over the weekend signaled his support, and the chief of staff for a southern governor followed Josh and Melissa and me out into the hall after and said they want to help.

As you may have seen from the substantial Washington Post coverage of the governors meeting, they have been embroiled in controversial issues ranging from potential Medicaid cuts to education reform and cyber-security. The fact that they would put childhood hunger on their agenda and invite us to lead off their private session is an extraordinary testament to the credibility of Share Our Strength and our strategy – a credibility that has been built by every action of every member of our team these past few years.

Thanks to our many Share Our Strength supporters for helping us make and seize this opportunity to advance No Kid Hungry on the national policy agenda – and especially where it matters most: in the states where kids live and where these critical food and nutrition services are delivered. And special thanks to Governor Martin O’Malley for his continued leadership and commitment to our nation’s children.

Billy