by Dheeraj Bandaru

This September I had the chance to attend the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the first conference of its kind since 1969. I was invited to fly out to Washington, DC for the conference and joined FRN’s Executive Director Regina Anderson, fellow Student and Alumni Advisory Board (SAAB) members, and local FRN chapter leaders for this historic event. 

I arrived at the conference at about 7:30am, went through the first round of security, and then went to check in at the registration table. Due to a registration issue, I had to wait in the atrium until it could be resolved. While waiting I ended up meeting the President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 1428, Mark Ramos. He told me more about the struggles of grocery and food workers who work around food all day but still can't afford to feed their families. He was invited to be a panelist at the White House Conference because he had started a food pantry at the union to provide groceries to his union members. 

After talking with Ramos, I got my registration approved and made my way to the second security line. This was run by the secret service as President Joe Biden would be speaking at the opening plenary of the conference. I found fellow FRN SAAB member Hunter, who would be representing SAAB at the conference. We listened to opening remarks from US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, President Joe Biden, Ambassador Susan Rice, Chairman Jim McGovern, Senator Cory Booker, and Senator Mike Braun. Then we joined one of five panel talks of the morning session, one for each pillar of the national strategy to end hunger by 2030. The five pillars are: 

1. Improving food access and affordability 

2. Integrating nutrition and health 

3. Empowering all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices 

4. Supporting physical activity for all

5. Enhancing nutrition and food security research. 

For the first session, we attended the pillar 5 panel and learned how experts are using research to guide policy and scale pilots to address hunger and food insecurity. The conversation was led by Senator Bill Frist and was very enlightening on how small pilot programs get funded and then can grow based on community needs. We learned about projects like Monty Village (Angela Odoms-Young), My Way Cafe (Ross Wilson), and Great Plates Delivered (Swati Chandra). I was surprised to find out that most K-12 students who are experiencing food insecurity get the majority of their calories at school, and therefore the quality of school meals is essential to the quality of life for children and families. A big theme throughout the entire conference was ensuring we are getting fresh, nutritious food to school-age children in the US. 

After the first panel, we met other conference attendees and speakers, including Senator Cory Booker who we snapped a photo with. As part of the afternoon plenary we attended a roundtable talk and a keynote speech from Chef Jose Andres. One of the most striking moments from the conference was when Andres said, "Charity is too often the redemption of the giver when it is supposed to be the liberation of the receiver." 

Throughout the whole conference I was inspired by how the organizers sought real action from each attendee. My favorite part of the conference were the small group working sessions, where we discussed tangible actions we could take with fellow attendees of the conference in an organized manner. During our small discussion group we talked about how the lack of transportation equity and transportation structures make it hard to serve many communities. During our conversation, the Second Gentleman of the United States, Douglas Emhoff, stopped by our conversation to listen and provide his own feedback.  

I had an amazing experience throughout the entire conference, and I really appreciate FRN for providing this opportunity to attend and meet so many amazing people in the food insecurity space. I will forever remember this experience and keep the lessons I learned from it close to me as I continue to be a part of the movement to end hunger in America by 2030.