Who would ride their bike 300 miles in three days? Travis Flood, Jess Cerra, Stuart Brown and Tom Nelson are four out of the hundreds of chefs and members of the culinary community who do it to raise funds and awareness for No Kid Hungry. In this special episode of Add Passion and Stir, host and fellow cyclist Billy Shore talks to these four riders after the second day of the 2017 Chefs Cycle event about what motivates them to tackle both the challenge of the ride and the challenge of ending childhood hunger in the US. (The first Chefs Cycle 2018 will be May 15-17 in Santa Rosa, CA and the second will be September 25-27 in Charlottesville, VA.)

It comes down to commitment and community. Arby’s Foundation Executive Director Stuart Brown, who experienced several mechanical problems, sees a parallel between his ride and the mission to end hunger. “When you rally around a community, it happens. Even though I had all the flat tires, I made it because of the power of community,” he says. Chef Travis Flood of California’s Alexander’s Steakhouse and Pappas Artisanal not only rides in the event but has the added pressure of preparing dinner for all the riders and volunteers each night. “I have so much love and respect and care for this organization that I don’t want to fail,” he says. Personal chef and professional cyclist Jess Cerra grew up food insecure in small-town Montana. “I realized the community was really helping my mom so she could feed us…. So for me it goes beyond kids who don’t have breakfast or lunch or dinner… they realize that people believe in them,” she says. Share Our Strength President and CEO Tom Nelson values the perseverance. “It’s people coming together—chefs, corporations, elite cyclists—saying we’re not going to fail, we’re going to persevere on this ride. We’re going to persevere in ending childhood hunger in this country,” he says.

Be inspired by the dedication of four No Kid Hungry champions who persevere through a grueling physical challenge to help end childhood hunger.

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How do we unite different cultures in the midst of a polarizing political climate? In this episode of Add Passion and Stir, George Washington University professor of leadership Louis Caldera and Rose Previte, owner of Compass Rose and Maydān in Washington DC, talk about culture, leadership and the potential for diversity to drive positive change in the US. Both guests believe diversity is our greatest strength. “As long as we’re true to our principles of equality, and people can develop their talents through education and contribute something, then that’s what we need to do,” says Caldera, the son of Mexican immigrants who became Secretary of the Army. He emphasizes how our country benefits when the brightest people in the world want to come here to be educated. “The growing diversity of this country will become more politically active and they’re going to say, ‘I don’t fear people who come from places like where I come from because I’m a contributing American,’” he predicts. Previte’s restaurants are a celebration of diversity inspired by her upbringing with a Lebanese mother and Sicilian father and her own extensive travels. “The street food [at Compass Rose] is the great equalizer, it’s where everyone whether rich or poor…come together over food,” she says.

Both guests come from families where food and hospitality were focal points. Previte remembers how her diverse family educated others about they were through food. Caldera, who grew up poor in Southern California at a time when the Latino community was still small, believes shared meals are important for building strong families and communities. However, shared meals can be difficult with the work schedules in low-income families, so he advocates for supports like minimum wage, family assistance and opportunities for education.

Listen to this conversation between two leaders who understand diversity as a strength that builds positive social change.

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How can we develop systems that support good eating habits and healthy communities? In this episode of Add Passion and Stir, two passionate women describe how their organizations support community health in New Mexico, a state where 25% of children are food insecure. Leigh Caswell, Director of the Center for Community Health at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, develops community health assessments and plans. Anzia Bennett, Director of Three Sisters Kitchen in Albuquerque, developed her business to create opportunities for the community to help build and benefit from the local food system. Both focus on healthy eating, which is a particular challenge in disadvantaged communities. “We know that [making healthy choices] as people of privilege is a challenge. But when you look at [disadvantaged] communities, you can see that they’re targeted…There’s a lot less opportunity to make healthy choices,” says Caswell. The Center’s programs - including healthy food ‘prescriptions,’ summer meals and a mobile farmers market - drive healthier eating habits and contribute to healthier economies. “The question we ask is ‘what makes you feel good when you eat certain foods...what energizes you,’” says Bennett. “That becomes a really beautiful way to tap into a more mindful relationship with the food we eat.” Three Sisters Kitchen has a local food shop, café, commercial kitchen, test kitchen, community dining room and classroom to support food entrepreneurs’ development of ideas that extend the revenue-generating season for local farmers.

Caswell believes that there has to be big investment if we want to shift our food culture. She believes that federal healthcare policy needs to provide resources that allow healthcare providers to leverage their own resources like cafeterias, purchasing power, and communication channels. “Making healthy choices around food is so complex that we have to work in so many different levels of the socio-ecologic framework,” she explains. Bennett agrees that federal policy around farms subsidies needs to change to level the playing field for small growers and farmers committed to organic, biodynamic, or sustainable practices. “When we talk about healthy food, access to healthy food, and food as medicine, we’re literally talking about what that food does in our bodies, but we’re also talking about the ways food connects us to our families and our traditions,” she says.

Learn about successful models for building communities in this in-depth conversation between two talented community health practitioners.

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How can the next generation change our culture to solve social problems? In this special episode of Add Passion and Stir made possible by generous support from the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation, Gerri Mason Hall, Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Sodexo and Chair of the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation, and Derek Brown, owner of Columbia Room in Washington DC, have a lively discussion about diversity and inclusion, young leaders, culture change, and classic cocktails. Mason Hall, Brown and hosts Share Our Strength co-founders Debbie and Billy Shore believe that the fresh, uncynical passion of our youth can solve major social problems. The recent activity around gun control is a prime example. “One of the most exciting things is the fresh eyes to an approach at problem solving,” says Mason Hall, who focuses on enabling young people through Sodexo’s work and the No Kid Hungry Youth Ambassador Program. Brown is proud that he empowers his employees to protect others, working closely with Collective Action for Safe Spaces to train employees about recognizing and intervening when they see sexual harassment or violence. Billy Shore shares their hopefulness about youth changing the future. “Sometimes there’s an advantage to ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’…you don’t get discouraged, you don’t get disappointed, you think everything can change,” he says.

Both guests also value culture change. Mason Hall has spent decades building a culture of diversity and inclusion at Sodexo. “In the early 2000s, the emphasis was on representation - especially women and minorities - in the workplace… Now we’re not just focused on numbers coming in, but how inclusive is the culture,” she explains. She relishes playing the role of mentor for a younger generation and helping them turn their vision into change. “It is this diversity of thought that together will help us innovate and solve these problems,” she says. Brown is noted for creating change in how the next DC generation feels about alcohol through his emphasis on well-made culinary cocktails. “We’re really turning drinking more into a ritual…you’re not focusing on quantity, you’re focusing on quality,” he says. A historian of alcohol, he describes its place in American culture. “Our culture has a particular relationship with alcohol… and we have changed it through creating these cocktail bars that are a little different,” he believes.

Share in this informative and fun conversation between two leaders mentoring the next generation in their respective fields. 

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How can our food system empower people to choose clean, nutritious food? On this episode of Add Passion and Stir, Founder and President of the Daily Table Doug Rauch and grassroots organizer and chef Neftalí Durán discuss food justice. After a successful career as president of Trader Joe’s, Rauch launched Daily Table in the Boston area with the idea that food insecurity is a multi-faceted problem. “This is a system. There’s no silver bullet you can shoot and take care of the problem...It intersects with education, poverty, culture, and access,” he says. Durán, who is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, agrees. “Food is political… food touches every issue... My work starts from the baseline that food is a human right,” he says. “If we start from the premise that food is a human right, we should never be dismissing people that need food,” he believes.

Both social justice champions believe in trusting people and communities. Rauch admits that before founding Daily Table he almost went forward with a “beautiful solution to the wrong problem.” Instead, he listened at dozens of focus groups and community meetings. “I learned that they already had a better understanding of nutrition than I thought. It wasn’t like I had to convince someone that they had to eat fruits and vegetables. They … wanted to be given a chance to make the right choices,” he says. “Daily Table is designed primarily around making certain that food - which is the cheapest form of health care - becomes the basis and foundation for a family’s ability to provide a healthy outcome for life,” he says. Durán believes the solution to ending hunger lies in treating people with dignity - which has become much more difficult in the current political climate. Host Billy Shore asks how we empower people and communities. “One of the best ways to empower people is to listen to them. What do you need? How can we facilitate you eating healthier? What are the issues in the community? If we’re never listening, we’re really not empowering people,” he answers.

Share in this impactful conversation about food justice, empowerment and dignity.

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How do you build true community into your business and your life? On this episode of Add Passion and Stir, Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti and cookbook author Katie Workman (The Mom 100 and Dinner Solved!) discuss how their passion for food shaped their commitment to hospitality and community. “The bigger we get, the smaller we have to act,” says Garutti about the 164 restaurants he oversees worldwide. For Shake Shack, that means teaming up with as many local and artisanal food producers as possible and also becoming active members of their restaurants’ local communities. Workman, who has been a supporter of Share Our Strength for 25 years, believes that most people who are drawn to food as a profession are concerned with hunger. “I don’t think I would be as satisfied by what I do for a living if helping to feed hungry people wasn’t a big part of it,” she says. Garutti believes the restaurant business is a noble profession where the main responsibility is to take care of people every single day. “We start by taking care of our team first, only then can we take care of our guests and our communities, our suppliers, and ultimately the people who invest in us,” he says.

Host Billy Shore asks Garutti how he builds community spirit into the company. He responds that Shake Shack looks for people who are intellectually curious, have a good work ethic and a strong emotional intelligence. “We call those things ‘the 51% of you.’ We’ve never asked someone in an interview if they know how to make a milkshake - we’ll teach you how to do the 49% of the job that’s technical - but we can’t teach you how to be emotionally aware,” he says. Contributing to her community is also important to Workman, who serves on the Board of City Harvest in New York City. “To love what you do is probably up there with the greatest gifts that you can have. And to be able to also use that as a way to give back, make other peoples’ lives enriched in some way…you are a pretty lucky person,” she concludes.

Listen to this conversation between two long-time Share Our Strength supporters about what it means to be active members of their communities.

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How will next-generation leaders define their roles as social change makers? “We’ve got to get young people saying, ‘I want to be accountable for making change,’” says host Billy Shore during this special episode of Add Passion and Stir made possible by generous support from the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation. His two young guests are already making impact in their communities. Twenty-three-year-old Luz Holmes works in the mayor’s office in Hartford, CT, and learned the importance of giving back at young age despite being food insecure. “[My mother] taught me that you give when you can give. Be accountable for other people… and to make the best out of life because someone else has it way worse than us,” she relates. She served as a Share Our Strength Youth Ambassador in college as a way to address hunger in her community. Alex McCoy is chef/owner of Lucky Buns in Washington DC at the age of 31. “We should always be questioning what the status quo is, what we’re doing, and if we’re doing it the right way,” he says of his leadership style. McCoy points to important factors that are creating generational differences and opportunities for new leaders. “Our generation has more information at its disposal than there ever has been. And the world is a much smaller place than it ever has been,” he believes. He notes that the recent student reaction to the Parkland, FL school shooting is a prime example. “Previously those kids wouldn’t have had a platform to change hearts and minds,” he says.

Though only at the beginning of her career, Holmes possesses an intentional and purpose-driven attitude toward life. She frequently asks herself, “How could I better my journey? What can I do to help this one person or what can I do to impact this one situation?” Her work for the city of Hartford includes food and nutrition outreach to underserved communities. Slated to return to school in the fall to earn her master’s degree, she sees herself moving up to the state or federal level in order to have greater impact. McCoy stays motivated by going on learning journeys around the world. He relates a story about his first bite of a favorite Thai dish on his first day in Thailand. “I realized everything I know about Thai green curry is wrong…the texture, the flavor…it was a dish I thought I knew,” he recalls. This revelation would have a profound effect on his approach to food as a chef and restaurant owner. “The cooking is cooking - that’s technical. The why is the everything - It’s the emotion, it’s the heart, the soul, it’s the tradition. You need to know that so that you can fully understand the flavors the right way,” he says

Share in this conversation and understand the motivations driving two aspiring young leaders who are becoming forceful advocates for change.

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What role does authenticity play in inspiring social responsibility? In this episode of Add Passion and Stir, Kathy Behrens, President of Social Responsibility and Player Programs for the NBA, and Hillary Sterling, Chef at Vic’s in New York City, discuss building community, inspiring others and earning leadership positions in male-dominated fields. Host Billy Shore asks these “two formidable women” about their experiences. “It’s predominately male in kitchens, which is funny when you think about it, because who really cooks in the world?,” says Sterling. She remembers feeling very alone in her early days in restaurants, but notes that being the only woman gave her a goal and the determination to fight a lot harder to succeed. “It taught me to become a better manager, to get to know people better and figure out what made them tick and get people to respect me,” she believes. Behrens places great emphasis on inspiring the younger generation to grow and making sure women are given an opportunity to succeed. “How you inspire them is by being authentic, genuine and true to yourself, and make sure that they see that that’s what it takes to succeed,” she concludes.

Behrens see an interesting correlation between sports teams and restaurants. “They’re almost like community treasures. There’s a sense of community for people when they’re at our games and when you’re at a great restaurant,” she says. She developed the NBA Cares program as a platform for players to use their celebrity to support causes that have personal meaning to them in their communities. “Players are at their best when they can genuinely and authentically involve themselves in something that really matters to them,” she believes. Sterling focuses on inspiring a sense of community among her restaurant staff. When recruiting new employees, she discusses her commitment to causes such as the No Kid Hungry campaign and support for small local farmers. “That might get them in the door, but to keep them excited and interested is about how to inspire them,” she says. The authenticity in her ingredients, cooking and relationships underpins the sense of community at her restaurant. “I want to remember [my guests]. I want to remember what you ate the last time. I want to know that you don’t like parsley… I know my farmers’ names, I know my guests’ names, and I want to make sure that you feel you’re walking into an extension of your living room,” she says.

Listen to these two amazing women get to the heart of inspiration, community and social change.

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What do leadership of health services in Haiti and leadership of a restaurant in a hip Boston neighborhood have in common? Conor Shapiro, President and CEO of St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, talks with Jefferson Macklin, business manager and partner of Boston’s Bar Mezzana, about empathy, leadership and how their organizations help spur economic activity and community revitalization. Both men cite empathy they learned from world travel as the basis for their leadership style. Shapiro’s interactions with Haitian patients informs the philanthropic approach of the Foundation. “Walking out to a patient’s home and seeing how their journey to our hospital affects the kind of care they receive…For me the constant reminder to listen to the patients and understand where they’re coming from has been incredibly formative,” he says. Macklin had a similar experience during his time serving in the military in the Middle East and Asia. “Anytime you see people in dire straits that you have never experienced, it tends to wake you up a little bit. That’s the reason why people should travel more and see the world - once you realize how good we have it, you start to realize how fortunate we are and that you need to give back,” he asserts.

Shapiro discusses philanthropy’s role in the overwhelming problems facing Haiti, where 90% of the population is underserved and the country is in a perpetual poverty trap. “If people knew just how difficult the situation was… and they knew that there was something they could do about that, and they also knew that basically all people are people…,” he believes that Americans would give generously. Macklin, who earned a Bronze Star for his service in Desert Storm, sees parallels between leading troops to leading restaurants. His restaurant in the Ink Block section of Boston’s South End is a social and economic hub for the neighborhood. “As restaurant owners, between your employees, suppliers, investors, guests, you touch a lot of people and have an impact on a lot of people,” he notes. He includes strategies in his business model that support immigrants and local charitable causes and help his workers earn a living wage, live locally, and grow with the business. “To me the base root of hospitality and philanthropy is empathy. I’m someone that really believes in empathy and I think the world could use a lot more of it,” says Macklin.

Let this conversation inspire you to travel more, find deeper empathy and serve communities in need.

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What ingredients go in to building a successful model for helping people in need? Jim Gibbons, CEO and President of Goodwill Industries International, Inc., discusses making lasting impacts in underserved communities with Food Network celebrity Melissa d’Arabian on this Add Passion and Stir. Goodwill Industries helps people reach their full potential through education, skills training, and leveraging business to have a sustained impact. “The power of goodwill isn’t the stores, it’s the stories of the people…It’s about dignity and the power of work,” explains Gibbons. For d’Arabian, poverty is personal. “I know what it is to be in a classroom hungry, and I know what it is to be in a classroom not hungry. I choose not hungry.” Her background echoes the Goodwill model. As a nine-year-old, she was getting free school lunches on an IOU system knowing she would never be able to repay her debt, when one day a secretary proposed that she help serve the school lunches in order to get hers for free. “That little gesture… really changed the trajectory of my entire life. I felt a sense of efficacy and belonging and pride. I went in there and put that hair net on every day with a sense of joy in my heart,” she says. Gibbons notes that her story speaks to hope. “When there’s a certainty that you’ll be nourished, you can then build on that hope… Absent that, all of the other stuff is really tough to overcome.”

As the first blind graduate of Harvard Business School, Gibbons has tackled his own challenges. “I hope that through my work and who I am that it offers a level of hope that no matter what your disability or barrier to opportunity is, you can overcome that. It takes a little bit of tenacity and… stick-to-itiveness.” Goodwill is a networked association of autonomous organizations and the model relies on each one having the authority and flexibility to meet the needs of their own communities. “What are the needs? What are other organizations in the community doing? How do you close the gap? What are the opportunities? … We’ve got to meet the individuals where they are so that the Goodwill programming can be made meaningful to them in terms of their life goals,” he says. Drawing from her own experience, d’Arabian notes, “That’s something we forget…people want to work, they want to belong.”

Share in this heart-felt and personal conversation about hope and helping people help themselves.

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