Why would anyone cut 7,000 employees to save 0.06% of the budget from one of the most important agencies in the federal government?   That’s the question Congressman Tom Swasey asked at town hall with former Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley. Over the past few days, O'Malley has warned that the 89-year streak of Social Security sending monthly benefits could come to an end.

That is why we are reprising this important episode of Add Passion and Stir featuring O’Malley who talks with Billy and Debbie Shore about how Social Security is lifting kids out of poverty, and what more it could be doing. 

“Social Security is the difference between almost a million kids living above the poverty line or below it,” he says. During this conversation, O’Malley and Share Our Strength commit to a renewed partnership to help reach eligible children who are not currently enrolled in Social Security benefits. 

O’Malley also debunks some common myths about the program. “The other big myth is that Social security is going bankrupt. Totally false. Social Security cannot go bankrupt because Social Security is a pay as you go program, which means that so long as Americans work, Social Security pays benefits.”

Listen and be inspired.

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On the very special episode of Add Passion and Stir, we revisit or conversation with chef, food writer, food critic, and author Ruth Reichl. Ruth discusses the transformative power of food and culture. “One of the great things to me about food is that you have the ability to touch these moments of grace throughout the day simply by biting into a perfect peach and going, ‘oh my God, I'm glad I'm alive,’" she marvels.

Her new book, "The Paris Novel,” explores the connection between food and joy. Reichl’s love of food and culture and food writer background shapes the book’s main character, who travels to Paris and rediscovers herself through food, art, and other cultural experiences. She also talks about the recent changes in the restaurant industry. “Food has always been my way of seeing the world. I have always looked at the world food-first,” says Reichl.

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In this very special episode of Add Passion and Stir, we reprise an episode from May 2024 with two powerful leaders of the Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger. The Mayors Alliance is a bipartisan alliance of almost 400 mayors from across the country.

In this time of turmoil, local leadership is all the more important to protecting and helping those in need. Mayors Sharon Weston Broome of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Mattie Parker of Fort Worth, Texas are committed to feeding hungry kids in their jurisdictions and setting an example for mayors in every corner of our nation.

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In a new conversation, Jimmy Chen, founder/CEO of Propel and Ofek Lavian, founder/CEO of Forage, return to discuss current trends in using technology to ensure more people can access government food benefits.

“As of January 27, 2025, at least, our plan is to continue to invest in the things that we have confidence that are not going to change over the 20-, 30-, 40-year time horizon, while we stay nimble and adapt to what might change in the next few weeks or months,” says Chen.

“EBT funding is influenced significantly because of macroeconomics, probably to a greater extent than the actual policies of the administration of the White House,” Lavian predicts. Listen to hear about the latest technology trends.

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In an episode originally aired in 2018, restaurateur, entrepreneur and author Rose Previte and former Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera talk about leadership, public service, and how 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.

Previte’s three DC-area restaurants (Compass Rose, Michelin-starred Maydān, and Kirby Club) are a celebration of diversity inspired by her upbringing with a Lebanese mother and Sicilian father and her own extensive travels. “Street food is the great equalizer. It’s where everyone, whether rich or poor… come together over food,” she says. 

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Alex Amouyel, President and CEO of Newman’s Own Foundation explains the foundation’s unique approach to creating impact. The foundation’s mission is to nourish and transform the lives of children who face adversity through innovative philanthropy.

“Our foundation owns the food company and the licensing business, so a hundred percent of the profits and royalties from the sale of Newman's Own products go to the foundation in service of our mission," says Amouyel. "We're an incredible unicorn of a company.”

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Caree Cotwright, Director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity at the Food and Nutrition Service at the US Department of Agriculture, explains the concept of nutrition security on a new episode of Add Passion & Stir.

“Nutrition security is everyone in our country having consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable food, but also food that is optimal for their health and wellbeing,” she says. “If we want to achieve health equity and make sure that everyone has a just opportunity to be as healthy as possible, we have to focus on [health] inequities and disparities so that everyone can thrive.”

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Partnership for a Healthier America President and CEO Noreen Springstead discusses how to make America healthy again through high quality food and empowered communities. “Is the food system broken, or is it designed in the way that it's supposed to be operating today, which is around profit?,” she posits.

“There is data that suggests if the food supply is healthier, it's available, it's affordable, it's accessible, we can actually change this. Apathy does nothing.”

Listen to this conversation between two powerhouses in hunger and food security.

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Poverty researcher Kathryn Edin talks about the insights from her new Book, The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America. “I'm realizing that you can't really understand anything about a place without knowing its history,” she says.

A new public data set revealed the crushing poverty in rural areas without the supportive infrastructure of urban places. “Rural is not monolithic. Rural is really multidimensional… we illuminate that rural America holds both the most disadvantaged and the most advantaged places in America.”

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In this very special episode, we re-visit our conversation with award-winning Chez Panisse chef and cookbook author Alice Waters who discusses the value of real, regenerative food for our children and our society as a whole. “Once you love nature, you can't make the wrong decision about anything. You don't want to do things that are really destroying the planet. You want to take care of her. Until we feel that way, we will never be able to make the right decisions,” she says.

Waters founded Edible Schoolyard, an experiential learning program at a Berkeley middle school that deepens students’ relationship with food, gardening and cooking skills, and capacity for critical examination of the food system, more than 25 years ago. “The kitchen classroom became a place to teach world history. It's a way to reach a person through all their senses and those are pathways into our minds,” states Waters. “We decided to put our money behind our values to educate the next generation to change the world. I so believe that education is the deep place where we can make systemic change.”

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