A high school basketball team organizes a canned food drive. A church volunteer group restocks the local pantry with donations from Walmart. Both examples are seemingly positive portrayals of American civic engagement… So what’s wrong with this picture?

Playing for Team Human today is Andy Fisher, author of Big Hunger: the Unholy Alliance Between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups. In the book, Fisher tackles the big question of why chronic hunger and food insecurity persist despite the efforts of food banks, pantries, and charity. Fisher’s suggests that our effort to solve hunger with charity is missing a crucial component that would transform stopgap measures into long-term solutions. Join Douglas and Andy as they take a critical look at the what Fisher calls the “non-profit industrial complex," while looking toward a future where social equity figures into the equation of ending hunger in America. 

Purchase Big Hunger from your favorite local book seller or at bighhunger.org.

Special thanks to Professor Mara Einstein of the Media Studies department at Queens College for introducing us to Andy's work and inviting him to the Basement Media Squat where we tape Team Human.

Today’s show features intro and outro music by Fugazi, thanks to Dischord Records for sharing. In the middle you heard a listener original by Josh Sitron and the Team Human band, mixed with a track from Team Human Ep. 31 guest R.U. Sirius.

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