Billy Shore
Founder & Executive Director
Share Our Strength
Bill Shore is the founder and executive director of Share Our Strength, the nation’s leading organization working to end childhood hunger in America. Shore is also the chairman of Community Wealth Ventures, Inc., a for-profit subsidiary of Share Our Strength that provides strategic counsel to foundations and nonprofit organizations interested in creating community wealth — resources generated through profitable enterprise to promote social change.
Posts By Billy Shore on Strength.org
- Take Action: Tell Congress to Protect America's Hungry Kids [ 2 comments]
- April 24, 2012
You may be thinking, so what? Well, the Farm Bill includes funding for critical federal nutrition programs like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), formerly known as food stamps, that help feed hungry kids. And that’s why I’m writing to you today.
Tags: congress, farm bill, food stamps, snap, take action - You're Invited to the Premiere of Hunger Hits Home [ No comments]
- March 26, 2012
Mark your calendar for Saturday, April 14.
Tags: childhood hunger in america, documentary, food network, hunger hits home - Our Own Backyard [ No comments]
- March 20, 2012
Earlier this week, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley devoted a segment of the broadcast to bearing witness to poverty in America. The story profiles a photographer named Steve Liss, who in the tradition of Dorothea Lange’s chronicling of the Great Depression, is seeking to “make the invisible, visible” through a photography project called “Our Own Backyard.”
Tags: CBS News Povery, food network documentary, hunger hits home, poverty, Scott Pelley - Fighting Hunger One Breakfast at a Time [ 11 comments]
- March 12, 2012
“Your food is your fuel, it’s your power, it’s your everything. If you don’t have food, you can’t survive.” Those are the words of Yolanda Prim, a middle school principal at Robert Morehead Middle School in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Tags: arkansas, no kid hungry, school breakfast - National School Breakfast Week [ No comments]
- March 5, 2012
Today marks the beginning of National School Breakfast week. Is there a more scathing indictment of current policy and practice than that we need to have an officially designated week to call attention to something that should be as routine, natural, and unremarkable as making sure that our children have breakfast before setting out to learn for the day?
Tags: billy shore, breakfast in the classroom, school breakfast, school breakfast week - Science Reinforces No Kid Hungry [ No comments]
- February 27, 2012
Each day brings new measures of invaluable support for our No Kid Hungry strategy, but the greatest affirmation of all comes not from politics or celebrity, as critically important as they are to advancing our efforts. Rather, it is from the research labs of cutting edge scientists whose groundbreaking new discoveries in child development coincide with historic levels of child poverty. These discoveries create new urgency for No Kid Hungry.
Tags: child development, discoveries, new republic, no kid hungry, science - Narrowing the Achievement Gap by Narrowing the Hunger Gap [ No comments]
- February 10, 2012
Today’s NY Times reports that “in analyses of long-term data published in recent months, researchers are finding that while the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed significantly over the past few decades, the gap between rich and poor students has grown substantially during the same period.” The article debates the influences of opportunity (or lack thereof) versus culture and asserts that the complexity of the problem defies easy answers. It concludes by quoting one expert as saying “No one has the slightest idea what will work. The cupboard is bare.”
Tags: bily shore, new york, new york times, no kid hungry - $10 For a Homemade Meal for 4? [ No comments]
- January 27, 2012
Every parent wants the best for their child. But when you’re among the one in three Americans who lives in or near poverty, how do you put a healthy dinner on the table for your family each night? If – like a record number of Americans – you rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamps), you might have about $10 to spend on dinner for a family of four.
Tags: cooking matters, low-income, report - Leading the Fight Against Childhood Hunger in Maryland [ No comments]
- February 1, 2012
In today’s State of the State address, Maryland Governor O’Malley reiterated his commitment to ending childhood hunger in Maryland. He was the first governor in the country to make this a priority and it is gratifying to see just how far Maryland has come as a result.
Tags: Governor O'Malley, maryland, no kid hungry - Share Our Strength Applauds New School Nutrition Standards [ No comments]
- January 25, 2012
Today, the USDA announced new and improved nutrition standards for school meals under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. These updated standards give kids greater access to healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and whole-grains in their school meals.
Tags: hunger-free kids act, michelle obama, nutrition education, usda - When I Grow Up... [ 1 comment]
- December 20, 2011
What did you say you were going to be "when you grew up?" A veterinarian, astronaut, or President of the United States?
Tags: grow up, no kid hungry - Seasons Greetings [ No comments]
- December 20, 2011
Your support of Share Our Strength and our No Kid Hungry Campaign tells kids across the country that we are committed to making sure they receive the proper nutrition to give them the boundless energy they need to learn and thrive. That is our holiday wish today and every day of the year. We are grateful for all that you are doing to help us make No Kid Hungry a reality in America.
Tags: 2011, card, holiday, no kid hungry, seasons greetings - Make It Count in 2011 [ No comments]
- December 20, 2011
Fighting hunger takes many forms. During the holidays, many consider organizing canned food drives, collect donations for families in need or plan to volunteer with local organizations.
Tags: holidays, no kid hungry, tax deductible - What Does Hunger Feel Like? [ 4 comments]
- December 14, 2011
With poverty at an all time high across the nation, the new faces of hunger are the ones you would least expect – and they could very well be your neighbor’s kids.
Tags: child hunger, donate, holiday, no kid hungry, video - Help Dr. Oz and Share Our Strength Fight Child Hunger [ 21 comments]
- November 30, 2011
Yesterday, Dr. Oz unveiled the new faces of hunger – women, men and children in our communities whom you would never expect go to bed hungry every night. He highlighted the terrible effects of hunger on children – both physical and emotional.
Tags: dr. oz, new face of hunger in america, no kid hungry - Many Thanks [ No comments]
- November 22, 2011
This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for all the generosity and compassion you've shown to the boys and girls — and their families — across America who are facing hunger. Together, we are helping children access healthy, nutritious food where they live, learn and play.
Tags: holiday, no kid hungry, thanksgiving - Jeff Bridges' Day Off: Serving Others & Making Connections [ No comments]
- November 22, 2011
Jeff Bridges, the national spokesperson for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign was in the middle of a four-month movie shoot in Boston, but he arranged to take off two days to help us mark the first anniversary of the launch of our No Kid Hungry Campaign.
Tags: food network, jeff bridges, no kid hungry - Former AARP Chief Operating Officer Joins Share Our Strength [ No comments]
- September 28, 2011
I’m thrilled to announce that we have hired Tom Nelson to become president and chief operating officer of Share Our Strength, beginning October 3.
Tags: aarp, no kid hungry, share our strength - Only Two Days Left [ No comments]
- September 23, 2011
There are just two days left for Share Our Strength's Dine Out For No Kid Hungry! Have you done your part yet?
Tags: dine out out for no kid hungry, no kid hungry, school breakfast, summer meals - What Hunger Numbers Say About Our Economic Health [ No comments]
- September 6, 2011
According to new numbers released this morning by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 14.5 percent - or 17.2 million American households - were unable to consistently put food on their...
Tags: american economy, hunger, no kid hungry, president obama - No Kid Hungry This Summer [ 3 comments]
- June 6, 2011
When we surveyed teachers several months ago about hunger in their classrooms, we weren’t surprised to learn that many were worried about their students during the summer months. As one teacher said, “So many of my students return after the summer, sickly and thin. They have not retained any of their skills from the previous year because their main focus is food.”
Tags: bob mcdonnell, jeff bridges, no kid hungry, summer meals, virginia - Why I’m Fasting This Wednesday [ 53 comments]
- April 4, 2011
Later this week, we'll announce that Share Our Strength is joining other organizations in participating in a day-long fast to protest proposed budget cuts to nutrition and other social and human services that will impact children facing hunger. Will you join us?
Tags: congress, no kid hungry - Remembering a Hunger Champion [ No comments]
- March 16, 2011
Share Our Strength has lost an old friend whom we will miss dearly. We were deeply saddened to learn that Steve Brady, President of the Sodexo Foundation and Senior Vice President of Communications for Sodexo, died on Saturday, March 5.
Tags: Sodexo, Steve Brady - No Kid Hungry Launches in L.A. [ No comments]
- March 16, 2011
Los Angeles is known for many things – bright lights, beaches, and Hollywood glamour – but childhood hunger usually isn’t one of them. The reality is that of the 17 million children who face hunger every year in this country, L.A. is home to more than 1 million of them.
Tags: california, childhood hunger, food network, Los Angeles, No Kid Hungry, state partnerships, USDA - Teachers Report on Hunger [ No comments]
- February 22, 2011
Today, Share Our Strength is releasing the results of a survey of America's teachers. Because they're on the frontlines of this battle, we wanted to hear directly from them about the hunger they witness in the classroom. One thing rings loud and clear: childhood hunger is having an impact on students' ability to learn.
Tags: childhood hunger, classroom, No Kid Hungry, schools, statistics, teachers - Bill Shore: Statement on Federal Budget Cuts [ No comments]
- February 16, 2011
On Monday, President Obama released his much anticipated 2012 federal budget proposal. Most notable for those of us in the anti-hunger community, and weary of budget cuts that could potentially impact critical child nutrition programs, is that these programs will actually retain their current level of funding, with $7.9 billion for discretionary nutrition program support.
Tags: budget, food stamps, Obama, SNAP, white house, WIC - Haiti: A Year After the Earthquake [ No comments]
- January 12, 2011
Today's one-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti is a sobering reminder of how much progress remains to be made to rebuild the country. It is equally important, however, for us to celebrate the success achieved to date.
Tags: emergency relief, Haiti, partners - A Look Back at a Successful 2010 and a Sneak Peek at our Big Plans for 2011 [ 4 comments]
- January 4, 2011
See what we accomplished in 2010 and learn about our ambitious plans for 2011.
Tags: Arkansas, Cooking Matters, great american bake sale, great american dine out, jeff bridges, New Orleans, state partnerships, Taste of the Nation - Imaginations of Unreasonable Men Released Today [ No comments]
- November 16, 2010
Share Our Strength founder and executive director, Billy Shore, releases his book, "The Imaginations of Unreasonable Men today. - Do not declare your victory. Declare your purpose. [ No comments]
- August 3, 2010
During a meeting last week with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Share Our Strength founder Billy Shore received some words of wisdom. Here, Billy recounts those words and shares how he believes they apply to the work we're doing at Share Our Strength.
Tags: letters, no kid hungry, state partnerships - AUDIO: Share Our Strength featured on NPR [ 1 comment]
- July 21, 2010
Share Our Strength Founder Billy Shore will be featured today on NPR's Talk of the Nation (3:00 PM EST) and tomorrow on The Diane Rehm Show (11:00-12:00 PM EST).
Tags: letters, maryland, no kid hungry, walmart - Update from the National Governors Association Summer Meeting [ No comments]
- July 12, 2010
Share Our Strength founder Billy Shore updates us on the National Governors Association Summer Meeting and discussions there on childhood hunger and nutrition. Read how the meeting helped to further advance our strategy for ending childhood hunger in America.
Tags: government, no kid hungry, state partnerships - Holding Ourselves Accountable When Stakes Are High [ No comments]
- June 21, 2010
Share Our Strength's founder, Bill Shore, explains why favorable conditions for a strong Child Nutrition Act reauthorization and other recent successes mean the pressure is on for the No Kid Hungry campaign.
Tags: Child Nutrition Reauthorization, childhood hunger strategy, No Kid Hungry, white house - Innovative Approaches to Ending Childhood Hunger [ 2 comments]
- June 1, 2010
With nearly 17 million American children at risk of hunger and one in four children on food stamps for the first time in our nation’s history, it is safe to...
Tags: Innovation Awards, no kid hungry, summer meals - Will More of Corporate America Follow Walmart's Bold Lead? [ No comments]
- May 12, 2010
Today, Walmart designated Share Our Strength as a partner to end childhood hunger in America, part of a $2 billion commitment over five years to fight hunger in America...
Tags: childhood hunger, corporate giving, no kid hungry, philanthropy, walmart - Helping Haiti: Focusing on Long-term Needs [ No comments]
- April 12, 2010
Today I’ll be returning to Haiti, thanks to Timberland’s President and CEO Jeff Swartz and Chuck Scofield, Share Our Strength’s Chief Development Officer, who has been handling much of the...
Tags: childhood hunger, event, Haiti, Taste of the Nation - Strengthening the Child Nutrition Act [ 2 comments]
- March 25, 2010
Yesterday our efforts to end childhood hunger in America got an important boost when the Senate Agriculture Committee adopted a proposal that we and other partners in the anti-hunger community...
Tags: Child Nutrition Reauthorization, childhood hunger, childhood hunger strategy - Race to the Top [ No comments]
- March 2, 2010
On February 23 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack presented key elements of the Administration’s strategy to end childhood hunger in a speech at the National Press Club. The centerpiece is a...
Tags: childhood hunger, childhood hunger strategy, government, USDA - Letter from this Morning's Private Session with Nation's Governors [ 1 comment]
- February 22, 2010
We had a great opportunity this morning to advance our strategy to end childhood hunger by presenting to a private session of Governors from about a dozen states including Ohio,...
Tags: childhood hunger, democratic governors association, letters, state partnerships - Letter on Moral Imagination as a Post-Haiti Work in Progress [ No comments]
- February 18, 2010
Photo by Jenny StewartI’ve been giving more thought to Bill Gate’s announcement, which I read about a few days after I returned from Haiti, of the largest philanthropic commitment in...
Tags: Bill Gates, Haiti, moral imagination, Vedantam - President's priorities on child nutrition and ending childhood hunger [ 1 comment]
- February 9, 2010
Yesterday Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was supposed to speak at the National Press Club to lay out President Obama’s priorities with regard to the Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation that plays...
Tags: 2015, child nutrition act, childhood hunger - Letter on vaccinations for health, Haiti & hunger [ No comments]
- February 4, 2010
Last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bill Gates announced the largest philanthropic commitment in history: $10 billion over 10 years to support vaccine development for diseases like...
Tags: Haiti, malaria, public health - Conference Call on Haiti [ No comments]
- February 3, 2010
We convened a conference call about Haiti yesterday with 40 Share Our Strength champions from around the country including philanthropic leaders like Barbara Harman and Mario Morino, chefs like Gordon...
Tags: crisis relief, Haiti, social change - The Danger Zone Ahead in Haiti [ No comments]
- February 1, 2010
Upon returning from Port au Prince, Jim Ansara, the founder and chairman of Shawmut Construction wrote diplomatically in his blog of the challenges and hardships facing Americans trying to help...
Tags: crisis relief, Haiti - Paul Farmer Testifying on Haiti [ No comments]
- January 31, 2010
In case you haven’t seen it I’m including the link to and the text of Paul Farmer’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about Haiti’s recovery. As you know...
Tags: Haiti, partners in health, Paul Farmer - Letter Upon Returning from a Hospital in Haiti [ No comments]
- January 27, 2010
Haiti’s general hospital looks like the world’s largest battlefield MASH unit. Patients are being transported from all directions and vast numbers of wounded and recovering wait on the ground. Doctors...
Tags: crisis relief, Haiti, partners in health - Letter From the First Day in Haiti [ 3 comments]
- January 26, 2010
“The most dangerous place in the world right now is the sky over Haiti. It is filled with so many helicopters in a very small space. One has already crashed,”...
Tags: crisis relief, Haiti, letters - Help For Haiti [ 4 comments]
- January 16, 2010
I’m writing to make sure you have a quick update on the steps Share Our Strength has taken on behalf of Haiti. Even many of our closest supporters are not...
Tags: disaster relief, get involved, Haiti - Looking Forward in 2010 [ No comments]
- January 4, 2010
I hope you had a wonderful holiday and new year. I wanted to start off the year with some encouraging news. We often talk of our strategy to end childhood...
Tags: new years, thank you - Is Ending Hunger Daunting? [ No comments]
- December 15, 2009
Last Saturday, the Washington Post published an article that brings into sharp focus the very issues Share Our Strength is working to address. This article underscores the formidable challenge of...
Tags: childhood hunger, holiday, No Kid Hungry, Obama - Obama and Governors Must Lead on Hunger Crisis [ 2 comments]
- December 8, 2009
Originally posted on Huffington Post, December 7, 2009 The holiday season is a time when Americans traditionally remember those who are hungry. But news reports of the last few weeks...
Tags: colorado, government, hunger, letters, maryland, Obama, state partnerships, teachers, USDA - Letter about teachers bearing witness to hunger in the classroom [ 2 comments]
- September 9, 2009
This week President Obama is giving two very high profile speeches: one to students about education and one to Congress about health care. While these issues are being debated our...
Tags: hunger, politics, school - Letter from two Labor Days [ No comments]
- September 8, 2009
Four years ago, as we were heading into Labor Day weekend, the Share Our Strength staff was on the phone almost around the clock planning a response to the terrible...
Tags: economy, hunger, Hurricane Katrina - Letter from just beneath the surface of coast of Maine [ No comments]
- August 24, 2009
Sometimes, you need to look beneath the surface to see what's really happening.
Tags: food stamps, hunger, maine, school breakfast, school lunch, snap, summer meals - Letter Regarding New Report on Deep Poverty [ No comments]
- July 16, 2009
Public benefits system we think of as the social safety net has been more effective in reducing poverty than previously realized, but less effective over the last decade in protecting many Americans from deep poverty.
Tags: hunger, poverty - Letter from Intersection of Social Media and Social Justice [ No comments]
- July 6, 2009
Social media can't ensure social justice. But it can affect the invisibility that is the first barrier to achieving it.
Tags: hunger, poverty, social justice, social media - Letter About Dumbing Down Social Entrepreneurship [ No comments]
- April 3, 2009
Today the term social entrepreneurship has come to be almost interchangeable with any new nonprofit that seek social change, whether entrepreneurial or not.
Tags: government, Obama, politics, social entrepreneurship - Letter on the Need and Our Progress [ No comments]
- April 2, 2009
If you've been following the news, you already know that hunger in America has reached crisis levels.
Tags: government, hunger, No Kid Hungry, Obama, politics - Letter on lessons learned at a bedside in Wilmington [ No comments]
- March 12, 2009
Business as usual is not an option in these tough times. We need to do more.
Tags: disaster relief, financial crisis, government, philanthropy - Disconnect on Hunger [ No comments]
- March 5, 2009
Food aid covers the symptoms but fails to treat the problem: lack of access to services.
Tags: financial crisis, food banks, free school lunch, hunger - Letter From a Winter of Paradox [ No comments]
- February 3, 2009
Children in America are not hungry because our nation lacks food. We have no shortage of public and private food and nutrition programs either. Kids are hungry because they lack access to those programs.
Tags: financial crisis, food banks, government, Obama - Letter after the election [ No comments]
- November 5, 2008
The President-elect recently announced that a top priority will be the ending of childhood hunger in America by 2015, the very goal established by Share Our Strength over the last 2 years.
Tags: government, hunger, Obama, politics - Letter after $700 billion bailout for market failures [ 2 comments]
- October 10, 2008
When Congress finally approved the $700 billion bailout for the financial industry last week we witnessed what happens when markets fail for those who may have lost money but still...
Tags: government, market bailout, Obama, politics - Letter re: the Failure of Imagination in Bill Gates' "Creative Capitalism" [ No comments]
- August 21, 2008
As expansive and imaginative a thinker as he is, Bill Gates articulated a surprisingly narrow vision of what creative capitalism means in a five page essay in Time Magazine last...
Tags: Bill Gates, community wealth, entrepreneurship, philanthropy - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Op-Ed [ No comments]
- July 15, 2008
Empowering others to share their strengths is essential to our common agenda, and the agenda of the next president.
Tags: government, grassroots, Obama, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, politics - Letter about Child Poverty after Playing the Percentages [ 2 comments]
- June 27, 2008
Two weeks ago the New York Times reported that the number of children in the U.S. who are under 18 and live below the poverty line grew by almost 9%...
Tags: hunger, inequality, New York Times, poverty, statistics - David Beckmann at Rome High-Level Conference on World Food Security [ No comments]
- June 27, 2008
David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World, an organization whose anti-hunger efforts Share Our Strength has had the privilege to support for many years now. We also have...
Tags: hunger, philanthropy, politics, world food summit - Letter from the Gates Foundation [ 2 comments]
- June 9, 2008
As Patty Stonesifer steps down from the Gates Foundation, she reminds us of an African proverb: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
Tags: gates foundation - Letter from the site of a rescue operation [ No comments]
- June 5, 2008
Reporters cover rescue operations when they're splashy, but when it comes to malnutrition, they always seem to have something else to write about.
Tags: Cooking Matters, disaster relief, event, health care, hinges of hope, Operation Frontline - Letter from the Video Game Store [ No comments]
- May 20, 2008
With the economy in recession and record number of 28 million Americans on food stamps in the next year, nearly 4 million Americans managed to plunk down $59.95 for the latest video game.
Tags: community wealth, financial crisis, video games - Letter from Dooky Chase's Restaurant in New Orleans [ No comments]
- May 13, 2008
Tuesday, April 22 was a long day for legendary New Orleans restaurateur Leah Chase. The 85 year old chef rose at 4:00 a.m. to prepare two meals. The first was...
Tags: disaster relief, dooky chase, education, hinges of hope, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans - Letter from a Culinary School With the Recipe for Ending Childhood Hunger [ No comments]
- January 21, 2008
If you ever have one of those days when you ask yourself if it’s worth it — perhaps a Taste organizer has resigned, or a corporate sponsor did not renew,...
Tags: culinary school, event, hunger, restaurant, Taste of the Nation - Letter About Extreme Poverty and Childhood Hunger [ No comments]
- April 20, 2007
The loud beeping sound made by a truck or construction vehicle when it shifts into reverse warns of imminent danger. We stop and pay attention, and reach for the hand...
Tags: Extreme poverty, human rights, moral courage - Letter from Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery [ No comments]
- January 22, 2007
I arrived at Arlington National Cemetery this morning about 10 minutes before it opened at 8:00 a.m. I had left my house at 7:35. That’s how quick a trip it...
Tags: government, politics - Postcard from an evening with Leah Chase [ No comments]
- December 13, 2006
“No one person is your hero. You take a little something from all of them.” said New Orleans chef Leah Chase last night about the civil rights icons she knew...
Tags: disaster relief, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, recovery - Letter from between the lines [ No comments]
- November 27, 2006
You probably noticed the many news stories the day after Thanksgiving about the official start of the Christmas shopping season, now known as Black Friday (because it is traditionally when...
Tags: bearing witness, holiday - Letter from a Bigger Battleground [ No comments]
- September 11, 2006
It's become conventional wisdom that after 9/11, the failure to challenge average Americans to sacrifice for their country was a missed opportunity to sustain national unity and promote the common...
Tags: politics, terrorism - Letter from an airplane bearing the remains of a young marine [ No comments]
- August 4, 2006
When you fly as often as I do you learn to mind your own business as soon as you take your seat. But that wasn't possible once I saw the...
Tags: government, sacrifice - Letter one month before anniversary of Hurricane Katrina [ No comments]
- June 5, 2008
A year after Hurricane Katrina, it remains clear that even though helping hurricane victims is not a core strategy of Share Our Strength, doing so was still the right thing to do.
Tags: disaster relief, Hurricane Katrina, moral courage - Letter from New Orleans About the Voices You Can't Forget [ 1 comment]
- March 29, 2006
I've just returned from my fourth trip to New Orleans since the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina seven months ago. I usually take meticulous notes to write you a letter...
Tags: disaster relief, government, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans - Letter from New Orleans [ 3 comments]
- December 16, 2005
When I sat down in September to write to you upon returning from Louisiana three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, I got on the plane, opened the laptop and the words... - My Dilemma with this letter [ No comments]
- October 3, 2005
So here's my dilemma as I get off the plane after two long days of meetings about hurricane relief in Biloxi, Gulf Port and Baton Rouge: If I write to...
Tags: disaster relief, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans - Letter After the Hurricane [ 3 comments]
- September 3, 2005
The heart-wrenching scenes of human suffering witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are not only the result of the failure of Lake Pontchartrain's levees, but also the failure of...
Tags: bearing witness, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans - Letter of Invitation to Bear Witness [ No comments]
- June 6, 2005
I wish you could have been with us toward the end of an extraordinary day last month, when Rick Russo, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Empire Falls, Nobody's Fool,...
Tags: bearing witness, disaster relief, hinges of hope - Museum News Contribution: The Power to Bear Witness [ No comments]
- April 5, 2005
For those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in Pittsburgh, one-time home of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, the city's most prominent museum was not just part of...
Tags: bearing witness, disaster relief, hinges of hope, maine - Letter for the New Year [ 1 comment]
- January 1, 2005
Welcome back and best wishes for the New Year. I hope your holiday was filled with many blessings. As we look ahead, one blessing for which we can all be...
Tags: Hinges of Hope, SEED school, United Nations - Letter About the Annual Poverty Statistics [ No comments]
- September 0, 2004
One week ago the Census Bureau released the annual poverty statistics. The percentage of those living in poverty increased for the third straight year, totaling 35.8 million Americans, of whom...
Tags: extreme poverty - Letter Looking Back on 20 Years of Sharing Strength [ No comments]
- June 0, 2004
The independent commission investigating the terrorist attacks on September 11, reported in harrowing detail about how senior government officials reacted to the horrific crisis. The minute-by-minute account of how key...
Tags: community wealth, disaster relief, Operation Frontline - Christian Science Monitor Op-Ed: The Hunger In Our Midst [ No comments]
- June 0, 2004
National Hunger Awareness Day, being observed Thursday by a coalition of anti-hunger organizations, raises the issue of why more Americans are not aware that hunger is a serious problem facing...
Tags: education, philanthropy - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Op-Ed on Acts of Conscience [ 1 comment]
- May 22, 2004
As improbable as it may seem, sometimes an individual conscience is all that keeps a world from falling
Tags: government, human rights, moral courage, social change - Letter From the International Newsstand [ No comments]
- May 0, 2004
Last Thursday, April 29, after the bombing of a former UN building in Damascus, the Financial Times coverage was headlined "Syria Vows To Stamp Out Terrorism After Attack." I read...
Tags: government, grassroots, politics, terrorism - Letter Regarding Norwegian Poets and Insecticide Treated Nets [ No comments]
- April 0, 2004
"Noble is man. Rich is the earth. Where there is hunger or need, there is betrayal." So said Nordahl Grieg, one of Norway's most prominent poets and dramatists who was...
Tags: disease, grassroots, malaria, philanthropy - Letter For a Season of Hope and Faith [ No comments]
- December 0, 2003
There have been so many times I've wanted to sit down and write this letter. Perhaps it is only the onset of this season of hope and faith that has...
Tags: disease, gratitude, malaria, United Nations - Letter Celebrating a Birthday and an Award [ No comments]
- November 0, 2003
Usually awards are given to those who delight and please us: Oscars go to movie stars, Pulitzers to writers. But occasionally an award is bestowed to those who irritate, agitate,...
Tags: activism, awards, human rights, timberland - Letter From the Back of the Newspaper [ No comments]
- November 0, 2003
This past week marked a sobering turning point in the war in Iraq. I don't mean the downing of the Chinook helicopter that killed 15 brave American soldiers, or the...
Tags: bearing witness, government, politics - Letter From a Community Wealth Collaborative [ No comments]
- October 0, 2003
If we are to become as good as we need to be to succeed in bringing community wealth to scale, we'll always be learning as much from our client engagements...
Tags: Community wealth, entrepreneurship, philanthropy - Letter From City Year New Hampshire’s Graduation [ No comments]
- June 0, 2003
In June of 2003 I went to Exeter as the graduation speaker for City Year's New Hampshire Corps. It was a carbon copy of the nearly dozen City Year graduations...
Tags: education, moral courage, school - Letter From Baton Rouge: Old Speech, New Feeling [ No comments]
- April 1, 2003
Turning off of Interstate 10 and into the One Hundred Oaks neighborhood of Baton Rouge, is like turning into a place where time is measured not by familiar digital devices...
Tags: bearing witness, disease - Letter From a Bookshelf [ No comments]
- February 0, 2003
When Share Our Strength's friend and supporter Jeff Swartz came to meet with me last week, he brought two gifts: a book and an idea....
Tags: bearing witness, disaster relief, education, photography, school, timberland - Letter From the Border [ No comments]
- June 0, 2002
Bumper stickers usually make you smile. Some can make you cry. That's what I discovered after driving hundreds of miles last week through the poorest parts of the Mississippi Delta...
Tags: education, hinges of hope, philanthropy, school - Letter From a New York Photo Gallery [ No comments]
- June 0, 2002
Last week I took the train to New York to look at 38 photographs. They are not famous or popular photographs. They probably never will be. In fact they are...
Tags: disease, New York Times - Letter From the Front Page [ No comments]
- March 0, 2002
Newspapers are supposed to bring us information we did not know before. Sometimes they tell us things we could never have imagined. That was the case for me last Friday...
Tags: Afghanistan, government, homelessness, human rights, moral courage, New York Times - Letter From September 10th [ 1 comment]
- November 0, 2001
It's been said that the world changed on September 11. But for 229 kids who lived in the town where I work, the world didn't even last that long....
Tags: bearing witness, disaster relief - Letter From the Pentagon [ No comments]
- September 17, 2001
I'm writing you from the Pentagon's south parking lot. The smoke has cleared but not the acrid smell. From where I stand at the very base of the building, the...
Tags: disaster relief, government, politics - Letter for Hector Robles [ No comments]
- July 20, 2001
I'm inviting you to journey with us once again. Yesterday Chuck Scofield and I drove to Paterson, New Jersey, to meet with the Chief Assistant Prosecutor for Homicide Investigations, who...
Tags: crime, government, homelessness, human rights, New York Times, teenagers - Nothing Is Small: Share Our Strength’s Strategy for Investment in Ethiopia [ No comments]
- June 15, 2001
"Have you showered yet?" were Zach's first words when I raced into the Bob Evans restaurant where his hockey team was eating breakfast. I'd traveled 28 hours from Mekele in...
Tags: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, New York Times, philanthropy - Letter From a Landover Caravan [ No comments]
- May 0, 2001
Dear Friend, Our doctor warned that the mefloquine prescribed to prevent malaria might be mood altering. I don't know if that explains my tears last night or if it was...
Tags: disease, Ethiopia, malaria - Letter From the Ethiopian/Eritrean Border [ No comments]
- March 30, 2001
If Janis Joplin was right that "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" then the Ethiopians we met in the border town of Zelembassa have attained a freedom...
Tags: Ethiopia, government - Return to Ethiopia [ No comments]
- February 26, 2001
Dear Friend, "A cloud gathers, the rain falls, men live; the cloud disperses without rain, and men and animals die." -- Wilfred Thesiger, British Explorer British explorer Wilfred Thesiger wrote... - Letter From 16th Street [ No comments]
- January 0, 2001
16th Street begins at the White House and ends near my house in Silver Spring, Maryland. I drive the length of it twice each day, to and from Share Our...
Tags: disease, homelessness, philanthropy - Letter About the Third Freedom [ No comments]
- December 0, 2000
Over the holidays I came across former Senator George McGovern's new book: The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time. It is a slim volume of some 160 pages, written...
Tags: education, government, politics, school - Heroes and Cheap Hotels [ No comments]
- May 29, 2000
I returned from Ethiopia in time to take Zach to the Memorial Day opening of America's top box office hit: Mission Impossible. I don't think it will ruin the suspense...
Tags: Ethiopia, grassroots - Letter For Africa [ 1 comment]
- May 16, 2000
Our Ethiopian Air flight departs this time tomorrow. We're as prepared as we'll ever be: Took the shots for yellow fever, meningitis, Hepatitis A, and tetanus/diphtheria (ouch!) as well as...
Tags: disease, Ethiopia, government - Letter From a Cab Ride in Denver [ No comments]
- May 15, 2000
Last Monday I flew to Colorado to keynote the annual dinner of The Investment Fund For Foundations (TIFF). It was an opportunity to learn from two accomplished men, Michael Porter...
Tags: grassroots, philanthropy, politics - Letter About a 911 Call [ No comments]
- May 0, 2000
Yesterday morning, the Washington Post devoted about one-eighth of the front page to a story about the World Wrestling Federation's new football league. The other headlines pertained to trade with...
Tags: bearing witness, philanthropy - Letter From the Cockpit en Route from Gode to Addis Abbaba [ No comments]
- May 1, 2000
I've never before flown with a pilot whose pre-flight checklist included conducting a group prayer, but that's what ours did before we took off in a six seat, single-engine Cessna...
Tags: disease, Ethiopia - Letter From a Passover Sedar [ 1 comment]
- April 24, 2000
I can't imagine that many Passover sedars start with the reading of an e-mail, but ours did last Wednesday evening....
Tags: Ethiopia, philanthropy, timberland - Letter From Albuquerque [ No comments]
- February 0, 2000
New Mexico has the soft southwestern light and pastel colors that landscape painters love, but that light glares more harshly when focused on the poverty that ranks New Mexico as...
Tags: event, Taste of the Nation, The Cathedral Within - Letter About a Transplant Surgeon [ No comments]
- March 0, 1999
It's 41 degrees and there are scratchy silver patches of ice on the ground, but the Colorado sky is blue and the sun is so bright that shirtsleeves suffice. Chuck...
Tags: community wealth, disease, homelessness, mental health - Letter From the Cathedral of Milan [ 1 comment]
- November 0, 1998
The Cathedral of Milan is the second largest gothic cathedral in the world. After more than 500 years of construction, from 1386 to 1887, the inside is as spare and...
Tags: grassroots, moral courage, perseverence - Letter From a Baltimore Classroom [ No comments]
- March 0, 1998
I've always tried to spend time in Mollie's school. Her first elementary school, New Hampshire Estates, went from Kindergarten through second grade. Like most public schools it faced the challenge...
Tags: education, moral courage, school - Letter From the Netherlands, 1940 [ 1 comment]
- October 0, 1996
I would like to tell you about the museum in New York where I spent the afternoon looking at some rare old pictures that are amazing not for what you...
Tags: disaster relief, Holocaust, photography - Letter From the Site of MLK’s Last Tears [ No comments]
- March 0, 1994
I recently came across an interview that Martin Luther King gave on March 25, 1968, just ten days before he was killed. He spoke about poverty in America: "I was...
Tags: bearing witness, moral courage
