Keeping our Promises

By Bill Bolling, Executive Director
August - October 2009

In this issue of Foodsharing, we focus on children and youth. This summer was our third year of running the Youth Leadership Summit program, a week-long plunge by 17 young people into the realities and solutions of hunger in America. I continue to be amazed at the creativity, diversity and interest of the young people who choose to participate. Each year more of our staff - often employees that have no direct responsibility in education - volunteer to help with the program. I think we are all drawn to participate because of the energy and enthusiasm of the kids and what they teach us about what is true for them.

I was asked to give a talk to the participants to begin the week, to set the stage for what follows. After years of delivering talks at schools, civic clubs, college commencements, media interviews, even talks on the national stage, I still find it challenging to talk to young people in middle & high school. I'm often at a loss on how much I should tell them about the politics of hunger and poverty, the complications and resistance to change, and the focus on fear and blame that often represents our first response to complex, hard-to-fix societal problems.

It may also be that I'm a little embarrassed that in a land of plenty, and working diligently for over 30 years, hunger is still a reality. For young people who have grown up expecting immediate gratification, and doing and learning things quickly, how do we adequately explain how long it takes, how hard it is, and how persistent one has to become to bring about real change?

But it is part of my responsibility - a responsibility that we all share as adults, parents, and teachers - to share what we know and believe to be true. To frame the issues in a way that encourages instead of deflates, and offers hope instead of blame.

Young people today are exposed to plenty of issues and partisan points of view, often involving blaming and finger pointing, sometimes at the very people who are suffering. Collectively, we have often spent more time in our lives focusing on who is at fault than recognizing blessings and opportunities. And this becomes a part of the challenge during our week together. We try to present a hopeful but realistic picture, to reflect a way of being in the world which clearly includes them, even encourages them to join us in the work.

Many young people seemingly have no fear about trying things, a trust in the rightness of their cause, and a belief that they can change the world. Many have a disarming way of admitting what they don't know, and their desire to make a difference. These are the very qualities that have helped us be successful over the years at the Food Bank and ones we want to nurture and grow in others.

At this point in time, youth have amazing access to information and facts through the internet, and yet they often seem isolated from many of the real issues that we all face. After the participants spend a day out in the community personally meeting some of the hungry families and those who serve them, many readily admitted that they had never really known a hungry person, or ever participated in giving a helping hand.

This is where I think education and experiential learning fits in so well. Part of what they receive when they come for this week is a glimpse of a place, a role, a responsibility, an opportunity for each person in life, and most importantly, an expectation that we will, at critical times, take the more challenging and more meaningful way when presented with such issues as hunger and poverty.

In reflecting on my own childhood, there was never any question about what was expected of me. Expectations ran high in my family and were clearly and regularly communicated. We often disagreed on how to address an issue, and this was especially true when I was the age of these young people, and even older. But I was clearly expected to contribute, to do my best to make things better for those around me. And it has been one of the most helpful motivators in my life, an expectation and a belief that I would do good.

This may be the greatest gift that we can offer - an expectation of good, that things will work out, a belief that young people can and will play a significant role in building a better community.

What we need most is leadership in our young people. They must have hope, a vision, strong consistent support, and the tools to succeed. This is our responsibility: the promises that have been honored from generation to generation; to hold high our expectations, our love and support, our sense of hope and destiny, that our children realize their highest purpose.

Working alone, it can feel overwhelming, that no matter what we do, it will not make a difference. But working together, each of us doing our small part, brings about the change that we long for. Conducting the Youth Leadership Summit is our small part.

And we find that our future is in very good hands.

"In the three days that followed the first initial gathering, my eyes have been opened. I'm seeing things in ways I never have before. I was ignorant before- having my predisposed ideas of poverty and hunger. I now feel shocked that I was so shallow. The people that I have met are some of the most courageous and honorable people alive. Their life story is a testament of faith, hope, and vision for a changed world. Their strength in the face of adversity and desolation has inspired me. Their open arms and their warm smiles ignited a flame within me. And this flame will not go out until I have had my chance to make my impact on the world and these people.
Akshata Sherehatti (Youth Summit Participant)