Heard in High Places

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack and me!

VTCECH Board Vice-Chair/Hunger Council Chair, Fran Stoddard with Marcelle Leahy

CVCAC Executive Director, Hal Cohen, Secretary Vilsack, and Senator Sanders

Secretary Vilsack and Burlington Schools Food Service Director, Doug Davis

Congressman Welch, Senator Leahy, Secretary Vilsack, and Senator Sanders

On Saturday, Vermont’s anti-hunger leaders had the opportunity to meet with United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack and Vermont’s Congressional delegation at Senator Leahy’s office in Burlington. In our discussions, two key themes emerged:

1. Vermont has unique and special partnerships between the advocate community and the state administrators of the federal nutrition programs. We look for innovative solutions together with a shared vision for a hunger free world.
2. The federal nutrition programs need to be simpler and easier to use so more low-income families can access them.

I believe that the concerns of our communities were heard and taken seriously by the Secretary, Senator Leahy, Senator Sanders, and Congressman Welch. Senator Leahy said he will be working with Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) on proposed legislation that would lower the “area eligibility” test from 50% to 40%. This legislation would make it possible for an additional 67 towns in VT to operate “open” summer programs where all children in the town could access free meals in the summer. I was also delighted to hear about new initiatives such as Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food and other pilot programs for rural states.

This was an extraordinary opportunity to represent the needs of Vermonters to Secretary Vilsack who is dedicated to making sure everyone in our country has access to healthy and nutritious food. I’m also very thankful to our Senators and Congressman for actively supporting meaningful change to the federal nutrition programs in the upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization. I look forward to our future work together to meet President Obama’s goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015.