A Portrait of a Hunger Hero in Marshall County, Indiana

She’s traveled all over the world to learn firsthand how hunger and food insecurity look in different countries (there’s not a standard template, she says).

She spends a great deal of time in Washington, DC, to lobby for legislation that assists people who are food insecure (people who do not have reliable access to nutritious food they can afford).

But a good portion of her time is spent at home in Michiana, helping the hungry and the impoverished in local communities.

“It’s endlessly rewarding,” she says. “It’s what I’m meant to do.” -Article in Edible Michiana magazine

I was so proud to see my friend Angie Ruprock-Shafer featured in a recent edition of the Edible Michiana magazine, which focuses on a variety of food issues, including nutrition, community agriculture and hunger. The print edition of this issue was out on display counters several weeks ago, but the article appeared online in mid-May.

Angie and I served together on the board of directors of Bread for the World for a few years. When she came on board, she was on the communications staff of Church World Service (the folks that bring you the CROP Walk).

The article, entitlted "Hyperlocal focus on the hungry leads local woman to global goal,"notes that Angie's Christian and humanitarian values are strong reasons why she is so involved in many different ways to fight hunger (from social media to direct advocacy to policy making). “The Bible talks endlessly about fighting hunger,” Rupchock-Schafer told article author Mike Petrucelli

And now Angie is going to take her fight against hunger to a different level. She is running for a seat in the Marshall County Commission so she can become a participant in crafting public policy.

This article is a great tribute to Angie  You can read it here

But this is not the first time that Angie has been quoted in Edible Michiana.  She was quoted in a piece about food councils in October 2017.“Farm-to-school programs help create a steady market for local farmers and provide fresh, nutritious food for our kids,” said Angela Rupchock-Schafer, a founding member of the Marshall County Food Council. “Good nutrition is essential to help our students thrive—especially those who may face hunger at home.” -Read full article

Friday Tweets about #Hunger

“For some, the idea of a day off from school sounds like fun, particularly if there is snow involved. But for others it means going without the safety and food that school provides." #SnowDay #Hunger https://t.co/SyRZtKBeou

— Bread for the World (@bread4theworld) January 3, 2018

Think about it...#Sustainability, #ClimateChange , #biodiversity, #hunger are all linked & one of the answers is #smallfarmers . So why do so many #chefs not work with them? Think outside the four walls, be responsible. #foodforlife #ZeroHunger #culinary pic.twitter.com/2XwB9DGUiQ

— Conor Spacey (@Spaceychef) January 6, 2018

#Hydroponic vegetables are part of the solution to #hunger and #nutrition https://t.co/Oq3mnpYNK0 @organic @aquaponics @agriculture @food @nutrition pic.twitter.com/LLYuSyNcZR

— AgLantis (@CoCoOrganicFarm) January 9, 2018

We’re proud of supporting the Parliamentary Front against #hunger (PFH) in #LatinAmerica & Caribbean. A plural group of parliamentarians fostering effective #Legislation and building lasting alliances for #ZeroHunger
See how it works https://t.co/d0fZ1NfsB9 pic.twitter.com/aWoxdI8EqK

— Gustavo Gonzalez (@ggonzzalezz) January 11, 2018

Warmest congratulations to Max Finberg, who was honored for his wide efforts to address hunger. Max at one time served as executive director of the Alliance to End Hunger (an affiliate of Bread for the World) and also sat in some Bread board meetings (as a representative of former Rep. Tony Hall)

We're very honored to recognize Max Finberg as a Hero for #Hunger. His work at organizations such as @WFP, @AmeriCorpsVISTA & @HungerCenter has impacted thousands of lives. We salute Max, & his efforts to bring #food justice to the #world. https://t.co/PytO15N1tq pic.twitter.com/sMOQsCZqVC

— MAVF (@mav_foundation) January 5, 2018

A TedxFulbright Talk by Kimberly Burge: 'Where Curiosity Stops'

Kimberly Burge made five appearances in New Mexico in April 2016 to discuss her book The Born Frees. Burge has spoken to audiences and has been a guest on broadcast media in many parts of the country about her experiences working with a group of girls on a writing project in Gugulethu, a black township about ten miles outside Cape Town. Her most recent discussion came via a TEDx event using the TED conference format in Washington, D.C. in June of this year.  Below is the YouTube video of Kimberly's Ted Talk and the text that came along with it.



People don't always question the curious reasons why a place or a community or individual lives have been overlooked or excluded. Kimberly Burge is a narrative journalist, a longtime activist, and a Fulbright Scholar to South Africa. She earned a bachelor of science in journalism at Bowling Green State University, a master of fine arts in nonfiction writing from George Mason University, and was a fellow in global religion reporting for the International Reporting Project at Johns Hopkins University.

A contributing writer for Sojourners magazine, she previously worked for twelve years at Bread for the World, a Washington-based advocacy organization combatting hunger and poverty in the United States and worldwide. In 2005, she accompanied 150 grassroots activists to the G-8 activities in Scotland, where an international mobilization organized by grassroots leaders, along with Bob Geldof and Bono, called on world leaders to increase efforts to fight poverty in Africa.

Kimberly has published feature stories, editorials and reviews on issues of culture, politics, global poverty and development, faith and public policy. Her articles include an account of Johnny Cash’s last public performance (“Johnny Cash Goes Home,” Sojourners, January 2004) and an award-winning profile of writer Anne Lamott (“Crooked Little Faith,” Sojourners, May-June 1999). She has spoken about the girls of Amazw’Entombi at “After Girl Power: What’s Next?” an an international girls’ studies conference hosted by the Centre for Women’s Studies at the University of York, U.K, and at “Culture, Creative Transformation, and Adversity,” a faculty seminar at Waterford Institute of Technology in Waterford, Ireland. In 2012, as Visiting Humanities Scholar, she led a creative writing workshop for 25 inmates at Cumberland Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland. She was born in San Antonio, Texas; grew up in Blytheville, Arkansas, and Cincinnati; currently lives in Washington, DC; and returns to Cape Town every chance she gets. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Advocacy is an Important Follow-up Action to Fasting

Dave Miner in Albuquerque in 2014

The problem is so big that we need everybody. We need private and public, we need faith-based, we need nonprofits. The federal meals run between 80 and 90 percent total, so they are essential.  Dave Miner

Back in September, Indianapolis Bread for the World advocate and activist David Miner went on a 16-day fast to draw attention to the harmful impact that proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) would have on low-income families in Indiana.

Dave is making sure that the message he brought to the public during the fast continues to resonate not only in Indiana but also at the national level. He offers comments in an interview on Indiana Public Radio.  Here is a link to an article from the Indiana NPR affiliate (including an audio clip quoting Dave, Jessica Fraser  of the Indiana Institute for Working Families and Emily Weickert Bryant of Feeding Indiana's Hungry).

Bread members and people of faith around the country are fasting, praying and speaking out against cuts in SNAP and other nutrition programs (and other programs that directly or indirectly affect hunger) through a campaign created by a coalition of faith groups that includes Bread for the World.

Many individuals and faith communities are setting aside some time on the 21st of each month to participate in the campaign, entitled For Such a Time as This. The 21st is symbolic because this the time of the month when SNAP benefits usually run out for most beneficiaries.

In Albuquerque, St. Paul Lutheran Church is leading a vigil on Tuesday, Nov. 21. The ELCA congregation will be holding this action every 21st day of the month at its labyrinth garden, and all people of faith and conscience in Albuquerque are invited to attend.  "Our plan is to gather at 5:00 p.m. for brief time of quiet prayer, meditation, walking the labyrinth, perhaps sing a taize song," said Ivan Westergaard, one of the planners of the event along with Karla Ice and others at the church.

Thank You, Melody Wattenbarger

Melody’s unique ability to seek change, improvement and innovation positions Roadrunner as one of the leaders in food banking among the network. Melody has been involved with Feeding America for most of her food bank career. She has served on multiple Feeding America committees and is an active and supportive member, as shown through her participation in CEO networking events. Her influence can be seen in many aspects of the national network and the evolution food banks have experienced over the past 40 years. -Diana Aviv, CEO of Feeding America

Hunger's Hope award (2011)

In April of this year, the national organization Feeding America presented this year's Hunger's Hope award to three food bank leaders at its annual conference in San Diego. One of those leaders was Melody Wattenbarger, CEO of Roadrunner Food Bank, who was presented with the 2017 John van Hengel Fellow award. The award recognizes a food bank leader for excellence in leadership, local impact, national influence, and an entrepreneurial spirit in the area of hunger-relief. 

A Keynote Address at the End Hunger Summit
Melody will be delivering one of the keynote addresses at the End Hunger Summit in Albuquerque a week from today (Tuesday, Sept. 26).  She will be speaking at about 9:00 a.m. Below is an excerpt of her biography for the summit.

Melody Wattenbarger, President and CEO of Roadrunner Food Bank, has been involved in food banking at the local, state, and regional lev-els for more than 30 years. She was the founding director of the High Plains Food Bank in Amarillo, TX from 1983-1991. She worked for Feeding America, the national food bank network, for one year monitoring food banks around the country. She then worked for United Way of Central NM until she returned to food banking in her current position in late 1995. While in Texas, she served as the first president of the Texas Association of Second Harvest Food Banks (1986-1990). Ms. Wattenbarger served as founding President of the board for the NM Association of Food Banks from 1999 to 2004. She continues to serve on the board of the NM Association of Food Banks. 

Interacting with local Bread advocates
I have known Melody for the entire time that she has served as Roadrunner Food Bank's chief executive officer. Melody twice interacted with local Bread for the World advocates over the years. Back in the 1990s, she spoke to our group at one of our meetings about the operations of the food bank. A few years later, she was the one who gave us a tour of the Roadrunner facilities.

I have watched the organization grow into a very effective and essential part of the fight against hunger in central and southern New Mexico. Melody has done a remarkable job in the effort to ensure that food is available to countless sites (food pantries, shelters, group homes, soup kitchens, low-income senior housing sites, and regional food banks)in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and many other communities. Deep down, she always had her eye on the ultimate goal, which was for our feeding operations like Roadrunner Food Bank to "go out of business."  That would mean that as a society we have succeeded in ending hunger. 

Isn't that the ultimate goal? Yet, that seems like a distant dream, partly because we have an economic system in which inequality is a given. So, as long as operations like Roadrunner Food Bank exist, they try to do the best job possible not only to distribute food to the pantries and operations that serve communities facing hunger but also to promote education, advocacy and nutrition. For example, under Melody's watch, Roadrunner initiated a food prescription program, and a demonstration kitchen.

Roadrunner Food Bank has also assisted with Feeding America's annual efforts to track hunger in New Mexico, via the annual Map the Meal Gap report. (Feeding America's report looks at food insecurity in every state--and that's how we know where we stand in relation to everyone else).

A Remarkable Legacy
In February of this year, Melody announced that she was stepping down within a year. She and her husband plan to move back to her native Texas.“She’s been an icon in the community and has been serving hungry New Mexicans for the majority of her career. We will miss Melody terribly, but she will be with us for the next year to help us through the transition,",” Roadrunner spokeswoman Sonya Warwick told  The Albuquerque Journal

The Journal, in fact, has frequently written about and quoted Melody over the years. In 2009, at the height of an economic crisis that hammered the U.S., the need for food increased significantly in New Mexico. She spoke about this to the Journal, and we used some excerpts of the article in a blog post. "I'm entering my 23rd year doing this kind of work. I have never received the kinds of calls and inquiries as I am receiving now," she told the newspaper. "For one thing, we're receiving requests for food help via e-mail, which I don't remember until the last few months that ever happening. And the e-mails are coming from places you would recognize — businesses and places that you would know, and the people who are working there need help."

Hosting Rep. Lujan Grisham

Melody and her staff are well aware that Congress plays a special role in the actions needed to end hunger in New Mexico and the rest of the country. To the extend allowed by the federal guidelines for non-profits,  Roadrunner has reached out to our congressional delegation, including Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, to expand their understanding about the needs in our community. In 2016, Rep. Lujan Grisham sponsored legislation to increase direct funding for affiliates of the Feeding America network.

"We were so grateful she took the time to come and visit and learn about how we feed hungry people throughout the state during her visit late last week," Roadrunner Food Bank said on its Facebook page after Rep. Lujan Grisham visited the food bank.

Melody is not only a competent and efficient manager, an advocate and a visionary. She has been in tune with the needs of her clients and also of everyone who works at the food bank. She showed her compassionate side in this piece she wrote for the Roadrunner blog. "We recently hired a gentleman in his 50s to work in our warehouse. You are probably thinking that is something that happens fairly regularly, and you are correct in thinking that. What made this hire so special is that the man we hired had not had regular work or a place of his own to live in for many years. Now that he works for us, he has been able to get his own place, and he is very, very grateful."  Read full post and other pieces she has written for the blog.

Melody Wattenbarger will be missed in this community.