Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot told a capacity audience at Food Bank of the Albemarle this week that she has visited states of all political persuasions: red, blue and purple.
“And you know what I discovered?” she asked. “There are good people living in every single one of those states.”
Babineaux-Fontenot, who has been CEO of Feed America since 2018, visited Food Bank of the Albemarle for a town hall with food bank supporters Monday morning. About 60 people, including local and state elected officials, area educational leaders, food bank partners and food pantry workers across the food bank’s 15-county service area, packed the community room for the event.
“Hunger never comes all by itself,” Babineuax said. “It is part of lots of challenges the people confront all at once. It doesn’t exist in a vacuum and it affects everything that human beings need in order to thrive.”
Feeding America is based in Chicago, Illinois, and is a nationwide network of food banks, food pantries and community groups who collaborate to address food insecurity across the country. Babineaux-Fontenot said that in her role as CEO she has met and worked with many elected officials on Capitol Hill, but because of her organization’s mission, Feeding America will never side with a political party or group.
“We will never be partisan,” she said. “We will advocate for policies that we have reason to believe will be helpful to people experiencing hunger. We will not be partisan.”
Among the local and state elected officials present Monday were John Trent, chairman of the Bertie County commissioners; state Rep. Bill Ward, R-Pasquotank; state Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, as well as field representatives for U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., and U.S. Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.
Also in the audience were College of The Albemarle President Jack Bagwell, Elizabeth City State University interim Chancellor Catherine Edmonds, Sentara Albemarle Medical Center President Teresa Watson and key leaders from ECU Health.
“They are all in the room to help us have this important conversation,” said Liz Reasoner, Food Bank of the Albemarle’s executive director.
Reasoner said the purpose of Monday’s town hall was to share news about world hunger and efforts to curb it, healthcare partnerships and to hear an update on the Farm Bill, known officially as the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2024.
“Things that are on the horizon that are important to us,” she explained.
The food bank’s mission has expanded beyond just addressing hunger to also addressing its root causes, such as poverty, Reasoner said.
“We’re not just about food,” she said. “What else should we be doing about social justice and the work that we’re doing to engage to lift people out of poverty?”
Attending via videoconference was Nathaniel Duella, a legislative assistant and agriculture policy adviser to U.S. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., who is a member of the U.S. House Committee for Agriculture. Duella discussed briefly the progress of the current Farm Bill. The committee’s $1.5 trillion draft Farm Bill was unveiled on May 17 and is expected to fund food conservation and nutrition programs, plus several other projects and initiatives.
Babineaux-Fontenot called the Farm Bill “messy” but said it has a lot of power to include federal nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP, and Women, Infants and Children, or WIC.
“It invests in our agricultural base,” she said. “Feeding America partners with farmers across the country.”
Congress typically approves a new farm bill every five years and the last bill approved was in 2018. That bill expired in September 2023 but was extended by Congress for another year and will expire this year either in September or December, depending on which program or aspect the farm bill is funding.
Babineaux-Fontenot said the Farm Bill is too important to be used as political leverage.
“It should not be partisan,” the Louisiana native said. “It used to not be partisan. Let’s pull it back from partisanism, please.”
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