When Women Lead by Julia Boorstin

Author:Julia Boorstin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: 2022-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

Inspiring with an Abundance Mentality

As CARE USA spent the opening months of the pandemic enabling on-the-ground groups to advocate for their own needs, Babineaux-Fontenot and Feeding America also listened to their primary constituents: partner food banks. What they heard was that the food banks needed their parent organization to raise money on a massive scale. In order to do that, Babineaux-Fontenot would have to reeducate a culture in which parents scold their kids to finish their food “because there are hungry kids in Africa or China or India” and couldn’t conceive of those problems being close to home. She wanted to make sure that people understood the tangible impact of donating one dollar—which would pay for ten meals—directed to whatever zip code they chose.

With her tax accountant understanding of the numbers and her memory of the hunger in her childhood community, Babineaux-Fontenot led a communications campaign that publicized both horrifying data and personal stories. The organization created a TV public service announcement, and the Walt Disney Company and other pro bono partners drew on celebrity talent to create ads that aired in donated commercial time. Feeding America and its network member food banks also emailed national and local news outlets to report spikes in demand for food assistance and share stories of acute examples of food shortages.28 “We would say to local media, ‘I know there’s been footage in Pittsburgh of lines, but I want you to know there was a food distribution in San Antonio where ten thousand cars showed up and we’ve got video of what happened there.’ ” Babineaux-Fontenot needed people to understand not only that hunger wasn’t limited to distant shores but that every city was affected.

Though it had been common for Feeding America to try to enlist celebrity advocates, it had always been hard to schedule time with them or even get their attention. Now they were suddenly available, and thanks to Zoom, the logistical hassle of wrangling time with famous people evaporated. There was also something unique about the pandemic: even the richest and most privileged were on some level impacted, while widening economic disparities were laid bare. “I think people who were in positions of privilege could see their privilege so clearly. They knew they had the luxury of being at home when there were people who, to feed their families, had to leave their houses in the middle of the pandemic, find money for gas, and sit in a line for food,” said Babineaux-Fontenot. “We were all in the same storm, but we weren’t in the same boat.”

Celebrities started to gravitate to the cause, as donating and spreading the word about their donation made them feel productive. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds donated half a million dollars on March 17, followed by NFL star quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife, Ciara, who partnered with the private aviation company Wheels Up to donate 10 million meals. They promoted their donations to their tens of millions of social media followers, which broadened awareness of the problem and of Feeding America’s solution.

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