[As prepared for delivery]

of

Secretary of Agriculture. Dan Glickman
Thanksgiving Hunger Announcements
Washington, DC - November 22, 2000

"Good morning and welcome. I want to thank Lynn Brantley and the Capitol Area Food Bank for having us here today. And, most of all, I want to thank all the dedicated volunteers who work so hard so that the neediest among us may have a bountiful Thanksgiving.

"Mr. President I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank you on behalf of myself and all of the folks at USDA who've served in your Administration for the opportunity you've given us to make a contribution toward improving people's lives and lifting the American spirit.

"Under your Administration it became our primary goal to strengthen the Federal nutrition safety net -- and we did just that.

"This was the first Administration in 20 years to submit and get passed its own Child Nutrition Re-authorization Bill, which included after school snacks for Kids Cafes -- and some of those kids are here today. We also established nutrition requirements that help ensure that meals served to our school children meet the Dietary Guidelines of Americans. We and others also fought hard to restore food stamps to some legal immigrants, and we are continuing the fight to include more. And we were recently successful in getting Congress to modify the vehicle and shelter rules so as to make it easier for low-income, working families to qualify for food stamps.

"At USDA we took our commodity donations to a new level both in terms of quantity and quality, tripling since 1995 the volume of bonus commodities that USDA has purchased for distribution to food banks and other organizations.

"We're also working closely with our farmers to get them involved. We've changed rules to allow farmers to donate partially damaged but perfectly wholesome produce without affecting their crop insurance claims. And we've created or aided grass-roots recovery projects with farmers and ranchers in over 40 states resulting in donations of million of pounds of excess food.

"But this Administration recognized that government alone, while providing the foundation of the nutrition safety net, cannot fight hunger and malnutrition alone. So we set out to help folks at the local level develop grass roots solutions, among them gleaning and food recovery efforts.

"In 1996 President Clinton signed the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act which allows businesses and farmers to donate food without unnecessary fear of liability. That same year President Clinton directed all federal agencies to help increase the recovery and gleaning of excess food.

"Our friends in the private sector have also been a tremendous help in these efforts, with everyone from food manufacturers to restaurants and grocery stores helping out with donations to food banks and pantries. But even in these good economic times, we need to do more. In the spirit of this holiday season, we all need to work together to immediately step up donations to food banks nationwide.

"In 1999 we launched the Community Food Security Initiative: Folks at the local level putting their ideas to work in their communities with USDA as a facilitator, a partner, a consultant, and as a technical consultant.

"Today Mr. President I'm proud to release a progress report on the public/private efforts of your Community Food Security Initiative. The results so far are impressive - the reason being that folks at the local level are motivated and empowered to pitch in and make a difference. We saw ample evidence of that a few moments ago right here in your food bank.

"Among the report's highlights are the launching of 100 new projects with local non-profit groups; recovering more than 13 million pounds of wholesome, excess food; on-going anti-hunger technical assistance to local communities in all fifty states; forging innovative partnerships like the one between Hewlett Packard and American's Second Harvest Food Bank network which uses modern computer technology to match companies donating food with non-profit organizations that get the food to the people who need it.

"In short Mr. President, in less than two years, your Community Food Security Initiative has laid the foundation for government, the private sector, non-profit and faith-based organizations to work together and use their creativity to empower folks at the local level to help ensure that people who need nutrition assistance can get it.

*

Now, it is my honor to introduce to you Lynn Brantley. Not only is she the Executive Director of the very impressive Capitol Area Food Bank -- a proud member of America's Second Harvest -- but Lynn is also a long-time leader in the civil rights and nutrition advocacy community committed to aiding low income families and children. Please join me in welcoming Lynn Brantley.