Carry Us Both Forward.

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Welcome to Doing Good, a podcast about the people, organizations, and companies creating positive change.
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Co-hosted by Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Campbell, Anna Ferrier with over 20 years in the nonprofit world of northern New Mexico, and myself, Gabriella Marks, photographer and visual storyteller with a focus on people doing good things.
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Hunger is one of those problems that can feel impossible to solve.
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It's easy to believe that one person can't make much difference.
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But what if doing good isn't about solving every problem?
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What if it's about building a movement where thousands of small acts become something much larger?
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Today we're joined by Jill Dixon, Executive Director of the Food Depot, to explore how compassion grows into community and how ordinary people become part of something extraordinary.
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And hello, Jill Dixon.
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Hi.
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Welcome to Doing Good.
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Thank you.
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We're very happy to have you here.
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And as we mentioned in the intro, that you are the executive director of the Food Depot.
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And we will talk more about the Food Depot soon.
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But one of the things that we're loving to hear from folks on this is uh your your story.
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What led you to do this work?
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Because this can be heart-wrenching hard work.
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And um you bring such compassion and um energy and skill to the work that you do.
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But what what brought you here, Jill?
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I'm gonna counter with the fact that this is also the most uplifting work.
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Um so I hear that it can be hard, and there's days that that feels true.
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Um, but I also get a front row seat to watching people choose to do the right thing for others every single day.
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And in a moment that can feel really hard, and maybe like people make selfish choices really frequently.
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I get to see people doing the opposite.
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Um the checks are rolling in, people are volunteering, we're moving food in and out of the warehouse, um, we're putting bushels of apples in people's cars.
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I mean, it's just an incredible place to be.
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So um, I really feel fortunate on that side more than I feel like there are hard days.
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Well, what what led you into the work?
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We we we know you were a teacher.
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I was a teacher.
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So we talk at the Food Depot a lot about what our why is, and there are lots of layers to that.
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So I'm gonna give you several separate answers of my whys, that are little pinpoint moments in time.
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Um, as an infant, I contracted Giardia and um in my first year of life, and I was profoundly sick, and my parents were notably working class, um, first generation graduate from college on my dad's side.
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And it meant that I needed this special formula that was so, so, so expensive, and they definitely were having a terrifically hard time making ends meet.
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And it was during an era that food banks were just starting to get their footing and they didn't really exist in the area that my parents were in.
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And my parents existed on Hawaiian Punch, popcorn, and tuna helper for the majority of that year so that they could give me the formula that I needed to be here today.
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So there's a really foundational why in that.
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Um, and then I will say that as an 18-year-old, um, my family lost my 15-year-old brother, Keith, and after a really sudden and unexpected illness.
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And it was obviously devastating for our family, and as the surviving child in that family, I felt like I had to ask myself the question because he was larger than life.
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He had this immense persona, he had this vibrance to him.
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Um, and I asked myself how I would make my life matter enough that he didn't get to live his.
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Um, which drives me every single day.
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Like, am I living big enough?
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Am I making a big enough difference?
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You're his legacy.
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Um, because I am his legacy.
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Um, I promised him as he died that I would carry us both forward.
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And um, so that's it too.
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And then I went into teaching, and I, you know, when we talk about, I know this is uncomfortable sometimes for us to talk about checking our privilege.
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Um, from that moment of food insecurity when I was an infant, my parents worked really, really hard.
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And I actually grew up in a household where there was a really hot, fresh, nutritious meal on the table every single night for my brother and I.
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And I hadn't known food insecurity personally.
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My parents saw to that.
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And I saw it for the first time when I was a classroom teacher.
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The the children I was teaching most assuredly had not eaten the night before.
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And the vigor with which they dove into those coolers of breakfast burritos that were provided by the district in the morning was something I was deeply unfamiliar with.
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And I saw it affect their learning, affect their social relationships, affect the way that they were able to show up in any given moment and how much that perse how pervasive that sense of food insecurity was to their entire existence.
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And I thought then that I loved teaching, but I was pretty sure that I wasn't gonna stay in it forever.
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And then if I got to another place that I would love to work on food security as a way to make kids ready to learn.
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Wow.
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And where was was this in New Mexico?
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Were you in New Mexico at this point?
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No, I was in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas.
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Oh no kidding.
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Um, just inches from the border.
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Wow.
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Yeah.
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And then you how did you end up in Santa Fe?
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How did you end up doing this work or Albuquerque?
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I wandered around a bit.
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Um the truth is that my parents were living in Phoenix.
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I didn't want to move back to Phoenix.
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I think we all could have a lot of reasons why that might be.
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Um 118 degrees yesterday being one of them.
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Um, but they moved to Albuquerque because they were kind of done with the Arizona scene, and that finally sounded like a place that I could kind of get to.
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And it wasn't a linear trajectory.
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I was in education and I came here, I tried to get hired as a teacher.
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Albuquerque Public Schools was a little complex in navigating how to make that happen.
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Um, and I actually ended up in for-profit sales, which toughened me up uh quite a bit.
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Um, if you've never had people not like who you are just for showing them, go away.
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Kind of, right?
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And I think that there's a a great degree of my skin had been thickened in one way in the education field and it got thickened in another um from like a marketing standpoint.
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But I had a very good friend who was on the Food Depot's board of directors.
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And when I was being reduced out of the workforce in my sales job um for the second time, I think, in 18 months, talk about instability.
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Um, she was like, you know what?
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I really think you should apply for this job.
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And I was like, I don't, I've never fundraised.
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And she says, Yes, but you've sold things that people don't like.
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This is called transferable skills.
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And I was like, meh.
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And she's like, you need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and do this.
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Um and that's a that's a good friend.
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That's a good friend, right?
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So she let me sit on it for a week and she called me back and she's like, I put red receipts on that email and I know you didn't open it.
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So come on, get with it.
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And I did.
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And then I applied to be the Food Depot's first ever development director to raise money to build our building on Silo Road.
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And the rest is history.
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Wow, that was a success.
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14 years later, I'm the executive director.
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Well, tell us about the Food Depot for those who don't know.
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Sure.
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Oh my gosh, so much to say.
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The Food Depot is a nonprofit organization that's been in business for 33 years.
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We serve nine counties in northern New Mexico.
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Our building is in Santa Fe, but that's not all we do.
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And our role is to be the food bank, the only food bank.
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And sometimes we use the terms food bank and food pantry interchangeably, but they're two very different things.
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A food bank acquires food on a massive scale.
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Last year, 11.9 million pounds of food we brought into our building.
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We then leverage volunteer power, staff power to repackage that food into family-sized, individual-sized portions, and then we push it out for distribution.
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About half of our food goes out through partner organizations, other nonprofits who are running a food pantry or a shelter or a school program where our food can find its way into people's hands.
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And the other 50% of the time, we are operating our own programs because one of the unique attributes of rural New Mexico is that there isn't always infrastructure that exists for a food program to take hold run by someone else.
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So sometimes the food depot needs to be a food bank and a food pantry.
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And last year we helped over 46,000 northern New Mexicans.
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That's great.
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With 11.7 million pounds of food.
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And then 11 million, that's close to what you're meeting during COVID.
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It's very close to that, which is not I'm proud that we can do it, but I'm sad that that's the number.
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It's an upward trend, which is sad.
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Very significantly upward number.
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I think that we had gone from about 12.5 million pounds of food the first year of the pandemic, which was some of the worst that we'd seen, slow improvement, um, where we were distributing about 9.5 million pounds of food, and now we're back up to 11.7.
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Wow.
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Wow.
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Well, Jill, you you you you talked about the the the the what and how you do it, but um I remember the first time that I met you when we were about to do a documentary about the Food Depot.
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And um I asked you what was the one word that would describe you know what you do here?
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And you said Perpetual motion.
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There you go, and movement.
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You know, can you talk about that in sense of of of what what that means both physically and and spiritually?
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That still gets me emotional.
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That was such a like wonderful conversation that day.
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Um food banks never rest.
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So I guess spiritually, it's that we understand that we are here with a very clear mission to make sure that food gets into people's hands no matter what it takes every single day.
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And you can imagine that the logistics of acquiring, repackaging, and distributing 11.7 million pounds of food with a 49-person staff, 580 full-time volunteers is a Herculean effort to manage all of the nooks and crannies of that.
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So literally, people's bodies are moving all the time, um, hustling from one place to the next, um, from one distribution to the next, to a you know, data entry and then hustle out to another distribution.
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The food is always moving.
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It's coming in from somewhere, it's getting moved to be repackaged, it's being moved to another storage location, then it's being loaded onto a truck to go out to another location, and those trucks are going, coming back, and going and coming back.
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So time-lapse video inside a food bank is a really wonderful endeavor because you can see a whole bunch of stuff happen really, really quickly.
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Um, so I think that there's also ingrained in us, um, and this is our perspective, it makes us unique as a food bank that we're not just here to move the food.
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We're not just a band-aid solution of making sure you have food today.
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We are also working on systemic solutions, either wraparound services that are interrupting hard moments for people and trying to provide them beyond food with what they need, but more importantly, working on systemic perspectives of what is it that causes food insecurity at its core, and what are we doing to alleviate that.
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We talked about it at the time of like, let's go upriver and pull people out, you know, prevent people from falling in rather than just pulling them out downstream, the Desmond 22 quote around that.
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And that remains true, that we continue to examine not just what it means to increase food distribution poundage every year, but actually what do we need to do to shorten the line.
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And the Food Depot is equally invested in both approaches.
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So when people come to be a part of us as donors, as volunteers, as advocates, they are part of that discussion and that movement of we are moving towards a day where people open their pantries and have what they need to make a nutritionally balanced meal for their family, and there's no anxiety.
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One of the things that I was so impressed when I first started to get to know you, Jill, was I ran into Jill at the roundhouse, and she had a button that said hunger is a policy choice.
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And I was that that was just such a like a gut punch for people just to know this is something we choose.
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And you were you were advocating not only for the Food Depot, but for policies and legislation that would address those various things that you're talking about, the systemic reasons, and uh the fact that the Food Depot has taken that on as part of their mission is is visionary and um admirable.
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So thank you.
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Yeah, it's an incredible point of honor to be able to participate in those discussions.
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And I think when I think about my origin story of like wanting to live big enough, make enough of a difference, um, you know, to honor my brother's life, there are specific moments that I'm always going to remember about this movement.
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One of them is, of course, like standing up even when it was scary during the pandemic to find more food and put that food in people's cars, even when we didn't know what that would cost us.
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But another is this hunger as a policy choice and pushing those kind of conversations that can be so uncomfortable.
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And having those conversations has put us in a position where last fall, when we were all grappling with what the changes outlined in HR1, specifically around the SNAP program, what that was gonna mean for people who use SNAP money to provide most of their groceries.
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How we were the food bank system is unable to replace that.
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It's never gonna happen.
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It cannot happen.
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It's not what we were designed for.
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And there was this huge amount of fear in that, but there was also this incredible opportunity to go to legislators who had become allies, who had become friends, and have those conversations and be taken seriously as informers, as expert testimony folks, to say this is a train that is going to go off the tracks and our people are going to be hurt in the following ways, and we need to work together.
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And then they said, Well, let's, you know, write us something up about that.
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What do you mean?
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And then to see that eventually become the content of a special session and to see funding go into not just food banks, so much bigger than that, to protect lawfully present residents and to see people's SNAP benefits be fulfilled on November 1st when the rest of the country went without.
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Those are moments of we got to be part of those conversations to uplift the voices of people we serve.
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And that's just such an honor.
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Yeah.
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Go New Mexico, right?
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Go to New Mexico.
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Mexico gets a lot of crap.
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We're at the bottom of a a number of lists, yeah.
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Well, and that's what they say, but we're also at the top of so so many.
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I mean, I I would I would I would challenge any legislature who doesn't really value the what the service that you do to go on distribution day and to see the people that line up for sometimes a mile and a half and wait two hours, it could be, to, you know, get get that day's distribution.
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I mean, it it's it's it's very impactful because you see people, you know, you you can't tell who's poor.
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No.
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You know, they all they they look like us.
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You know, I mean they have sometimes they have nice cars, you know, maybe they are you know trying to fill up a a a paycheck that stopped unexpectedly or some other family health tragedy or whatever.
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Um can you talk about I mean I know that you you have one story about this one woman that you met uh who you know was kind of ambivalent or or a little shy as to whether or not she belonged there.
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There's a moment in the pandemic, and I resonate with this as a person who became a single parent when my daughter was three.
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Um, you know, there's um so many people who have a divorce story, and like your circumstances can change so so quickly, and it can be so tight to make ends meet that it's not long before you find yourself needing that help.
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And I'd experienced that personally when I first got divorced.
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But short time later, we're standing in the midst of a pandemic, and there's a woman who drives a car that's a whole lot like mine.
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She was in a Nissan Centre on a Toyota Camry, so I was like, hey girl.
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Um, and I was just registering her to receive the food there that day, and it was USDA food, so we had to ask a couple more questions than we usually do.
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And she had a kiddo the same age as my kiddo in the back seat in this car seat that's the same car seat.
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And parents all care a lot about car seats, like what car seat is the one?
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It's a big decision, right?
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So I was like, Oh, you have the bride tax, da-da-da-da-da.
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Like, which is not a cheap car seat.
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So you could tell, like, she had a pretty nice car, she had a nice car seat, like this kiddo was with her, and I started to ask her questions, and she got really teary.
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And she was like, Are you sure that it's okay that I'm here?
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And I was like, Well, yeah, why would it not be okay?
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And she's like, Well, I mean, I know I don't look like I need it, but I got furloughed and my husband got laid off, and we're out of savings now.
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It's been four months, and I don't know when either of us is gonna go back to work, and I just didn't know what else to do.
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And someone told me to come here, but I really don't want to take food that somebody else needs more than me.
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Are you sure that it's okay that I'm here?
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This is incredibly moving.
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And we cried together a little bit.
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Yeah.
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And then I made faces at our kid.
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And I was like, of course, like, of course, that is exactly what we're here for.
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And, you know, there have been times that I probably needed that same level of help.
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We do offer that to our employees and they, you know, reach a difficult moment, but we want to always be the people that are there.
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I mean, it's it's it's interesting when you when you start talking to people about food insecurity and how many actually experienced food insecurity in their childhood, yourself, you know, with your parents.
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I know that um uh there was uh the manager of um the uh Market Street, Jeremy, he relates a story about you know him growing up and having food security.
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I personally, you know, as my parents had a hard you know time.
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And you know, back then it was Catholic charities.
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You know, but uh I mean I mean it it's it's it's it's more common, I think, than people realize.
00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.519
Yeah, it's so close to all of us.
00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:12.640
And when we talk as a staff about our why, you know, one of our leadership team members was telling us the other day that she asked her sister what one of their her favorite memories from their childhood was.
00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:17.119
And her sister said, I always loved it when we went to go get the commodity foods.
00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:18.960
Didn't you love that?
00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:20.880
Because it made me feel so loved.
00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:25.839
Oh it made me feel like these total strangers cared that I got fed.
00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:26.880
That's wonderful.
00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:28.960
Oh, that's that's beautiful.
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:40.000
So, like when we have this perspective sometimes of like the givers and the takers, or the you know, like all of that, like you might be having people are having a completely different experience with this.
00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:47.920
And so many people in my experience I've come across that you would never expect that they were food insecure.
00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:49.680
That's a medical crisis.
00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:57.920
I mean, you're one cancer diagnosis away from having the wrong insurance plan and needing some support through that moment.
00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:00.880
Um and there's so many people that that's true for.
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:11.359
And it's hard for us to admit that most Americans, I mean, I think it's over 70% of Americans, couldn't absorb a$500 unexpected expense.
00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:12.799
Like today.
00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:13.279
Yeah.
00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:15.519
It's a low bar.
00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:16.799
It is a low bar.
00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:18.000
And it's shocking.
00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:29.359
I mean, it it's um I my first like uh visual exposure to the food depot was um shooting for for the mall.
00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:33.440
They wanted to document the pandemic distribution point.
00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.319
And I was up on the roof of the mall.
00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:41.599
And um it was devastating, the twinkle lights in the morning.
00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:50.880
Just to see so many people, and I had been, you know, out in Powaky and walking in the arroyo with my dog every day, even though I wasn't working, I was I was okay.
00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:55.279
And to see that it was it was um the scale of it.
00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:58.799
That Saturday distribution was huge and it was scary.
00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:00.400
We felt that too.
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:14.319
The one morning we we did a distribution there that coincided with a time that all of the you remember that there was a rule if more than a certain number of staff people got s got COVID, but they had to shut down, right?
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:27.519
And it just so happened that that particular week, which was in early November, all of the retailers in Santa Fe that accepted SNAP closed at the same time because they had too many cases in their stores.
00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:38.880
So that Saturday, there were no grocery stores open that took SNAP benefits, and it was just us and our director of transportation, Jerry.
00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:41.039
Hi Jerry, I hope you listen to this.
00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:59.680
Um, we stood there together and we were by ourselves in the truck, our trucks were starting to arrive, and all we saw was headlights wrapped around this abandoned mall parking lot, just layers and layers of concentric circles of cars wrapped around that building, and he said.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:00.960
Do you think we have enough?
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:02.240
And I was like, I don't know.
00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:03.680
We're gonna we're gonna find out.
00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:05.680
God, it's like the loaves and the fishes.
00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:12.240
And we're gonna stand here as long as it takes until we're completely until we have nothing left.
00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:14.640
And we were there for over eight hours that day.
00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:16.480
Did you run out?
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:16.799
No.
00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:18.640
A miracle.
00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:27.279
You know, you you also besides giving away food and everything that entails.
00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:42.079
I mean, you also give pet food, I mean, which is uh unheard of, you know, which is necessary because I mean some I I mean some some some clients what you you call them clients or program participants, clients, neighbors, neighbors, neighborhoods.
00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:42.400
Friends.
00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:50.240
I mean they were they were they were giving away the you know the the the food that was supposed to be consumed by them and their families to the dogs and their for their their pets.
00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:52.720
You also um have a navigator program.
00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:54.000
We do.
00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:57.680
Which is going a little bit towards going upstream.
00:22:57.920 --> 00:22:58.720
Can you talk about that?
00:22:59.200 --> 00:22:59.519
Sure.
00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:06.559
Um the city of Santa Fe, we're so fortunate, has been leading the state in the development of what's known as the Kinect Network.
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:23.119
And that's a closed loop referral system where basically a person in crisis, I think we should just baseline acknowledge, a person in crisis is not in a great position to read a bunch of complex materials and enrollment things to try to navigate their way through the wide, wide web of services.
00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:43.599
So the navigation program and the Kinect Network were created out of the philosophy that if this person shows up at a food distribution and ends up in conversation with one of us, that we can refer them to our navigators who can ask other questions, social determinants of health screenings, social drivers of health, like, do you have secure housing?
00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:44.880
Are you employed?
00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:46.720
Are you enrolled in SNAP?
00:23:46.880 --> 00:24:05.599
And if the answer to any of those things is, oh, I need a little more help in that area, we can refer them to another provider, a professional to professional, and say, hey, Anna's gonna come over here on Tuesday at three, and will you help her with her SNAP application or will you help her with some housing funds?
00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:06.799
Oh, that's incredible.
00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:14.799
Um and we help thousands of people a year with those kind of connections, and 60 other nonprofits in Santa Fe are doing the exact same thing.
00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:16.079
And it's bilingual.
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:17.519
It's all bilingual.
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:20.079
Um we both of our navigators are bilingual.
00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:28.000
We will be hiring a third this fall to work out at our no-cost grocery store in Espanola, um, which we're really excited to see that relaunch.
00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:29.119
Oh, that's great.
00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:32.400
Tell people about what that is, because it's it's a it's a brilliant concept.
00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:34.880
Yeah, there's we're not the only one.
00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:37.599
Um there's people around the country that do this in different formats.
00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:43.680
But in 2022, we opened a very like small ti and vita, like no-cost grocery store.
00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:50.319
And the whole goal was to provide a dignified experience of accessing a choice of nutritional food, of nutritious foods.
00:24:50.559 --> 00:25:09.519
So if someone goes to shop at Casita, um, there's no cost associated with it, and they can fill up a couple of bags with groceries off of the shelf, and there's usually three or so produce items, there's some frozen protein items to choose from, there's about 30-ish items on the shelf off in personal care.
00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:12.160
Our diaper program operates out of there as well.
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:20.079
So folks can just go in and have an actual shopping experience with a cart where they pick their items, put them in a bag, we weigh them out.
00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:22.400
Um, it's very low barrier.
00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:25.519
And it looks like a shopping uh little store.
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:28.240
I mean, so it has the sense of dignity.
00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:32.240
You know that you're actually choosing things that are relevant to your family.
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:32.960
Yes.
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:37.920
We've made huge strides in cultural, culturally familiar foods in the past year.
00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.079
We've got a great relationship with bueno.
00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:48.960
Um we were regularly seeing pasole, ground like New Mexico ground beef, red and green chili, chili pods, tortillas.
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:53.119
Um, we've worked really, really hard to offer New Mexico foods.
00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:57.599
I think this would be a good time for just a short break and we'll be right back.
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:04.319
Know someone who's doing good in your community?
00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:06.319
We'd love to hear their story.
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:11.200
Visit doinggood.fm and tell us about someone who's making a difference.
00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:17.039
That's doinggood.fm and we're back.
00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:27.119
I want to jump in with something and go back to something you said earlier, which is one of the joys of your job is getting to see people do good and the and the best in people.
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:30.240
And um, I want to hear more about that.
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:31.359
Like you have stories.
00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:33.119
There's a thousand examples.
00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:38.000
So back in I guess it was like a year ago, how does that happen?
00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:41.440
Okay, so we'll just say that you know, August-ish of last year.
00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:45.920
Um, we were so fortunate to be featured in a New York Times piece.
00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:47.440
And how did that happen?
00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:54.319
Um, I mean, because our director of communications is awesome and she answers emails, and it was incredible.
00:26:54.559 --> 00:27:05.200
So um the aside to that is that of course I was the weeping person in Barnes and Noble on a Sunday buying 10 copies of that so that I could send it to my family and show it to my mother.
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:09.599
Um and I had a huge like fangirl weepy moment about that.
00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:10.960
We're not immune.
00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:12.000
It was the New York Times.
00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:15.119
Like, oh my gosh, I can't believe my name is in the New York Times.
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:17.359
Like, and not in the most wanted list, right?
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:26.880
Um so that was wonderful, and like this really inspiring moment, and of course, like it led to a lot of opportunities down the road, which was great.
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:57.359
But the most important thing for me that came out of it, even in that fangirl moment, the crying in Barnes and Noble, was several weeks later, I got this piece of mail, and it was a note with a five-dollar bill in it, a crumpled one, from a man who said, Hey, I read about you in the New York Times, and I don't think I knew anything about New Mexico before, but you guys sound pretty awesome, so just keep on keeping on.
00:27:58.480 --> 00:27:58.720
Wow.
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.599
And he'd read that piece like in the in a library in New York City.
00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:06.640
Dang, that's so awesome.
00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:08.079
And sent that$5 bill.
00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:15.440
So I mean it I as I hear this like wonderful stuff you're saying about like doing good, like yes, he donated to the organization.
00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:21.680
Every dollar provides four meals, that means 20 meals came out of his five dollar gift that he mailed all the way across the country.
00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:30.079
But he took a minute of his time to write me a note that's stayed on my desk ever since of just keep on keeping on.
00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:35.440
Every day that it's a little harder, every day that there's a challenge you don't you don't know if you'll be able to overcome.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:35.759
Yeah.
00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:43.119
Well, and and and that's I'm always curious, w how do you, yeah, how else do you recharge your batteries when you just feel so drained?
00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:47.359
Or or up against those challenges that just seem insurmountable.
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:51.519
I mean, some days you like have chips and salsa for dinner and then you lay on your face on the couch, right?
00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:54.400
Like that's that's the only answer.
00:28:54.640 --> 00:29:00.319
Um, and other days you take a walk with your 12-year-old and you enjoy their sense of wonder in the world.
00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:02.640
Like, wow, look at the colors in that sunset.
00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:08.000
Um, and I'm fortunate enough to have a wildly observant, really energetic child.
00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:10.000
But I think it's a choice.
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:10.960
Yeah.
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:12.559
Seeing the good in the world is a good idea.
00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:13.359
A choice.
00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:14.720
That's interesting.
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:18.640
Do you have um volunteers who had actually been on the line?
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:19.839
Oh, of course.
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:20.240
Yeah.
00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:21.440
Yeah, plenty.
00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:29.519
Um at different times in their life, there's plenty of folks who are like in their in their golden era who will recall having food security as a child.
00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:32.799
Um, we certainly have volunteers who probably struggle now.
00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:35.119
Um there's the full spectrum.
00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:43.440
I mean, people who are capable of writing checks with commas and um people who probably would like us to help them take a bag home.
00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:50.480
I mean, 545 volunteers is a lot of people doing good.
00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:53.440
I mean, what's the commonality between them all?
00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:58.799
I think that we all want the world to be a better place.
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:00.720
I mean, how else?
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:09.200
I mean there's 540 regular volunteers, but I think there's like 890 that are active that maybe aren't regular.
00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:13.039
So there's like this almost thousand people just in Santa Fe.
00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:32.960
And that common ground is that for whatever it is that their Y centers in, they want to do something to bring light, bring joy, make something a little bit better, move something, make motion happen, um, make that little bit of a difference, and that's just kind of consistently what we hear.
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:35.440
And there's great camaraderie in that.
00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:36.240
Yeah.
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:42.240
I'm gonna I'm gonna do a little sideway turn because I just remembered when you mentioned your daughter.
00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:46.079
I can you tell a story about when you brought her to work with you during COVID?
00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:47.920
Um do you know what I'm talking about?
00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:49.759
This is such a great story.
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:51.759
Is it the performance evaluation one?
00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:52.880
Yeah, okay.
00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:57.839
So my daughter was finishing kindergarten it the year that COVID happened.
00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:04.880
So all of a sudden, you know, you're like a quarter shy of finishing kindergarten and there's nowhere to take this human.
00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:10.319
And I have this big job that did not involve working in my pajamas at home.
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.400
Um, and I needed to be there.
00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:19.599
I was in leadership, I was helping to define our COVID-safe practices, and being on campus every day was a huge part of that.
00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:22.960
I needed to show that I wasn't afraid to stand there.
00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:27.599
And my parents, my mom in particular, is immune compromised.
00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:33.599
So bringing my daughter, it was already a danger for me to be there because I was exposed to so many people every day.
00:31:33.920 --> 00:31:37.279
So she came with me and that just became a thing.
00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:39.839
And she was six, and she's this skinny little thing.
00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:42.880
She weighed like 45 pounds, tall string bean.
00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:52.799
And uh she worked with Camille, who was like a temporary, almost like Vista type person who was helping to coordinate volunteer activity.
00:31:53.039 --> 00:32:00.559
And Camille was in charge of the room where people just built pantry bags of staple foods all day long.
00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:02.799
We just produced those all day, every day.
00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:07.519
And she took to Avalon, my daughter, immediately the two of them were thicker than thieves.
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:14.160
Avalon just started to like reappear when she wanted fed and was otherwise like free range out working.
00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:18.000
She was in closed-toed shoes, she had a hairnet on, she was, she knew the rules.
00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:25.680
Um, so we got an extra worker and a young man whose name was Sean, who's six foot four, big tall kid, really amiable.
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:27.119
I just I love Sean.
00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:36.640
And he showed up on his first day, and I didn't have time because I was juggling multiple things, and Avalon had come up to get fed, and I like threw something at her, peanut butter sandwich.
00:32:36.799 --> 00:32:41.440
And I said, Hey, can you take Sean over and teach him how to build pantry bags?
00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:44.559
And I want a performance review later about how he does.
00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:48.559
Which I sort of said tongue in cheek, but I should know better.
00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:54.000
Um she came back four hours later with Sean and was like, Okay.
00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:58.240
He followed the instructions and he picked up on how things work pretty, pretty well.
00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:09.279
Um he was pretty quick on that front, but he didn't always listen completely when the volunteers were asking questions, and he needs to be a little more patient and let them finish what they had to say.
00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:13.599
Um, I think he's very kind and he's gonna do a good job.
00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:16.880
Um, but he needs to slow down just a little bit.
00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:25.440
You can farm her out to do performance review, like it's unflinching, right?
00:33:25.680 --> 00:33:25.759
Yeah.
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:27.119
Unflinching.
00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:31.680
And so he looked at me and looked at her, and he's like, all of 22 years old, right?
00:33:31.920 --> 00:33:32.720
Sean, big Sean.
00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:36.720
And she's looking at this pint-sized thing, and he kind of looked at her and he was like, for real?
00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:42.000
And she's like, Yeah, I like you a lot, but I think that you have a couple things you could do better.
00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:46.480
And he said, Okay, do you want to go ride the forklift?
00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:47.839
And she was like, Yeah.
00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:52.160
And they went off and he gave her a ride on the forklift, which he had gotten certified on that morning.
00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:56.640
And they like zoomed across the parking lot on the forklift for a hot minute and away we went.
00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:00.799
You know, uh I'm sorry, go ahead.
00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:01.279
No, go ahead.
00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:18.320
Uh uh, you know, um living in Santa Fe, um I think one of the things that makes me so proud about our community is seeing the community um uh gathering uh for the food depot in different, you know, like I know we're we're we're in Tisuke right now.
00:34:18.719 --> 00:34:24.079
Um and right as you you know uh right right at the beginning of uh Bishop's Lodge Road, there's a sign.
00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:24.880
I saw it.
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:26.960
You know, the neighborhood, you know, what what's the actual form?
00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:27.840
Neighbor to neighbor.
00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:29.280
Neighbor to neighbor, you know.
00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:33.360
And and and I I it it's it's what is the sign?
00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:34.480
Can you say exactly what it is?
00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:51.039
It it's it's it's about the each each community, you know, does it does a um uh a gathering of of of people, you know, rather than going to the food depot itself and and giving donations, they actually you know donate canned goods and uh it's just money now.
00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:51.920
Now it's just money.
00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:54.400
Yeah, they transition fully to a fund drive.
00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:54.880
Okay.
00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:56.960
And the neighborhood fund drives for the food depot.
00:34:57.199 --> 00:34:58.159
And it's a competition.
00:34:58.400 --> 00:34:59.039
Oh, that's awesome.
00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:01.280
So I mean, I mean, we thrive on this kind of stuff, right?
00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:06.239
So same-size neighborhoods compete against same-size neighborhoods or social groups.
00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:10.239
So there's like book clubs versus the pickleball club and that kind of thing.
00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:14.719
I can say more about the pickleball club too, but same-size neighborhoods compete against each other.
00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:16.400
It's solely a fun drive.
00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:21.840
Um, and they compete over, and we're just doing it from June through August now, so it's about to wrap up.
00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:23.360
Everyone's very nervous.
00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:27.440
Um, and they set a goal of$500,000 for the share last year.
00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:29.440
They raised$697,000.
00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:29.760
Wow.
00:35:30.079 --> 00:35:32.800
I mean, that's that's that's that's strong community participation.
00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:33.679
Yeah.
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:35.599
Unbelievable grassroots work.
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:36.079
Yeah, yeah.
00:35:36.320 --> 00:35:43.280
Do you have any sense of like the total number of contributors based on well uh into the thousands?
00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:43.679
Yeah.
00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:44.000
Yeah.
00:35:44.159 --> 00:35:45.599
I mean, and it's so broad.
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:49.119
And you have some people in there that are writing$25,000 checks, and that's amazing.
00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:51.840
And then people have that crumpled$5 bill.
00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:55.280
And we have got folks who are living in some of like the retirement communities.
00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:57.599
The retirement communities are competing against each other.
00:35:57.760 --> 00:36:06.159
The pickleball club had the most amazing like event to get everybody to raise extra money at Maria's a handful of weeks ago that we went to.
00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:08.079
So pickleball pickleball does do good.
00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:10.559
Pickleball making up for a weird name.
00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:11.119
Okay.
00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:15.920
There, they are honestly like it was the most inspirational evening.
00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:28.320
They had like a little bell people were ringing every time somebody put a donation in the box, and they had a thermometer of how much they'd raised, and they had a silent auction of paddles, and there were over 80 people there, and they were all just hyping us.
00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:31.199
Like, you are so awesome, we're so excited to be part of this.
00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:32.559
We can't wait to win.
00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:37.760
And they set a goal of$20,000 for the pickleball club.
00:36:38.079 --> 00:36:41.760
And I can't give you the number, but I can tell you that they've exceeded it so far.
00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:42.320
Wow.
00:36:42.559 --> 00:36:43.119
That's showing up.
00:36:43.519 --> 00:37:01.679
Boy, I I think it's so interesting the difference between um a person walking down the street and being uncomfortable giving something to someone who they see on the street that's hungry, and then putting all that effort into and time and resources uh going through the food depot to feed that person.
00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:12.000
I wonder if you could just sort of reflect on on what that difference is, or is it that sense of camaraderie that really brings people in the moment?
00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:13.840
There's lots of layers to that, right?
00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:19.119
Um I think that we're all are like afraid of being vulnerable in so many different ways.
00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:30.800
And sometimes that like immediate vulnerability of if we haven't been in a situation where we have felt like we're on the edge financially, like sometimes we can like not understand.
00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:40.079
Um, and especially if we've bought into or been overexposed to narratives of like that, those were choices that people made that led them to that position.
00:37:40.320 --> 00:37:49.679
Um, we can maybe misunderstand what why and why people are there and like what it might cost us to help them.
00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:56.159
Um but I do think that there's something incredibly infectious about joining a movement, um, being part of a huge group of people.
00:37:56.320 --> 00:37:58.239
I mean, we are social creatures, right?
00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:00.559
We don't thrive in isolation.
00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:06.400
Um, we we shrink, and it's an incredible thing to know that you're part of that.
00:38:06.559 --> 00:38:08.960
So, I mean, certainly we see that with the pickleball club.
00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:12.000
There's 800 pickleballers in this club in Santa Bay.
00:38:12.800 --> 00:38:16.079
Okay, so I just want you to say, I mean, I'm just the unsung heroes of Santa Fe.
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:19.199
They are like they're all around you and you don't even know it.
00:38:20.880 --> 00:38:22.719
I see that little bounce in their step, but no.
00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:26.320
They 100% recruited me and I was like, I am not retired yet.
00:38:26.559 --> 00:38:28.800
Um, I don't know that I have that in my day.
00:38:28.960 --> 00:38:31.840
But I think that there is this contagion.
00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:41.440
If you've ever been to a fundraising event and people have done a paddle raise and you just feel yourself itching to do it and you're not sure why, like that's that social contagion, right?
00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:46.559
Like, and good is more contagious than negative.
00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:58.800
And I think that it's so easy when we see someone else making a good choice that we want to be like them and we want to do good also, and that it feels good to do good, and there's a whole energy behind it.
00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:00.159
It truly is.
00:39:00.559 --> 00:39:06.000
I I'm gonna jump into like thinking about Jill in particular and the good that you do.
00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:11.440
So Jill and I were um professional colleagues um uh for some years.
00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:17.280
And uh at two different nonprofits at Food Depot and I was at Cooking with Kids.
00:39:17.519 --> 00:39:27.760
And one of the things that I always admired about you, that I think is rare, is that you see the world through a lens of abundance versus scarcity.
00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:41.920
And that even came down to like sharing donors, which in the nonprofit sector it can be a little competitive because there's this idea that there's so many, so much need, so many nonprofits, there's not enough to go around.
00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:51.920
But Jill would introduce other nonprofits to donors that she thought would be a good fit, and and that's a rare thing.
00:39:52.079 --> 00:40:02.559
And I just I'd love to hear what you think about that abundance versus scarcity model, and you know, just how that how that how you work with that.
00:40:02.960 --> 00:40:04.480
I guess that's a choice too.
00:40:05.199 --> 00:40:11.280
Um maybe I watched too many optimistic movies in the 80s.
00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:20.639
Um I do believe that we're really capable of anything that we put our minds to.
00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:30.079
Um, that there's infinite possibility, and that with enough will, opportunities can just manifest.
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:32.960
And that can be a little bit woo.
00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:38.880
Um, I can also be incredibly logical and business oriented, so like there's a business to making that happen as well.
00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:45.360
Um but I vehemently believe that we are all better together than we are apart.
00:40:45.519 --> 00:40:49.440
And if you have something to offer someone else, you ought to.
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:53.119
And we don't get anywhere by hoarding it all to ourselves.
00:40:53.199 --> 00:41:14.480
I mean, the donor that we shared, it's really about their generosity of spirit and knowing that they could give beyond what they were giving to us was like, well, then let's find connection and that will make you more sustainable, and the kids through that program will have better lives, and those are the same kids that we're trying to serve, and ultimately, like our whole community gets better because we shared.
00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:19.760
We were taught to share as really, really young children.
00:41:19.840 --> 00:41:22.559
And why do we think that we get to forget that as adults?
00:41:22.639 --> 00:41:24.880
We're like, just keep sharing.
00:41:26.079 --> 00:41:26.960
That's that's a powerful.
00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:28.559
That's a good motto.
00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:29.920
Just keep sharing.
00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:38.159
I'd love to circle back to um your beginning at the Food Depot as the development director, coming coming in hot off those um sales.
00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:40.480
Fertile.
00:41:41.199 --> 00:41:49.039
Um and and and and here you are going from selling something that maybe people aren't that crazy about getting to uh trying to sell them something for nothing.
00:41:49.199 --> 00:42:02.079
Essentially asking for money in exchange for what appears to be nothing, but really isn't, because they're, you know, I I you know corporate donors do it for good um civic, you know, public governance and that sort of thing.
00:42:02.159 --> 00:42:04.480
And and individuals do it to feel good.
00:42:04.719 --> 00:42:09.599
So it's not for nothing, but it's it's just I I I just sort of marvel at that switch.
00:42:09.679 --> 00:42:18.480
Wait, like what is the best pitch when you are as as advice to a budding, a budding development director, how how do you how do you go about having that conversation?
00:42:18.719 --> 00:42:21.199
Don't ever be scared, just ask for what you need.
00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:23.679
Like most people genuinely want transparency.
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:24.960
Like Wow, yeah.
00:42:25.119 --> 00:42:25.280
Okay.
00:42:25.599 --> 00:42:27.360
They genuinely want you to tell them.
00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:31.679
Like we wrap it all up in mystery in too many words, especially with AI out there now.
00:42:31.760 --> 00:42:35.119
It's just like it doesn't make any sense.
00:42:35.280 --> 00:42:37.599
It feels artificial because it is.
00:42:37.840 --> 00:42:41.280
Um ask for what you need.
00:42:41.519 --> 00:42:44.320
Know that you have something to offer.
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:48.320
You are offering something, or maybe your nonprofit should be sunset.
00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:50.159
Um, but you are offering something.
00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:51.440
So what is it?
00:42:51.840 --> 00:42:58.079
And you know, I would say that more dimension to like, you know, we people get to feel good.
00:42:58.239 --> 00:43:08.960
People get to be part of a movement, they get to be change makers, they get to invest in a community that is going to be more vibrant for their care and their concern.
00:43:09.119 --> 00:43:14.480
Like it is so much more that they get to choose what the future looks like for this community.
00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:18.159
And I am inviting people to be part of that.
00:43:19.599 --> 00:43:22.800
Not to get a receipt or a tax deduction or whatever.
00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:24.960
There's some logical reasons to do it too, sure.
00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:30.400
Um, but everybody development officer should be like really anchored in their why.
00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:35.280
You should really know what change your organization is making and why it matters.
00:43:35.840 --> 00:43:38.880
Ideally, tailor that to the person and know that they care about it.
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:40.480
But invite them in.
00:43:40.960 --> 00:43:42.000
Be transparent.
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:45.039
We need this to make this thing happen by this time.
00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:47.119
You're gonna be an instrumental part of that.
00:43:47.199 --> 00:43:48.880
We're gonna do this together.
00:43:51.119 --> 00:43:51.840
I'm sold.
00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:53.199
Aye, ay, aye, got it.
00:43:53.360 --> 00:44:01.039
And I I think I think for anybody listening out there, um, the opportunity is is is is there to Come and volunteer.
00:44:01.519 --> 00:44:01.760
You know?
00:44:02.079 --> 00:44:03.360
There's lots of different jobs.
00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:08.400
Distributing dis distribution is one thing.
00:44:08.559 --> 00:44:18.000
I mean, I don't I don't you know, a lot of a lot of uh the the food that you distribute comes from um the grocery stores from around here in in New Mexico.
00:44:18.639 --> 00:44:28.880
Um and uh and even the the waste that can't be redistributed goes back to we were talking to Juliana Ciano at the food uh at the Unity Farms.
00:44:29.119 --> 00:44:32.559
It goes back into composting, which uh it comes back out as food.
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:33.039
Yes.
00:44:33.360 --> 00:44:38.000
Um what what would what would what would you say to anybody out there listening who really wants to come and volunteer?
00:44:38.079 --> 00:44:40.079
How do you how do you how do you get a go about that?
00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:43.199
So you can always visit our website at thefooddepot.org.
00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:45.360
There's a little volunteer tab there, as there should be.
00:44:45.599 --> 00:44:49.119
There's one where you can give us money, there's another one where you can figure out how to volunteer.
00:44:49.360 --> 00:44:58.159
We do have low barrier Saturday shifts on the second Saturday of every month, sometimes more frequently, depending on the season.
00:44:58.400 --> 00:45:13.039
And that's a really easy access one for people who work at nine to five, who can't get out of the office, also for folks who have kids to come in with the whole family and really just have a good experience repacking pinto beans or putting a bunch of squash into a netted bag.
00:45:13.119 --> 00:45:14.400
It's about to be that time.
00:45:14.800 --> 00:45:18.480
Um so it always comes.
00:45:18.719 --> 00:45:22.559
Um, but there's you know really low barrier ways to give that a start.
00:45:22.639 --> 00:45:26.559
And also I would say, like, maybe this goes back to the doing good part.
00:45:26.719 --> 00:45:29.679
This is not a lifetime 40 hours a week commitment.
00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:31.360
Come in and do a little bit of good.
00:45:31.519 --> 00:45:31.760
Right.
00:45:32.079 --> 00:45:38.880
Send a$5 bill, send a$20 bill, come in and volunteer for a two-hour shift with your kids, see if you like it.
00:45:39.199 --> 00:45:48.159
If it's not your shtick, then go over to Kitchen Angels and drive food for them, or go over to cooking with kids and get a background check and you know help support cooking in the schools.
00:45:48.480 --> 00:45:51.199
You know, go over to Reunity Farm and help out there.
00:45:51.360 --> 00:45:52.719
Like find the thing that fits you.
00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:54.159
It doesn't have to be with us.
00:45:54.320 --> 00:45:54.800
Right.
00:45:54.960 --> 00:45:57.199
Um there's that big sharing thing you do though.
00:45:57.440 --> 00:45:58.320
Yeah, but find that menu.
00:45:59.199 --> 00:46:02.480
It's kind of like the old Macy's Gimbals, which I'm old enough to remember.
00:46:02.800 --> 00:46:05.840
If Macy's didn't have what you wanted, they'd say go over to Gimbals.
00:46:06.159 --> 00:46:06.559
Yeah.
00:46:06.880 --> 00:46:17.599
I want to point out now, in case anybody hears rustling in the background, we're sitting here in our studio with the windows open, praying, praying, praying that this some rain comes.
00:46:17.840 --> 00:46:18.159
Yeah.
00:46:18.400 --> 00:46:20.480
So we're gonna just let those leaves rustle.
00:46:24.239 --> 00:46:25.920
So you've brought you brought luck for rain too.
00:46:26.239 --> 00:46:28.159
Yeah, this is let's manifest some of that.
00:46:28.320 --> 00:46:32.000
Um certainly are Is there any anything else that you want to uh promote?
00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:33.599
Any upcoming events?
00:46:34.159 --> 00:46:34.719
Oh goodness.
00:46:34.800 --> 00:46:36.559
Um so we're wrapping up neighbor to neighbor.
00:46:36.719 --> 00:46:45.360
So if you live in a neighborhood that's participating, and if you don't know that already, you should definitely be a team captain next year to make sure that your neighborhood is participating.
00:46:45.599 --> 00:46:51.360
We're wrapping that up, and then we're gonna launch straight into Hunger Action Month, which is what's going on in September.
00:46:51.519 --> 00:46:56.800
And you can go to our website, thefooddepot.org, again, to find out what types of activities you can take.
00:46:56.880 --> 00:47:10.559
It's just a really good time to get more knowledgeable about the severity of food insecurity in our communities, the actual truth behind it, um, break down some of that mythology you might hear in media outlets or goodness sake, social media.
00:47:10.719 --> 00:47:13.760
Um, lots of different opportunity to get engaged there.
00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:17.760
We're also really getting into the thick of our legislative activity.
00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:31.519
So if you have some interest in advocacy, you can certainly start to follow us, receive our advocacy newsletter, find out what we're doing on the advocacy side to raise up issues of food insecurity and talk about systemic solutions.
00:47:31.840 --> 00:47:33.920
And if you're a foodie, there's also the Super Bowl.
00:47:34.320 --> 00:47:38.800
Super Bowl will be coming up I think we're the first weekend in February this year.
00:47:38.960 --> 00:47:41.039
Um Manda, I'm sorry if I got that wrong.
00:47:41.199 --> 00:47:42.880
Um Director of Communications.
00:47:43.360 --> 00:47:45.280
And the Super Bowl is a, if you can just describe it.
00:47:45.599 --> 00:47:45.920
Oh my gosh.
00:47:46.960 --> 00:47:55.039
We fill up the Santa Fe Community Convention Center with about 24 different restaurants that are preparing a signature soup in one of four categories.
00:47:55.199 --> 00:48:01.039
And we have about 1,600 attendees who come in with a ballot when they buy a ticket.
00:48:01.280 --> 00:48:04.800
You can taste up to like 48 ounces of soup.
00:48:04.880 --> 00:48:06.400
Oh god, that's a lot of soup.
00:48:06.719 --> 00:48:09.840
Okay, if you go to everyone once and nobody does that, it's too much soup.
00:48:10.079 --> 00:48:10.880
You go multiple times.
00:48:11.039 --> 00:48:16.480
But I mean, you're talking 48 ounces of soup you can taste, and there's like a little note-taking thing so you can be a true foodie.
00:48:16.719 --> 00:48:19.280
Because I mean, you gotta sit and think about it and write your notes.
00:48:19.519 --> 00:48:23.039
Then you cast your ballot for the best in each category and best overall.
00:48:23.119 --> 00:48:25.599
We've been doing this event for over 30 years.
00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:32.079
Um, we usually raise a nice piece of money off of it, but it's also a friend raiser because it's an incredible thing.
00:48:32.400 --> 00:48:33.920
Like this is how we break bread.
00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:45.360
And maybe that's the thing to leave on is that breaking bread and sharing food as a mechanism of connection and community has been who we are as humans forever.
00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:54.079
And when you join the movement at the Food Depot, you are choosing to create community and connection by providing that to people who are going without.
00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:54.639
Yeah.
00:48:54.960 --> 00:48:58.239
Well, that's a perfect way to end this wonderful conversation.
00:48:58.639 --> 00:48:59.519
Jill, thank you for joining.
00:48:59.760 --> 00:49:00.079
Thank you, Jill.
00:49:00.480 --> 00:49:01.519
Thank you for watching.
00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:02.079
Yeah.
00:49:02.239 --> 00:49:03.440
And we will be seeing you soon.
00:49:03.679 --> 00:49:06.880
Oh, and we hear thunder just as we're thunder! Right on J.
00:49:08.400 --> 00:49:08.639
Thank you.
00:49:08.880 --> 00:49:09.039
Thank you.
00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:10.000
Thank you.
00:49:14.480 --> 00:49:24.159
Interested in learning more or to join in the conversation or to share a story about someone you know who is doing good, visit us online at doinggood.fm.
00:49:24.480 --> 00:49:26.880
That's doing good.fm.
00:49:27.920 --> 00:49:40.960
This episode of Doing Good is a production of Docky Films, a three-time Emmy Award-winning production company based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, dedicated to the power of documentary film as a force for change.