8.5 billion

I'm in St. Louis for a meeting of the CEO's of Feeding America food banks from around the country.  150 of the 200 food banks in the network are represented here and it's a great opportunity to network and learn from my peers as we strive toward a shared vision of solving hunger in America.

In his opening remarks this morning, Feeding America CEO Bob Aiken noted that nationwide the meal gap - the unmet need - is 8.5 billion meals every year.  He went on to note that it's more than that.  It's 8.5 billion meals, and also 8.5 billion instances where someone had to choose between eating or feeding their kids, between eating and paying the rent, between eating and buying needed medicine, or many other terrible choices poor people are forced to make.

Solving this problem, filling this gap, is critical to our nation's health and future.  And solving hunger will take a variety of approaches and strategies, so I'm excited to be here to learn some new ideas that we might implement back home in greater Hartford!