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I am a chef
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and a food policy guy,
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but I come from a whole
family of teachers.
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My sister is a special ed
teacher in Chicago.
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My father just retired
after 25 years teaching fifth grade.
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My aunt and uncle were professors.
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My cousins all teach.
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Everybody in my family, basically,
teaches except for me.
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They taught me that the only way
to get the right answers
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is to ask the right questions.
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So what are the right questions
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when it comes to improving
the educational outcomes for our children?
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There's obviously
many important questions,
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but I think the following
is a good place to start:
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What do we think the connection is
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between a child's growing mind
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and their growing body?
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What can we expect our kids to learn
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if their diets are full of sugar
and empty of nutrients?
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What can they possibly learn
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if their bodies
are literally going hungry?
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And with all the resources
that we are pouring into schools,
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we should stop and ask ourselves:
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Are we really setting our kids
up for success?
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Now, a few years ago,
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I was a judge on a cooking
competition called "Chopped."
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Its four chefs compete
with mystery ingredients
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to see who can cook the best dishes.
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Except for this episode --
it was a very special one.
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Instead of four overzealous chefs
trying to break into the limelight --
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something that I would know
nothing about --
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(Laughter)
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These chefs were school chefs --
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you know, the women that you used
to call "lunch ladies,"
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but the ones I insist
we call "school chefs."
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Now, these women -- God bless
these women --
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spend their day cooking
for thousands of kids,
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breakfast and lunch,
with only $2.68 per lunch,
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with only about a dollar of that
actually going to the food.
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Now, in this episode,
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the main course mystery
ingredient was quinoa.
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Now, I know it's been a long time
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since most of you have had a school lunch,
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and we've made a lot
of progress on nutrition,
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but quinoa still is not a staple
in most school cafeterias.
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(Laughter)
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So this was a challenge.
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But the dish that I will never forget
was cooked by a woman
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named Cheryl Barbara.
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Cheryl was the nutrition director
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at High School in the Community
in Connecticut.
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She cooked this delicious pasta.
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It was amazing.
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It was a pappardelle with Italian sausage,
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kale, Parmesan cheese.
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It was delicious, like,
restaurant-quality good, except --
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she basically just threw the quinoa,
pretty much uncooked,
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into the dish.
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It was a strange choice,
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and it was super crunchy.
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(Laughter)
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So I took on the TV accusatory judge thing
that you're supposed to do,
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and I asked her why she did that.
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Cheryl responded, "Well, first,
I don't know what quinoa is."
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(Laughter)
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"But I do know that it's a Monday,
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and that in my school,
at High School in the Community,
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I always cook pasta."
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See, Cheryl explained
that for many of her kids,
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there were no meals on the weekends.
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No meals on Saturday.
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No meals on Sunday, either.
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So she cooked pasta
because she wanted to make sure
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she cooked something she knew
her children would eat.
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Something that would
stick to their ribs, she said.
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Something that would fill them up.
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By the time Monday came,
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her kids' hunger pangs were so intense
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that they couldn't even begin
to think about learning.
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Food was the only thing on their mind.
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The only thing.
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And unfortunately, the stats --
they tell the same story.
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So, let's put this
into the context of a child.
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And we're going to focus on
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the most important meal
of the day, breakfast.
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Meet Allison.
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She's 12 years old,
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she's smart as a whip
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and she wants to be a physicist
when she grows up.
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If Allison goes to a school
that serves a nutritious breakfast
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to all of their kids,
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here's what's going to follow.
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Her chances of getting a nutritious meal,
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one with fruit and milk,
one lower in sugar and salt,
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dramatically increase.
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Allison will have a lower rate
of obesity than the average kid.
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She'll have to visit the nurse less.
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She'll have lower levels
of anxiety and depression.
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She'll have better behavior.
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She'll have better attendance,
and she'll show up on time more often.
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Why?
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Well, because there's a good meal
waiting for her at school.
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Overall, Allison is in much better health
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than the average school kid.
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So what about that kid
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who doesn't have a nutritious
breakfast waiting for him?
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Well, meet Tommy.
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He's also 12. He's a wonderful kid.
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He wants to be a doctor.
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By the time Tommy is in kindergarten,
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he's already underperforming in math.
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By the time he's in third grade,
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he's got lower math and reading scores.
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By the time he's 11,
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it's more likely that Tommy will have
to have repeated a grade.
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Research shows that kids
who do not have consistent nourishment,
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particularly at breakfast,
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have poor cognitive function overall.
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So how widespread is this problem?
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Well, unfortunately, it's pervasive.
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Let me give you two stats
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that seem like they're on opposite
ends of the issue,
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but are actually two sides
of the same coin.
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On the one hand,
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one in six Americans are food insecure,
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including 16 million children --
almost 20 percent --
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are food insecure.
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In this city alone, in New York City,
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474,000 kids under the age of 18
face hunger every year.
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It's crazy.
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On the other hand,
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diet and nutrition is the number one cause
of preventable death and disease
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in this country, by far.
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And fully a third of the kids
that we've been talking about tonight
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are on track to have diabetes
in their lifetime.
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Now, what's hard
to put together but is true
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is that, many times,
these are the same children.
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So they fill up on the unhealthy
and cheap calories
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that surround them in their communities
and that their families can afford.
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But then by the end of the month,
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food stamps run out
or hours get cut at work,
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and they don't have the money
to cover the basic cost of food.
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But we should be able
to solve this problem, right?
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We know what the answers are.
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As part of my work at the White House,
we instituted a program
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that for all schools that had
40 percent more low-income kids,
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we could serve breakfast and lunch
to every kid in that school
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for free.
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This program has been
incredibly successful,
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because it helped us overcome
a very difficult barrier
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when it came to getting kids
a nutritious breakfast.
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And that was the barrier of stigma.
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See, schools serve
breakfast before school,
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and it was only available
for the poor kids.
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So everybody knew who was poor
and who needed government help.
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Now, all kids, no matter how much
or how little their parents make,
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have a lot of pride.
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So what happened?
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Well, the schools that have
implemented this program
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saw an increase in math and reading
scores by 17.5 percent.
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17.5 percent.
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And research shows that when kids
have a consistent, nutritious breakfast,
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their chances of graduating
increase by 20 percent.
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20 percent.
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When we give our kids
the nourishment they need,
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we give them the chance to thrive,
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both in the classroom and beyond.
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Now, you don't have to trust me on this,
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but you should talk to Donna Martin.
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I love Donna Martin.
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Donna Martin is the school nutrition
director at Burke County
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in Waynesboro, Georgia.
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Now, Burke County
is one of the poorest districts
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in the fifth-poorest state in the country,
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and about 100 percent of Donna's students
live at or below the poverty line.
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A few years ago,
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Donna decided to get out ahead
of the new standards that were coming,
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and overhaul her nutrition standards.
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She improved and added
fruit and vegetables and whole grains.
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She served breakfast in the classroom
to all of her kids.
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And she implemented a dinner program.
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Why?
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Well, many of her kids didn't have
dinner when they went home.
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So how did they respond?
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Well, the kids loved the food.
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They loved the better nutrition,
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and they loved not being hungry.
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But Donna's biggest supporter came
from an unexpected place.
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His name from Eric Parker,
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and he was the head football coach
for the Burke County Bears.
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Now, Coach Parker had coached
mediocre teams for years.
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The Bears often ended
in the middle of the pack --
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a big disappointment in one
of the most passionate football states
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in the union.
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But the year Donna changed the menus,
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the Bears not only won their division,
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they went on to win
the state championship,
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beating the Peach County Trojans
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28-14.
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(Laughter)
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And Coach Parker,
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he credited that championship
to Donna Martin.
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When we give our kids
the basic nourishment,
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they're gonna thrive.
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And it's not just up
to the Cheryl Barbaras
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and the Donna Martins of the world.
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It's on all of us.
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And feeding our kids the basic nutrition
is just the starting point.
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What I've laid out is really a model
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for so many of the most pressing
issues that we face.
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If we focus on the simple goal
of properly nourishing ourselves,
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we could see a world
that is more stable and secure;
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we could dramatically improve
our economic productivity;
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we could transform our health care
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and we could go a long way
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in ensuring that the Earth can provide
for generations to come.
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Food is that place
where our collective efforts
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can have the greatest impact.
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So we have to ask ourselves:
What is the right question?
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What would happen
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if we fed ourselves more nutritious,
more sustainably grown food?
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What would be the impact?
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Cheryl Barbara,
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Donna Martin,
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Coach Parker and the Burke County Bears --
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I think they know the answer.
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Thank you guys so very much.
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(Applause)
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 2/7/2016 to reflect changes in the video.