Add Passion and Stir

 Newly elected to Congress in November of 2026, Mayor Paige Cognetti brings a commitment to ending childhood hunger from Scranton to the national stage.

In this special re-release of Add Passion and Stir, Billy Shore revisits his 2023 conversation with Cognetti, then Scranton’s mayor, with a new introduction on the midterm results and the anti-hunger work ahead.

Cognetti shares how serving on the school board—and becoming a mother—deepened her understanding of families’ struggles. She discusses removing barriers to food assistance, building partnerships across health care and education, reaching immigrant and refugee communities, and making governmen...

Albertsons Companies Foundation President and Executive Director Christy Duncan Anderson talks with Billy Shore and Lillian Singh about what the grocery chain’s foundation is doing to fight hunger in neighborhoods across the country.

“We asked our neighbors and our customers what change they would like to see in their neighborhoods. The data came back and it was really astounding: people cared about a whole bunch of different issues, but hunger rose above all of them,” says Duncan Anderson.

The Nourishing Neighbors initiative is a partnership between the foundation, Share Our Strength, and local food banks...

Hunger in the greater Washington region—and food assistance alone cannot solve the crisis.

Radha Muthiah, president and CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank, joins Billy Shore to discuss the food bank’s 2026 Hunger Report, which finds that 38% of the region’s residents experience food insecurity and 34% of its children live in food-insecure households. She explains how job losses, rising costs, and strained household budgets are forcing families to sacrifice their financial futures to meet today’s basic needs.

The conversation also examines projected SNAP benefit losses and a promising approach to lasting change: connecti...

Omaha Mayor John Ewing, Hastings, NE organizer Sierra Edmisten, and Bellevue, NE SNAP career navigator Alicia Fremont about food insecurity, poverty, SNAP cuts, and the pressure families face when groceries, school meals, child care, and work requirements collide.

Mayor Ewing shares how Omaha mobilized after SNAP benefits were cut, raising $15 million to support food banks and pantries while investing in community gardens and weekend food programs for children. Edmisten and Fremont describe the lived reality behind the numbers: parents skipping meals, children recognizing when food is running low, families losing benefits over paperwork or...

Why are millions of Americans losing SNAP food assistance—even when many remain eligible?

In this episode of Add Passion and Stir, host Billy Shore speaks with Jason DeParle, poverty correspondent for The New York Times, and Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about the sharp decline in SNAP participation, new administrative barriers, and the human consequences for children, families, seniors, and people with disabilities.

DeParle shares reporting from Arizona, where SNAP participation has fallen by about half in one year and families describe hours-long waits, unanswered calls, and paperwork re...

In this very special repeat episode of Add Passion and Stir, Billy Shore and Debbie Shore speak with attorney Corey Martin and former DHS attorney Jason Thomas about immigration detention, due process, and what humane policy should look like. In the five months since this episode first aired, more than an additional 140,000 people have been detained by ICE, according to The Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley and UCLA.

Corey reveals the horrifying conditions she has seen inside the immigration detention center for families and children at Dilley, TX. Jason explains how the immigration system works from...

In this very important re-airing of Add Passion and Stir, Navyn Salem, founder and CEO of the malnutrition social enterprise Edesia, discusses our shared humanity in caring for children all over the world. Edesia produces fortified, peanut-based products like Plumpy'Nut for humanitarian agencies like UNICEF, World Food Programme, and other NGOs working in emergency and conflict zones.

“We feed children everywhere because that's what humanity is, and we do not want to lose our humanity. We are smart enough. We have enough resources. We're creative and innovative enough to feed every child on planet Earth,” Salem asserts.

Tony Spring, chairman and CEO of Macy’s, discusses his career path that began at Bloomingdale’s and led to more than 40 years in retail leadership. Tony reflects on the lessons he learned from Burger King, the importance of customer experience, and how Macy’s has worked to rebuild around hospitality, execution, and culture.

The conversation also explores Macy’s partnership with Share Our Strength and No Kid Hungry, including how the company uses consumer roundups, employee volunteerism, and community campaigns to help fight childhood hunger. Listen to hear how business, service, and social purpose...

Devon Klatell of the Rockefeller Foundation talks about the growing “Food is Medicine” movement and why it matters for health, equity, and cost savings.  

Devon explains how the Foundation’s work evolved from agriculture and production to nutrition, chronic disease prevention, and better integration between food systems and health care. 

The conversation explores:

Listen to hear how evidence, policy, and partnerships...

From the producers of Add Passion and Stir, here is Patriarchs — a six-part audio drama about the most consequential friendship in American history, the one between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. As we emerge from the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Patriarchs invites listeners into the founding era with dramatic force, historical depth, and moral honesty, asking not only how America began, but who paid the price and what kind of republic it became.

Written by award-winning playwright Jim McGrath and featuring Stacy Keach as Thomas Jefferson and Edward Gero as John Adams, the series op...

Noah Glass, founder and CEO of Olo and a Share Our Strength board member, shares the path that took him from pizza delivery in Newton MA to building one of the most influential technology platforms in restaurant ordering. Noah shares how early experiences in food, entrepreneurship, and international development shaped Olo’s origin story, why he burned the boats to pursue his idea, and how a long period of doubt eventually led to product-market fit and massive scale.

The conversation also explores leadership, company culture, AI, the future of restaurant hospitality, and Noah’s commitment to ending chil...

Riding their bicycles for 200 miles in two days, 125 culinary leaders and other supporters of the No Kid Hungry campaign raised a record-setting 1.3 million dollars. Their grit and determination over the years have helped connect more children to the bipartisan, fully-funded Summer Meals programs, increasing participation from 3 million to nearly 19 million kids.

Joining us on the site of Chefs Cycle in Bend, OR to share their personal stories of sharing and sacrifice are:

Alex Craddock, CMO of Citigroup;

Brian Morris, "B-MO", Executive Chef for Hattie B's Hot Chicken;<...

Billy Shore speaks with Mayor Daniel Rickenmann of Columbia, South Carolina, Mayor Alyia Gaskins of Alexandria, Virginia, and Aaron Goldstein of Share Our Strength about how local leaders are using practical, bipartisan solutions to fight childhood hunger. 

The conversation explores why mayors are so effective at solving problems close to home, how housing, transportation, and economic insecurity affect food access, and why local innovation often moves faster than state or federal policy. 

Mayor Rickenmann shares how Columbia is using partnerships, technology, churches, and community organizations to expand food access, wh...

In this episode of Add Passion and Stir, Billy Shore speaks with George Kelemen of Share Our Strength and Jennifer Wheeler of Marion County Public Schools in Kentucky about what childhood hunger looks like when school is out for the summer. They discuss how Summer EBT, non-congregate feeding, and local school nutrition teams are helping close the gap for families who rely on school meals during the year. 

Jennifer shares powerful stories from the ground in Kentucky, while George explains the bipartisan policy work that expanded summer access nationwide. This conversation shows how policy, logistics, and school l...

In this episode of Add Passion and Stir, host Billy Shore talks with Maureen Conway, vice president at the Aspen Institute and executive director of the Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program, and Giselli Veloz, senior program manager of parent engagement and recruitment for LIFT in New York.

The conversation explores why ending childhood hunger requires more than food alone — it also means supporting parents, reducing systemic barriers, and creating pathways to economic mobility. Maureen explains how the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program advances promising policies and practices that help low- and moderate-income people connect to better opport...

On this special Mother’s Day 2026 episode of Add Passion and Stir, host Billy Shore and co-host Debbie Shore talk with Lauren Bush Lauren, founder of Feed, and Nance Hastings, chair of the National Mother’s Day Council and vice president of the Father’s Day Mother’s Day Council. 

Lauren shares how a college experience abroad and time with the World Food Program inspired her to create Feed, which has helped provide more than 128 million meals to children around the world. Nance reflects on a career in beauty and philanthropy, her work leading the Mother’s Day and Fat...

On this episode of Add Passion and Stir, host Billy Shore and co-host Debbie Shore speak with Dr. Katie Queen, a Louisiana pediatrician focused on preventing childhood obesity, and Dr. Rosemarie Allen, a lifelong early childhood and education leader. Together they explore the real-world impact of hunger, food insecurity, inequity, and policy decisions on children’s health, learning, and long-term development. 

The conversation also looks at the first 1,000 days of life, prescription programs for fresh produce, school meals, stigma around food assistance, and why investing in maternal nutrition and early childhood access is one of the most eff...

In this episode of Add Passion and Stir, Billy Shore and Debbie Shore speak with attorney Corey Martin and former DHS attorney Jason Thomas about immigration detention, due process, and what humane policy should look like.

Corey reveals the horrifying conditions she has seen inside the immigration detention center for families and children at Dilley, TX. Jason explains how the immigration system works from the government side, and both push for a more just, practical, and human response. To be part of the solution, learn more at the nonprofit law clinic Mass Deportation Defense.

In this episode of Add Passion and Stir, Billy Shore and Debbie Shore talk with three internal leaders about how Share Our Strength sustains and grows its mission in a turbulent time for nonprofits.

Chief Revenue Officer Leah Ray, individual giving lead Karen Barr, and corporate partnerships veteran Allison Shuffield share how a diversified, $75 million revenue portfolio, “unrelenting commitment to hospitality,” and authentic relationships with donors fuel No Kid Hungry’s work for kids and families.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not...

In this episode of Add Passion and Stir, co‑hosts Billy Shore and Debbie Shore talk with No Kid Hungry state directors Stacie Sanchez‑Hare (Texas), Kathy Saile (California), and Rachel Sabella (New York) about turning policy into real meals for kids.

From Texas, which has “the second highest food insecurity rate in the nation,” to California’s universal school meals and New York’s bipartisan approach where “hunger hides in plain sight,” they unpack how relationships, partnerships, and local leadership change what happens in school cafeterias and communities.

Along the way, listeners hear why “we need to think d...

We are pleased to announce the creation of Billy Shore's regular Substack Column. Click on or copy and paste this URL

https://tinyurl.com/Billy-Shore to subscribe. In today's column, Billy talks about the horrific conditions children (many of them US citizens) are enduring while being illegally held in Migrant Detention Centers here in the United States.

Today, we are reprising a episode that we feel is really important to be heard. In May of last year, we released a podcast with three thought leaders in philanthropy, Jeff Braddock, who co-founded Bridgespan Clara Miller, who...

Host Billy Shore talks with Stupski Foundation CEO and author Glen Galaich about his new book, Control: Why Big Giving Falls Short, and why philanthropy must shift power from donors to communities. 

They unpack spend-down foundations, “fake rules” that keep $2 trillion sitting in endowments, and how trust-based philanthropy can move resources faster to address hunger, health inequities, and other urgent needs.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Recorded on January 20—the day before the launch of major ICE enforcement operations—host Billy Shore speaks with Jim Wallis, founding chair of Georgetown's Center on Faith and Justice, about federal immigration actions targeting Maine communities, featuring clips from Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Gov. Janet Mills. This episode explores faith-driven courage, community solidarity amid fear, and the destabilizing impact on families and children.​

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this year-end special of Add Passion and Stir, host Debbie Shore revisits 2025 conversations colliding with today's headlines: Trump administration's $10B freeze on childcare/social welfare funds, ICE raids terrorizing families, and KPMG's forecast of stagnant financial mobility trapping single moms.

Maine Governor Janet Mills sued over school lunch threats and won universal free meals. DC restaurateurs Peter Schechter and Eric Bruner-Yang turned kitchens into safe houses amid intense ICE raids. Chastity Lord and Elaine Waxman reveal two-generation models that deliver a "three-X multiplier" for single moms, kids, and communities. Essential listening on food justice, child poverty...

In this special year‑end edition of Add Passion and Stir, hosts Billy and Debbie Shore look back at the biggest child hunger stories of 2025—from state momentum for universal school meals in the U.S. to climate‑driven hunger crises around the world. Guests Phoebe Boyer (Children’s Aid), Bruce Lesley (First Focus on Children), Tim Costello, Navyn Salem (Edesia), and former Senator Debbie Stabenow reflect on what changed for kids this year, what’s at risk, and what it will take to build a future where no child is too hungry to learn, grow, or dream.​

In this very special encore presentation, Jimmy Chen, founder/CEO of Propel and Ofek Lavian, founder/CEO of Forage, return to discuss current trends in using technology to ensure more people can access government food benefits.

“As of January 27, 2025, at least, our plan is to continue to invest in the things that we have confidence that are not going to change over the 20-, 30-, 40-year time horizon, while we stay nimble and adapt to what might change in the next few weeks or months,” says Chen.

“EBT funding is influenced significantly because of macroeconomics, probab...

Host Billy Shore talks with Chef Erik Bruner‑Yang (Maketto, Ours at Manifest) and Immigrant Food co-founder Peter Schechter about immigration enforcement, ICE checkpoints, and what that means for D.C. restaurants and workers. They explain how they use know-your-rights training, ICE location group chats, and Uber rides for staff. 

Gastro‑advocacy tools, like Immigrant Food’s weekly Engagement Menu, are deployed to keep people safe and engaged. Listeners hear how local action, focused on a 20‑block radius, can rebuild community, support immigrant staff, and keep restaurants alive in a very uncertain time.​​

See Privacy Policy at htt...

The current interruption in SNAP benefits are disproportionately impacting the indigenous people of the United States. In this reprised episode of APS, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof and Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health Director Allison Barlow talk about poverty, education and the struggle for social justice in Native American communities.

“The Bureau of Indian Education schools only have a 53% high school graduation rate! We are failing them way before they fail us,” suggests Kristof. “We as a country have had this narrative that when people struggle, it’s because of a lack of personal responsibility and bad...

This timely encore of Add Passion and Stir, featuring Princeton poverty expert Kathryn Edin will provide insights from Edin’s book The Injustice of Place. Edin shares compelling data and stories connecting America’s deepest poverty to historical roots in rural communities.

Explore how food insecurity, local action, and social infrastructure shape outcomes for children and families—and learn why addressing these issues is more important than ever. Subscribe, rate, and share to support the fight against child hunger and help build lasting solutions for equity and dignity across America.​​

See Priv...

Urban Institute senior fellow Elaine Waxman and Jeremiah Program president and CEO Chastity Lord know the power of single moms on the economic mobility of entire communities. “Great moms are dreaming in threes: they dream for themselves, they dream for their children, and they naturally dream for their community,” says Lord.

The Jeremiah Program supports single mothers as they invest simultaneously in their own goals as well as their children’s education. Waxman recently published “Policy Levers to Support Single-Mother Economic Mobility” with support from Share Our Strength. “I always think of food insecurity as the canary in the coal...

Maine Governor Janet Mills is protecting the rights and benefits of people in her state. “When you're right on the law and you're right on the public policy, why shouldn't you stand up? That's the way bullies act: they don't stop unless you stand up to them. And even then, you've got to fight with all you've got,” she says.

Mills is standing up to the Trump Administration's deep cuts to important benefits like SNAP. “Whatever they do for billionaires - which is another argument, another debate - they shouldn't be slashing food benefits for hungry kids.”

See...

Australia’s Reverend Tim Costello is the former Chief Executive of World Vision Australia and a lawyer, minister, and social advocate. “A free society is an extraordinary moral achievement… It takes morality,” he says.

“When we start to see morality - which is we, not I - corroding and empathy evaporating, we are in trouble for a free society.” However, he remains hopeful of humanity’s goodness. “Hope is saying there will be love into the future and we're going to act now for that love to be also expressed into the future.”

See P...

Navyn Salem, founder and CEO of the malnutrition social enterprise Edesia, discusses our shared humanity in caring for children all over the world. Edesia produces fortified, peanut-based products like Plumpy'Nut for humanitarian agencies like UNICEF, World Food Programme, and other NGOs working in emergency and conflict zones.

“We feed children everywhere because that's what humanity is, and we do not want to lose our humanity. We are smart enough. We have enough resources. We're creative and innovative enough to feed every child on planet Earth,” Salem asserts.

Edesia has been impacted by Trump Administration decisions arou...

Retired Senator Debbie Stabenow discusses the importance of strong leadership, raising our voices about what we believe is wrong, and her continued advocacy for issues like hunger and mental health.

“I may have retired, but I have not retired my voice. At this time, where so much is at stake, nobody should be retiring their voice,” she says. “We should be electing people that show some leadership,” she continues. “Hunger is pretty basic. This should be a moral issue for all of us. It's a moral issue. It's an economic issue. It's a national security issue. It's about heal...

Chicago chef and restaurateur Curtis Duffy recounts some of the revelations in his new book, Fireproof: Memoir of a Chef on this episode of Add Passion & Stir. Duffy writes about surviving the tragic loss of his parents at a very young age. “If it's helping somebody else get through what they need to get through… and if it helps them, in some way, or if they're able to relate to it somehow, then that's a win for me. That is a big win,” he says about sharing his story.

“I think some of my darkest times are when I'v...

Partnership for a Healthier America President and CEO Noreen Springstead discusses how to make America healthy again through high quality food and empowered communities. “Is the food system broken, or is it designed in the way that it's supposed to be operating today, which is around profit?,” she posits. “There is data that suggests if the food supply is healthier, it's available, it's affordable, it's accessible, we can actually change this. Apathy does nothing.”

Listen to this conversation between two powerhouses in hunger and food security.

See Privacy Policy at https...

Bestselling author and No Kid Hungry supporter John Grisham gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look into how Share Our Strength founders and siblings Billy and Debbie Shore built their successful childhood hunger nonprofit from humble beginnings and a great idea. “In my memory, we knew that we had a really big and powerful idea… we just didn't know the path," explains Debbie.

“We also weirdly had a sense that this was going to take a long time to accomplish, that we were going to be committed to it for a long time. That actually took some of the pressu...

Well before the school year ends for American children , advocates like former USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Stacy Dean and Hawaii-based consumer advocate and substance abuse counselor Zahava “Zee” Zaidoff are planning how to feed kids over the summer. “The experience of hunger, in and of itself, is a terrible thing. But hunger amongst children is so much more devastating... They don't need food just to maintain, but also to grow and thrive,” says Dean.

Many layers of government, organizations, and individuals are ensuring that kids get access to meals during the summer m...

India’s children are hungry. Gauri Devidayal, Co-Founder and Director of The Food Matters Group, and Pankaj Jethwani, physician and Executive VP at W Health Ventures, are working to solve that problem. Devidayal is using her platform to draw attention and funding to the cause while Jethwani is helps run holistic nutrition programs.

“I think India's one of the greatest nations when it comes to hospitality. It's just something that comes innately to people,” says Devidayal. “That's ridiculous, as a child, to go through eight hours in the morning before a first meal and still expect to learn, s...

Two staunch child advocates, Bruce Lesley of First Focus on Children and Phoebe Boyer of Children’s Aid, talk about the detrimental impact of poverty on children and the crucial role of social safety nets and nonprofit organizations in mitigating this harm.

“Every aspect of the life of a child is negatively impacted by poverty. It impacts their health, their education, their early childhood, their nutrition, their housing situation, and also abuse and neglect,” Lesley states.

“I look at every child that comes into our programs as having incredible potential, and there are all these barriers...