Guest Speaker; Marke Winne on Hunger in New Mexico

Clifton Chadwick

We must shift our attention from only addressing the symptoms, namely hunger and food insecurity, and stop ignoring the disease, namely poverty. We must emphasize the quality of food over the quantity in recognition of the severity of the obesity crisis before us. We must work together in a truly collaborative fashion, which means we each have to put aside something for the greater good. We must hold government accountable, no matter which party is in office. And we must ask ourselves hard questions about our own programs and organizations: just because we’ve been doing things one way for the past 20 years doesn’t mean we should do them the same way forever.

These ideas relate to so many other arenas affecting us all as business owners and citizens; Government Accountability, Collaboration, Quality over Quantity, our willingness to quit reacting as we always have and look for new ways of addressing in immanent future.

With creating a strong local economy, just as with fighting Hunger, Mark's observation stands: "Finally, as I said before, the problems before us are too big for any one agency or non-profit organization to tackle. They are too big for any one government, even the State of NM, to solve. We need a truly collaborative effort that is well-funded, well-led, and well-organized. It won’t be a place for big egos or self-serving organizations. It will be a place to you check your six-shooters at the door and work for the common good. "

Read Mark's entire address here.