Vermonters Win
Award
For Work On Hunger
October 11, 2004
By David Delcore Times
Argus Staff
MONTPELIER – The leaders
of a Burlington-based organization that has been helping put
food in the mouths of Vermont children for more than a decade
have received a prestigious national award – and $115,000
to help further their efforts.
Robert Dostis, executive
director of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, and
Joanne Heidkamp, the organization's program director, are among
the 2004 winners of the Leadership for a Changing World awards.
Launched four years ago
and sponsored by a coalition headed by the Ford Foundation, this
year's awards will be given to 18 individuals and "leadership
teams" who are tackling some of the nation's most intractable
social, economic and environmental challenges.
People like Dostis and
Heidkamp, who work with the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood
Hunger, have helped been working to put food security on the
front burner in the state.
Dostis, a Democratic Waterbury
lawmaker, and Heidkamp, a registered dietitian from South Burlington,
emerged from a national field of nearly 1,000 nominees to land
one of the awards. Over the next two years, the recipients will
collect $100,000 to advance their work and an additional $15,000
for supporting activities. In exchange, they will be asked to
participate in a two-year collaborative research initiative aimed
at exploring how leadership is created and sustained.
Dostis, who credits his
organization's success to its ability to work at the grassroots
level while at the same time influencing legislative policy,
said he'll put the unanticipated infusion of cash to good use.
"This money will help
us make sure that more children and families get fed," he
said. He described himself as having a passion for the issue
of childhood hunger.
Dostis, a product of New
York housing projects, said he spent time in foster homes and
often went hungry as a child.
"I grew up as a hungry
kid," he said. "I know firsthand what it means to go
to bed without dinner."
Dostis also said he knows
how important it is to combat hunger, which he and Heidkamp have
been doing in Vermont with increasing success for several years.
He took over as executive
director of the fledgling Campaign to End Childhood Hunger 10
years ago, and has brought its annual budget from $130,000 to
$550,000. Since Heidkamp came on board seven years ago, the organization
has successfully pushed for the expansion of school breakfast
programs and the creation of new summer meals sites.
Last year was a breakthrough
year for the organization, Dostis said. First he and Heidkamp
successfully lobbied for the revival of a long-neglected law
that required local school districts to take a fresh look at
federal breakfast/lunch programs and to involve the community
in those discussions. They then used those local forums to highlight
the problem of childhood hunger for school boards leery about
launching breakfast programs.
It worked. In the past
15 months, 29 new schools have started breakfast programs providing
more than 11,000 Vermont students – more than 2,000 of them
from low-income homes – with access to morning meals.
"Our biggest challenge
is working with people who do not believe that hunger exists,
especially people in positions that can make a difference,"
says Heidkamp.
In addition to increasing
the number of schools that offer federally subsidized breakfast
programs, the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger has been
credited with pushing for summer meals programs that served 5,000
children last year, promoting the use of the federal Food Stamp
program by eligible Vermonters, and sponsoring educational programs
like Cooking for Life, which is offered in collaboration with
the University of Vermont.
"One of (Dostis' and
Heidkamp's) strengths is that they approach the issue (of childhood
hunger) without making people feel like they're being blamed
or shamed for what's happening," said Linda Berlin, a nutrition
specialist with UVM's department of nutrition and food services.
"It's about getting people on board."
Dostis, who was elected
to the Vermont House of Representatives in 2000, says that's
a big part of what makes the award so special.
"This really does
speak highly of the hundreds, if not thousands of Vermonters
that have partnered with us over the years to help bring an end
to childhood hunger," he said. "I'd like to thing we
all celebrate in this award." |
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