Hunger Task Force Invited to Speak at White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

Sherrie Tussler will join other anti-hunger leaders from across the nation at the White House.

On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, Hunger Task Force’s executive director, Sherrie Tussler, will speak on a panel during the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. The Conference will be held in Washington, D.C. and is part of the Administration’s National Strategy that identifies steps the government will take and catalyzes the public and private sectors to address the intersections between food, hunger, nutrition, and health.

The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health will focus on the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Strategy’s five pillars 1. Improve food access and affordability, 2. Integrate nutrition and health, 3. Empower all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices, 4. Support physical activity for all, and 5. Enhance nutrition and food security research. Each pillar is meant to help identify actions that can be taken by all parts of society — including the federal government; local, state, territory, and Tribal governments; non-profit and community groups; and private companies. 

Tussler will speak during Panel Session 1, Pillar 3 – Look Locally: Growing partnerships to expand local food options, Bolstering local food systems to offer healthy food, strengthen local economies, and support farmers and ranchers on September 28 from 10:10 – 10:50 a.m. ET. During the panel discussion, Sherrie will discuss Hunger Task Force’s statewide efforts to organize and expand the Hunger Relief Federation of Wisconsin, the launch of the nationally recognized Dairy Recovery Program that took place during the pandemic and the Badger Box program. She will also discuss Hunger Task Force’s anti-hunger leadership and the statewide commodity program that sources food from farmers and food producers.

“I am honored to join other anti-hunger leaders from across the nation to highlight the lessons and successes we have seen in the efforts to create jobs and opportunities for Wisconsin agriculture,” said Sherrie Tussler, Executive Director of Hunger Task Force. “Hunger Task Force has served as a driving force in local food purchases, helping Wisconsin farmers.”

Three other national anti-hunger leaders will join Tussler; Tara Roberts-Turner, General Manager, Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative, Waupaca, WI; Charlene McGee, MPA, Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Program Manager, Multnomah County Health Department, Portland, Oregon and Phoebe Wong, 2022 alum, FoodCorps, East Hartford, CT. The panel will be moderated by Charles F. (Chuck) Conner, president & CEO National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. 

The White House panel will be live-streamed on the White House YouTube page and will have an in-person audience including Members of Congress, state and local government leaders, health care service providers, labor advocates, agricultural producers, health care providers, representatives from private sector companies and non-profit organizations, philanthropists, and people with lived experience of food insecurity and/or diet-related disease.

In parallel to the Conference, the White House will be announcing a National Strategy that identifies steps the government will take and catalyzes the public and private sectors to address the intersections between food, hunger, nutrition, and health.

Hunger Task Force is Milwaukee’s Free & Local food bank and Wisconsin’s anti-hunger leader. The organization provides healthy and nutritious food to hungry children, families and seniors in the community absolutely free of charge. Hunger Task Force was founded in 1974 by a local advocacy group who then formed Milwaukee’s first food bank. Today, Hunger Task Force is 100% supported by the community and provides a safety net of emergency food with dignity to a network of 75 food pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Through legislative analysis, education and community organizing, Hunger Task Force continues to advocate for anti-hunger policy at the local, state and federal level.