October 10, 2014 – Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Los Angeles

You know they say that you’re never too old to have a happy childhood. And although my childhood was filled with many happy memories, it was also spent in abject poverty. I was one of the 17 million kids in this country who didn’t know where the next meal was coming from. And I did everything to get food. I’ve stolen for food. I’ve jumped in huge garbage bins with maggots for food. I have befriended people in the neighborhood who I knew had mothers who cooked three meals a day for food. And I sacrificed a childhood for food and grew up in immense shame.

And the word that I would like to eradicate today is unspeakable. Because I think everything should be spoken. I think everybody’s testimony should be spoken. I think everybody’s shame should be spoken. And the stain that is on this country is that one out of every five children in this country are living in households that are food poor. And of all the elementary school teachers out there they say that three out of five of the kids in their class, come to school hungry in the richest country in the world.