After years of fighting, we finally did it

Hunger is a shameful, nationwide problem that, for too long, has faced a fractured, incomplete response.

Yes, we have food banks and community-driven solutions. Yes, the government has taken action. But it's all been scattered and piecemeal, with huge cracks and no plan.

And into those cracks fall children and families – people who go to bed hungry and uncertain.

It stops now. This is the year we come together and, as one nation, figure out how to fix this.

I am proud to tell you that, after years of advocacy, both in Congress and in communities, we've notched our biggest victory yet: for the first time in more than a generation, President Joe Biden will convene a national conference on hunger, nutrition, and health.

The goal? Bring together nonprofits, teachers, doctors, tribes, community leaders, business leaders – everyone – to finally take this problem seriously and to end hunger across America once and for all.

To anyone who ever says our government can't do good, or that we shouldn't have unified, national priorities, I could not disagree more. And I say step up to the table and be part of the solution. Government isn't some mysterious force – it's us, the people who work hard every day to hold together this country and who fight for a better future for every person who calls America (and our planet) home.

That includes weaving together the disparate threads of our national hunger epidemic, as we're about to do, and finally working to right one of our nation's great moral wrongs.

I am so eager to take the next steps with you. We've walked this path together for years. We've talked at length about the importance of coming together, about doing more than just chipping in what we can to our local food banks.

Every Monte's March. Every food drive. Every community conversation. Every penny donated. It's all led up to this moment.

Stay tuned. There's so much work to be done, and I know we're up to the challenge.

Jim