Caroline Campbell and Audrey Long's documentary "Feeding the Future" exposes North Carolina's food crisis, where one in five children faces hunger despite the Declaration of Independence's promise of unalienable rights. While community networks like Wake County's served 45,000 people, speakers warn that nonprofits cannot solve the issue alone amid a threatened $200 billion federal cut and $3 billion in lost SNAP funds. The segment argues that without federal support, states face $420 million in extra costs, concluding that food must be recognized as a human right essential to the American dream rather than a privilege. [Automatically generated summary]
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Food Is A Human Right00:07:27
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This year, as we mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, C-SPAN's Student Cam documentary competition invited students to create short films exploring themes from American history, the rights and freedoms rooted in this founding document, and pressing issues of today, from the economy and immigration to criminal justice, education, and healthcare.
Nearly 4,000 students from 38 states and Washington, D.C. took part in this year's competition.
Throughout this month, we're proud to showcase our top 21 winners.
This year's Second Prize High School East winners are Caroline Campbell and Audrey Long, 10th graders from Millbrook Magnet High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, where C-SPAN is available through Spectrum.
Their winning documentary is titled Feeding the Future: How the Declaration is Impacting the Fight Against Food Insecurity in North Carolina Today.
Food and food.
Food, food.
We hear the word food every day, so most of us take our meals for granted.
But for one in seven people in North Carolina and one in every five children, it's something they don't always have access to.
In the Declaration of Independence, the founders wrote that all people are created equal and that everyone is born with unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Doesn't care what color you are, doesn't care where you came from.
Have an assumption that our communities here in Wake County are well off.
And that is not the case.
We have folks in line in food distributions who rely on these services to put food on the table.
You see upwards of 200 people a day needing a meal.
I had one guy, I'll never forget my first term, told me he didn't know that food security on college campus was an issue.
There is enough food to go around in our country that no one in this country should go hungry.
If we're all supposed to be equal, then why isn't access to food equal too?
More than 1.6 million people in North Carolina face hunger, and nearly 440,000 of them are children.
The students were hungry and they didn't have the resources.
Children should not have to pay money to eat.
It's difficult for children to learn when they're hungry.
College students are often an overlooked group when it comes to food insecurity.
More than 20% of college students experience food insecurity.
And so when we invest so much money in every student that walks into the classrooms of our public higher education system across the state, that means we need to make sure they have everything they need to succeed.
The root causes of hunger is a symptom of not having enough.
Big factor is affordability.
And so it really puts a value into people when you put a value in food.
Access to food and dignity is absolutely a basic human right and we all should have it.
Food insecurity isn't just about missing a meal.
It affects health, education, and whether people can even live the life the Declaration promises.
When people don't have enough to eat, the right to life is threatened.
This is not just, oh, we can't get food on the table.
It's an immense problem that encompasses not only the social issues, but economics, public health, well-being.
Some of them are faced with impossible choices between medicine and groceries.
The high rates of diet-related chronic conditions.
Nutritious foods are important for preventing and managing these conditions.
People might get sick.
They may get hospitalized because of malnutrition.
Their chronic diseases get worse.
We need food, but we also need to be seen.
We also need to have choice.
We also need to feel worth and valued.
And without those rights, the pursuit of happiness becomes impossible.
Across North Carolina, communities are working together to fight hunger.
There are amazing food pantries in Wake County.
You know, the nonprofit community here is, I think, second to none in the nation.
We have people who in the community faith base, our law enforcement, our schools, who want to make sure that students are getting food.
We find areas that are essentially food deserts and provide that fresh fruits and vegetables that folks need to nourish their families.
Volunteers can sort around 160 meals per shift.
And just imagine what that means for families facing hunger.
Our pastor really wanted to meet families right where they were and help provide for them.
We just opened up our doors.
We turned our gymnasium into basically a warehouse and we would sort it.
And then within one to two days, everything would be gone.
Next to the table is Raleigh's Pay What You Can restaurant with a mission to provide community and good food for all regardless of means.
This year alone, we've almost hit about 45,000 people that are coming in to get a good meal.
Work with a lot of organizations to get people resources that they need.
Food pantries help each other out.
We work with Farmer Food Share and some other food vendors that work with local farmers.
We have a network of over 700 partner agencies.
We fight food insecurity and we feed upwards of 200 people a day.
So many people think that the nonprofit community can fix this problem.
They cannot.
They cannot.
They can't raise enough money and none of them can scale enough.
Actually, these federal programs versus the three banks and three pantries, although those are also really important resources.
Right now, we're facing deep federal cuts potentially to SNAP, to Medicaid, and these are tools that allow folks to be able to purchase groceries and be able to put food on the table.
4 million people, including families with children, senior veterans, and individuals with disability, will see the food assistance they need to afford groceries cut substantially.
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The federal government being able to step up keeps North Carolina from having to pay up to $420 million a year.
SNAP must be based on the goal of reaching nutrition independence, financial independence, and the American dream.
We eat in North Carolina, if we had that money from the federal government, we'll be able to expand universal school meals from the state.
If people can't afford food, how can they ever reach the American dream?
Food should not be something that we don't have access to.
Food is something that you do not have to earn.
It is not a privilege to have food.
It's a human right to have food.
People need to eat.
They need to be seen.
They need to be loved.
And this work, we have the opportunity to do that.
Food insecurity is more than just a modern problem.
It's a test of whether the values written in 1776 so matter today in our own communities.
Because equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness all begin with food.
Be sure to watch all of the winning entries on our website at studentcam.org.
The American Dream Needs Food00:00:32
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Sunday, as journalist Evan Smith interviews America's book club host, David Rubinstein, about the presidency, Congress, and the state of the economy from the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University.