You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Garth. Hi, everyone, welcome to I Choose Me. This podcast is all about the choices we make and where they lead us. The holidays are upon us. It's very easy sometimes I know I've fallen victim to this, to get caught up in the gifts and the parties and the food, but sometimes losing sight of what's really important. My guest today is the CEO of an organization that's near and dear to my heart and is helping so many people all year long.
Please welcome Claire Babineau Fontaneau, the CEO of Feeding America, to the podcast.
Hi.
How are you.
I'm excellent. I'm really excited about this opportunity.
Yes, I'm so happy that you're here today. I have been a part of Feeding America, working with Feeding America for a long long time now. I did a PSA for them many moons ago that is still running. I still catch it here and there, which I am so proud of. And yeah, I've done a lot of like you know, going to feed the homeless at the food banks and passing out oranges and fruits and just really enjoy working with you all.
Wow.
Well, if you ever hear me interviewed and I say thank you to the Freedom American Network, then no, I'm talking about you too.
Then a perfect.
It includes all the volunteers, it includes every minute, So thank you for.
That so many people. Before we dive in to the amazing work you're doing, I want to just kind of start at the beginning because your life is so fascinating. It's almost like giving back and helping others was your destiny. Your parents cared for am I right on this one hundred and eight children?
You are correct?
Good one hundred and eight And if my mother were doing this interview, she would tell you. My mom had one hundred and eight children. She was mother to all of us, in each of us in extraordinary ways. Her beginnings were so humble, but what she understood was how powerful one person can be as a force for good in the world. She provided a remarkable example for all of us. And I'd like to think that I'm finally in a role where I get to live into the example that she provided.
Oh that must feel so good. It does. I know it's a combination, so everybody's clear. It was a combination of birth, adoption, and fostering. She was a mother to one hundred and eight, but you know, yes, exactly, exactly even think that's possible.
She did not give birth to one hundred night, thank God.
Yes, exactly.
Tell me what it was like growing up in a house with so many, so many people.
It's all I ever have known, by the way, so I don't have anything to contrast it with.
But it was. It was crazy, It was.
Loud, It was at moments so unified and beautiful. One of the special talents that my mother in particular had in my father had as well, was a way to resonate with each of us in our in our uniqueness. Right, So I didn't ever feel like I was part of anything that was homogeneous, but I don't think that any of us did. The standards that were set for us
were unique to our talents and our capabilities. We were all, every single one of us expected to find ways to deploy those talents and to give back to the world.
It was. It was fascinating.
So I have friends who are only children who'd come to visit me just for the spectacle of it. I think in most cases they felt better about their home lives when they left because of the chaos that was our household. So imagine there were usually about sixteen of
us at home at a time. Imagine if we ever tried to sit at one table, it would be like that Walton table, you know, the long, long table with benches on the sides, if we were ever going to all get around a table, and lots of laughter, lots of dancing, lots of singing, though most of us sang badly, and I still sing badly, but it was a joyful, chaotic home.
Yeah, I mean, growing up in a large family like that. It's clear to see that your mom had such a beautiful impact on you. But what kind of lessons do you think you learned subconsciously?
Mmm? You know, that's an interesting one. I hope that this doesn't.
Bring the mood down.
But it was rad or common for me to go to school with a certain number siblings and to come home and to have a new person join our family. And growing up in that household taught me things about how different people need different things emotionally, so that for some of my new little brothers or sisters, or sometimes my siblings came and triplicate and even among three who had biological connections a hug might help or a hug might hurt. So we learned as a collective family sensitivity
around things like that. Another really powerful thing that we learned was how beautiful diversity can be, how it can in fact be a superpower. Is something I try to bring to everything that I do. Is that that realization I've I've leveraged those learnings in the for profit world when I was executive vice president and of finance and treasurer at Walmart. As a lawyer, I leveraged it, and
I certainly leveraged it today at Feeding America. Diverse teams win more, no matter how you define winning, Diverse teams win more. And we as a family were a diverse team. So nobody could beat us at some of the backyard basketball games or softball games or yeah, we we were a force. We were of course those babinots.
Oh yeah, Oh it's so good though. So you sort of I'm wondering, you know, you went into law school I did. Was that you sort of trying to figure out what it is that was your unique talent to give to the world.
Oh?
Absolutely. Now, our grandparents on both sides were sharecroppers and didn't have any formal education, and English was not a first language for any of them. Folk that French patois creole.
Okay.
Neither of my parents graduated high school, and the collective of all six of those people were absolutely brilliant, and it was so obvious. But I got the chance to graduate high school and then to go to college. But when I was a little girl, I remember so vividly talking to my father and telling him in a defiant tone, as if I expected him to challenge it, that when I grew up, I was going to be a lawyer. And I recall that he said, with no hesitation, of
course you will. Now he did follow it up with you argue all the time. At least that way somebody will pay you to do it, which I also did not forget. But I felt destined to advocate on behalf of other people, to use my loud mouth, my big mouth, in service of others. I thought I was going to be a children's rights advocate, because so many of us the normal path to joining our family was because something was desperately broken and the one you were born to
so visible. And I wanted to be a force for good for children like us, like my siblings, and me. So that's the kind of lawyer I was planning to be. That's not exactly the kind of lawyer I became.
What happened It was the plan.
I don't even you know, I've been trying to figure out what happened. But I always had a head for math, and i'd like to believe a heart for people. So I went on to law school. And then I was sitting in the lobby of my law school, Southern University Law Center.
Go jags out and sitting with.
My my study partners, and I looked around and you know, anybody who's graduated from from Southern who's a tax lawyer? Because I kind of liked that area, and nobody could think of anybody says, Oh, I think that's what I'll do. It was the most random thing, and I'm not right, I am not random.
I don't know.
Yeah, taxes is not something people are like volunteering to exact will.
So I went to I worked, I graduated law school. I hadn't taken any tax classes. By the way, this is at the end of law school that I'm thinking about this, and I have this epiphany. So I worked for Revenue for about nine months and it solidified in my mind that it was something that I really enjoyed. So then I went back and got another ludgery from Southern Methodist University. Southern has to be in every name of every school I go to, apparently over in Dallas, and I have an lemit taxation.
And then I.
Got all of these chances to do all kinds of wonderful things. And I knew no one in my family, no one that I grew up with, who had the kinds of chances that I had, and I kept saying yes.
To all of them. So I became a tax lawyer.
I worked in government, I worked in Big four accounting, I worked in a major law firm. Walmart was my client. They kind of like the way I handled things. They asked me to come in house. I said yes to that too, So I wound up having this career in law, but in commercial litigation, but mostly mostly in tax. And then went into Walmart, where I did tax, but I did finance, and then became the treasurer there. So none of that was part of the grand plan. And I was quite the planner.
As a kid.
I had a whole plan for what I was going to do, and I did not do those things, but what I did get to do was was pretty extraordinary. And what I get to do now, oh my goodness. It actually makes me want to cry every time I think about the privilege that it is to get to do what I do today.
I want to talk about that in a second. But first of all, you said you have a head for math and a heart for people. I love that so much. Those are words that I would never say, at least the head for math part, but definitely, yes, I'm gonna have to come up with something for my head. But you said you were working at Walmart. You were there for a while, like over ten.
Years, right, that's right, closer to thirteen.
Yeah, okay, And then again, life took a turn that you were into expecting. You were diagnosed with cancer in twenty fifteen, and your life changed as it does. Yes, can you kind of walk us through what? How do you get through? What do you do in those moments?
Wow? Well, first off, what a beautifully aptly titled podcast you have here, Because I definitely chose me. I had up until the moment of being diagnosed with cancer, I was doing things mostly because I thought, well, I can't miss this chance. It was less about I want this chance, but more about, well, I can't let this chance go. I'm going to have to say yes to that. Wow, are they asking me to do that? Oh, I'm going
to have to say yes to that. The first time as an actual professional that I set with my thoughts and my heart and said, but what do you want to do? Not just what's available to you, but what do you want to do? And oh, by the way, you don't get always to answer this question. One of the greatest gifts in the ugliest package of my whole life was that cancer, because it was the thing that woke me up to the fact that I needed to
make a me choice there. And the choice I made was to leave a very comfortable situation that I had in a company that had shown me a lot of grace. I'd gotten so many opportunities to grow while I was there. I'd been able to achieve financial heightst I never even imagined for myself, although I was a big dreamer. It provided security not only for myself but also for other family members that I was able to lift up and send to school and all those things. And that cancer said it's time for you.
To go and I'm like, where am I going? I don't even know where I'm going.
I had been gainfully employed every day of my life from my first job I worked. I was gainfully employed throughout college, throughout law school, throughout law school. Again, I had never had any window of time from the time I got my first job that I was not gainful employed. And I'm saying, I'm about to take a leap, and I don't even know where I'm going. But if I stayed at Walmart, if I waited until the right opportunity came, I was not going to leave. And I knew that I needed to leave.
So I leaped.
And I feel so privileged that I could make such a choice. Most people don't get to make choices like that without concern over whether or not their children are going to be able to go to school, or what kind of lives they're going to have. I knew that I had the security where I could do that and jump into the insecurity of what the future was going to hold.
So I did. So I leaked, And.
You left just for the sole purpose of leaping.
I left because I knew in my bones that I had the ability to be of greater service I'd asked myself in the doctor's office when the doctor when the pathology report came in, I remember, I'll never forget, of course, when the doctor actually used those words and told me that I had cancer, I remember that. In a split second, I asked myself, what if the best thing I might possibly do professionally were the best thing I could possibly do at Walmart? Would that be okay? And my answer
was no? And that's why I leaked. Is I leapt towards something in the nonprofit space. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew it would be nonprofit.
That part I knew.
I knew that I was going to dedicate the rest of me to service. I knew that it was going to be somewhere in the nonprofit space. I knew that I had certain passions, but I didn't know exactly where it was going to go. I didn't have a job offer or even job prospects. But I also, as I said, I knew that if I didn't if I didn't leave, I wouldn't leave. I find a way to justify staying. So I needed to just go ahead and go, and I did.
It's fascinating that you say that cancer was the best gift you ever received in the ugliest package, but it seemed to catapult you into this next incredible phase of your life. Yes, and what a reward. Ultimately, absolutely, it was kind of inevitable when you go through something like that, it has such a massive impact on your life. It
changes how you approach life from that point on. I mean today, what choices do you make to stay grounded or present in your current life and not just to go, go, go and do do do all the time?
Well, I go go, go a lot, and I do do do a lot.
So I don't know if I'm actually the best person to answer that question.
But what kind of self care do you do?
Well, what I can tell you I'll talk about self care and then I'll tell you about the stuff that energizes me. Right, But in terms of self care, there been a number of moments when I have felt that I needed to keep moving and my body has told me, no, you don't, It's time to pause, and to know my body well enough to know when it is time. And the risk of disappointing people experiencing hunger, the risk of not showing up for a partner who's out there on
the front lines trying to help. That's a hard thing for me to say no too. But throughout the pandemic especially, there were multiple moments when I had to say yes to me, and in order to say yes to me so that I could actually sleep that night rather than get on another plane, I had to say not yet to somebody else. So I love to read, I love to walk, I love to dance. I love to sing. I mentioned before, I'm not a great singer, but that doesn't mean I don't try to sing.
That's so great. I love it that you don't think you're very good, but you still love it.
Oh, I love it absolutely. The people around me don't love it.
But I, on the other hand, I absolutely love it.
I love life. I love new people, new things. I love to travel. So there's so many outlets that I have that are restorative for me. And sometimes the only one that I really need is a bath. Sometimes I just need to stop, grab a candle mm hmm, and go take a bath. Oh hot bath, bubbles.
Good and salts, salts and bubbles.
If I feel I've really earned it, these are the things.
These are the things.
Oh, I love all those ideas for people tell me, how did you come to working with Feeding America.
Wow, So I'm going to go back to Walmart for just a flash, right, So, and well, I'll go back one step farther than that. I've always known about Feeding America since it started. My parents, as you might imagine, were community leaders. As a consequence, Feeding America works inside
of local communities all across the country. My parents knew where the needs were in the little hometown of mine of Aplusis, Louisiana, and Feeding America, the Feeding America food bank that serves a Kadiana, which is where Appolusis is, would actually partner with my parents to do distributions from our house.
Okay, I never imagined that. Fast forward.
They were called America's Second Harvest at the time, I never imagined that I'd be doing this. So I always knew about Being America. When I was at Walmart, I was on the foundation board. While on the Foundation Board, I got to know Feeding America more intimately because we were a major investor in Feeding America's work. We provided a lot of food and as well as funds. So I got to know it that way there and I had a conversation with a lady by the name of
Kathleen McLaughlin, and she had just joined Walmart. And I had a practice whenever a new member of the team when women joined the officer group at Feeding America, I always reached out and took them out to breakfast or to lunch or something. So here we are having lunch and she's brand new, and she said she talked about what she's doing. By now, I do not have any idea that I'm going to have cancer, but I'm having this conversation with her, and she's talking about what she
was going to do. And I said, you know, the fascinating thing is if I had to guess what I would do with my career, it would be more like what you're doing than what I'm doing. And she said, really, told about my family history, told about what I thought I was going to do with my life, etc.
Etc.
I thought that conversation was in the past. That's whyried I leave Walmart. Years later and I got a phone call from a recruiter and the recruiter said, we are hiring for the CEO of Feeding America. And there's a lady from Walmart. Her name is Kathleen McLoughlin and she told us that we should really find you and talk to you about this opportunity.
Wow, like what look at your breakfast? Your outreach to the new employee paid off.
We paid off.
Oh my goodness, did to pay off. And I consistently tell her anytime something powerful and wonderful happens with Feeding America, I consistently say a little prayer for Kathleen, and I send her a text messages saying, I'm really feeling grateful to you today. I'm really feeling grateful because she just she remembered what I said and she felt it, and then she was in a room that I was not in, and she lent her credibility to me in that moment, and the rest is kind of history.
Now here I am.
I've been here for over six years, and what started with that casual breaking of bread with a new person has translated into the greatest opportunity for service I've ever had in my life.
That is incredible. How many people in the US are suffering from food insecurity.
At close to fifty million people.
That's hard to even wrap your mind around.
Nearly fourteen million children.
Oh my goodness, that's one in five children.
Yes, it's that I mean and both The most tragic part about it, the thing that breaks my heart about it and that also gives me hopes, gives me hope, is the same thing, which is we could solve it. It's actually not one of those things that you'll never be able to wrap your arms or you'll never be able to solve. No, no, no, no, we can solve this. This country has more than enough food to feed every single person. We waste so much food, We throw away
so much food. Being America is actually the largest food waste recovery organization in the whole United States of America, and we're only recovering about a little over four billion pounds. Now that's a lot of food, right it is. Where do you recover it from? Oh, we recover it from the relationships that we have with all kinds of great organizations. So every major retailer in the United States has a relationship with Feeding America, through which rather than throw away
perfectly edible food, they donate that food to us. Every major food manufacturer in the United States has a relationship with Feeding America. So if you can imagine, let's say you're General Mills, who happens to be one of a great supporter of ours in many ways. Let's say your General Mills and you go to a town and the
cheerio boxes are bent right perfectly at able ceios. We actually have an app that the driver of that that of that truck can use to say, to find a food bank that's close to them that they can deliver that food too rather than get going to waste. So that's the way that we do. We have these beautiful relationships all across the country with partners who are also committed both to resolving issues around waste and making certain
people in communities get access to food. So that's one of the ways that we that we engage with people. That's one of the things that we do that I find so so powerful is when you're solving for food and security, it's an interesting thing in a really powerful and beautiful way. There are so many things that you
solve for when you solve for food and security. Right, so you can solve for climate by participating in the work that we do, because you can make certain that food doesn't go to landfills, but instead the way that we're talking about it. We even have a challenge going on right now, which is the food rescue challenge, and the way that we're phrasing it is from access to access right and you get to participate in something I get to be a part of that that does that.
But we also get donated foods directly, We buy a lot of food. We participate a lot in federal commodities programs where farmers, growers, and producers in the United States make certain that people here get access to the food that they need to thrive. So lots of different outlets for and outreach. That helps to support the network that I'm a part of.
And we need more.
The lines, unfortunately, have continued to grow. That usually is shocking to people. Most people think that the highest rate of food and security in this country over the last several years would have been during the peak of the pandemic. But that's not true. During the pandemic, we as a nation had an awareness of food and security because those lines were so long on the outsides of buildings. Now the lines have gone back to the insides of buildings,
and people they think they've gone away. The food and security rates have gone up because we've actually lowered the amount of resources that are available. So it's been it's been a real challenge, and yet I see resiliency everywhere I go. I see my goodness. I'm so inspired by, especially by people experiencing hunger with the heroes that they are.
The way that these moms making a way out of no way, the sacrifices they make, how hard they work to make certain that their kids get the things that you and I want for ours, It's really inspirational.
It really is. I mean, with so many people though needing help. I think you talked about does it ever become overwhelming for you? Like, do you ever just pan? I can say I can't do it all and I want to do it all. I mean, I can't imagine that that's hard to confront, to deal with.
Oh, of course there are moments, of course there are. I in fact, I remember having the good news is nobody is expecting me to do it all except me.
Sometimes.
There's so many people, i'd say hundreds of thousands of people across the country who step up to do this work as a part of the anti funder community. But I do remember my father. My mother died eleven years ago, and my father died two years ago in December, and his last illness was dementia, and I won't forget that. This is the guy that I went to defiantly and told him at twelve, when I don't think a lot of people would have bet on my ability to become
a lawyer. When he, without hesitation, said that he knew I would that guy. I returned to him and he seemed to be sleeping, and I was really I visited him every month during the pandemic. I found a way to get there to Opelousi's. So I was in his room and I thought he was sleeping, and I said, Daddy, I just don't know what to do. I mean, this is a lot, you know, people are counting on me. How how am I going to step up? Am I
am I able to do this? And I didn't know he was awake, and he opened his eyes, and of all moments for him to be lucid, it was that moment. And he looked over at me, and I was sitting next to his bed, and he said, do you do you just just be you clar call me Clarice, just be so. Yes, those moments come, but after that moment, I can hear him say it to me. And remember
I said, he's one of the smartest people I've ever known. Figure, if he thinks I can do it, there must be something inside of me that he saw and surely it's still there. So I can go do this.
M believing in yourself. Yeah, it's hard to do sometimes, but it's the key. It is how can people get involved?
So one way is to donate, right they can go to Feeding America dot org and there they can find ways to donate. They can donate at the national level, or they can donate at the local level, or they can do both. If they only have room for one, I would say, donate it the community that means the most to you. On Feeding America dot org there's actually a food bank locator and you just punch in the zip code of the community that you care the most about, and up will pop up a food bank that's serving
that community. I know that to be true because Feeding America this network serves every single county and parish in the wholy United States of America and Puerto Rico. So we are there in that community that you care about. So you can donate, you can advocate, you can use your voices to say that this matters, that you care about it. You can make certain that policy makers know if this is one of the things that you feel that we ought to be united on, not divided about.
And you can volunteer. Oh my goodness, you talked about it earlier. But what feels better than to know for a fact, especially in moments when so many things feel like they're outside of our control, that you can roll your sleeves up and you can be helpful, you can be of service, right, and you can. And I have an expression I use and maybe someone else used it before me, but the giver receives, and it's true, the
giver receives. There's a special way that I feel a special unity in community that I feel that I only feel when I've got my sleeves rolled up, and I only feel when I'm out there volunteering. So you can donate, you can advocate, and you can volunteer, and you can find ways to do all three by going to Feeding America dot orgy dot Orgie.
That's right. The work you're doing is phenomenal. So grateful to know you and be a small tiny part of helping the cause. Before I let you go, Claire, I would like to know what was your last I choose me moment.
Oh, you know what, it was probably last night, and maybe this isn't a great one, right, but you know, I had been traveling.
I just got back from Atlanta, where I had an opportunity to go out and thank one of our real big donors, investors in our work. And I was tired, and I'd already eaten way more than I should. But I got home and as I opened the door. I live in Chicago, that's where we're based, primarily opened the door and this aroma hit me. It was gumbo in Chicago, in Chicago, and my husband was in the kitchen cooking it,
and I'm thinking, I'm not even hungry. But you know what, choosing me was choosing to eat a bowl of that gumbo last night. And I did and it was fabulous, and I thank my husband, Barry Fontno, for preparing it.
And every now and then, every now and then, I have found choosing me can be something really big, like choosing to dedicate my talents to an organization like Feeding America, or could be something really small like lighting a candle or listening to music or singing, or on a night like last night, there was something extra special about choosing that bowl.
Of gumboats the gumbo.
It was the gumbo. It was the gumbo.
I really loved our conversation. Thank you. I hope that everybody listening I feel the same way as I do. I feel hopeful, I feel some sort of piece in knowing that you are leading this charge because you are truly a gift.
Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate you and everything you do, and thank you to your audience and everything they're already doing, solvable challenges that we can do together. I'm glad to be a part of it too.
Thank you, Claire, Thank you. Wow. FACA to Claire is so inspiring. I just I love how much passion she has for her life and all the wonderful work that she's doing with Feeding America, helping so many people. If you want to volunteer donate to Feing America, I highly suggest it. We'll be sure to leave their info in our show notes. As we continue to choose ourselves each week, I want to challenge you to making a difference in
someone else's life this holiday season. There are so many incredible organizations out there, and this time of year people can really use a helping hand. So whether it's volunteering at a food bank, or collecting canned goods, or even just cleaning out your closet and donating some of your clothes or blankets that you're no longer using. Let's all just take some time to think about it this week,
and let's do something. Let's give back to those around us who could use some help, because when we choose to give back to others, we're also choosing to acknowledge our our own blessings and practice gratitude. Thanks for listening to I Choose Me. You can check out all of our social links in our show notes. Make sure to spread some holiday cheer, and rate us and review us, and use the hashtag I Choose Me whenever you feel
like it. I will be right here next week. I hope you'll choose to be here too,