As delivered on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Thanks for being indoors on an otherwise bright and sunny, and finally warm, day.
I’d like to thank Karen [Dewey, nurse practitioner at VA Salt Lake City Health Care System] first, where are you? Thank you. That was a very powerful video and also a great reminder of the heart and soul of public service in this country. Thank you and all your colleagues at the VA – we’re very grateful.
I’d like to thank our co-hosts, Congresswoman Pingree and Congressman Buchanan. I think Vern Buchanan is not with us today, but Chellie Pingree is, and you’ll get a chance to hear from her — an extraordinary leader, of course.
I had a chance a long time ago during the heyday of bipartisan cooperation to push a Jeep through the mud in rural Ethiopia with Vern Buchanan, so I’m thrilled that that tradition of bipartisan support now continues and is now embracing this really new solution, Food is Medicine, which you just witnessed in the video.
Don’t tell my mom it’s new, because she used to tell me to eat my vegetables all the time when I was a little kid. But what is new is the science behind it, and what is new is the data that you all will generate by working together that demonstrates that targeted Food is Medicine interventions can save money even as we lift up lives.
And you heard, of course, from one of the veterans who has benefited from this effort, Jeff Luppen. You know, I learned that Jeff signed up for the Army when he was just 17 years old. He joined because he wanted to serve his country like his grandfather and uncles did, as he said in the video. But he also joined because he wanted to get three meals a day. He described how, as his mom struggled with addiction, he was “always hungry” as a child.
As fate would have it, the Army assigned him to its 19th aviation unit — as a cook. In 1984, Jeff was sent to South Korea, where he rose every day before 4a.m. He would load the supplies he needed into his Huey, then fly the helicopter through the mountains, from rice paddy to rice paddy. At each stop, he would set up a field kitchen, cook some oatmeal and Cream of Wheat, and feed his fellow soldiers. He did this until he served 1,500 soldiers their breakfasts. Then it was time go back and reload and make lunch.
It’s ironic that 40 years later, Jeff couldn’t afford to make himself three healthy meals a day. Before he joined the Fresh Connect program, he described eating meat and potatoes, mac and cheese, and maybe a salad “every once in a little while.” You heard how that diet was impacting his health as he was struggling through diabetes and heart disease. You, of course, know that those diseases are primarily caused by diet. You also heard how access to a produce prescription program improved his well-being with weight loss and being better able to manage his chronic conditions.
His story is not uncommon. American veterans are on the frontlines of the fight against food and nutrition insecurity. Twenty-seven percent of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are today food insecure. One in four of every veterans who has served this country suffers from diabetes, a rate considerably higher than the general population. I think we can all agree that great nations should not treat its veterans in this manner. Fortunately, there is a common-sense, cost-effective solution, and that’s what we’re here to talk about: Food is Medicine.
From medically tailored meals to produce prescriptions, Food is Medicine programs — and there’s plenty of data to back this up — have been shown to improve health outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, support local communities — often even support local farmers to help them build the capacity to support their community.
At The Rockefeller Foundation, led by Devon Klatell right here, we want to scale these interventions so they reach every veteran in this country — and eventually, every American who needs them. That’s going to take two things: partnership and investment.
That’s why the Foundation has committed $100 million to Food is Medicine efforts since 2019. It’s why we are working with the American Heart Association’s Healthcare by Food Initiative, led by Dr. Kevin Volpp, and more than 200 researchers across the United States, to understand how Food is Medicine programs can unlock the most benefits for high-risk patients and save the most resources for healthcare payers across the country. And it’s why we’re now partnering with the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand Food is Medicine programs throughout the VHA.
In 2023, the Foundation and the VA launched two pilots, one in Salt Lake City and one in Houston. Today, you will meet two more of the veterans that are part of those programs: Marine Corps Veteran Oswald Hutton from Salt Lake City — welcome — and Army Veteran Herman Johnson from Houston — welcome. I’m glad that you’ll get to hear their stories.
I’m also proud to announce that the Foundation will fund three new pilot projects in North Carolina, New York, and Maryland. This year, these pilots will reach more than 2,000 veterans with Food is Medicine interventions.
And this really is just the beginning. We hope these pilots generate the data, the will, the leadership, and the motivation for the VA to expand this program throughout its healthcare facilities to reach every veteran in need. Because all veterans deserve a chance to lead lives without the physical, mental, and financial constraints of chronic disease and food insecurity.
We look forward to working with all of you to make that vision a reality.
Now, I will hand this to over to our next speaker, a longtime leader in Congress on food and nutrition issues, including Food is Medicine: Congresswoman Chellie Pingree chairs the Food is Medicine bipartisan working group. She also was the original co-sponsor of the medically tailored home-delivered meals demonstration and the sponsor of the Kids Eat Local Act.
But more important than any of that, she is widely respected by both sides of the aisle. Because at a time when, if you turn on the TV and kind of ask yourself what politics is about, it looks pretty ugly. But if you listen to Chellie and you look at what she’s accomplished, it’s bringing people together to solve practical problems in a thoughtful way to make our country better and to live our values in its best form.
So, with that, Chellie Pingree.
