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Can we end child hunger in the 6th richest economy? | Carmel McConnell | TEDxExeter

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    Good morning.
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    Thank you for having me at TEDxExeter,
    it's great to be here.
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    We live in the sixth
    richest economy in the world,
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    we live in a great,
    caring, loving country,
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    but we're towards the tail end
    of an economic downturn,
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    the worst in 80 years.
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    That economic downturn
    has seen real consequences:
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    prices have gone up,
    but wages have stayed the same.
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    What we've seen as a result of that
    are two things:
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    one, a rise in social inequality
    in this country,
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    and two, the little known fact
    that because of stretched food budgets,
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    we've actually got a hidden,
    rising problem of child hunger.
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    When you think about child hunger
    as a barrier to education,
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    you don't tend to think
    about this country.
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    But this morning, all over this country,
    and in this county, and in this town,
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    children went to school
    too hungry to learn.
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    Half a million children went
    to school too hungry to learn.
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    I want to tell you a story about Zara.
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    Zara is a child in one
    of our Magic Breakfast partner schools.
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    This is what she said
    when I first met her,
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    "My mum gets me up in the morning,
    and I get my brother Jack up, he's five.
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    If there's any cereal or any bread
    in the house, we have some breakfast,
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    but if there's not, I go to the caff
    on the way to school,
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    and I ask them if I could have some food.
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    Sometimes, they give us something,
    and sometimes, they don't.
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    Then, if they don't,
    we go to school, and I'm OK,
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    but my brother Jack's crying by then.
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    Then we wait until lunchtime."
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    Half a million children starting
    their school day too hungry to learn
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    is not something I think
    this country should tolerate.
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    What do you guys think? No? No.
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    What is really interesting is
    how simple it is to sort this problem out.
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    What we're doing is delivering
    free healthy breakfasts
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    to schools that need our help.
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    Schools apply to us - schools
    with over 35% free school meals -
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    and we deliver porridge,
    bagels, orange juice, cereals.
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    We do it in a way that works
    with the school's ethos.
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    We do three things: we deliver that food,
    we hit the immediate need,
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    make sure those children
    have the right fuel for learning,
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    we develop the capacity
    in the parent community
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    because, obviously, more parents
    could feed their children;
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    and we build a case for change
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    because, I think, once we notice
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    that this is happening
    in this country, we will sort it out.
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    I'm here today to ask you
    to join me in solving this.
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    It is very solvable.
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    The bit that really interested me
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    was the realisation
    that at different times in your life
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    you get the chance
    to do your life's purpose.
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    Before I get into more about
    how we're trying to solve this problem,
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    let me tell you about how I got into it.
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    About 15 years ago, I was writing
    a book called "Change Activist".
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    My background had been a mixture
    of corporate and activism,
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    I had lived at Greenham Common,
    I'm trained as a broadband technologist.
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    I had a really good,
    interesting career plan, you know,
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    it was kind of linear, Greenham
    followed by broadband technology.
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    You've probably all done
    that kind of stuff,
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    sit in the road, be arrested,
    then train in geekdom.
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    (Laughter)
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    I learnt to run a business
    for quite a few years
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    that was helping leaders
    to use social activism
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    as a way to create
    more trust, more purpose,
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    more passion in their businesses.
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    I wrote that book
    called "Change Activist",
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    and when I was doing the research,
    I went to ask a bunch of headteachers,
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    "Have we created a fairer
    as well as a richer society?"
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    I was running a business in the city,
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    I thought I might have been
    a little out of tune
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    with some of the views around society.
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    What those teachers told me
    absolutely shocked me.
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    They said, "Carmel, all of us here,
    are aware of hungry children.
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    In fact, more than half the teachers
    are bringing in food every single day
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    in order to be able to teach."
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    I was like, "Really?"
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    Across the board in this country,
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    more than half the teachers,
    55%, are bringing in food.
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    In all of those schools,
    there is the tragedy of that child
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    missing the most important lessons,
    which are taught in the morning.
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    We've got great school lunches,
    but without the right fuel,
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    without the slow-burning carbohydrate
    that acts as magic in a child's body,
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    the right nutrition
    that fires up the brain,
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    that gives the body energy,
    those children are simply lethargic.
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    They're sitting in class stunned.
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    A hungry child cannot concentrate.
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    Some children are angry,
    and upset, and are naughty.
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    But what we do know
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    is half a million children coming
    into school too hungry to learn.
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    Taking the long view,
    what does that add up to?
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    My response, "Well,
    why aren't the parents feeding it?
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    What's happened to the parents?"
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    They just said, "Well, Carmel,
    the parents are hungry too."
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    For a year I dropped off food
    to those five schools,
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    I didn't know what else I could do,
    I dropped off the food.
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    Halfway through, I went back
    to talk to the teachers.
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    "Has this made any difference
    at all? Is it helping?"
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    First of all, the Tesco people thought
    I had the biggest carb habit in the world.
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    I was going in every morning,
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    "I'd like 27 bags of bagels,
    19 boxes of cornflakes, please."
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    "You like your breakfast?"
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    "Yeah, I do. I get a bit hungry."
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    "27 bagels!"
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    Dropping that food off,
    taking it to the caretakers,
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    running my business on a Saturday morning.
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    They said, "Actually, you know what?
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    We had kids that were getting in late,
    they're coming in on time.
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    They're not stopping off at the caff.
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    We had kids that didn't get in at all
    because they were foraging for food.
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    They were looking for food.
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    We had children with bad behaviour,
    we assumed they were naughty.
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    It turned out they're hungry.
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    We had children who had
    playground fights, they've stopped.
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    We had kids who were doing pretty badly
    in school, they're doing better.
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    So I had this big choice.
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    I'd just written this book about values
    and about business leaders stepping up
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    and playing more of a role
    in creating a fair and just society.
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    I had this big think to do.
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    Do I go back to my role in corporate life
    advising big companies on that,
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    or do I just do it?
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    So I went home, had a chat
    with Key Domestic Stakeholder,
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    (Laughter)
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    took a loan out on our house,
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    and gave myself
    a two-year project management plan
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    to solve it, to sort it out.
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    And because I am
    a rubbish project manager
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    - I thank you -
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    (Laughter)
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    I'm ten years on and here we are.
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    But, right now,
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    Magic Breakfast is delivering
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    17,000 children's breakfast every day.
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    We reach 17,000 children
    in 440 schools all over the country,
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    all across the South West,
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    and what we need to do
    is to reach that half a million.
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    I'd like to share with you a little clip
    from one of our partner schools.
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    (Video) (woman) Some of the parents
    have to make difficult choices
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    as to how to spend their money.
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    Some of them don't have the money to spend
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    on giving their child
    a healthy breakfast every morning.
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    Them having a healthy breakfast
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    means that they can get
    a great start to the school day,
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    they can focus, they can concentrate,
    they can then progress.
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    The attendance in the school has improved,
    and the punctuality has surely improved.
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    CC: Whether they're served up
    in the school hall or in the classroom,
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    the bagels are the highlight of the day.
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    (teacher) Are you ready everyone?
    The bagels are coming!
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    (Cheers)
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    (student) When I eat the bagel,
    it fills me up,
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    and it gets my brain ready for the lesson.
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    (student 2) It's really fun
    because you get energised for the day,
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    and you're not hungry
    during the day, and you learn more.
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    (teacher) It was heartbreaking to see
    children coming in, not having eaten.
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    I was bringing in food from home.
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    I was bringing in breakfast bars
    to keep in my locker, just in case.
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    But since Magic Breakfast has come,
    they are here, they're fed, they're awake,
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    they're energized, and they're
    prepared for the school day.
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    Carmel McConnell: What are
    the very basic things you can do,
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    I come from a corporate background,
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    what things can we do
    that make the biggest difference?
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    What's the smallest thing we can do
    to make the biggest difference?
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    When I was doing
    "Change Activist" research,
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    not only did I hear from the headteachers
    I also learned more about social activists
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    that I think can be role models
    for all of our lives.
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    People like Gandhi, Mandela,
    people who made the world change.
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    They didn't have iPads,
    they didn't have iWatches,
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    which are available today apparently.
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    Anyone got one that they'd like
    to show me, or share or give me?
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    No? OK.
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    Those people changed the world.
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    So, this is about a great idea,
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    a nutritious breakfast for a hungry child
    that opens up four hours of learning.
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    In this country, half a million children
    too hungry to learn,
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    it is a problem we must solve,
    and from my point of view,
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    we are absolutely determined
    to do this as quickly as we can
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    with a way to build in
    business partnership support,
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    create a sustainable breakfast provision,
    making sure that schools can self-fund it.
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    Yesterday I had a meeting
    with someone from your local authority
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    who told me about the children
    going to school hungry in Devon.
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    We were talking about ways to make sure
    that those children are supported
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    with the Magic Breakfast ideas
    if we can't get there right now,
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    because we've got 270 schools
    on our waiting list.
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    We also want to tackle holiday hunger.
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    We've got Magic Breakfast 365.
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    From the point of view
    of all of those children,
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    right now, we're delivering
    2 million breakfasts a year.
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    Small team, 15 people,
    brilliant people, I have to say.
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    But we are catalytic.
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    We want to do this
    through thought leadership.
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    We want local authorities to be inspired.
    We want schools to be inspired.
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    If you've got a way
    to help a school with ideas,
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    we really want to do that.
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    We've built up a ten-year track record,
    delivered six million breakfasts,
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    and we now think
    that this is something we can solve.
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    Results coming back from schools
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    make us feel like we have
    something really magical here.
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    Those stats: 93% of schools are telling us
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    that they've increased
    concentration in the classroom.
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    Fuel for learning.
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    I'm passionate about a pipeline of success
    being created in this country.
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    The accident of birth, poverty,
    no food, empty cupboards
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    should not be a barrier to a child
    going on to great success.
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    Around the world, great success
    is coming through breakfast programs.
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    Ofsted are telling us that they see
    that really good breakfast provision
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    is helping to drive great results
    in the schools as well.
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    We've had schools where Ofsted has said
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    that it's actually been key
    to the school's improved performance.
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    That's not bad, is it?
    Getting Ofsted on board like that.
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    I was delighted! Did a couple
    of cartwheels across the school.
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    (Laughter)
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    The kids said it was pretty bad.
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    (Laughter)
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    But my question to you again is
    can we do it here in this country?
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    Can we do it? Can we end
    child hunger in this country?
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    Can I change the slides?
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    (Laughter) (Applause)
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    I would applaud too, but I have more.
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    (Laughter)
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    "Oh God, no!", they said.
    Some people started leaving.
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    (Laughter)
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    This is how we're going to do it.
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    We're going to turn primary schools
    into community and economic hubs
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    that will be open every single day.
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    We're going to support the amazing,
    fantastic, gorgeous teachers,
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    who I am in love with.
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    Are there any teachers in tonight?
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    Well... I'm not telling you!
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    What we have to do though
    is sort out stories like Zara's.
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    As we go back to Zara's story,
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    we find out that, actually,
    she was getting into worse trouble.
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    The lack of food at home meant
    that she was being naughty at school,
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    and the teachers were saying
    that she was going to be excluded.
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    I take journalists to our schools,
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    and they tell me, "Carmel,
    this is about bad parenting.
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    Honestly, you're creating dependency."
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    I say, "Hold on. I've had
    25 million of those conversations.
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    Come with me.
    Come and talk to the children.
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    The parents are going home
    to empty cupboards.
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    We are supporting working poor families
    who run out of money midweek.
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    They may not have food skills, they may
    not have organisation in the morning,
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    but the most important driver
    of child hunger in this country
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    is poverty.
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    And we can sort it for 22p a day."
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    Any billionaires or business leaders here
    that want to give me a hand?
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    I would be delighted.
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    Zara's teachers told us
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    that if Zara kicks off,
    the whole school kicks off,
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    but with a bagel and a glass of milk,
    she was settled and ready to learn.
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    Ladies and gentlemen, a 22p breakfast gets
    the school settled and ready to learn.
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    That's not bad is it?
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    It's our choice: we take the long view,
    and we sort this out,
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    or we choose to ignore those children.
  • 14:49 - 14:51
    We're the grown ups here.
    We're the grown ups.
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    I know I'm not very grown up,
    but we are the grown ups,
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    and we are here to support
    these children if we can.
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    This is when we took Zara to Number 10.
    We had a partnership with Number 10.
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    She came in and the teacher
    was so impressed with her confidence,
  • 15:06 - 15:08
    with her ability to ask
    questions, and she said,
  • 15:08 - 15:10
    "Where does the Prime Minister sit?"
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    "The Cabinet Table."
  • 15:13 - 15:17
    And she went under the cordon
    and got in and sat down. So Zara!
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    (Laughter)
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    There's lots of people
    that could lead this country
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    in that group of half a million children
    that are too hungry to learn.
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    My life's ambition
    is to orchestrate this change
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    because what kind of people would we be
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    if we saw this problem,
    and we decided not to sort it out?
  • 15:42 - 15:47
    I'm here today to ask
    for these children's future life chances.
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    They are great kids.
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    They are hungry.
  • 15:50 - 15:54
    And I'm so grateful for the chance
    to talk to you this morning.
  • 15:54 - 15:57
    As the children say: thank you.
  • 15:57 - 15:59
    (Applause)
Title:
Can we end child hunger in the 6th richest economy? | Carmel McConnell | TEDxExeter
Description:

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

We live in the 6th richest economy in the world, but a half million children in the country go to school, too hungry to learn. Providing a simple breakfast can make an enormous difference.

Carmel’s background is a mixture of social activism and senior corporate roles. She has an MBA in change leadership and technology, and has worked at senior levels in BT, UBS and 20th Century Fox, as well as working as growth and strategy adviser to many FTSE 100 companies.

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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDxTalks
Duration:
16:11
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  • 09.11: Transcript updated:

    0.16.95 in the sixth richest in the world -->in the sixth richest economy in the world.

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