Latest / Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane / The Why Not Today? Podcast - Season 3 - Episode 34, Jennifer Seifert, Pumpkins for Pigs Foundation

Transcript

The Why Not Today? Podcast - Season 3 - Episode 34, Jennifer Seifert, Pumpkins for Pigs Foundation · Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Why Not Today Podcast where we celebrate courage, determination, and the
• 0:06
  power of saying, Why Not Today.
• 0:09
  I'm your host, Leslie Cain, and in each episode we dive into inspiring stories of individuals
• 0:14
  who have taken bold steps, face their fears, and embrace the possibility of today.
• 0:19
  From entrepreneurs to dreamers to doers, we explore the moments when they set enough waiting.
• 0:24
  Why Not Today?
• 0:25
  Join me as we uncover the heartwarming, the audacious, and the transformative, whether
• 0:29
  it's pursuing a lifelong passion, overcoming obstacles, or simply choosing joy.
• 0:34
  Our guests share their journeys and inspire us all.
• 0:37
  I started this podcast in honor of my father, Patrick Cain, who often said, Why Not Today?
• 0:43
  And remember, you're just one decision away from changing your life.
• 0:46
  So my guest today is Jennifer Seyfert, and she's got a really cool, it's a nonprofit,
• 0:52
  right?
• 0:53
  Yes.
• 0:54
  And I'm looking for pics, which those of you listening or seeing the description, like,
• 0:58
  what the heck is that?
• 0:59
  And so I always like to see, talk about how we connected.
• 1:01
  So I have heard about you because a good friend of mine goes overboard with her decorating
• 1:06
  and pumpkin's in her yard.
• 1:08
  And at the end of the Halloween season, she puts them in the back of her pink Cadillac
• 1:12
  and would take them somewhere.
• 1:14
  So I heard about you, and then I went to a networking event the other day, and you were
• 1:18
  standing on the street corner basically, we stood out there for 15, 20 minutes before
• 1:24
  we even entered the event.
• 1:26
  And so I don't really know much about your story, except we're going to do a preliminary
• 1:31
  column like, you know what, I think this is a great cause.
• 1:34
  And let's just do the call.
• 1:35
  So I'm going to learn along with the listeners today who Jennifer is.
• 1:38
  So let's start with first welcome.
• 1:41
  But who is Jennifer and tell us a little about you.
• 1:44
  And then also a fun fact that people might not know.
• 1:48
  Yeah, so yeah, my name is Jennifer Seyford and I've been in the DMV my whole life.
• 1:53
  And I have a tech now.
• 1:56
  Sorry, I did not know that.
• 1:58
  Where'd you go to high school?
• 2:00
  out in Bel Air.
• 2:02
  So yeah, in Maryland.
• 2:04
  So I guess it is DMV, but it's not.
• 2:09
  Yeah.
• 2:10
  Sorry.
• 2:11
  It's not going to Virginia now.
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  Over the river.
• 2:13
  Yeah, I mean, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, right?
• 2:16
  Yeah.
• 2:18
  So yeah, I have a technology background.
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  My focus has been over the years, large transformations within organizations.
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  And that included everything from program and project management, risk management, things
• 2:29
  like that.
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  But also how do we get organizations to be able to realize their investment by getting
• 2:36
  people to go through the change journey of actually adopting whatever technology they
• 2:42
  decided to implement to support a business objective.
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  And so that's what my day job is.
• 2:49
  And then I have this nonprofit that I started.
• 2:52
  Yeah.
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  So what's a fun fact about Jennifer?
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  So I have driven across the country round trip three times.
• 3:05
  Wow.
• 3:06
  Yep.
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  By car.
• 3:08
  So I am a car enthusiast.
• 3:10
  No, exactly.
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  So I'm a car enthusiast and my husband and I have had many coupers and many USA used to
• 3:18
  do a many takes the states every other year.
• 3:22
  And so we would, you have to meet on one coast or the other.
• 3:27
  And then you drive in the other direction.
• 3:29
  So, you know, we were able to do that three or four times.
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  So that's, I've seen a lot of the country and it's just, you know, I encourage everyone
• 3:37
  to take time out of their day and take some time off and do that.
• 3:40
  It's a lot of fun and you'll learn a lot.
• 3:42
  That is pretty darn cool.
• 3:43
  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  So my bucket list to do that and kind of talk about my little in the end of my dad connection,
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  which you just fed into immediately.
• 3:51
  So yeah.
• 3:52
  Oh, okay.
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  So I always ask how people know my dad and most people have never met my dad, but I always
• 3:58
  find a connection of something that my guests talk about that relates my dad and you already
• 4:04
  hit it.
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  So we'll talk about that in a few minutes.
• 4:07
  Okay.
• 4:08
  Yeah.
• 4:09
  So, um, you have this nonprofit pumpkin for pigs explain what the heck that is and how
• 4:17
  you got there.
• 4:19
  And, um, did you have before you, for explain it, did you have a why not today moment within
• 4:26
  this starting this nonprofit, like you had that moment you were doing something you were
• 4:31
  knew where you were, what you're wearing almost and you're like made that decision.
• 4:36
  Yes.
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  So we were out picking up eggs one evening in the fall in 2017.
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  And you know, by that time, I mean by picking up eggs, I got the grocery store pick up eggs.
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  So we're going to, you're going to a local farm to pick up eggs.
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  And it was getting late in the season and I said, Hey, you know, I have these pumpkins
• 5:01
  on my front step and I'm going to be putting a wreath on my door here shortly.
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  They're in great shape.
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  I don't want to throw them out.
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  It just, there's something wrong about that.
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  There's inherently something that just doesn't feel right about that.
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  I said, I've lived here in the county for over 10 years.
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  I still haven't figured out like, is there, you know, what are my options?
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  And he said, bring them by that would be considered a sweet treat for the animals on my farm,
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  the pigs, the cattle, the chicken.
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  And I suddenly dawned on me.
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  Well, I have two or three.
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  I have a neighborhood of over a hundred houses.
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  What if they all had two or three?
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  Are we putting all of that into the landfill?
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  And maybe they would be willing to go out to a local farm and drop them off when they
• 5:49
  go to pick out their holiday tree.
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  And so I got on the phone and started calling all the farms that were on the farmers market
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  list that we get every year and said, Hey, would you be willing to try this out?
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  And I was just so impressed.
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  I had nine or 10 of them that said, Yeah, and I had a animal sanctuary in Maryland and
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  I had these, you know, eight or nine farms here in the county and they were all willing
• 6:15
  to give it a try.
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  And then it was literally the old school printing up flyers with a little tear sheets because
• 6:22
  they didn't have a website yet and saying, Hey, you know, if you have these pumpkins
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  here are 10 different locations you could take them to when you go out to pick out your
• 6:30
  tree or, you know, you go out to buy Christmas gifts at one of the local farms and they'll
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  take them and they'll use them for feed.
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  And I was just so overwhelmed at how much people were willing to do that when that time
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  of year is already so busy.
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  You've got kids games, you've got holidays, you've got football.
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  This area and I don't, you know, I've lived in rest of my whole life.
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  So this is the area now, but they're willing to help and they want to help.
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  They just don't know how to help.
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  Right.
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  And especially over the holidays and I want to get kids involved, but they don't know
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  how.
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  Yes, exactly.
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  And so, you know, the second year we doubled in size and then the third year we doubled
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  again and then the pandemic hit and it, you know, and I started doing some things online.
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  This is still an outdoor activity that people could do.
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  Our name got into a homesteaders group and it just exploded from there.
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  And then we started getting picked up by National Geographic and I Heart Radio and all these
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  different news outlets.
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  And it just, it really took on a life of its own that I couldn't have imagined.
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  Yeah.
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  Did you, was it a non-profit from the beginning or?
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  No, I didn't start it out that way because I wasn't sure, you know, is this something
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  that's going to sustain and last, right?
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  And then, you know, how, you know, legally, how can I accept donations and then, you know,
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  who do I go to to get the paperwork done and just the mechanics of getting it done?
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  And then finally reaching someone that said, oh yeah, I know someone who could help you
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  get that set up.
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  And so, and then eventually we've done that.
• 8:10
  That's awesome.
• 8:11
  So okay, so tell me what is the pumpkins for pigs look like today?
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  How does this work?
• 8:17
  Yeah.
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  So our original plan was you take your fall decorations, your pumpkins, your gourds,
• 8:24
  your corn stalks, your hay bales, all of those sorts of things that are still usable.
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  And you take them to a farm or an animal sanctuary that can use them, whether for feed, you know,
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  it gets really muddy in November, right?
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  With the rain and, you know, those things are very helpful and they're still viable.
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  There's no sense in sending them to the landfill.
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  And that's how that meme, what came about, right?
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  Pumpkins for pigs.
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  Now, obviously we understand now that it, that lots of animals eat them.
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  But then from what I know, I have a dog and I've never had to do this, but I've heard
• 8:58
  that if dogs set up stomachs, give them pumpkin.
• 9:01
  But I don't see them pumpkin, but do you, can you give them real pumpkin?
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  You need it to be cooked for them.
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  So the large animals and chickens have a different stomach system than you and I do.
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  And so for jack-o-lanterns, you and I might be able to pull out the seeds and roast them
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  and they're fantastic.
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  But we would not be able to digest in most cases a lot of the jack-o-lanterns and different
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  subspecies of pumpkins.
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  Now some people do make soups out of them.
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  Oh, no, every day is a learning day.
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  Every day is a learning day.
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  So, all right.
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  So you start to say lots of animals eat pumpkins.
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  Yep.
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  So lots of animals.
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  So we had folks with cattle that joined us and that kept growing and then we said, oh,
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  hey, winter's coming.
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  Everyone has a place to, you know, there isn't always a curbside pickup of Christmas trees.
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  And we found that some of our donation sites were using them for goats and the goats would
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  eat them and they love them.
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  Other places were using them.
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  I had one that said, we're going to submerge it in the pond and we're going to create an
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  aquatic environment, which I had no idea that that was even a thing.
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  And so every year it was something else.
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  And then, you know, a couple of years back, I think during the pandemic, I was visiting
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  one of our new donation sites and she had a lot of foul.
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  And I said, could you use the blue pity pools that, you know, use for toddlers that folks
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  throw out at the end of the summer?
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  They usually don't keep them.
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  And she said, oh, absolutely.
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  That would help me out a lot.
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  And so that was a whole nother sort of effort outside of food.
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  We have since added two more programs.
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  One of them because of the pandemic, we added backyard extras program.
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  So a lot of people had these massive victory gardens and they weren't able to take them
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  into their office anymore.
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  They could only give them out to so many people.
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  So if they didn't give them back to a food pantry or something like that, you could give
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  those to farms.
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  And then lastly, we've added on and last earlier this year, we added on working with food pantries
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  and kitchen food kitchens to say you have extras that you can't always get out to the
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  population you serve.
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  So where does it go?
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  Well that also can end up in the dumpster and it might still be viable, but it may not
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  be human consumable based on whatever laws or regulations or standards you're following,
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  but it's still viable food.
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  And so we've now added that on and we're trying to figure out how we create those networks
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  to enable them to avoid that.
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  That's awesome.
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  I mean, and there's so much waste.
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  An episode I did with somebody else, we were talking about square footage waste in this
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  area, like how many houses and have, you know, she's like, I lived in a 7000 square foot
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  house and she goes, it was way too much.
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  And she's like, now I'm in an apartment with less than a thousand square feet.
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  I'm happier than ever.
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  So it's, you know, but what I love is that you took an idea and ran with it and let it
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  grow.
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  And what I found with my guests on podcasts is we start here and we end up here.
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  You have no idea, you know, when you started picking up eggs, where it would lead to and
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  food and food and helping and there's such a need.
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  Especially the food pantry and helping, you know, help from that end to then be able to
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  take that and use it.
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  And there's so much waste of food and like at events and things.
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  Like if you don't know, you don't know, like my mom used to work for catering or a business,
• 12:55
  a training business and they had lunch catered every day and she'd forever call me, are you
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  in the area going to pick up lunch because we have way too much.
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  You've been to all these events and you can't, they can't resell the food and you know, in
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  rest and there's a homeless shelter and luckily I know it.
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  My mom and my mom used to take things to the homeless shelter or to the fire department.
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  And there's a domestic violence shelter also in the area that I know because I used to
• 13:22
  be on the board.
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  So I've taken extras over there and they're like so grateful.
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  But there's so much waste.
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  40% of food is wasted.
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  That's a global problem.
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  We actually produce enough food to feed everyone on the planet.
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  Plus some, some estimates are as high as 40% more than what we actually need, which would
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  indicate an 80% overage of waste, right?
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  Between what's what we actually produce versus what we're utilizing and you and needing.
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  And I think there's just such a massive opportunity for us to make small decisions every day to
• 14:00
  try to reduce our impact in that way.
• 14:03
  And it could be as simple as I'm buying less this week and if I need something more, I'll
• 14:07
  make a quick trip to the grocery store or the farm market to buy that one item that I forgot.
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  And it could be just that simple.
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  And so hopefully the, you know, donating pumpkins, which is truly just one item, we
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  we grow 2 billion of them in this country every year.
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  And you know, for decoration and no one's actually eating it.
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  1.6 billion will end up in the landfill every year.
• 14:33
  Wow.
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  So have you moved outside of the Northern Virginia area?
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  We are now in 600 locations across North America.
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  Wow.
• 14:42
  So how do you, okay, somebody gets in wants to get involved in resting or somebody wants
• 14:47
  to get involved listening to this in Idaho.
• 14:49
  Like what is the process?
• 14:51
  How can you be in other areas?
• 14:54
  So there's a couple of different ways.
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  If they are a farm, animal sanctuary, someone like that that wants to receive, they can
• 15:00
  just go to our website, pumpkinsforpigs.org and register.
• 15:05
  It's that simple.
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  It's a free service.
• 15:07
  We do the advertising for them.
• 15:09
  And once they're vetted and up on the site, they can manage their own, you know, their
• 15:13
  own profile, what they get, what they, what they need.
• 15:16
  And we're always looking to grow because we, I got a call yesterday from someone in Ontario
• 15:21
  that said, Hey, you don't have any locations here.
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  And I said, I know I really want locations in Ontario.
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  I don't have any.
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  I said, but if you would be willing to go out to your farmers market and talk to any
• 15:34
  of the folks there and see if they would be interested, I'd be happy to talk to them further
• 15:38
  and just, you know, make that connection for us.
• 15:41
  If you're a donor.
• 15:42
  So, you know, I'm Leslie, it's now Thanksgiving time.
• 15:46
  I'm ready to get rid of the pumpkins that are sitting in my house.
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  What do I do with them?
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  You go to our website and you say, Hey, I'm looking, you know, I'm going to click the
• 15:55
  button that says donate food and you're going to look for a location that's near you.
• 16:00
  And you're going to decide, I want to look in Virginia.
• 16:03
  I want to look for someone that accepts pumpkins and gourds.
• 16:06
  And you look at the list and you say, okay, I'm going to be in this area.
• 16:08
  I'm going to drop it off at this location.
• 16:11
  And then you take it out there.
• 16:12
  And then hopefully you'll consider patronizing that farm when you go out.
• 16:17
  Yeah, that's awesome.
• 16:18
  So I know you do drop off locations and neighborhoods and stuff.
• 16:23
  How does that work?
• 16:24
  Do you have somebody that's a captain for it?
• 16:27
  Right.
• 16:28
  So what we do is if an HOA or a corporation and any type of group is interested in doing
• 16:34
  a collection, we help them set a date.
• 16:37
  So for example, we have several that are coming up.
• 16:39
  It's, you know, I have one on November 3rd.
• 16:42
  It's going to be a four hour block of time, 12 to four.
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  You have someone manning the station, have everyone bring it to a single central location.
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  And we help you get the advertising to your team.
• 16:57
  And then we actually help you identify a farm or donation site that will accept it.
• 17:03
  And the big challenge is always donations, excuse me, is transportation.
• 17:06
  So in a lot of cases, there are enough individuals with large pickup trucks if they got a lot.
• 17:13
  They're, you know, it's pretty easy.
• 17:14
  You just fill up your pickup trucks and you go on out there and you drop it off.
• 17:19
  In other cases, we have a big event that's coming up.
• 17:22
  We have someone that's donated their services.
• 17:23
  So we're always looking for organizations that have that and are willing to do in a few
• 17:28
  hours to, to the effort to transport it from point A to point B.
• 17:32
  All right.
• 17:33
  My wheels are turning.
• 17:35
  If you see me just like, oh, I know all kinds of things.
• 17:40
  Because where are you located?
• 17:43
  You personally.
• 17:44
  Me personally, I'm in Percerville, Virginia.
• 17:47
  So are you, do you have a lot of connections and people doing things in Reston, Herndon
• 17:51
  area?
• 17:53
  We don't.
• 17:54
  We used to have a location in Reston and they got so overwhelmed.
• 17:59
  And this was before the pandemic.
• 18:01
  They actually called us.
• 18:02
  This is the only time it's ever happened.
• 18:03
  They said, we are so overwhelmed.
• 18:04
  You've got to take us off the website.
• 18:07
  And what happened was people knew of them and the next year they were still getting them,
• 18:11
  even though we completely removed them.
• 18:13
  So the closest one to the Reston, Herndon area these days is Sterling.
• 18:18
  We have a bunch of Leesburg, but a lot of them are Percerville, Lovitzville and further
• 18:22
  further west.
• 18:24
  But you know, we have 120 locations in Virginia alone.
• 18:28
  All right.
• 18:29
  My wheels are turning.
• 18:31
  That, you know, because I'm thinking like it's a great partnership for other businesses.
• 18:37
  So I know a real estate agent and she does backpacks for kids.
• 18:43
  And so she does a Saturday event.
• 18:45
  She did this year.
• 18:46
  She had somebody with a donut truck and she just did shredding at the same time.
• 18:52
  So like what the partnerships you could do with so many people.
• 18:56
  I know a lot of real estate agents give away pies for Thanksgiving.
• 19:01
  Like give away Thanksgiving pie and bring your pumpkin and a win-win.
• 19:06
  That's right.
• 19:07
  Exactly right.
• 19:08
  We're always looking for people who are willing to partner.
• 19:11
  We'll help you get it all set up.
• 19:13
  You provide the labor to run it and we'll be there to do everything we can to make it
• 19:18
  go smoothly.
• 19:19
  I'm supposed to be saying no to things in my life, but you're getting me this thing.
• 19:22
  Why not today?
• 19:23
  Right?
• 19:24
  Why not today?
• 19:25
  You could plan it for three weeks from now.
• 19:27
  I don't have pumpkins in my house that need to be recycled or fed to the pigs because
• 19:34
  years ago I lived in a townhouse community and we had squirrels.
• 19:38
  Squirrels love pumpkins and they devoured my pumpkins.
• 19:42
  So I saw online somewhere and I have a Mary Kay business which is all about pink.
• 19:48
  I should have brought my pumpkins out to show you.
• 19:50
  But I went to Michael's and bought paper mache pumpkins and painted them.
• 19:55
  I have three pink ones, ones with pink and white polka dots.
• 19:58
  And so every fall I bring them out and put them out and then Christmas comes and I put
• 20:03
  them in my bag and put them back here.
• 20:05
  So that's right.
• 20:06
  The only problem I have is I'm on the ninth floor of a balcony and if it gets too windy
• 20:10
  they blow sometimes.
• 20:11
  Yeah.
• 20:12
  Yeah.
• 20:13
  Never gone off but blow around the balcony.
• 20:15
  Yeah.
• 20:16
  All right.
• 20:17
  So any really fun stories around this that you know that are things you had to do that
• 20:26
  took a little extra courage or you know I always hope this podcast inspires people to
• 20:32
  do things themselves.
• 20:34
  You know they have that idea the thing that keeps them up at night or that just moment
• 20:40
  like that why not say moment when you thought of something.
• 20:43
  You know talk to how if you have any stories or things to encourage other people if you
• 20:49
  have an idea run with it.
• 20:51
  Yeah.
• 20:52
  I think I'm someone who I'm a process person.
• 20:57
  So when I think you know someone comes to me and they say I want to do X my brain immediately
• 21:01
  goes into problem solving and I think oh you got to put this together and you got to pull
• 21:04
  that together and you need to do this.
• 21:06
  And what happens is I end up oh my god that's just way too much and I end up sort of backing
• 21:11
  out right.
• 21:12
  My brain says have an idea and it's in place the next day.
• 21:18
  Now I haven't thought through the process often like just like this I'm like all right
• 21:23
  how can I partner with Jennifer and do this and I'm like I really shouldn't but I probably
• 21:28
  will but you know that's interesting how our brains are different.
• 21:32
  So you're the process you're going to figure out all things and you're going to be overwhelmed.
• 21:36
  Yeah and then I'm overwhelmed and I what I would say to people is delve it and find
• 21:42
  that I can do this much only think about it is a single step.
• 21:47
  And I think it's why not today message like just you know why not today what can you do
• 21:52
  that one little thing.
• 21:54
  Yeah.
• 21:55
  And that's just one thing and so have it start with that one action and and then figuring
• 22:01
  out what it looks like.
• 22:03
  So maybe your one thing for reducing food waste today and this is the day you go shopping
• 22:09
  is I'm going to do meal planning for breakfast lunch and dinner for my family for this week
• 22:14
  so that I'm only buying what I need a year or two ago for me it was I'm going to commit
• 22:20
  to having a composter come and pick up what I can't use and that was the one thing that
• 22:27
  I committed to and it has totally changed how much I buy where I buy it and our trash
• 22:34
  is half of what it was before we started this process.
• 22:37
  So I'm single I'll have kids and my meal planning can be all over the place and like
• 22:43
  Sunday online.
• 22:44
  All right I'm going to go to the store and I'm going to get the stuff to do all this
• 22:48
  stuff.
• 22:49
  Well and then I found myself I'd go to the store and had all these meals planned but
• 22:54
  I didn't look at my calendar and all of a sudden I'm like I'm lunch lunch here like
• 22:58
  last night I was at my mom she's like do you want leftovers I'm like no I have lunch plans
• 23:02
  I have dinner plans I have leftovers my refrigerator from two nights ago.
• 23:07
  Next you know I have something Saturday I'm like I'm not going to be here so being able
• 23:10
  to say what I'm going to be here and another thing that's helped a philosophy is if we
• 23:16
  have an abundance of something we're more wasteful.
• 23:21
  That's right toilet paper or paper towels if you're down seriously not even yeah but
• 23:27
  if you're down to the last two rolls of toilet paper you're a little more conservative right
• 23:31
  but if you just went to Costco and you have three million like who cares you know and
• 23:39
  so you know living from a different mindset of and I try I've been trying instead of you
• 23:46
  know you want that extra there.
• 23:47
  Yes toothpaste or things that are running out I'm going to wait till it's gone and then
• 23:52
  I'm going to get it.
• 23:53
  That's right.
• 23:54
  And you know I bought toothpaste thinking oh it's almost gone and three months later
• 23:58
  it's you know cut the tube off that's what I always tell my mom.
• 24:02
  Right.
• 24:03
  I mean yes foundation and I have weeks left.
• 24:07
  That's right it's my husband makes fun of me because my grandfather always used to cut
• 24:11
  off the bottom of the toothpaste tube and that's where I learned it from and I still
• 24:16
  do that now and he's like that's so funny and I'm like no really I get like two or three
• 24:21
  more weeks out of this thing.
• 24:23
  I was at a friend's house the other day and their ziplock bags are all like wrinkled and
• 24:29
  not so clean.
• 24:30
  I mean they were clean but they weren't out of the package you know if you don't you put
• 24:35
  something in it for a couple days there's nothing that smells bad or is bad crackers like why
• 24:41
  can't you reuse it.
• 24:43
  That's right.
• 24:44
  All those things I'm trying to do more of that.
• 24:47
  I used to have an argument with a friend of mine he was all about the paper towels and
• 24:52
  paper plates too and I'm like what a waste and he's like well you're wasting water to
• 24:57
  wash them I'm like not as much.
• 25:01
  Right.
• 25:02
  It's funny because I even.
• 25:03
  Yeah I carry around with me in my work bag when I was going to the office these travel
• 25:09
  they use them for hiking the plastic fork knives and it comes in like a little kit and
• 25:14
  you can just leave it in your bag and that's what I would use at lunch and everyone's like
• 25:19
  are you going camping I'm like no this is just I'm not going to use a plastic fork.
• 25:24
  I'm just going to clean this.
• 25:25
  To get to go food and they give you.
• 25:27
  Right.
• 25:28
  I'm like I don't need any more of these I have several where in my house and they just
• 25:32
  assume and they put it in there.
• 25:34
  Right.
• 25:35
  And then all these events we go to like yeah and they give you the little chachki things
• 25:41
  like yeah a bunch of calculators recently I'm never going to use a calculator.
• 25:45
  I have a phone.
• 25:47
  You know.
• 25:48
  Right.
• 25:49
  Right.
• 25:50
  Yeah.
• 25:51
  So I love what you're doing and how you're making a difference so do you have any fun
• 25:54
  stories and I asked you that.
• 25:56
  Yeah I think you know one of the stories that always sticks with me is in the in the early
• 26:01
  years we had it was an animal sanctuary that reached out to us and said hey you know do
• 26:09
  you ever collect bread and pastries and things like that and I said well we haven't anyone
• 26:13
  asked for that could help me understand like how you how would you use it because it's
• 26:19
  it's you know I'm always asking like what can I learn about what I don't know and she
• 26:24
  said well you know we just took in several malnourished horses in a less than ideal situation
• 26:32
  and we just need to get weight on them and we would just love to have as much bread and
• 26:36
  pastries as possible just to get them to some normal weight as we add in all the other healthy
• 26:42
  nutrients that they need and it just dawned on me it was you know it was sad to me to
• 26:47
  think that that's that's what we need to do but on the other hand it gave me hope that
• 26:53
  we had a we could create a solution for it we could really help the animals I'm such
• 26:58
  an animal lover that you know it just it has stuck with me that story has stuck with me
• 27:04
  for you know all this time that there's always another creative way that you're not thinking
• 27:10
  about until someone asks you a question and then all of a sudden it's another light bulb
• 27:14
  moment about taking this idea whatever your idea is and making it better because of someone
• 27:21
  else asking right I love that and we just need to say why not today and act on these
• 27:27
  things or ask the questions just thinking about a nonprofit I ran into recently and it's
• 27:33
  cakes for kids have you heard of that you can if you like to bake you can bake cake
• 27:39
  cakes and they give it to underprivileged children that wouldn't necessarily have a
• 27:43
  birthday cake but special because I love to bake but I don't need it in my house right
• 27:51
  and so you know bake it and then it's like gotta give it somewhere and so I'm just thinking
• 27:58
  to an example my mom has a neighbor and she goes to a store and buys chicken salad and
• 28:04
  they give her whenever you buy a thing a chicken salad they give you a thing or croissants
• 28:07
  and she doesn't eat croissants so she gives to my mom and my mom is 83 and you know raised
• 28:13
  her parents are raised in the depression so she yeah waste food and so you can't get
• 28:18
  in her freezer because there's croissants and this woman gives her bagels but she's not
• 28:21
  going to throw them away until they stay in a freezer long enough and they go bad and
• 28:26
  freeze it burn away yeah yeah yeah and and yeah and those pastries and bread products
• 28:35
  are actually the most wasted food on the planet because we they have such a ceremonial value
• 28:41
  and they're so much produced over the course of a day and their shelf life is so short
• 28:46
  right you know we try to refresh them in the oven but there's kind of a limit to what you
• 28:51
  can do with that before it turns and so most of that ends up getting tossed which is not
• 28:58
  the best use of our resources it's adding more to the landfill 24% of our landfills
• 29:03
  are food and so that's creating methane and CO2 as it breaks down and and these are the
• 29:11
  things these are the impacts that we're having and so for us to divert even the pumpkins
• 29:16
  on your front step you you are making a difference and I think we need to start thinking about
• 29:20
  it in those tiny habits way yeah you're making me definitely think different thoughts I went
• 29:27
  through the leadership Fairfax program a couple years ago and one of their projects you had
• 29:33
  to have work on a project's nurse was on food insecurity and I live in Reston and you know
• 29:38
  Reston Fairfax County Loudoun County most expensive counties in the country and I can't tell you
• 29:44
  how many people when I said food insecurity and rest and I like rest in what are you talking
• 29:47
  about like yeah there's a big problem and people don't realize it and you know and you
• 29:55
  get busy as a mom a single mom with kids and it's much easier to grab McDonald's which
• 30:02
  is not good but you don't have time to cook dinner and so there's actually they open the
• 30:07
  food pantry on a South Lakes high school and they really work on getting fruits and vegetables
• 30:14
  and different things and then people from other ethnicities they might not be used to
• 30:19
  that so they include a recipe card and I was at a gala the other night and somebody started
• 30:25
  nonprofit called Better Better A Life another food pantry and helping kids but they do its
• 30:31
  cooking class for kids and to teach them to give them the tools so they know how to cook.
• 30:38
  Yes and we've been as we're building our partnerships with the local food banks and food pantries here
• 30:42
  we're learning those same stories and one of you know something else we're learning
• 30:48
  about that is they give them a you know a pre-made bag of food and if it isn't culturally
• 30:55
  appropriate for them they may not know how to use them and they end up in the trash anyhow
• 31:00
  and so how do you find that balance?
• 31:03
  Or people donate expired bad food.
• 31:06
  Right.
• 31:07
  Right.
• 31:08
  Do they have a green bag program?
• 31:10
  I've not heard about that.
• 31:11
  No this isn't a great program I actually interviewed the guy that started it is so basic they're
• 31:18
  all over the country and they do have one in Reston so basically they have green bags
• 31:23
  like you take to a grocery store and they have people that pick them up so you fill
• 31:30
  your bag and they give you a list of things that people need so you know you have it once
• 31:36
  a month or every other month whatever it is but so you know that people need pumpkin and
• 31:43
  they need rice and they need whatever their list and so you have that in your ahead of
• 31:52
  time and so when you're going to a grocery store and they have three for one or four
• 31:56
  for whatever and you know a lot of times we buy them because we don't want to waste money
• 32:00
  but we don't want them and so you fill your bag with the things they're asking for a volunteer
• 32:06
  comes and picks up the bags whatever Saturday it is and then drops them off at food banks
• 32:12
  and they get that's awesome so many thousands of pounds and they have people volunteering
• 32:16
  to sort it and pull out the expired stuff but things too and I work on totally on a
• 32:21
  tangent here that aren't covered by food stamps and I've done an event around this is feminine
• 32:26
  feminine hygiene products are not covered by food stamps.
• 32:32
  That's incredible to me.
• 32:34
  Yeah and so you know we've done tampon drives and be able to give back so I love being able
• 32:39
  to you know awareness I remember just telling somebody about food insecurity in Reston they're
• 32:47
  like it's not in Reston I'm like yes it is.
• 32:50
  It is and you know we work I actually have been invited to attend a monthly discussion
• 32:55
  or bi-monthly discussion with the food banks in the county and one of the things that's
• 33:00
  been so shocking to hear is we you know over the course of this year the amount of need
• 33:06
  for food has gone up astronomically and it's one you know it's gone up I believe they were
• 33:13
  saying it's one in three or one in four of every person you meet is food insecure they
• 33:19
  may be able to buy part of their grocery list but not everything they need they may not be
• 33:24
  able to buy any of it and they're really fully dependent on on a food bank and you know this
• 33:29
  is you know there's a variety of reasons for that some of it is because of the pandemic
• 33:33
  money coming to an end and the impacts finally being held felt now and then the increase
• 33:37
  in inflation has really driven this down and I think it's really interesting that we live
• 33:45
  in a county of such wealth and to suggest that this isn't happening in our community
• 33:51
  is incorrect it's happening everywhere and we have the option to do something about it
• 33:57
  and you know what does a Best Buy date really mean does it just mean that it's not maybe
• 34:02
  as flavorful but it's still fine and so there's a lot of discussion around what do those dates
• 34:08
  mean how do you use them and we have a link on our website so that people can go out and
• 34:13
  learn well what do those dates mean and how do you use the food in your pantry that you
• 34:17
  already have yeah and so I think a lot of its awareness it is yeah I remember one time
• 34:23
  as a kid we had an extra freezer there were six of us kids and the freezer was and this
• 34:28
  is just a memory ingrained in my head that Fraser was jam packed and I went through it
• 34:33
  with my mom and we made a list of what's in there like okay what can we make from here
• 34:38
  that's right and we do that now my husband and I a couple of times a year will go through
• 34:45
  and say we're pulling everything out of the pantry we're going to go inventory it we're
• 34:49
  going to use everything that is getting close to expiration and we're going to figure out
• 34:54
  how to be creative for the next however many meals we need to be creative and then we're
• 34:58
  going to be buying less because now we have a better sense of what we've been shoving
• 35:02
  in the back.
• 35:03
  Well I was at something this morning we were talking about down on the subject organization
• 35:09
  we are really going on tangents here but there's a company or some women that started business
• 35:14
  called home edit oh yes I love them so it's all the organization so I read a friend of
• 35:21
  mine had the book I looked at it and came home last summer and literally took everything
• 35:26
  out of my pantry and put it in the fancy containers with the stickers and so we were talking about
• 35:32
  it and somebody's like oh what do you do with all the extra I'm like why are you buying
• 35:36
  all the extra you know I don't have a small condo so I don't have room for all the extra
• 35:42
  but even those some of those Facebook groups there's one in resting called share nothing
• 35:47
  or okay thing or something and the other day I'm like my cinnamon jar was almost empty and
• 35:53
  I'm like I need to buy more cinnamon and then somebody posted when you buy the Costco you
• 35:57
  get these two big things you're just like who wants one of them I'm like well hadn't
• 36:02
  them been open I knew the person too I'm like that cinnamon so yes you know and living because
• 36:09
  I live in a condo and there's other people here like you need a cup of sugar you need
• 36:13
  this like you don't want to buy the whole thing for a recipe you just need a little bit and
• 36:19
  somebody else might have it like the old boron egg from a neighbor we don't do that we go
• 36:23
  to the store because they're two seconds away and then you buy 25 things you didn't need
• 36:28
  that's right that's right and I think you know that's something else that we're hoping
• 36:32
  is that we're going to reconnect communities back together because you know we think about
• 36:36
  coming together to have a meal but we don't think about the making of the meal together
• 36:42
  and you know going to looking to your neighbor for that one cup of sugar and there's that
• 36:48
  this again this is a tangent there's something there's a discussion going around where this
• 36:53
  little girl asked her mom well why did you ask our neighbor for eggs we have eggs and
• 36:59
  she said because whenever she needs something even though we don't she won't always feel
• 37:03
  like she's asking us and it's more of a give and take you know equal where she feels like
• 37:09
  she can help us even though we know that you know it's more of us helping her so I think
• 37:15
  it's I think there's a there's a humanity in it that maybe will come back yeah yeah
• 37:21
  lots of things we need to think about and encourage people to do like let's be better
• 37:26
  humans and take care of this place and everything around it and while you're doing it you're
• 37:32
  building community and connection exactly fun with it that's exactly right yeah whether
• 37:38
  it's extras at a school where they have like a table of you know the kids get apples in
• 37:43
  their bag and they don't want them and they put them on a community table and then other
• 37:47
  people who need or want them can take that and so I think there's lots of ways to do
• 37:51
  it and and respect people's dignity in that process and just another tangent but I'm
• 37:58
  going to throw it out there which I've talked about doing and I think I need to do is to
• 38:03
  do a jewelry or a bag per swap there you go I did do this a holiday swap one time and
• 38:11
  it was during covid so it wasn't as effective but I might add it to one of my lunches but
• 38:16
  you know especially holiday decorations they don't go bad and we only use them for a month
• 38:22
  and then we pick away then you get bored with them and so right everybody bring their holiday
• 38:27
  stuff they didn't want and then you could grab something trade it and then whatever
• 38:32
  we had left we took to a shelter perfect do that again that sounds like a great idea
• 38:37
  all right yeah I'm mad at you Jennifer because you make my brain think of too many ideas
• 38:44
  your brains on fire now yes so all right so how would you so to get involved go to your
• 38:49
  website that's the best right yep that's the best place we have a place if you want to
• 38:53
  volunteer your time if you want to schedule have us help you run an event if you're looking
• 38:58
  to donate food on your own if you want to help us find additional donation sites lots
• 39:03
  and lots of ways to get involved all right so I'm gonna look at that and check it out
• 39:08
  and of course we'll share all your info on the show notes but it's just pumpkins for
• 39:11
  pigs that work pumpkins for pigs just pumpkins for pigs that work okay love it so anything
• 39:19
  oh so I always connect back to my dad and yeah you didn't know my dad but talking about your
• 39:26
  cross-country travels he was broken California was supposed to play football for USC got
• 39:34
  in a car accident and didn't wasn't able to so he traveled all the way to East Coast
• 39:38
  to start college so a travel but when I was 16 he got this grand idea my parents they were
• 39:45
  gonna buy RV and we are gonna travel cross-country now remember I am 16 years old at that point
• 39:52
  there were five less kids my youngest sister when we left was five weeks old so at 16 you
• 40:00
  don't admit your parents let alone parents are good things they would have a baby yeah
• 40:06
  and I want to spend I just got my driver's license so what we were gone for five weeks
• 40:09
  and I went all the way across the country and then back looking back oh my gosh I treasured
• 40:13
  that and the memories and the fun and the sacrifice my parents did to take us my dad
• 40:20
  worked for himself so he'd stop at campgrounds we pick him out and he'd get on the pay phone
• 40:23
  and do his work so that's been a dream of mine to do a cross-country just work work my way
• 40:31
  across the country I can't recommend it enough I've even told people find a Minneapolis rent
• 40:37
  a car drive west go on the north side go through North Dakota and Montana and in the summer
• 40:45
  mind you and just keep going west that's what I did I was able to take one of the legs from
• 40:50
  east to west solo in my convertible and you know checking in each day hey this is where
• 40:56
  I'm at and it's all good I can't recommend it enough it's just spectacular I need to
• 41:02
  do that so there was a podcast episode I had her name is Mary I think her last name but
• 41:08
  she started something it's do more good I think it was and she took her mom passed away
• 41:15
  she took her mom's car and just started traveling and just would be like I'm gonna be in this
• 41:20
  state who wants to host me who knows somebody that I could stay with yeah I met someone
• 41:26
  through one of these other networking events and she is seeing all 50 states she works
• 41:31
  for herself she does she's a coaching business and so she can do a lot of it remotely and
• 41:36
  what she does is she spends a month up to three months in any one location she rents
• 41:40
  an Airbnb and she just decides you know what city or town she's going to be in for the
• 41:46
  next three months so that she can you know live in these areas and really get to know
• 41:51
  them instead of just sort of passing through I did that a lot during COVID I worked from
• 41:56
  other places like goes into Florida a couple times for two weeks I was at Smith Mount like
• 41:59
  a lot so much that I joined the chamber you know and it was interesting to see other areas
• 42:05
  and other people and because I'm from here you know we live in a bubble very eclectic
• 42:12
  though I think what's really great about living here is there's so many different cultures
• 42:16
  and different experiences but yeah it's it's good to actually then go see it for yourself
• 42:22
  yeah so well this was wonderful and thank you so much I didn't realize we could talk
• 42:27
  this long about pumpkins and pigs thank you for being my guest and you know if people
• 42:32
  are interested they will go to your website and if you want to reach out to me I will
• 42:36
  probably be doing something in the rest area I don't have a pickup truck though I got to
• 42:40
  find someone with a truck but I'm sure two phone calls we can figure it out yes well
• 42:45
  thank you for this opportunity this is a lot of fun I'm so glad we did this and thank you
• 42:49
  everybody for joining us on this inspiring journey remember every day is an opportunity
• 42:53
  to take action chase your dreams and make a difference and remember and I want to add
• 42:57
  to if you're listening to this and you're feeling overwhelmed kind of like you're spinning
• 43:02
  too many plates have too many balls in the air and are wearing too many hats simultaneously
• 43:09
  from my 30 years of experience leading people helping businesses I am here to give you assistance
• 43:15
  and help get rid of that overwhelm that chaos so I'll put together a coaching program and
• 43:20
  if you want more information feel free to reach out and let me share in the show notes
• 43:24
  a way to contact me with that too so thanks again Jennifer and make sure you share this
• 43:28
  podcast and let's save feed some pigs this season and give them some pumpkins thanks
• 43:37
  everybody and remember say why not.