In Minnesota, like the rest of the world, there are the haves and the have nots. In fact, there is plenty of food in Minnesota to solve our hunger problem. Therefore selfishness became our unspoken enemy.

In the spirit of “Everything you need to know you learned in kindergarten,” we decided give six hungry third graders a plate filled with food, and six an empty plate. Then walk away. What would happen? That’s the question our experiment answered as we filmed the result for Second Harvest Heartland’s hunger awareness campaign. Our hope was that the “haves” with the full plates would share with the kids without. And thank goodness, our belief in human nature was justified. In less than two minutes, without exception, the kids shared with one another. They knew what to do. Knew what was fair. And did the right thing. We believe this simple metaphor is an inspiring example for the rest of us to help the 500,000 Minnesotans currently facing food insecurity. The kids figured it out. So can we.

190% increase in holiday donations.

86% increase in new website users over prior year.

47.6% increase in media impressions.

2023 U.S. Effie Winner for market effectiveness.