Second Harvest Heartland

Kids solved Minnesota’s hunger crisis in 2 minutes.

Give one hungry 3rd-grader a plate filled with food, and one an empty plate. Then walk away. What will happen? That’s the question our experiment answered as we filmed the result for Second Harvest Heartland’s 2021 hunger awareness campaign. We invited 12 kids to a studio, fed only six of them, and then left them alone. 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.

The campaign also featured radio spots, outdoor boards, and a landing page peppered with questions about Minnesota hunger, enriched with kid-vids talking about what they learned about hunger during the experiment.