As many as 828 million people around the world go to bed hungry every night, including many in the South Carolina Lowcountry. But everyone should have access to adequate food.

To address the state of global hunger and food insecurity in the Lowcountry, the College of Charleston will host the inaugural Food Security Summit on Friday, March 24, 2023, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Rita Liddy Hollings Science Center (58 Coming St.), room 101.

Speakers include:

  • Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and longtime member of the House Agriculture Committee, with Rebecca Middleton, chief advocacy and engagement officer, World Food Program USA, will explain how the world produces enough food to feed everyone on the planet, but nearly one-third of all food produced globally each year is lost or wasted. They will discuss supply chain issues and the challenges food insecurity presents.
  • Barron Segar, president and CEO of World Food Program USA, will talk about the unprecedented hunger around the world resulting from conflict, climate change, natural disasters and economic pressures, and what World Food Program USA is doing to alleviate food insecurity.
  • Nick Osborne, president and CEO of the Lowcountry Food Bank, and Shannon Maynard, executive director of the Congressional Hunger Center, will speak about food insecurity. Osborne will discuss food insecurity in the Lowcountry and what the Lowcountry Food Bank is doing to decrease food insecurity in coastal South Carolina by 25% by 2025. Maynard will share how the Congressional Hunger Center is taking a grassroots approach to ending hunger by training more than 1,000 new leaders in the movement.
  • Gresham Barrett, senior advisor to the executive director, the World Food Programme and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and the South Carolina House of Representatives, will give his perspective on the issue of food insecurity globally and in South Carolina.

The inaugural Food Security Summit is free and open to the public. Visit the Food Security Summit website to register and review a detailed schedule.