Social Impact Heroes Helping Our Planet: Why & How Stephen Shelley Of Farm Share Is Helping To Change Our World
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Educating food-insecure individuals is also needed. One of the things we have found is that many times when the food insecure receive healthy and nutritious food, they don’t know how to prepare it to eat. They have so rarely had access to this food that they don’t know how to cook it. This can result in them not eating it even when they have affordable access to it. The key is to educate them on simple ways to prepare these healthy food products as well as the benefits eating these food products have on their health and their family’s health.
As a part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Stephen Shelley.
Stephen Shelley is the CEO of Farm Share, Florida’s largest food bank, which has been operating for 30 years. Mr. Shelley also serves as an elected official for the City of Homestead and practiced law prior to leading Farm Share.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Before becoming CEO of Farm Share I practiced law for ten years specializing in Family Law and Business Law. I have also served, and continue to serve, as an elected official for the City of Homestead for the last twelve years. I have served in the capacity of councilmember, Vice Mayor and Mayor.
In 2015, the founder and then CEO of Farm Share was looking to retire and recruited me to join the organization. My connection to the organization came through my wife and her father. My wife’s father was one of the farmers who first helped Farm Share’s founder start Farm Share 30 years ago. Later on, my wife’s first job out of college was with Farm Share working with the CEO. It was during this time that I was introduced to the organization and its dynamic CEO. Fourteen (14) years later I would make the fulfilling decision to leave the practice of law and instead help fight food insecurity and feed hungry Floridians. I spent three years learning the ropes as COO before taking on the role of CEO in 2019.
During my time as an elected official I developed a true passion for public service and helping my community. Therefore, embarking on a career path that allowed me to support my family but also make a difference in the world and leave behind a legacy was very appealing. Joining the Farm Share family provided me with this opportunity.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
One of the most impactful experiences I had while working at Farm Share had to do with conversations I had with some of the recipients who came through the food distribution line at some of our events. After I first started working at Farm Share, I noticed that at some of our drive though food distribution events we would have some very nice/fancy cars come through the line for food. This perplexed me and I wondered if these individuals really needed food. Therefore, I started to go up to these cars and converse with the occupants to learn a little more about them and their situation.
In 90% of the conversations, I heard very similar stories. The occupants had a good paying job but due to life changing events; lost their job, went through a divorce, developed medical issues and/or debt, developed a disability or their spouse died were now struggling to survive, pay their bills and acquire food. Essentially the car that I saw from the outside was the only vestige left of a prior life and in some cases, had also now become their only source of shelter. Many times these persons would right the ship, rehabilitate their life and once again become self-supporting. But sometimes it led to chronic poverty and food insecurity.
The stark lesson learned was the classic don’t judge a book by its cover. Simply because someone has a nice car does not mean that person is not in need or struggling to survive. The COVID pandemic proved this lesson on a large scale as all classes of people were in the same food lines due to the shutting down of the world and the inaccessibility of food even to those who had the means to buy it.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
My tipping point was probably sometime between my second and third year working for Farm Share. It was during this time that our measurables started to climb and we began to experience the beginning of explosive growth. Since 2016, Farm Share has quadrupled all of its metrics including pounds of food distributed, number of meals served, number of distribution events held statewide and monetary grants and donations.
I think the fact that I did not come from the food banking world helped to contribute to the organization’s growth. I looked at issues differently and was not bound by the way it had always been done. My unique background gave me the tools to analyze our operations and try doing things differently. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, but this outside-the-box thinking helped to jump start our creativity and allow our staff to try new things and attack problems from a different perspective. Through this development, we also became more nimble and capable of adjusting to situations quickly, a key component in being successful in a very volatile and fluid industry. Both food and money come and go quickly and the organization must be able to adapt quickly to the constantly changing conditions around it. Farm Share excels in adaptability.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Many people have inspired me throughout my life to be a better person and more successful leader. From each such person, I have learned life lessons, witnessed character traits I have aspired to emulate and become educated on subject matters that have benefited me both personally and professionally. However, the person who has provided the most guidance and inspiration is my father.
My father early on helped me to build the character traits that have guided me throughout my journey in life. These include a strong sense of right and wrong, a willingness to stand up for what I think is right, working for the benefit of a greater good and not to be focused on material things but instead the impact you can make on society. These attributes lead me to make decisions that ultimately led to my public service as an elected official and then working for a not for profit.
He also instilled in me a strong sense of faith and tireless work ethic in addition to always being there to be my sounding board and help guide me in my decision making throughout my life.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The three character traits that I think have helped me be successful in my life are Fear of Failure, Faith in God and striving to always be Humble.
Fear of Failure. I hate to fail regardless of whether there is good reason to have not succeeded. This fear drives me to be successful, to plan ahead and work harder, out think and out maneuver my competition. In every decision I make I try to anticipate the pitfalls and plan for avoidance when possible. This trait keeps me sharp and focused.
Faith in God. In contrast to the statements above, although I plan on a micro level, I have engaged in the opposite at the macro level. I have always been led to where I am supposed to be when I am supposed to be there. Whether it was what to major in college, whether to go to law school, open my own law practice, run for public office or change career paths to the not for profit sector, I have always been guided by a higher power. I never had specific life goals in mind that I forced to occur but instead took advantage of, and maximized, the opportunities that were placed before me.
Humble. I have found that to be successful in life it takes help, whether that be from friends, family members or co-workers, everyone needs assistance. I also found that no one likes to work with someone who fails to acknowledge the contributions of those around them. Therefore, I try to always remember that nothing I accomplish is possible without the help and assistance from those around me; past, present and future.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite quote is “The Man in the Arena” from Theodore Roosevelt. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
This quote reverberates with me each time I read it. I have it framed above my desk at my office. It serves to motivate me to always move forward, take risks, fight for good causes, stand up for what is right and ignore the increasingly loud digital rhetoric from those who only criticize but don’t contribute.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about Food Deserts. I know this is intuitive to you, but it will be helpful to expressly articulate this for our readers. Can you please tell us what exactly a food desert is? Does it mean there are places in the US where you can’t buy food?
Generally speaking a Food Desert consists of individuals not having access to healthy, nutritious and affordable food products such as fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairy or whole grains. This lack of access could be caused by distance from a nearby grocery store or other food establishment or it could be due to lack of monies to buy food that are just down the street.
As an example, an individual could have enough access to money to buy food but not have any access to a grocery store. This individual may not have a car and instead must walk or take public transportation. If the grocery store is not within walking distance or on an established public transportation route this individual does not have access to the food even though they have money to buy the food. If enough individuals are experiencing the same conditions within a region, then it is deemed a food desert.
The reverse is also true. An individual may live next door to a grocery store but not have any money to buy the food contained therein. If enough individuals are experiencing the same conditions within a region, then it is deemed a food desert.
There are more technical definitions based on a specific distance from a healthy and nutritious food source and the percent poverty level in a region in determining whether a food desert exists but the above is a simple way to understand the issue.
Can you help explain a few of the social consequences that arise from food deserts? What are the secondary and tertiary problems that are created by a food desert?
Lack of access to healthy, nutritious and affordable food products in its most basic form leads to severe hunger and malnutrition. However, many times it also leads to the consumption of empty calories or unhealthy food products. If a grocery store is too far away an individual may instead shop at the local gas station. Instead of buying fruits, vegetables or grains they are buying candy, chips, snacks and gas station sandwiches. All of these products are high in calories, sodium and other unhealthy by products. The individuals may no longer be hungry but instead are now facing obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and other medical ailments. These medical issues affect quality of life, ability to care for one’s family, ability to maintain employment and an increased mortality rate. It also many times results in higher medical bills that lead to debt for the individual or the local hospital. In all cases it makes breaking the cycle of poverty harder and harder.
For those individuals who are having to use gas station food products to feed their children, it also causes diminished growth, stunted brain development and learning issues. School success suffers and the child can fall behind leading to social dysfunction and other ailments.
Where did this crisis come from? Can you briefly explain to our readers what brought us to this place?
Ultimately, food deserts are an economic creation. Grocery stores, like any for profit establishment, build their stores where they can make the most profit. Grocery stores that don’t turn a profit get closed down. Healthy and nutritious food products cost more money than less healthy food products. Those living at or below the poverty level don’t have discretionary income to spend on more expensive food products and therefore don’t purchase the healthy and nutritious food products even when they are available. These factors result in grocery stores not being built in or near high poverty communities and those that do get built eventually shut their doors and close. This creates a vicious cycle that perpetuates the existence of food deserts.
Can you describe to our readers how your work is making an impact to address this crisis? Can you share some of the initiatives you are leading to help correct this issue?
Farm Share’s programming focuses on getting healthy, nutritious and free food products into these food desert communities both urban and rural. Farm Share does this in two primary ways. The first and main way is by partnering with local emergency feeding organizations such as food pantries, soup kitchens and other not for profits that already have an established feeding program in the community. Farm Share delivers to the agency, or the agency picks up from a nearby Farm Share warehouse, fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairy, shelf stable canned goods and grain products as often as needed. More than 90% of Farm Share’s food is distributed through its statewide network of nearly 2,000 partner agencies.
In areas that don’t have a partner agency, Farm Share engages in mobile community food distributions. This involves taking one our refrigerated semi-trucks or box trucks directly into the food desert community and directly distributing healthy and nutritious food products to those who are hungry. This is typically done in conjunction with community leaders and local, state and federal government partners. Farm Share feeds anywhere from 500 to 1,000 households at a time during these food distribution events. These mobile community food distributions allow Farm Share to pinpoint areas of need and localized food deserts and directly get food to those who need it most.
Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?
Although providing free food to the hungry is the driving force that motivates us as an organization, I am most proud of the selfless sacrifices made by my employees to carry out our mission. I have a dedicated staff that never complains and always goes above and beyond what is required to perform their job duties. When challenged, they have always risen to the occasion, no matter what it takes, to ensure that we are acquiring and delivering the food necessary to meet the current demand.
In addition to our normal food insecurity programs, Farm Share also acts a first responder during natural disasters. During Hurricane Irma in 2017, my South Florida warehouses were distributing food within 48 hours after the storm made landfall. They were doing this despite the fact that our facility did not have power and neither did their own households for nearly seven (7) days. Despite these challenges, my employees were at the warehouse everyday doing everything they could to get food and water to all areas affected by the hurricane. More than 1.8 million pounds of food, water and supplies were distributed during this challenging time.
A similar story happened after hurricane Michael in the panhandle. My Quincy facility was also out of power for seven days and my Quincy Facility Manager had a tree go through the roof of his house. Despite these challenges he and his staff made the necessary sacrifices to be at the warehouse and work nonstop for ten days to distribute more than 2.1 million pounds of food, water and supplies to desperate communities. It is these selfless acts by my employees that have made Farm Share what it is today and me proud to be there CEO.
In your opinion, what should other business and civic leaders do to further address these problems? Can you please share your “5 Things That Need To Be Done To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options”? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
The first thing that needs to be done is make addressing food insecurity a priority for elected officials and business leaders alike. Food insecurity and the lack of access to healthy and affordable food options leads to countless other social, health and developmental issues that could be avoided in large part if these individuals had early and frequent affordable access to healthy food. Not only do these issues cause detrimental effects directly to those who experience them, but they also cause financial and other burdens on the rest of society. The best example is healthcare expenses. The food insecure typically don’t have access to health insurance and as a result receive most of their services through emergency rooms. The emergency rooms must provide them care even without the ability to pay. These costs are then spread throughout the healthcare system to those who do have insurance or can afford to pay driving up the cost of health services and insurance for society as a whole.
The second and third things that need to be done are educating the public and food-insecure individuals on the issues. Unfortunately, society has type cast who they think represent food insecure individuals. Most people think of the homeless and the severely poor and destitute. And although these people are food insecure, the largest number of food insecure people are working class individuals who despite their efforts are still living in poverty. This may be your kid’s baseball or soccer coach, teacher or neighbor down the street. These individuals may be chronically food insecure or only occasionally food insecure. Changing the face of food insecurity with the public will help elevate the issue and likely result in more action in addressing same. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has helped to do just this. At its peak there were countless people who never envisioned getting in line at a food bank to get food as they all of sudden were severely food insecure. This has already helped to change the discussion on the benefits of food banks and misconception of who food banks serve.
Educating food-insecure individuals is also needed. One of the things we have found is that many times when the food insecure receive healthy and nutritious food, they don’t know how to prepare it to eat. They have so rarely had access to this food that they don’t know how to cook it. This can result in them not eating it even when they have affordable access to it. The key is to educate them on simple ways to prepare these healthy food products as well as the benefits eating these food products have on their health and their family’s health.
Food waste results in more than 40% of all food that is grown being dumped in landfills or plowed back under in the farm fields. There is more than enough food being produced to make sure that no one goes hungry. However, this food needs to be saved and consistently made available to the food-insecure at an affordable price. Although food banks, like Farm Share, help to capture a large portion of this food it is only a small fraction of the food being wasted. What is needed is a large-scale federal commitment to provide funding to save this food as well as investment in ensuring distribution channels exist to get this food to persons in need consistently.
The last thing to do is a culmination of the other four. Monetary investment is needed to acquire food, store food and distribute food to persons in need in food deserts. Additionally, incentives need to be provided to grocery stores and other food suppliers to distribute healthy and nutritious food products in food desert communities. One of the biggest challenges is that a large bulk of healthy food products are perishable. Fruits, vegetables, proteins, cheeses, dairy products are all perishable and must be distributed and consumed quickly. It also costs more to handle these products as it requires refrigeration, both for storage and distribution and transportation. Therefore, more funding needs to be made available to food recovery programs, food banks for infrastructure improvements to enable them to handle larger quantities of healthy and nutritious food products.
Are there other leaders or organizations who have done good work to address food deserts? Can you tell us what they have done? What specifically impresses you about their work? Perhaps we can reach out to them to include them in this series.
In the last few years, some creative concepts have been envisioned and implemented to make access to healthy food products easier for persons in need. The most recent creation are community pantries or refrigerators. Although these concepts have some pitfalls, they are unique solutions to addressing food deserts. Essentially, a community pantry or refrigerator consists of an enclosed storage container or large scale refrigerator or freezer being set up in a public space in a food desert community that can be stocked by any organization or good Samaritan to allow for local access to food products. This concept is still in its infancy and needs to overcome some food safety issues but has the potential to be refined into a part of the food desert solution in the future.
If you had the power to influence legislation, are there laws that you would like to see introduced that might help you in your work?
As discussed above, food waste is a huge problem in the United States and worldwide. Legislation that encourages the salvaging of this wasted food either by providing tax breaks or other monetary compensation or support to farmers, wholesalers and other producers would greatly increase the amount of affordable healthy and nutritious food that can be made available to food desert communities.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
One of the programs that I helped to create when I first came to Farm Share was a Community Policing and Crime Prevention program. This program focused on using the power of food to reduce crime and bring together police officers and the communities they served while simultaneously providing life sustaining food to these communities. The concept at the time was ground breaking and the first of its kind. The concept was born from a pilot program with the United States Attorney’s office that proved that consistent food distributions in high crime communities had an actual effect on the crime rates in those communities. As part of this pilot program we used law enforcement agencies as the face of these food distributions. What we discovered was that this created a strong bond between the law enforcement agencies and these communities. From this, the Community Policing and Crime Prevention programming was born.
Since that pilot program five years ago, Farm Share has started to implement this model in South Florida, Northeast Florida, Northwest Florida and most recently Central Florida. It has been overwhelmingly successful with numerous letters of support and testimonials form police chiefs, sheriff’s offices and other law enforcement agencies throughout the state. During the most recent episodes of civil unrest related to law enforcement throughout the country, Florida experienced very little in the way of violent and destructive behavior. Instead, respectful protests and freedom of expression were carried out without violence against the police. Farm Share believes that our efforts over the last five years to assist the law enforcement agencies in building relationships through food was instrumental in Florida not having the same violence and destruction as seen in other parts of the country.
The use of food to feed people but also to effect social change and communication among different demographics of people was and is great movement.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
One of the people I have always admired is Garth Brooks. When I was growing up his music was a staple on my radio and his stable of songs struck a great balance between meaningful storytelling and just good fun. He was a generational and groundbreaking artist completely changing the face of country music. Despite his catapult to stardom both then and continuing now, his public persona has not changed. He may have more money and fame but he has continued to present the same and speak in a humble manner. He has always put his fans first and focused on not necessarily what made him the most money, but what provided the best experience for the general public. This included performing at a specific venue until it failed to sell out so that all his fans had a chance to see him and keeping ticket and album pricing reasonable. He also put his family first stepping away from the big stage in his prime to focus on raising his daughters.
In addition to possessing great character traits, he has also been very successful in all of his musical and non-musical ventures. Each venture reflects his persona and clearly shows his direct hands on approach rather than relegating his brand to a third party.
I think most importantly what I have admired about Garth Brooks is his timelessness. Despite a changing world where most elected officials, news outlets and famous people are chasing the current in thing, Garth has remained the same, true to himself and his beliefs and continuing to build on what made him successful to begin with. It is becoming rarer and rarer to find leaders in the media and the public eye who standup for what they believe in, speak their mind and not make decisions or statements based on what they think will be perceived as most popular. One of my favorite songs from Garth Brooks is “The Change” which speaks to this very issue and has become even more relevant since the day it was released.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Those interested in learning more about Farm Share, following what we are doing, where we are distributing food and what new programs we are engaged in can visit our website www.farmshare.org. They can also follow us on our social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram as well as our own information blogs.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.
Social Impact Heroes Helping Our Planet: Why & How Stephen Shelley Of Farm Share Is Helping To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.