Kellie Kinsella

Until going to college, I had never truly understood the value of education.  Going to school was something that I knew had to do every day because that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re a kid.  Right?  Throughout elementary school, junior high, and high school, I always took for granted the information that was taught or the experiences that were provided to me on a regular basis.   Going to college made me realize that receiving a quality education is not something that is a right, but rather a privilege. The opportunities that I am given at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign astound me with each day that I continue to be a student. 

The experiences that I have received for the past two years learning about interesting topics in the classroom, forcing myself to collaborate on group projects with people I barely know, and becoming active in my sorority, have been ones that could not be obtained anywhere else. 

Even something so trivial as living in a dorm room with people your own age has taught me how to take care of myself without my mom or dad telling me to finish my homework or how to separate my whites from my darks.  With each day that I am here, I feel more and more prepared for what’s to come in the real world.

However, getting the opportunity to study at a campus as phenomenal as this one would not be possible without the monetary support that I have received from Sodexo.  Financing my higher education in this economy has been quite a challenge.  I cannot express my gratitude to Sodexo enough for helping me to take full advantage of my educational privilege.  Not only are they helping to pay the bills, but the encouragement from an organization that shares the same values about fighting hunger in the world as I do, helps me to know that my goals and dreams are realistic. 

The more education that I can receive, the more equipped I will be to continue the hunger fight and start solving problems. Thank you to Sodexo for making my higher educational experience possible.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Kellie wrote this blog as part American Education Week, which emphasizes the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education. Kellie is attending the University of Illinois thanks in part to a STOP Hunger Scholarship from the Sodexo Foundation. She was selected because of the outstanding work she already has done to stop hunger. Read more about Kellie’s efforts to stop hunger.

As jobless rates top double digits for the first time since 1983, employers continue to see the value of hiring one group: our veterans. Indeed, in 2008, when the unemployment rate averaged 5.8%, veterans’ unemployment rate was only 4.6%. At Sodexo, we fully understand why employers would value veterans. They recognize the importance of teamwork; they are used to advancing through their own achievements; and they thrive on new assignments and the challenges of new locations. The leadership skills, initiative and integrity we see in our veterans and reservists really reflect Sodexo’s core values.

Indeed, I’m proud to say that Sodexo was just recognized as a top military friendly employer because we make a point of hiring, supporting and retaining military veterans and reservists. It’s the second year we’ve made this list, and we’re very proud.

We know that, for some veterans returning to civilian jobs, the transition can be a difficult one, and we are launching an employee network group to support our veterans’ career success. Called HONOR (Honoring Our Nation’s finest with Opportunity and Respect), this network group will provide support, guidance and resources to employees and families connected to the military, and it will establish partnerships with community groups that support veterans, active duty, National Guard and military reserve forces.

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As different American cultures become “acculturated,” they risk losing the things that made them a unique culture in the first place. Nowhere is this more evident than in the numerous Native American cultures. Ways of life, traditions, cultural heritage and even Native American languages are quickly disappearing – perhaps to be lost forever. The U.S. Census counts more than 550 federally-recognized tribes in the U.S. The largest are the Cherokee Nation, with almost 730,000 members, followed by the Navajo with more than 298,000 and the Sioux with 153,000.

The Census reports that almost 282,000 households speak American Indian languages, but another report places the number of people speaking American Indian as much lower. According to the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages in Salem, Ore., there are about 200 Native American languages, but hardly any of them are still viable. The Institute says that the Navajo language is the most robust, with about 75,000 speakers, followed by Cherokee, with about 20,000 speakers. Whole organizations have sprung up to try to capture what is left of these languages in whatever way they can, including language immersion courses or using an audio encyclopedia to try to engage younger Native Americans.

Just as language defines a culture, so too does food.

Native American food traditionally is food that relies on the land. Although game was a part of the diet, many tribes relied on what they call the “Three Sisters”: corn or maize, beans and squash. For some, potatoes are also a staple. 

At Sodexo, although we celebrate diversity year-round, every November we honor Native Americans in particular during Native American Indian Heritage Month, established in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush. We offer our facilities a whole kit to help them celebrate the month. The kit includes table tents, bookmarks, an informative newsletter, giveaways, and recipe cards. We also feature foods made from Native American recipes during that month for our customers to enjoy and celebrate. 

It’s a small thing, but we hope that by preserving the foods of the Native American culture, we help honor and preserve the culture itself.

You might want to download the Native American recipe below for Three Sisters Soup. Please let us know how your soup turned out and whether you liked it. We’d love to hear from you.

3SistersSoupRecipe.pdf (299.21 kb)

The most recent government figures confirm the distressing news that most of us already know: the poverty rate is rising. We used to think we knew what the face of poverty looked like: the stereotype of people with hard luck tales who were born     to  -- or slid into -- poverty, people we know we should help, but people who are reassuringly “other” and not like ourselves. I’m not sure that stereotype ever was true, but certainly the current economic hard times have shaken that stereotype. These days, those needing extra help are just as likely to be the shell-shocked former middle class whose closets may still hold the designer labels from their previous lives, but whose pantries are empty.  Many of these newer poor were caught unprepared for the length and breadth of this economic downturn; some found themselves looking for a place to live when their houses were foreclosed, some faced a simultaneous health crisis and loss of insurance, and some just found themselves crushed by debt they accrued when they thought their jobs would last through the payments.

This is National Food Bank Week and our nation’s food banks, which always have struggled to meet the demand of the nation’s hungry, now find themselves trying to feed a whole new set of poor people. In fact, Feeding America, a network of 205 food banks and 63,000 charitable feeding agencies, reports that the demand for emergency food has risen above the past year’s demand by about a third nationwide, and much of that demand is driven by first-time users of food banks and people who have lost their jobs.

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Desiree de la Torre, MPH

I am earning my Masters in Business Administration from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore, Maryland. Like other students, I’m very aware of the fact that the economy has had a big impact on business and that many of us are hoping that there is a place in the business world for us when we graduate. But, we’re also concerned about the kind of company we work for. Even in this economy – maybe even more so in this economy – it’s important to me that the company I work for have concern for its employees and ethics. The situation right now, with a lot of companies going under and having so many business issues, seems to be an underlying problem of ethics. A lot of companies are suddenly talking about their codes of ethics, but they seem reactive. I would hope they would have been doing these things all along.

So, to see a company that has focused all along on codes of conduct is appealing.

I recently went to hear a speech by George Chavel, Sodexo’s CEO. He was speaking as part of the Carey Business School Leaders & Legends lecture series.

While I’m earning my Masters, I’m working with Johns Hopkins Health System to increase access to care for some of Baltimore’s poorest residents. Originally, I wanted to become a physician and I was interested in public health. I realized that the research I was intending to do wasn’t quick enough for me and that I wanted to make a difference much more quickly. That led to a hospital management fellowship with the Johns Hopkins Health System.

I was interested in hearing what Mr. Chavel would have to say about how a big company like Sodexo was handling the kinds of issues that concern me. I feel that more companies are taking an ethical concern in the environment and health care and it’s great to hear that large companies, like Sodexo, are doing that.

We students do have a bit of cynicism about promises from big companies. At the Cary Business School, we’re taught that you’re concerned not only with yourself, but also concerned for the world around you. For big companies not to be concerned about how their actions affect other things, concerns young people in business schools. That’s one of the reasons I enjoyed the speech.

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