reduced sugar shredded wheat. he by reducing the sugar, they have increased the sodium. it is harder than most people on balance, is probably not as nutrition as the shepherd s -- ugared shredded wheat. it is harder than most people realize but we think point-of- sale incentives providing incentives may be some answer to that issue. >> other questions >> ? mr. secretary, and our mississippi delta, we have found poor areas that some refer to now as food deserts' or you don't have large grocery stores are large selections of fruit. we have talked about some new and innovative ideas. when i was a child, we had remarkable things called gardens. [laughter] people could actually grow their

own fresh vegetables. i spent a great deal of time and one. we are encouraging particularly an elementary schools or teachers are working with our mississippi farm bureau to begin a gardening program. it is remarkable that the children might be able to learn more vegetables come from. and a assistance, we're not looking for -- to the government for that we believe we can do this on a rigid on our on. do you know other states that may have tried similar projects >> ? absolutely, the first lady's garden gets a lot of attention as it should at the white house. a companion effort at the usda is called the people's guard and and we have started one at our facilities and have close to 1500 people's gardens across the country and across the globe in some of the embassies. we have donated nearly 900,000 pounds of produce from those gardens to community kitchens and food banks.

we haven't programmed kn calledow your farmer, know your food that talks a little about how a community can set up a community gardening program which would be applicable to schools. h governorickenloooper's denver schools have in of the programs and they are using the resources to produce delicious foods. in the area of food deserts, the department of human health and services and usda provide health assistance to growers restores and where they are located. there's a wonderful foundation from jeff brown in philadelphia who runs a shop right or safeway and has established a foundation to help communities

evaluate why they have a food desert. there's now a food desert locator on our website at usda.gov. we are working with the private sector and an number of groceries chains instead of giving money to a community, maybe chris restores will think about a downsized gross restore that operates at little or no profit. it would provide decent food and the basics. there's a tremendous amount of activity in this space that is going on our goal is to eliminate these food deserts in seven years. the city of detroit is heavily engaged in a massive effort to turn a lot of their ground fields into green fields. there is a lot of activity going on in this space. if you take a look at our website, your folks can locate communities and states working in this area. >> if i can just shy man -- within the city of denver, have

the elementary schools have their own gardens. it is naturally spreading so that each school by the end of next year, we will have every school in denver and roll that out at the state level as part of their curriculum. >> i was thinking about the science of photosynthesis. hopefully, that is the correct term -- [laughter] going back to my scientific days. from being able to get outside in the fresh air and work to growing that food and learning the science of that process is remarkable. i will certainly look to denver but every business i have talked to jump at the opportunity of getting out and helping from equipment owners to farm bureau of folks. >> there is another reason to do this for governors. in addition to the nutrition

and education issue, if you are looking at the future of this country and looking at the future economy in this country, there's no question that biology will be extraordinarily important in our future. the bio-based economy is rapidly expanding and creating new opportunities in rural areas particularly. if justice have a better understanding of how food is produced, they will understand that agriculture is something that is unique, and exciting, challenging and we will get more people -- more young people getting engaged in science is that support agriculture which will allow us to expand bio- based economies. pimmit plastics, chemicals, fuel -- a whole bunch of things that create new job opportunities. >> my family believe that a garden was a character builder. >> yes, sir.

>> i planted a garden in the back of the governor's mansion last year so i am doing my part as well. i appreciate your comments here this morning. i think there is broad agreement about the program and what it will do to help with the help of our young people. i had a couple of implementation questions. got n and areix and i quote -- governor nix and i wrote a letter about the implementation of the program. you addressed some of those concerns but not all of them. our focus is -- our folks in virginia have concerns that i want to see if you can give us an update on. there's a requirement for certification of the benchmarks in the final ruling 95% have to

be certified by 2013. the question -- i think you had responded earlier in a letter that there would be some technical assistance and grants that might be provided to the states for the purposes of the certification process can you give us an update on that and what kind of certification help might be available? also a question about the time line -- the final roll calls for the nutrition standards for lunch is to be in place by july of 2012 and then practiced standards by 2014. there is some feeling in our state that this will take a fair amount of training in order to get that done at the state and local level. is there some flexibility in those time lines and will there be some assistance from usda to help us with the training portion?

>> governor, congress is aware of the fact that there would be a need for assistance to states to administer this which is why they allocated $50 million in aid to the first two years of the bill to provide for administrative expenses and that will be distributed on a formula basis and i can get you and your staff a specific allocation for virginia perhaps before i leave but if not, i will get it to you tonight f i see you at the white as dinner. that money is forthcoming and will be made available. as far as the time lines -- we adjusted the time lines for breakfast given that this was an area that was not as uniform among all states and all schools. some schools offer breakfast and some don't and some offer limited breakfast. we made some adjustments on the timeline for breakfast.

we believe this is not an impossible task we are asking schools to develop. we created some degree of flexibility in terms of fruits and vegetables portions, responding to the concerns of folks that we were being restricted. we changed that in the final rule. we will be happy to work with folks and provide as much assistance as we possibly can. there is a tremendous amount of information that is available through usda schools, everything from the portion sizes to recipes. i mentioned earlier that there is a recipe contest because we have hundreds of concrete -- recipes that will make it easier for school officials to produce nutritious food. the president's budget includes resources to help with school cafeteria equipment needs. we recognize some schools would like to do a better job but they need equipment.

budgets are taught so hopefully congress will give us permission to use these resources in that way. if there are individual specific technical issues that schools are having trouble with in virginia, please let me know and i will make sure our staff gets in trust -- in touch with your education folks who are dealing with this. >> thank you. >> one more question -- >> not really a question -- the department has been extremely helpful for us particularly as we have done some gardens at our schools on st. thomas and st. croix. it has been tremendous. the one area of caution as you're doing rules and regulation is to be mindful of territories vs states. in many cases, this has caused us concern in terms of making sure the definition of a territory or state so that we

are able to fully participate. the department has been extremely helpful and always willing to make the adjustment it helps us tremendously to have a territory as part of the rules and regulations. >> that is an important point and can be noted that within states where you have native american reservations and settlements that there is an area we also have to be sensitive to. i mention this earlier to the western governors, the western governors have a real keen understanding and appreciation between the relationship between states and tribes. when i was governor of iowa, i did not fully understand it until i got this job. nga might want to take a little time and effort to reach out particularly to governors who are not necessarily -- who

don't necessarily have a lot of tries to have a better understanding. it is a very, very important point. >> mr. secretary, thank you for being here and thank you for your leadership and your attending to the concerns that have been raised really know you are busy and we know if you need to go, we will miss you and go on but if you like to stay, we would love to have you stay so it is your choice. >> i apologize but the national cathedral has a service that i would like to attend. >> we understand. [applause] >> we now are going to be

joined -- in fact you can stay where you are because the cameras have adjusted so you don't have to relocate. our next panel is comprised of two organizations and two votes representing them. i will introduce the first speaker and our esteemed colleague from virginia will introduce the second speaker. our first speaker is julie gerkey, senior director of the wal-mart foundation who leads the business integration team and the wal-mart foundation has funded initiatives focused on education, work force development, economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness pretty company has pledged $2 billion that is billion way 'b' to 500 through 2015. in july, 2011, the wal-mart contribution was named by the committee of philanthropy. prior to joining wal-mart, ms.

gerkey work on issues of anti- racism and other issues. she has done program evaluation in kenya and tanzania and taught english in eastern europe and she has a bachelor's degree in religion from rhodes college and a master of arts and public service from the clinton school of public service at the university of arkansas. thank you for joining us and please allow me to express my own personal gratitude and ginger's gratitude for the generous support of wal-mart to be no kid hungry campaign. the dedication to young people and the commitment to improving their lives is not something we

take lightly and some think i think we are all right grateful for. governor mcdonald, will you introduce our other special guests? >> thank you, i appreciate the opportunity to introduce my introduce dan winkley and i appreciate the successful initiative around the country. dan is vice president of government affairs at dominion resources. i will announce his $2 billion from dominion today. [laughter] he is responsible for federal government relations and has held a number of primary positions in the northeast over the years. he is very active in the public service arena, serving on numerous boards throughout the state of new york, massachusetts, connecticut and others including the independent

power producers of new york. he is very active in benevolent organizations including being on the board of directors at the theater in connecticut. is a past chairman of united way of southeastern connecticut where he helped raise $9.3 million during a fund-raising campaign. he has a master's degree in finance and is -- his executive master's from iup in pennsylvania. dominion has been active in the spring campaign in virginia and the challenges we have given the business community for support of the food bags and dan has helped lead that effort. we kicked off the no child hundred campaign in virginia last year to show our strength in virginia and that was a tremendous kick off were the guests were bob mcdonnell, tom vilsack, and jeff bridges.

i appreciate the millions of ongoing support and i present to you dan weekley. >> julie, we will take you first and take your presentation and then danm, yours, and then we will open up for questions. >> thank you for your kind introduction ander leadership on this issue. we are proud to partner with few in arkansas. we're thankful for this committee for putting on her at the forefront. over the last three years, wal- mart has seen jobs and the economy come to the forefront of our customers' minds and of all americans. in that time, we have seen a sharp uptick on the people relying on government assistance and a pronounced paycheck cycle for our stores are busy as paychecks are released for government benefits. these are customers and we see them struggling and we want to help.

that is why in may of 2010, we announced a $2 billion commitment to hunger relief across the nation. it is made of three major elements. the first is $250 million worth of cash grants that are being made across all 50 states. second is $1.7 billion of the food being donated to food banks across the country. third, a commitment to engage our customers, our assessment, and our corporate colleagues in the fight against hunger. we pledged $2 billion but the real power of this is the alignment with business query we're able to bring much more than philanthropic dollars to the table because of our company's core capacity. as the nation's largest grocer, we have a lot of food to donate to this. in just under five years, we have moat from donating 9 million pounds of food to to over 257 million pounds of food to food banks annually. we're really proud that over

45% of this food is things like milk, dairy, produce, items that the banks need and low- income individuals want. because of the alignment, we have expertise to land. we are repairing at food banks with logistics experts to help them reroute truck routes to save gas, to read-out line their food bags for efficiency and really make sure that the food across the whole supply chain is safe. alongside these corporate assets, we can invest in philanthropic models that are scalable and replicable across the nation. the secretary talked about the importance of breakfast and we have supported a group called breakfast in the classroom that is bringing together teachers, nutrition, specialists, school administrators, and a under

community to bring breakfasted to the classroom. when know that while 20 million children eat lunch on the free and reduced program each day, only 9 million of them eat breakfast. we're also working with programs like the y which are moving with the expansion of after school meals programs to be year-round providers using summer food and after-school food to make sure kids are taking care of when they are out of school. it is more than feeding people, it is about nutrition. in a recent study, 85% of low income people rated healthy food as very important to their family. yet only half of them felt able to put that food on the table each night. we want to assure as a corporation that people don't have to choose between healthy food and affordable food. we want to make shopping easier.

that is why the company has recently unveiled a program that identifies food with high nutritious content and lower content of sodium and sugar to make it easier to identify food that is good for your family. the foundation is supporting this per nutrition education programs like cooking matters which teaches families to cook on a budget. a wal mart foundation can do a lot, we cannot do this alone. it is a core part of our commitment of building partnerships because we know this will not be solved independently. we need the governors across the nation to continue making this a priority. your power to convene state, nonprofit, and corporate partners, to really put this issue in the forefront and put together one plan to move these numbers is essential. where you are taking leadership, we are seeing results. you have talked a little bit about the no kid hungry campaign in virginia and arkansas. each of those states in their first year added over 100 summer mill sites last year alone.

the numbers can move. we are also seeing the growing utilization of class from breakfast. in defied districts last year, over 10,000 kids were added to the breakfast program. this is as the -- this is an important investment because it increases educational investment while decreasing under, obesity, tardiness, and behavioral problems. we see a growing number of state simplifying and streamlining and rowling programs to make sure those eligible are enrolled. your leadership and to take steps in particular to utilize the federal dollars available are absolutely critical to making a difference. at wal-mart, we're proud to be part of the growing team focusing on this issue. we feel it is an important step to help healthy lives and end hundred. thank you for having me today.

and thank you for your leadership on this issue. >> thank you, julie, and we thank the wal-mart foundation and be sure you spread the word that all of us are grateful for your commitment subset to inflate and financially. -- substantially and the financially. dan is doing great work, too. what is going on? >> thank you for that kind introduction. jackie to the governors on the committee for allowing me the opportunity to speak. -- thanks to the governors on the committee for allowing me the opportunity speak. we are a large electric and natural-gas utility serving various parts of the country and it is a privilege to speak to you today. before i begin the biggest part of my comments, want to take the opportunity to thank they nga for having their meeting in the state of virginia. governor that mcdonnell and the first lady and their staffs are hard at

work. we look forward to seeing all of you in williamsburg and a few months. dominion is a sponsor of the no kid hungry campaign which was launched in june, 2011 by governor mcdonnell and the federation of food banks across virginia and a share our food banks. secretary vilsack was able to attend that event as was mentioned. before i talk about the no kid hundred campaign in virginia, let me give you a quick background on the philanthropic added -- activities that dominion resources is involved with. we serve about 6 million customers in 14 states. we need to have that strong connection in our communities will be have customers and where our employees live and work. we recognize we are part of that commitment and would come back and say we have a corporate responsibility in each of those

communities. how our philanthropic activities are through the dominion foundation, but we approach it from a decentralized approach, even though we are headquartered in richmond, virginia and have those operations in many states, we give the ability to donate and get involved in each state through employee-led groups which we call community investment boards. they decide where the dollars are spent. they have a better purview of where it is spent and we give them as much spectrum to say what is important. they come back and make presentations and say these are the things we want to get involved with. at the end of the day, the decision is for them and we think it's a model that has worked very good.

it is their job to improve the social, physical and economic well-being of the communities they are involved with. in 2011, dominion resources donated $21 million across the system, taking in about 1300 organizations across our footprint. these were centered in the areas of funding environmental organizations, cultural and community development groups, and health and human service providers. i am also proud of our matching gift programs. we have a matching gift programs for these employees as well as retirees. if the folks think it is important enough to invest in these communities, the company will match those dollars.

turning a specifically to the topic at hand, roughly half of what we donated last year went to charitable grants. i define human needs as food, shelter, heating, and access to basic health care. the governor was kind in his introduction and our participation is a natural fit for the company. we donated a million dollars exclusively to food banks across the system. i was looking at previous comments from the committee and i couldn't agree more when he said kids and don't eat, they cannot learn. making sure kids get nutritious food every day is vital to their health and development. the bottom-line is when children

do not get enough to eat, they cannot thrive. this is just as true in the summer months when they are out of school then they fall and spring sessions when they are in school. that is why we were so anxious to support this initiative. when you look at the summer food service program, these are the kids we talked about that yet reduced price or free lunches. but the effort in virginia may be different. they created a collaboration table where state agencies and business leaders, community active folks and all lead the direction in the effort. we think that is so important that it is not just one and to the directing where the dollars are going.

last summer in norfolk, va., they had a direct mail effort to advertise the summer meals program. flyers went out and there were about 20,000 additional fliers that when two key areas advertising the summer meals program and they were distributed all across eastern virginia. at the exact same time, the program which was funded through wal-mart and dominion went out to look at a program and one of the things the secretary talked about was the infrastructure cost about how do you get meals to the right place and those kinds of issues. the virginia department of health