the covid pandemic. now changing our relationship with something fundamental to our lives. food. >> they're there because they're hungry. they're there because they don't have work and they don't have food. >> from eating out, to eating healthy, the virus is threatening a way of life. >> got to figure out what you can to do save yourself, what parts of your business are you going to have to amputate. >> and life, itself, in an unequal america. >> why is it in the gatest country in the world we grow enough food and waste enough food, food is not getting down to the people that need it the most. >> finding ways to hold out and survive. how will this change the future of food in america? >> the way that you feed

yourself, feed your family, stock your fridge, cook at home, has just changed forever. >> this is an msnbc special report, "food and the pandemic: recipe for disaster." here are joy reid and andrew zimmern. >> hello, everyone, and welcome. i'm joy reid. joining me for this special program is andrew zimmern. you know him as the host of msnbc's "what's eating america." and we are joining forces to tell you about something that's gotting too little attention as we've all suffered through the coronavirus pandemic over the past six months and it is this. in our land of plenty, we are facing a food crisis. >> that's right, joy. for many americans, food is something that's too often been taken for granted. we don't have that luxury anymore. the virus has exposed some massive vulnerabilities in american life. the virus has not just attacked people's health, it has shut down large parts of the economy, thrown millions out of work,

crippled the restaurant industry, and disrupted the entire food supply chain. >> and all of that has put many americans at greater risk. those who struggle to put food on the table before the pandemic or had a hard time finding fresh, healthy, food. even many who never had these problems before are now facing a challenge you might have thought was not possible in this country. it is a challenge that cries out for our attention, and we'll be paying close attention to all of these issues over the next hour. >> it is shocking, joy, to think back that april when you and i first started talking about these matters on saturday mornings, the issue was on the front page above the fold of every major newspaper and in the "a" or "b" block of every news show and then it went underground for the last five or six months despite the fact the need has trebled and the crisis has worsened. >> now, what we're talking about

are people in food lines, people who are at the other end of the distribution spectrum and having to stand in line waiting for food and as we've said, some of whom have never had to do that before because of the way the economy has gone to say nothing of the restaurant industry and the troubles that are happening there. >> that's right. the ripple effects are everywhere. right now, i'm at the darkhorse bar and eatery in st. paul, minnesota. it's just one of hundreds of restaurants barely holding on by a thread here in the twin cities. this business devastated by two pandemics, the viral explosion of covid-19 and also the civil unrest that began after the death of george floyd while in minneapolis police custody. owner, patty whalen, has already had to close his well-known minneapolis restaurant, muddy waters, but even in communities where the protests weren't an economic factor, the pandemic has dramatically changed how we live every day, making getting

together in large groups a matter of life and death. sporting events. concerts. movie theaters. all have taken a hit, but none more so than the restaurant and food industry service which pre-pandemic was the second largest private employer in the country with more than 15 million workers, second only to the health care sector. gadi schwartz reports just how bad it really is. ♪ >> reporter: as the pandemic now enters its seventh month, unfortunately, we are getting way too used to seeing boarded up storefronts and restaurants everywhere. and there's a natural tendency for us to see these boarded up storefronts, boarded up restaurants and think, things must be bad here but they must be good at the places that are still open. what we have found is across the board, whether they are open or closed, they are bleeding money and accumulating debt every day. so you've got three restaurants.

>> yeah. >> reporter: are any of them open? >> no. ♪ >> reporter: greg morris has been in the restaurant industry for nearly 30 years. today, his barstools sit empty, his kitchens quiet. for a whil he tried re-opening but in los angeles where only outdoor dining is allowed there wasn't enough room to come even remotely close to paying his rent. you're talking about four different tables right here. >> yeah, six feet apart. >> reporter: that's it. >> yeah. >> reporter: he tried takeout and delivery but lost money there as well. i hate to ask, but how much are you losing? >> in the last five months of closing, i probably lost somewhere around $4 million, $5 million in revenue. >> reporter: it's a big loss but even before the pandemic when business was booming, profit margins for restaurants were razor thin. before covid greg estimated the normal monthly sales for one of his restaurants would be about $160,000.

after paying his employees, operating costs like food, taxes, insurance and rent, he's only left with $5,000 of profit. factor in the reduced hours and seating capacity during covid, he figures a $21,000 a month loss. >> it's devastating. >> reporter: so like 12,000 other restaurant owners across the country, he's had to tell his employees his only chance of surviving this is to temporarily shut down until covid-19 and its restrictions pass. soun sounds a lot like triage. >> it is exactly triage. you got to figure out what you can do to save yourselves what parts of your business are you going to have to amputate. ♪ >> reporter: so many people right now are saying they're going to lose less money by staying closed than by opening. why -- >> they're absolutely right. >> reporter: yeah. here in downtown los angeles, so many businesses rely on the staple center and the big events that are usually held here but these days it is depressingly empty. nearby, draya's restaurant has

almost ground to a halt. why re-open? >> yeah, you know, our decision really came down to we have a couple of employees who are really at risk. they could not wait for unemployment to kick in and it was this job or the street for them. >> reporter: so keep a couple of her employees working and cover health insurance for her furloughed staff, she's pivoted to retail beer and wine sales and pared down the menu. >> both surviving this pandemic then also really preparing ourselves for what the future of restaurants is going to look like. no matter who you are on the planet right now, the way that you interact with food, feed yourself, feed your family, stock your fridge, cook at home, has just changed forever. >> reporter: for now, andrea and thousands of other restaurant owners across the country have been able to make ends meet because many have made the difficult decision to stop paying the rent. taif be they've been able to do that in part because of eviction moratoriums. that's the same here at gorilla

tacos. they are open for business but they can't pay the rent and the owner here, brittany vie yez, says she's in more debt now than she could have ever imagined. >> i'm going be super open about it. we pay for the entire building now. you know, we haven't paid for a while. so we're close to $200,000. that's, like i various debts. >> reporter: you're 27 years of -- >> i know, what am i going to do? >> reporter: the federal paycheck protection program helped carry them through this summer but that money is due to run out. thousands of restaurateurs are pushing congress to pass a $120 billion rescue package but even if that happens no one expects things to go back to the way they were. that leaves millions of workers like chef jamie lou who has been out of work since march facing an uncertain future. >> i cook for a living. i don't have, like, $20,000 just sitting in some savings account, you know? so it's, like, me putting in the hours every week is how i make a living. if i can't do that, then kind of stuck. it's not like i can just run out and just get another job.

traditional, like, models of restaurants just don't work right now. >> reporter: for now, unemployment checks are helping, and jamie's turned her ohome kitchen into a test kitchen for the online meal business she hopes to create. >> if none of this had happened, i probably would just be slaving away at a restaurant and too afraid to entertain the idea of becoming a business owner, like, honestly. so this kind of was, like, a really swift kick in the butt that i think i needed. >> reporter: a dose of reality and a dash of optimism, as the restaurant industry wonders what it will take to survive. >> truly, my big concern is not while we're in this, like, intense lockdown pandemic state, it's after because the recovery process is going to be long. i'm going to owe a lot of money. >> i think that in the decisions that i'm making right now, it's not just for the next three, four, five, months of this pandemic. it's for the future of this restaurant as a whole. >> makes me sad because i think some of the things that i really cherish in this business, like hiring more people, is going to

change. it doesn't have the same magic. >> reporter: and i want to show you a scene that we've seen play out across the country when we're talking about restaurants trying to make ends meet by expandi expanding. out into the roads here in culver city, you can see they're all the way out ehere into the street. even still, this is a place that would be normally packed. we got one table over here, we got one table over here. people just aren't coming out to eat as often as they did before and with that, obviously, you heard about that crippling debt that continues to grow. everyone we've spoken to in the restaurant cities says that without a massive bailout, they're expecting things only to get worse. guys, back to you. >> gadi, thanks. wow. and gadi's piece really highlights the resiliency and spirit of survival, giving us hope that all is not lost yet. joining us now is stephanie march, food and dining editor for "minneapolis st. paul" magazine and katie button, a

chef, member of the independent restaurant coalition and ceo of the katie button restaurants group based out of asheville, north carolina. and both of you, thanks for being here. katie, i'll just start with you. what will new normal look like, do you think? >> well, i mean, we're currently open so we're kind of facing what new normal looks like now and new normal looks like not being able to break even and survive this pandemic. so it's pretty stark out there. i mean, a lot of us have received ppp funding and that's getting us through. it's making up the difference of our losses right now, but we're rapidly coming to the end of that money and there's no way that we can make it. >> katie, how important, to you, is the bailout that gadi suggested at the end of his

piece? he's referring to the restaurants act that is now sitting on capitol hill. $120 billion backstopping of the restaurant industry. is that really the only solution long term for the industry? >> yes. it is extremely important. it was crafted with the mindset of a restaurant business and how we're being uniquely impacted in this time with our reduced occupancies, you know, sometimes alcohol curfews, many people still aren't able to open for in-space dining and our guests are being told frequently not to go to bars and restaurants for their own safety. i mean, really our industry will not survive if we do not get the restaurants act passed now.step little bit about -- there's a

lot of fear out there. i have friends in the restaurant business. they even acknowledge that a lot of people are afraid to go out and eat, even if it is out dodo. with what needs to happen in terms of bringing back customer confidence so people can -- people want to support these restaurants. tea these are restaurants of people they know, they're part of these communities. how do you get back the confidence that people used to teal feel in eating out? >> a lot of it has to do with just making sure that everybody is very communicatetive. you need two upfront. restaurants, it's hard for them because they kind of found themselves in a place where they have to police people. suddenly places that the have always been about yes, yes, are suddenly about no, you can only afford people at this tables we can't seat you over here and you must wear a mask when you come in. i think there's an adjustment sort of working within the industry. they want to provide that confidence that day are safe and they're going to create a safe environment and also have to figure out how to communicate and work with the guests who are

coming in so it's an agreement. >> stephanie, that's the public forward-facing piece of this, but behind the scenes restaurants have been extremely brittle financially for going on decades now. one of the big trends is that we're seeing is the rise of the discussion, again, about the tipping issues. whether they're going to go with service surcharges, whether they're going to go with some sort of other way in which to compensate employees. >> uh-huh. >> what are you hearing here in the twin cities? >> we're movinge ining -- a lot these people are moving toward -- the restaurateurs are moving toward the service charge to be able to sort of pay everybody in the restaurant, not just compensating the servers. i feel like a lot of the guests have really sort of -- you know, as we've all seen them move forwa toward supporting restaurants as a whole instead of during this time, they think let's help everybody out. i feel like the service carriage from charge from a guest perspective is really welcome ads a way to

give everybody an equal change. >> katie, the thing that needs to happen in order for restaurants act to pass, in order for money to get into the hands of businesses like yours who need it, the politics has to move. mark meadows, who's now chief of staff to president of the united states, used to be in congress. when he was in congress he was a prominent member of the freedom caucus and their sort of big touchstone was not spending federal money, taking in as little as possible and spending as little as possible. he's from your state. do you think that having seen what's happened to businesses like yours in his own community that that is changing at all or is the attitude because it does, i think, feel to a lot of people when you look at what senator mitch mcconnell is doing, what a lot of republicans are doing in congress, is saying we don't want to spend even if it's to save these businesses. do you feel that changing on the ground? >> well, i have to say, and mark

meadows is actually right from our their, western north carolina, so i know him pretty well, but, anyway, the thing is that we -- what's happening right now is congress is debating what to do next, but it's taking too long. and we're in this moment where it feels like they're waiting to see the damage that is done before they're going to make a decision, and the problem with that is we are facing a catastrophic closure event for independent restaurants across the entire country and what i'm saying, like, right now, the ppp money, you're seeing restaurants, like, operating as takeout, doing some dine-in, doing some outdoor dining and it's giving people, the public, and our members of congress a false sense of security that we're making it and we're not. the numbers don't add up. and we need the funding to be

able to continue to employ our workers, continue to pay our farmers. restaurants are an enormous economic engine, and when you give a dollar to a restaurant, 90% to 95% of every single dollar given to us goes right back out the door to our employees and our farmers and suppliers. and so we are a way of -- >> yeah. >> -- dropping, you know, an economic kind of bolster to get us through this. and i really think that -- you think about what would happen if we don't give this money to restaurants now, and do it today, not tomorrow when we're closed, i mean, that's what's going to help us all as a country get through this. >> indeed. well, hopefully, washington is listening. stephanie march, katie button, all the best to both of you. thank you so much for being here. we're going to take a quick break here. we have a lot to get to. and when we come back, a

look at how economic inequality means food inequality made worse by the pandemic, and we'll meet someone who's doing something about it. and later, the country music legend who's doing what he can to feed his corner of america. adventure. to reconnect and be together. and once we did that, we realized his greatest adventure is just beginning. (avo male) welcome to the most adventurous outback ever. the all-new 2020 subaru outback. go where love takes you. (avo female) get 0% apr financing for 63 months on the 2020 subaru outback and other select models. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill,

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welcome back to "food and the pandemic." the coronavirus does more than make people sick. it makes life harder in other ways, too. especially for people who are struggling even before the pandemic hit. and it's unlikely to improve any time soon. amid news this week that the latest covid relief bill has failed in congress. more often than not, that means communities of color where access to fresh, high-quality, affordable food, was difficult to begin with. it's called food insecurity, and it affects 11% of households in

this country. recently, i've spent some time with someone who's working hard to make these things better. i'd like you to meet karen washington. >> black dirt, it's nice, it's warm. you can see the organic matter in here. how, just this vibrant soil. >> the soil is where karen washington has found her calling. >> there's something about the power that you feel of farming, there's something in here that makes you feel good about what you're doing. >> we recently visited washington, the godmother of urban farming, as some call her, at her rise it root farm in chester, new york. >> to our left we're growing a lo lot of our tomatoes. >> i see tomatoes. those are good-looking tomatoes. >> yep, they taste good, too. >> a physical therapist by training, washington didn't set out to be a farmer but in 1985 this single mother of 2 bought her first home, a rowhouse in the bronx with a backyard.

>> i decided moving to the bronx, had a backyard, let me try and grow three things. tomato is one, collard greens, you know how to grow a collard green because of my people, and eggplant because it sound funky. >> nurturing and a lot of hard work, washington's backyard garden grew and her first batch of tomatoes was for her a defining moment. >> when i bit into it, oh, my goodness, ray of sunshine, it changed my world. i wanted to grow everything. >> and then she did. turning a vacant lot across the street into a community garden. >> you want some collard greens. >> collard greens. >> every week she brings her produce to a farmers' market in the south bronx where the need for healthy food is urgent. the usda designated the bronx as a food desert, defined as a low-income area where people have to travel more than a mile to reach a supermarket. some 23 million americans live in food deserts. a disproportionate number of those americans are black. >> a lot of supermarkets don't want to come into low-income

neighborhoods. they've been told if you come into a low-income neighborhood, you're not going to make money. the fact of the matter, if you look at per capita, people are willing to pay for food, people are willing to pay for good food if you give them food good. >> you use the term, food apartheid. what is that? >> i wanted people to talk about the food system and the systemic changes that has to happen, that we need to talk about the influence of race, economics, and demographics, start having those hard conversations around the food system. why is it in the greatest country in the world where we grow enough food and waste enough food, food is not getting down to people who need it the most. >> washington says the food system is making pick seem and vulnerable to the coronavirus. in this era where covid-19 is disproportionately affecting black and brown, indigenous people, is there a connection between the food availability, fresh food availability, and this increased propensity to be afflicted by things like covid? >> this pandemic has brought to the surface some inequities that

we see. most people especially in my neighborhood are bounded by a food system that's charity based and subsidized based. what i mean is a lot of the cheap food, the food that's not nutritious, comes into our neighborhoods. right now, we have people who have type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and end-stage renal diseases. all these things that affect our community. so what we need to do is how do we heal our bodies? we heal our bodies by eating fresh produce. >> reporter: and while a well-stocked supermarket could help fix the problem, washington believes the community can no longer afford to bawait. >> we say to that, you know what, forget about the supermarkets coming into our neighborhoods, let's start doing food co-ops, start opening up our own stores that look like us because we know exactly what people want. >> we grow the best vej tabs vegetables. >> to ensure this happened, she's helping develop a new generation of black farmers. >> out of 57,000 farmers in new

york state, only 139 are black. >> in fact, fewer than 2% of american farmers are black. down from a peak of 14% in 1910. a declined blamed in part on discrimination and institutionalized racism. washington's black farmers fund will not only teach farming techniques but leadership skills, too. >> pulling all our resources, all our money together, so that we can help the next generation of farmers and black businesses grow and if we fit our resources together and we put our money together,mountains, we can move this economy without being beholden to it. >> with that momentum, karen washington is changing the face of the american food industry to try to ensure that all americans have equal opportunity to eat healthy. >> for me, it's not about the labor, even though the labor is hard, but at the end of the day, to sit back and say, you know, you did something to make the world a little bit better. >> wow. what a fantastic piece.

you know, race and food intersect absolutely everywhere we look in america, from the rise of the dollar stores that are exacerbating the lack of access to healthy, nutritious food, all the way to the racist notion that communities of color don't know how to eat well. so many things that karen talked about in that piece were identifying so many of the problems as well as solutions. did you get a sense from her that she's hopeful now that this moment in time we actually might make some progress? >> well, you know, karen is a remarkable personing you kn. you know, it's four women. not just karen. there are four women in this endeavor trying to bring farming to the average person. she's hopeful in the sense that she knows she's doing something about it. right? i mean, she talks about food apartheid, which goes all the way back to the idea that black people were brought here to do all the farming and, yet, own

almost no land to farm on. own almost none of the land from which our food is created. so she's trying to change that by creating more opportunities for black people to get back into farming, to allow black people to have ownership and not just be workers but be owners and to be producing the food for black communities and to solve the problems that she says supermarkets can't solve. so she's hopeful in a sense that she knows she's active and she's doing something about it. and she's a remarkable person and what they're doing on that farm is incredible. >> she is one of my heroes, and the 400-year-old issue of slavery agronomics are still plaguing us today. >> yes. >> it needs to be a front and center pivotal idea that all americans understand. what a great piece. up next, our medical experts -- >> indeed. >> -- on how poor nutrition which we've now seen affects a disproportionate amount of people of color makes it even worse when a pandemic strikes.

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welcome back to "food in the pandemic." wi we continue our discussion about the disproportionate way that covid affects communities of color and starts with the inequities in the food eaten by those communities. joining us now, dr. badila, medical director of the special pathogens unit at boston medical center and global health security expert. she's also an msnbc medical contributor. and gregory gottlieb, director of the feinstein international center at tuft's friedman school of nutrition, science. and professor of nutrition and human security. >> and let's just jump right in. dr. bedila, i want to start with you. we see communities of color, particularly black and brown and indigenous communities facing a higher covid death rate.

we also hear this anecdotal, well, if people have diabetes or people have hypertension, that's the reason it's more deadly for communities of color. but can you draw a link between those two facts and the food that's available, particularly to low-income communities of color? >> thanks so much, joy. so, you know, you have this statistic from the cdc that says 94% of the people who died of covid-19 have a medical condition. you know, what often doesn't get mentioned is how many americans have medical conditions that put them at high risk for severe covid-19. 40% of americans are obese. one out of ten have diabetes. 30% have hypertension. all of those aspe spenspects in communities of color and socially disadvantaged and economically disadvantaged communities partly because of the lack of access to good food, partly because inability to access health care with the same level of, you know,

accessibility, structural racism in our health care system as well as the position they're in at work potentially at essential workers, as front line workers. the link between obesity, in particular, and hypertension, what we've seen in obesity is that obesity is a chronic state of inflammation. that and diabetes are both thought to change the way our body and immune system respond to infection. >> i have a question for both of you, if you can address it. it seems to me like so many other things covid-19 has peeled back more of the problem and certainly in the case of actual co-morbidities made things worse for people with covid but we're spending a trillion and a half, maybe more, dollars a year fighting the big four food diseases. how is it that we can actually make some progress there so that the next disease roll-around, the next pandemic, we actually make america healthier?

>> so part of what pandemics do is they affect all aspent spes food description, ingistributio accessibility. here a lot of the food production workers are people of color, people who come from socially disadvantaged communities so everybody from works such as migrant farmworkefarmwor workers to grocery workers to restaurant workers. those front line workers during this pandemic have been placed at a greater risk. so one of the reasons, one of the statistics that sort of blew me away is from the union of food and commercial workers that said in the first 100 days of this pandemic you basically had 11,500 grocery workers get sick from covid-19. >> gregory, can i ask you a follow-up question, you're a nutritionist, as my mother was, i respect very much what you do for a living. talk to the people who get their food not from the store but food banks. people are having to make

choices not from what they'd like to buy but from what they're able to get. is it possible to eat in a way that's healthy enough to try to guard against covid when you're not eating by choice? >> i think it's very difficult for a lot of families to do that. first of all, i think families have to know, they have to be aware what good nutrition is and which product provide them with the right balance. and i think that's the important concept that we have to get across. it's why at least from my school, you know, there's a lot of education that goes into what makes a really good and balanced diet for folks. and i think that would be a big part of it. the fact that people have to go and get foot food in a place where they don't have the broadest of choices is really problematic and will take on our part a lot of education. >> a complex problem. dr. nahid bhadelia, gregory

gottleib, thank you both very much. when we come back, the shocking scenes becoming all too familiar because of covid. americans by the hundreds of thousa thousands, as we just discussed, waiting in line to get food. alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice. and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain! balanced nutrition for strength and energy.

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like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program visit right now or call during business hours. america has long seen itself as a land of plenty, a place where no one need go hungry. a chicken in every pot. depression era black-and-white memories of bread lines and superkisoup kitchens were a thing of the past. thanks to the pandemic we're seeing a 21st-century version of hardship with millions of people out of work and in need of help just to put food on the table. many for the first time in their lives. >> in a minute we're going to see what everyday americans are doing to help. and hear from country superstar brad paisley about his efforts to create a free grocery store in nashville. >> there is some relief for those suffering from this side

effect of the pandemic. food banks across the country benefiting from a surplus of supply that would have gone to restaurants now shut down, but the question remains whether they can keep up with the new demand. it's a day they will never forget. the san antonio food bank was expecting a big turnout, especially since the pandemic had tripled unemployment here. but by daybreak, michael gara and his staff realized they had awakened to a nightmare. >> cars started lining up the morning before so they'd been there 18 hours, 12 hours, and then they sat in line. they sat in line. cars were breaking down. cars were running out of gas. >> each car, a family in need. your heart stops. they're there because they're hungry. they're there because they don't have work and they don't have

food. >> it was april 9th. on the christian calendar, that's holy thursday, marking the last supper. at the san antonio food bank, it's also remembered as a day from hell, as temperatures soared. >> by the afternoon shift volunteers were dropping. literally, ambulances were coming because of people having heat exhaustion. >> there we go. >> food bank president eric cooper. >> thank you, have a good one. >> i saw the line backed up on the freeway and i drove for mile and mile and mile and the line was just -- i wasn't hitting the end of it so, i panicked. >> more than 10,000 cars went through. this was the richest nation on earth, and it was shocking. >> we're a hardworking poor economy. multi job, uninsured, just hardworking, right on the edge, but making it. i mean, just surviving and making it without help.

covid-19 pushed those families that were on the edge over that edge. >> reporter: to try to stay ahead of demand, the san antonio food bank has its own small f m farms. all semiummer, volunteers were in the farms. soon it will feed another line of families. >> god bless them and their families. >> the need here is actually greater than ever. on our visit with the temperature over 100 degrees in the shade, the line crawled along for hours and then from out of nowhere -- >> here comes a 75-year-old woman on her walker from the bus stop and she just want a little food. that shows the desperation. then it's people of every color, every gender. it's the diverse rainbow of san antonio. >> one possible reason for the desperate situation, the cutoff of half of the $600 extra unemployment benefit and

congress is still deadlocked on what to do next. 125,000 more residents are now being served each month. most of them first-time recipients. >> i've never done it. i worked and i don't have a job anymore. >> this is a blessing, and i'm glad to be part of it. >> the pandemic has severely damaged san antonio's economy. especially hotels, restaurants, and bars. >> the hospitality and tourism industry has been decimated. hotels empty. riverwalks, zero. conventions, gone. >> among the first-time recipients we met at the food bank was a mother of five. michelle abraham, who works two minimum-wage jobs. she's struggling to feed the seven members of her family. her sons lost their restaurant jobs due to the pandemic and now she is the only one working. after rent and her other bills, michelle has only $70 a week to

feed them all. >> it's hard, i mean, it's really hard. >> she recently broke down, she says, crying in the shower, worried how she could possibly make it. she's one of thousands here who never thought they'd ask for help. not in a million years. >> oh, no, never because i've always worked. i've always taken care of my family by myself and we've always made it. >> a survey of young mothers this spring found that some 14 million american children were not getting enough to eat and the snan antonio food bank estimates one in three children here are undernourished. michelle abraham's 6-year-old son, jax, is blissfully unaware how tough it was for his mom to get him his healthy treats. >> remember the other day when i honked for everybody to come in and we had all these cherries and the pineapple and the mango and stuff? i told you i went to the food bank. >> oh, yeah. >> at the san antonio food bank, they have a 360-degree wholistic approach to bring people hope.

they give guidance on all available forms of help, from food stamps to women's and infants programs, to work. and in a programutilizing an app called ship smart, unemployed workers like heather martinez can get paid $13 an hour to work here, filling in for many of the regular food bank volunteers who are older and at risk for covid-19. >> if you all could go ahead and start bagging them all back here, please. >> martinez used to work at a restaurant and now runs the distribution line here. she says the program has been a life saver. >> we're able to not only get paid but they're giving us a steady income now during this time of not having any jobs or anything like that. >> the food bank is also training people who need jobs. mack richardson is a homeless veteran who's taking classes in the food bank's culinary arts program and volunteering to feed others. recently, a box of ba thnan

recently, a box of ba thnaas wa given to michelle abraham and she got back to us with a video of her mom making a banana nut bread they would not have been able to buy. it was just a small treat, a little gift of food, but more. >> something like this is -- it's awesome. it will bring a lot of people, a lot of families, not just the food, itself, but hope, a blessing, and some peace. >> that's -- that's such a staggering story to see, joy, and i think what impresses me the most was that, you know, five, six, months ago, the picture of the line, the aerial picture of the san antonio food bank, was the one that was on the front page of "the new york times" and on every newscast in america, and the problem has only gotten worse. it grabbed america's attention then and i'm praying that it

grabs america's attention now. >> absolutely. i mean, the one piece of good news is that, you know, this country, and you and i have talked about this, andrew, has so much food waste. you know, we have enough food waste to feed a smaller country. right? and so what we're seeing now is this cooperation to make sure that food is not thrown away, which is a sin. and to see it actually going to feed people. it's a massive effort. it needs to be bigger and as you said, it needs to be talked about a lot more often. that was a great package. and meanwhile, as food banks nationwide struggle to keep up with those longer lines, celebrities are stepping up to help. country superstar brad paisley and his wife, actress kimberly williams-paisley, have opened the store in their hometown of nashville, tennessee. its concept is simple. offer free, fresh, food to area residents, including home delivery to the elderly. and i had the chance to speak with brad about it. >> we really were early on this.

i mean, three years ago we started working on this concept never imagining that we would be ready just in time for the worst crisis of our lifetime. it's truly sort of divine. we got the inspiration from a place in santa barbara called unity shop, and their model was this, it was basically a free grocery store for people that fall on hard times. they should be able to go through our store, have the dignity that comes with the choice. you have choice in the food that you pick. you are able to have a shopping experience that your children feel like is very normal and they're not aware that at the end of your sort of shopping you don't pay for anything. the kids, you know, there's a checkout counter. there's a little mechanical horse. it's a very dignified experience and it helps the parents get back on their feet and the goal of this also is that they go through the system, through this hard time, then they graduate

out of it. they find a job. they end up in a better situation. and we've seen that happen with the one we based this on. already, we are -- it's just the need has been five times what we expected. >> yeah. you know, i finally got a chance to be in nashville last year fo year for the first time. it is such an incredible city. the first thing people think about obviously your fans are watching is they think of music and incredible entertainer and the spirit of nashville. can you talk about where all of these are coming from. i know musicians are having a hard time right now. people who are involved in the industry, restaurants, there are like these cycles that are hitting so hard. are you seeing more people from those communities that are using the places like the store and having to really for the first time. >> my industry has been hit harder than anything i can

imagine. we are not able to play concerts. for a while we could not record. there are so many out of work musicians that are not doing anything. we are serving some of them. we have a high percentage of minority clients. the music business is hanging on a tooth and nail right now. people that were employed but we are all starting to sweat like when is the next concert or the next tour. there are people that do lighting and video work out on the road. there are people that do truck driv driving and bus driving, you name it. they're all out of work. we are serving some of them. it is everyday.

>> i think we all held our breath when the cares act exp e expires in july. i am sure things are really tough in nashville as well. we help our people who are unemployed. what would you like to see done at the federal level that would help the people in nashville, the people that you are serving. >> what would have been an amazing thing is identify businesses that are dependant on gatherings. when you think of the music business, we are dependant most of our livelihood in your town is dependant on the ability of people getting together and listen to music, otherwise, there are 50 or 40 people on a given tour don't get to go to

work. stimulus injects in theaters or movie theaters or music venues or touring companies or theme parks. something that sort of strategically targets these things that can get us as a stock gap to the day where we are able to say okay, this amount of people are okay. let's go play. >> yeah. brad paisley. i know your fans are happy to see you in a show. hopefully that'll happen soon. thank you and your wife kimberly, god bless y'all for what you are doing >> thank you for having us onto talk about this. it means a lot. >> coming up. our salute to sun suunsung food workers on the frontline of the pandemic. ne of the pandemic biktarvy is a complete, one-pill,

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welcome back, we talk about americans that struggles to stay afloat. choosing to use your time to help others in need, whether it is kids or the vulnerables who can't leave their home. food workers are another group on the frontline fighting this disease, essential workers are taken for granted and under valued. >> everyone is losing their jobs. we started a program here which is out of control. restaurant workers didn't know when their next meals are coming from. they rely on us. >> we flipped homestead into a

food bank for anyone that needed it. we kind of had to keep evolving to help the community and help our staff but also to help the business survive this year. >> there was this incredible group and volunteers that showed up just eager to do something, to see all of these beautiful meals come out of our kitchen which basically been -- >> people heard about donation and people showing up to the pharmacy and the hospitals or the nursing home with food and smiles coming from complete strangers. that's what it is all about. >> allowed us to help the community and to be able to get

a meal and something to eat. we deliver these essentials strategy to your door. >> many families out there are struggling because they are laid off from their jobs. they are appreciate tiive of whe give them. >> we are one phone call away from being in the same position they are. >> we are still able to serve. we are still able to make someone's day. we are still able to provide quality food to those in need that has been a privilege to be apart of the community that needs us most. >> to learn more on how you can help, here are two places you can check out. feeding america and the independent restaurant coalition. >> andrew, the reason i love doing specials and talking with

you is you are about solutions, i am glad we ended this hour with something that people can actually do. i think that's what people want. thank you very much. on behalf of andrew and me, thank you for spending this hour with us. have a good night. ♪ i was tied up and tortured. these people almost murdered me. >> i was terrified. >> a mother just fighting for her child. >> that's universal. >> she survived a harrowing ordeal in one of the most dangerous places on earth.