host: our guest is claire babineaux-fontenot, executive officer of feeding america. welcome your comments and calls, 202-748-8000. for those in the eastern and central time zones, 2302-748-8001 the mountain and pacific region and if you're experiencing food insecurity or not able to get to the grocery store or not able to get what you need on a day-to-day basis the line we set aside is 202-748-8002. there was an article in thursday's "wall street journal," similar piece from "the new york times" this morning, "wall street journal" headline on their piece said farmers dump milk, break eggs as coronavirus restaurant closing destroys demand. how reliant in the past is your organization, feeding america, on that type of donation from restaurants from their food bins. guest: you've identified another stream we've been able to reliably and consistently access. one of the things that people, even those who know our network may not realize is that we are the largest food waste recovery organization in the u.s. so while about 72 billion pounds of edible food tends to go to la

joined by feeding america cheaper sick of officer cheat -- she picked ticket of officer claire babineaux-fontenotchief executive officer claire babineaux-fontenot. -- and nothing a new executive order for all new jersey transit and private carriers -- announcing a new executive order for all new jersey transit and private carriers. >> i am announcing a new step filling up on the step we announced thursday to help slow the coronavirus. today i am signing an executive order directing all private carriers to cut the capacity on all trains, buses, light rail vehicles and paratransit vehicles to 50% of their maximum. the order for the requires nj transit and private carriers to supply their workers with gloves and face coverings. the order also requires all whens to wear face covers traveling on nj transit or with a private carrier whether it be by bus, train, light rail or paratransit vehicle unless they cannot for medical reasons. many of ouror essential workers, public transit is how they get to work and we need to protect them during that trip. nj transit will put out guidance specifically on thes

daily dist" >> earlier today, i spoke with claire babineaux fontenot, the c.e.o. america, a nationwide network of food banks that are helping to feed tens of millions of hungry people across the united states. check it out. claire, welcome to "the daily distancing show." how are you? >> thank you. i'm really pleased to be here. under unfortunate circumstances, but so pleased that you gave us an opportunity to address your audience. >> trevor: oh, i'll be honest, i feel like the opportunity is ours because i have been reading through some of the material about feeding america, and it is honestly ridiculous that, a, how many people you need to feed and, also, the fact that most people don't even know that this is happening. tell us a little bit about feeding america and what you do. >> so we're a network of 200 food banks around the united states. we partner with 60,000 food pantries, soup kitchens, male programs. in normal times with 2 million volunteers. and we distribute over 4 billion meals to over 40 million people, and that's before this crisis. so, to your po

joining us next is claire babineaux-fontenot, the chief executive officer w

coronavirus outbreaks began, food bave seen demand increase by as much as 50% in some places, says claire babineaux-fontenot, c.e.o. offe ing america, the largest hunger-relief organization in the u.s. >> we've seen this before, just never at this magnitude. the average american does not have $400 in cash available to deal with a financial emergency. people started losing their jobs. people started missing checks. most people in ts country are one check away from being in need of some n source of food and other things that are necessary for sustenance. >> reporter: what about the impacts on all of the people that volunteer their time at food banks, many of whom i would guess are elderly? >> our volunteers are inordinately elderly. consequently, we have a bit of a perfect storm going on right now, so we have increase in demand, decrease in supply and a significant decrease in our volunteer workforce. some of that decrease in workforce is us wanting to look oufor the safety of the people where they are trying to help us and they're particularly vulnerable. r orter: the mad rush for supplies as families prepar

later, feeding america chief executive officer claire babineaux-fontenot joins us to discuss food insecurity. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: on any other easter sunday, st. peter's square at the vatican would be filled with thousands of worshipers. seen.s the lives the worldwide coronavirus pandemic has forced pope francis and religious leaders everywhere to radically change their worship practices before today, easter, passover, and the upcoming month of ramadan. happy easter. it is april 12, 2020. we start the morning looking at what a couple of states decided to do. some legal decisions late yesterday and ask you shoul