Changing the Conversation Changes Us

This story is written by Dr. Phillip Knight, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan.

“Talk is cheap,” we have heard this phrase uttered and probably said it ourselves. While sometimes talk is cheap, talk is also essential. Talk is how change starts. A conversation can be life changing for a person, a community, a culture even a country. Potential is realized when we talk to one another and not at one another.

Talk is only cheap when nothing else accompanies it, because “action speaks louder than words”. Words aren’t cheap when they move us to action, cause us to change or help us dedicate ourselves to making a difference. When action comes about because of the talk, conversation, or speech that is when words matter.

I am convinced conversation is the gateway to change. Therefore, I am thankful for the leadership of MAHP, who has invited members of the Food Bank Council of Michigan to the Summer Conference for two years in a row to talk. Dr. Dawn Opel and Gerry Brisson together have talked about how to create positive change for those who are struggling with food Insecurity.

Partnering together we can pilot programs that provide the proof of concept we need to create the lasting policy change for our clients and communities. Together we can change more than the conversation, we can change the outcomes for our providers and the people they care for. We can change the culture across the state to do more than we ever dreamed possible for our communities and in the process of all this positive change, it will probably change each of us for the better too. All it takes is the courage to chat.

Thank you MAHP for having us and I believe positive change is just in front of us as we work together to change more than the conversation.

To hear more from Dr. Knight about ways to end food insecurity, check out his podcast, “Food First”.

  back to blog