Jeff Bridges Works To End Hunger

From the days of doing Werner Erhard’s est Training and co-founding the End Hunger Network, which, among other things, put on the first Live Aid concert, to his role in 2010 as national spokesman for No Kid Hungry Campaign, Jeff Bridges has been passionate about making a real difference in people's lives.

“Poverty is a very complex issue, but feeding children isn’t,” he said, unveiling an initiative that suits today’s political and economic climate because it requires no new money, or programs. Federally funded programs are in place but only half the kids eligible for a government-funded breakfast receive it, and only 15 percent of kids eligible for assistance during the summer get it. Bridges has signed on with Share Our Strength, a nationally recognized nonprofit, in what he says is “like a public-relations assignment,” to publicize the gap and get governors to commit to closing it.

Bridges has been involved in the hunger issue for a long time, and in 1983 helped found the End Hunger Network, which among other things staged the Live Aid concerts in 1985 and produced the movie “Hidden in America,” about a father who can’t provide for his children, starring his brother, Beau Bridges. Asked to be more specific about what triggered his interest in the issue, Bridges revealed that it goes back to “est” and the human-potential movement headed by Werner Erhard, who challenged his followers that once they knew the facts—that widespread hunger could be overcome—they shouldn’t look to others to solve the problem but should take action themselves.

From: The Most Significant Thing He’s Ever Done - Newsweek November 12, 2010