Discovery, Kellogg’s and No Kid Hungry partner to combat childhood hunger

Jessica Beatus, Discovery Inc. Group Vice President of Standards and Practices & Social Good, joins Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade with Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi to discuss the company’s latest initiative, alongside Kellogg’s and No Kid Hungry, to combat childhood hunger and much more.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: In our "Road to Recovery" sponsored by Wells Fargo, we're taking a look at the problem of food insecurity in this country. To help tackle this issue, Discovery announced it is partnering with Kellogg's and No Kid Hungry to combat childhood hunger. This public service announcement will air on both the Food Network and TLC. This comes as the coronavirus pandemic has left more than 22 million students without meals due to school closures.

Discovery Group vice president of standards and practices and social good, Jessica Beatus, joins us now. Jessica, good to see you this morning. Walk us through this. Why was it so important for Discovery to get behind this?

JESSICA BEATUS: Good morning. Thanks so much for having me. Discovery has been partnering through Food Network with No Kid Hungry for more than 12 years. And we noticed once we expanded, and when Discovery bought Food Network and HGTV and Scripps, that we were reaching 25% of women in the country across our 19 networks every night. And we wanted to figure out what were we asking them to do.

And so we decided to expand this partnership, understanding that food insecurity in America is completely solvable, and it really is an issue of awareness and efficiencies. And we've been super proud to really expand the partnership with No Kid Hungry and leverage all of our platforms and talent to really end childhood hunger in the US.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Tell us how you're doing that. I mean, you have quite the platform at Discovery. You reach something like 25% of moms across the US. How are you-- how are you helping to change the dynamic there?

JESSICA BEATUS: So I've always been a really big believer, not just in the typical corporate social responsibility, but really the value of the public-private partnership. And what we have is, you know, our responsibility because we reach so many people on what we can ask them to do. And so we created Turn Up, Fight Hunger which was a partnership now trying to get a billion meals to kids over the next five years in the US.

And we do that mostly through a texting campaign where you can text Hungry to 707070 to join the fight. And when you get there, we're giving our consumers all kinds of options, from really basic donations, to being able to connect with your representatives and Congress members to have them vote on policies that will impact ending childhood hunger, and also volunteer opportunities, and voting. And so we've really wanted to enable and empower these moms, who obviously are passionate and don't want to see any kids hungry in America, to take real meaningful action.

BRIAN SOZZI: Jessica, is there a way to address this issue or just try to move it forward or help in some way through the programming itself?

JESSICA BEATUS: Well, absolutely. I mean, we are running Turn Up throughout all of our programming. So you'll see it on "Brother Versus Brother." Obviously, you just had some HGTV talent on-- it's actually part of "Extreme Makeover-- Home Edition" as well. And of course, it's across the Food Network and TLC and really all of our brands. Even on "Investigation Discovery," we say the biggest crime is that you know 70 children in America are going hungry every day.

And so you know, we have this massive platform. But I think, you know, part of it is an awareness. And also, like I said, once we enable those tools, it really is an efficiency issue. There is enough food in this country for everybody to not go hungry. And it's really about the efficiencies and connecting the resources so that children, especially, do not need to be hungry here.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: I know that Discovery has put its money where its mouth is and has donated millions of dollars to this cause. Other people hearing this right now, how can they join that effort?

JESSICA BEATUS: Absolutely. We're really proud. We've been able to provide $312 million meals to kids since we launched in October last year. Like I said, you can text hungry to 707070 to join. And we're just so thankful to all of our consumers. We have an extremely high donation conversion rate. I've never seen anything like it. People really understand right now that they can make the difference with a very small amount of money.

BRIAN SOZZI: How could public policy amplify what you're doing at Discovery?

JESSICA BEATUS: So listen, this is a really interesting time. And you know, part of what Congress is looking at right now is they're looking at the stimulus package is extending SNAP benefits. And you know, obviously, we really do support that. Again, these are really the efficiencies and extending that and the PEBT, which is the pandemic, you know, relief for EBT would make it a lot easier.

Right now, there are 22 million children that, you know, are used to getting a free or reduced meal every day. That's obviously very difficult at a time where schools are closed. Not to mention, there are many more families now hungry. And when we first started, one in seven children in this country were living with hunger. The estimate is now that one in four kids may be living with hunger due to the pandemic. And so now more than ever, we just need our policymakers to double down and, again, just really support those programs like SNAP and PEBT.

BRIAN SOZZI: All right, let's leave it there. Discovery Group vice president of standards and practices and social good, Jessica Beatus-- good to see you. Good to see we're doing here too.

JESSICA BEATUS: Thanks. Really appreciate it. Be well.