克莱尔·巴比诺-方特诺经常说，她收到的最好的礼物之一是“一个丑陋的包裹”.”
2015年，她被诊断出患有癌症. 当她坐在医生的办公室里, 让那些话冲昏了头脑, 她恍然大悟.
She’d been living as though she had all the time in the world and, 在那一刻, 她被迫承认我们都不知道.
我问自己, “如果我在职业生涯中能做的最好的事情就是我在目前的工作中能想到的最好的事情呢?. 这样可以吗??’”她说。. 在我心里，我知道答案是否定的. 在那一刻，我决定了, 就在那个办公室里, 我要辞去我现在的工作.
“For the first time in my career, I was going to take a leap of faith.”
当时, 巴比诺-方特诺特曾担任沃尔玛的财务执行副总裁兼全球财务主管，在沃尔玛领导团队工作了13年，并在政府中担任了30年越来越高的职位, 律师事务所, 和公司.
But she felt a strong calling from God that she was being led to a higher purpose.
“我曾是一名税务律师——我的工作就是把事情做得细致入微. 我做五年计划. 我做三年战略. 我想，‘为什么我不害怕?’”她说。. “But I truly did not feel afraid, and I am so grateful for that guidance. I just trusted that He would take me to where He wanted me to be.”
That moment led her to 美国供养, where she became chief executive officer in 2018.
美国供养, 一个由200多家食品银行和60家,000个慈善和信仰合作伙伴, 救援, 商店, and distributes food to more than 49 million people facing food insecurity each year. It also conducts research on food insecurity and addresses root causes of hunger.
在过去的六年里, Babineaux-Fontenot has grown the charitable organization—now the largest in the U.S., 据福布斯报道—and led the team through a number of challenges, including navigating a global pandemic and the ensuing increase in food insecurity. 为了她的工作, 她被授予2024年Laetare奖章, considered the most prestigious honor given to an American Catholic.
1883年在电竞赌博平台成立, the Laetare Medal was conceived as an American counterpart of the Golden Rose, 教皇的荣誉11世纪以前的教皇荣誉. 过去的诺贝尔奖获得者包括约翰·F·肯尼迪总统. 肯尼迪, 天主教工人创始人多萝西·戴, 小说家沃克·珀西, Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner.
饥饿是巴比诺·方特诺最关心的问题.
作为一个孩子, 她的母亲从来没有鼓励她吃完她的食物，说在遥远的国家有饥饿的孩子. Her family was well aware that there were hungry children in their own hometown.
Babineaux-Fontenot在路易斯安那州的小镇Opelousas长大，是108个兄弟姐妹中的一个. 通过结合诞生, 采用, 和培养, 她的父母建立了一个充满爱心的大家庭，孜孜不倦地帮助有需要的孩子——其中许多人遭到了忽视, 滥用, 在加入他们的家园之前，粮食不安全.
她的爸爸妈妈, 沃伦和玛丽·爱丽丝·巴比诺, were eventually inducted into the National Council for Adoption’s Adoption Hall of Fame.
“My parents dedicated their lives to the service of children,”她说。. “I think of how deeply rooted our family experience was in their faith, 约翰福音第13章是如何贯穿他们的作品的, 这样，他们的爱就会为人所知.’ 和 I’ve come to realize it informs everything—all that I aspire to be in the world.”
她的父母和祖父母也努力确保天主教信仰是她和她的兄弟姐妹生活的基本组成部分. Today, she says her religious identity is as much a part of her as breathing.
“我有时会羞于被称为基督徒, 不是因为它不值得称赞，而是因为它太值得称赞了. I think of it in a denotative way as being ‘like Christ’ and I know that I fall short,巴比诺芳特诺说. “But then I wake up the next day, dust myself off, and try again. I witnessed my parents and my grandparents imperfectly practice their religion, 但是要努力把它做好. 我认为他们做得很好. 我非常感激他们的榜样.”
巴比诺-方特诺特获得了路易斯安那大学拉斐特分校的学士学位，并在巴吞鲁日的南方大学法律中心完成了法学博士学位, 路易斯安那州, and a Master of Laws in taxation from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
She was not only the first in her family to attend college and law school, 但在第一代高中毕业生中. Those “firsts” continued when she began her career, she said.
“在我演过的很多角色中, 我也是第一个有色人种，或者说第一个女性,”她说。. “但在这些机会的背后是挑战，人们不知道对你有什么期望. They use whatever lens they already have to define their expectations of you. 有时你能提供的比你能提供的多，有时你能提供的比你能提供的少. 但很少是你. 努力在这些角色中找到自己是我遇到的最大挑战之一.”
即使在她开始职业生涯的时候，她的父母也一直激励着她. 巴比诺-方特诺回忆起她和母亲在被路易斯安那州州长任命为该州法律事务办公室助理秘书后不久的一个关键时刻.
在办公室, 巴比诺-方特诺无意中听到一位同事漫不经心地说，她“对每个人都一视同仁”.她自豪地把这句话分享给了母亲，但并没有得到她预期的反应.
“我母亲说，‘克莱尔，如果他们长得一样，那就太好了，’”巴比诺-方特诺特说. 然后我意识到我搞错了. 每个人都是独一无二的，我母亲对我们也是独一无二的. 她不希望我的有学习困难的兄弟姐妹和没有学习困难的兄弟姐妹做同样的事情. She just wanted each of us to flower into the best versions of ourselves, 我试着去接受它.”
现在，这种欣赏每个人的能力是她作为一名领导者的典型特征之一, said 保罗·亨利斯，“供养美国”的首席财务官.
“The day I met Claire, I remember watching her interact with our staff. 她不慌不忙地和每个人见面交谈, 这真的让每个人都觉得自己被重视了,他说. 当你有机会和她在一起的时候, 你充分意识到信仰对她的重要性，以及信仰如何影响她的为人和行为. 你开始意识到，这不仅是她的向导，也是我们的一束光.”
Babineaux-Fontenot took the helm at 美国供养 at a crucial time for the organization, 尤尔科说, 北伊利诺伊食品银行的总裁兼首席执行官.
“当她来找我们时，我们正处于危机之中. 我们的网络中有很多人失去了信任. Things had not gone well between food banks and with the national office. 她说，‘让我们专注于更好地在一起，让我们重建信任，’”尤尔科说. “She did that by having lots of conversations among all of us. 然后她创造了“为网络服务”这个词.’她会说，‘我是为网络服务的.’ That’s a very servant-like approach and attitude to making sure that this vast, 多样化的, 重要的社区信任她和她的团队.”
巴比诺-方特诺特还帮助人们了解了服务不足的社区，以及如何最好地接触到他们, Yurko说. While the hunger crisis touches every county and parish in America, people of color and those in rural communities are disproportionately impacted.
“出大门, 克莱尔说我们要考虑股权问题, 多样性, 和包容,尤尔科说. “对我们来说，重要的是要了解哪些人群代表性不足或落后，以及我们如何帮助他们. Her work in that area has made a real impact that has changed the way we approach that.”
Two years into Babineaux-Fontenot’s tenure, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. 和, 几乎一夜之间, the organization saw a tremendous increase in the number of families who needed assistance. 然而, 那个动荡的时代也有一线希望, Babineaux-Fontenot说, 因为它也加剧了美国的饥饿危机.S. 聚光灯下.
她说:“大流行期间的大量支持是我们以前从未见过的. “需求当然很大，但我们全国各地的社区都挺身而出提供帮助.”
在那段时间里, Yurko说, 巴比诺-丰特诺不仅确保他们能够解决疫情带来的紧迫需求——从安全到需求增加，再到后勤保障——而且还帮助他们制定战略，了解如何在提高认识的基础上进一步实现解决饥饿的长期目标.
“克莱尔不知疲倦地工作，”尤尔科说. 她引导我们. 我对她的能力印象深刻, 她的体贴, 还有她的勇气, 以及她为“喂养美国”和我们为这些社区服务的网络所付出的时间.”
在巴比诺方特诺的指导下, 美国供养 became the nation’s largest charitable organization in 2022, 据福布斯报道. 网络分发了5个.2023年将达到30亿餐.
但是还有很多工作要做，Babineaux-Fontenot说.
As the world returned to its normal routines after the pandemic, 食物捐赠减少, 政府特别救济计划到期, and food insecurity has climbed to its highest rate since the financial downturn of 2008.
“这里有超过1000万儿童没有粮食保障, 在文明史上最富有的国家,”她说。. “这意味着我们需要继续宣传. We should help people to understand that the game isn’t over. 电竞赌博平台对橄榄球很在行，对吧? 比赛结束前你不能离开球场. 游戏不会因为饥饿而结束.”
Babineaux-Fontenot, who was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2020, 准备好继续战斗了吗. Success to her means nothing short of ending the hunger crisis.
“在繁荣的社区中，人们正在为自己创造解决方案，‘养活美国’计划的成功就是在社区中占有一席之地,”她说。. “一个没有人——没有人——需要担心下一顿饭从哪里来的美国, 或者再下一个，再下一个. 孩子们从哪里获得茁壮成长所需的营养. Where moms and dads don’t have to eat less so their kids have full bellies. 在那里，爷爷奶奶可以邀请家人来他们家度假，因为他们有足够的东西可以分享.
“这是我的愿景，这一切都是可能的. 这些不是白日梦.”
为了实现这一愿景, 她和她在“供养美国”的团队正在寻找解决粮食不安全差距的新方法，并在国会倡导新的立法, 他们最近宣布与卫生与公众服务部合作，探索食品不安全和健康结果之间的联系.
一路走来, Babineaux-Fontenot has found a sense of joy and purpose she had never known in the workplace.
“One of my greatest privileges is that I get to see people be hopeful, and I get to have hope as a reflection of their remarkable generosity,”她说。. “我进入这些社区，与人们并肩站在一起，确保他们的邻居有他们需要的食物.”
她每天都感激自己在2015年听从了上帝的召唤.
“If my life is a testament to anything, it would be to listen. 还是. 这里有一条路，你的脚步井然有序. Your responsibility is to figure out the path you’re supposed to be on. 当它到来的时候，你会知道的.”
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