Mediators donate more than one million meals to foodbanks worldwide.

Mediators donate more than one million meals to foodbanks worldwide.

Idaho – Will Work For Food (WWFF) today announced that their free educational webinars provided to and for mediators, arbitrators, and attorneys around the globe have generated more than $100,000 in donations to foodbanks worldwide.  Will Work For Food’s flagship webinar, “The New Possibilities Hour,” is presented every Thursday at 8 a.m. Pacific.  Every speaker gets to mention a food bank in their area, or one that is otherwise important to them.  WWFF asks people either to contribute to that food bank in our speaker’s honor, or to any other food bank.

Said Natalie Armstrong-Motin, the creator of Will Work For Food, “In April of 2020, just as this health crisis was really taking root, I was like everyone else and endlessly watching various television news channels. The physical, emotional, mental, economic, and political tolls of coronavirus were devastating and just getting started. I watched, and was stunned at the speed at which demands on food banks doubled, then tripled, then kept growing. It was heartbreaking.”

“My immediate response was to write a check. But I’m just one shorter-than-average woman with limited financial resources. I couldn’t do much all by myself.”

“What I could do was call on my colleagues in the resolution industry to help.  And they did.  In a big way!  Appreciation especially needs to go to Jeff Kichaven and Jean Lawler who organize and moderate the Will Work For Food presenters.”

Jeff Kichaven, an independent mediator with a nationwide practice and long-time friend of Natalie’s, joined the organizing team shortly after the program launched, recruiting speakers.  Among other presenters, Will Work For Food has featured two past presidents of the ABA, professors from Harvard and Columbia, leaders of diversity bar associations, and experts from Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Austria.

“When Natalie asked me to join the #WillWorkForFood project, it was the right opportunity at the right time.  The current health crisi and lockdown left my mediation practice reeling, and the chance to help others gave me a new sense of purpose.  I’m so grateful to the many distinguished speakers who have presented, and I’m just in awe of the generosity of the dispute resolution and litigation community members who have contributed in their honor.  When I think that we have provided more than one million meals for people in need, I am moved close to the point of tears.  It’s so amazing, our listeners have helped to combat food insecurity not only in the United States, but worldwide.”

According to https://www.feedingamerica.org/ways-to-give/faq/about-our-claims each dollar donated to a food bank provides 10 meals.  42 million Americans are food insecure.  That’s 1 in 8 Americans (1 in 6 children in the US).

Jean Lawler, MC3 Certified Mediator with a national practice and the other half of the moderator team of Will Work For Food said, “It is truly an honor and a pleasure to be working with Natalie and Jeff. Akin to the ripple effect one sees after tossing a pebble into a lake, how it grows and becomes bigger, that is exactly what has happened with Will Work For Food. The generosity of the global legal community has been most humbling to see and experience. If you ever want a real life example of how one person can make a difference for so many, and how when people join together they make it even greater difference, this is that example. As they say, what a difference a day makes. Here, that difference has fed people around the world with more than 1 million meals so far, during this time of current health crisis. Amazing the impact of that pebble in the lake. Kudos to all involved!”

Please join us on Thursdays at 8am Pacific/11 a.m. Eastern for an amazing friend to the resolution industry who volunteers a webinar presentation about a timely topic. These programs are free. Anyone can join. You can see the upcoming events at www.willworkforfood.news.

For more information please reach out to Will Work For Food at www.WillWorkForFood.News

For comment, please reach out to Will Work For Food’s Founder, Natalie Armstrong-Motin at [email protected], or to our moderators, Jeff Kichaven at [email protected] and Jean Lawler at [email protected].