When Camille Posard created a documentary to highlight the problem of hunger in the U.S., her passion for the cause inspired her little sister.
Now, the 17-year-old Camille and 14-year-old Gabrielle are the founders of Donate Don't Dump—an organization that encourages grocers and restaurants to donate their surplus food to needy families. Moreover, Camille's film was recently featured at the San Diego Film Festival.
Camille said she was inspired after learning about how many families needed food when she was 15.
"While working on a story for my broadcasting class, I heard about a food distribution in Oceanside," she said. "I was completely shocked when I got there, because it was only military families in line getting food. Later, we learned that many people from all walks of life are experiencing hunger, here at home. Those military families I saw in line to get food, those families sacrifice so much to protect our country, they shouldn’t be worried about being able to put food on the table."
Eventually, she was able to get Leichtag Family Foundation to commission her documentary One in Seven, The New Face of Hunger.
Camille's devotion to raising awareness about hunger in the U.S. drove a 12-year-old Gabrielle to create a logo promoting the cause.
"I saw that something was crazy wrong and wanted to do my part to help," Gabrielle said. "After all, if we recycle to keep bottles and paper out of landfills how is it possible that 96 billion pounds of good food go into landfills while one in four kids in San Diego County go hungry? I want to create a new paradigm, and usher in the next generation of recycling alleviating hunger while saving the environment."
Now the duo has inspired the creation of 10 other "Donate Don't Dump" chapters at other high schools and youth groups. And their future will likely be as bright as the present. Camille plans to pursue a career in broadcasting or film while Gabrielle hopes to one day attend Stanford University.
Advice for young people:
Gabrielle: "I would tell young and budding leaders to follow your heart and no matter your age, you can change the world."
Camille: “Just do it! It doesn’t matter how old you are or your economic status; we can all make a difference."
I am curious though, why girls from Carlsbad are being portrayed on the Santee sight? I was under the impression that the Santee sight is about Santee, the Carlsbad sight is about Carlsbad, etc.