Hunger and malnutrition have devastating consequences for children and have been linked to low birth weight and birth defects, obesity, mental and physical health problems, and poorer educational outcomes.

Children under five are the poorest age group in America, and one in four infants, toddlers and preschoolers are poor during the years of greatest brain development.

Be real. Try to do what you say, say what you mean, and be what you seem.

Much of what I do now stems from my rage at segregation and discrimination. I can't stand to see children not able to do anything, anybody not able to do what they can do. The daily lessons of exclusion, having hand-me-down books in schools, of seeing ambulances turn away and not give health care for people lying in the streets who are migrant workers. Everything I do today stems from that segregated existence.

If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.

There comes a time when you roll up your sleeves and put yourself at the top of your commitment list.

Children teach us to be courageous and to stand up against injustice.