Hungry for more: Food shuttle founder to continue work after retirement

Jill Staton Bullard can often be found in a hat and apron, helping to fight hunger in the Triangle.

In 1989, Bullard co-founded the Interfaith Food Shuttle, which now serves more than 50,000 people in seven counties every month.

“We started in cars, we moved to vans, we moved to trucks,” Bullard said of the growth. “I always dreamed of a community without hunger. We’re this close, but we need to get all the way and we’re going to do it.”

Food on Thursday morning was going to a soup kitchen in Raleigh and Bullard helped load the truck one last time. She is retiring from the day to day work, but not from the mission to end hunger.

“I want to go think about what we need to do next and what I need to do next,” she said.

Bullard plans to keep fighting hunger in every community, not just in big cities like Raleigh and Durham.

“What’s going to happen in Nash and Edgecombe Counties, where we’ve been so badly hit? All of those are things I’m not losing sight of, let me tell you. I’m invested in the outcomes,” said Bullard.

Bullard has seen how lives are changed when the community works to solve the problem of hunger. As she leaves the daily work at the Food Shuttle, Bullard hopes others will do their part to eliminate hunger.

“One in four of our children are hungry and we need to do something about it,” Bullard said. “If I could leave with a message, it’s that. Let’s make sure every child is fed, every day of their lives.”