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This Week's Episode

Behind every meal served is a system most people never see.

In this episode, Liz Lowe shares her journey from growing up in a food-insecure household to helping organizations across the country build sustainable funding strategies. Alongside Phil and Gerry Brisson, she explores how funding, relationships, and lived experience come together to shape what’s possible in the fight for food security.

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On This Episode

This episode flips a core assumption on its head: food banks don’t run on food—they run on funding. And until we fully confront that truth, we will keep limiting what’s possible.

Joined by Liz Lowe, a national fund development leader with lived experience of food insecurity, Phil and Gerry Brisson unpack a reality hiding in plain sight—the way we fund the mission is shaping the mission itself. Every meal distributed, every truck on the road, every partnership formed is not just an act of service—it’s the result of a financial system quietly determining scale, consistency, and impact.

Liz brings both personal conviction and professional clarity, reframing fund development from a “support function” to a central operating force. This isn’t transactional—it’s structural. Funding fuels infrastructure, drives access, enables dignity, and ultimately determines whether the system expands…or stalls.

It challenges the field to rethink who must be at the table and what truly drives change. People experiencing hunger bring essential insight the system cannot afford to ignore. Real progress happens when that perspective is aligned with strong leadership, smart strategy, and sustainable funding.

Because in the end, if we want better outcomes, we can’t just move more food.

We have to rethink what’s underneath it.

Funding isn’t separate from the mission—it’s what allows the mission to exist consistently.

Liz Lowe

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This Week's Guests

Liz Lowe

Liz Lowe is Vice President of Client Relations at the Allegiance Group, partnering with mission-driven organizations to strengthen fund development and build sustainable revenue systems. With over 20 years of experience in the charitable food sector—and lived experience growing up in a food-insecure household—Liz brings both insight and authenticity to her work. She is increasingly using her voice to elevate the realities of food insecurity and advocate for solutions grounded in dignity, community, and long-term impact.

Liz Lowe

Vice President of Client Relations at the Allegiance Group

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Liz Lowe

Vice President of Client Relations at the Allegiance Group

Liz Lowe is Vice President of Client Relations at the Allegiance Group, partnering with mission-driven organizations to strengthen fund development and build sustainable revenue systems. With over 20 years of experience in the charitable food sector—and lived experience growing up in a food-insecure household—Liz brings both insight and authenticity to her work. She is increasingly using her voice to elevate the realities of food insecurity and advocate for solutions grounded in dignity, community, and long-term impact.

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