In this episode of The Green Room, host Jonathon Platt sits with Emily Mills, founder of Lovely Village, and Dr. Jeremy Everett, founder of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, in a conversation about their intersection of faith, philanthropy, and the hunger crisis.
Everett emphasized the truth: there is enough food in the U.S. for everyone to eat, yet millions are affected by food insecurity. The problem isn’t scarcity, but the systems that leave working families unable to keep up with rising costs.
Mills started her business based on Jesus’ love for all. Lovely Village serves women who have survived trafficking and exploitation. With the funding toward SNAP benefits being challenged, Lovely Village raised funds to help families cover their grocery costs.
Everett and Mills emphasized the importance of knowing people, not just their problems. Their work is shaped by relationships that move compassion beyond intention and toward action.
“Walking into a strip club changes everything. And it’s like letting go and throwing it up in the air. I felt like I had no footing. I felt like everything I had been taught somehow. Now it was like I was in a fun house at the fair, where I’m walking through, and all these mirrors look really different now. My faith didn’t fit anymore. What I recognized was that if my type of faith didn’t fit, then it wasn’t the faith of Jesus.” – Emily Mills
Tune in for a conversation on how faith, policy, and proximity are shaping solutions to hunger and exploitation in Waco and beyond.
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Credits:
Our theme music is “Short Circuit” by Ryan James Carr, with a special guest appearance by – yes – Abner McCall.
Our episodes are made possible by a grant from the Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation.
And special thanks to our managing producer, Nina Um, and digital editor Kassidy Tsikitas.
