Leona Martens admits that there are times when she tends to get tripped up with the day-to-day things.
"But I've got a pretty good vision long term," she said Monday.
It was that vision that sent Martens, executive director of the Weld Food Bank, to Washington, D.C., last week where she met with Bush administration officials. They discussed the needs for a nutritional food program for the nation's seniors as well as other food problems associated with the growing number of baby boomers.
"We talked about Social Security and all the other things associated with seniors except food. And all the medicine bottles have 'Take With Food' on them. Not all the baby boomers will need food assistance, but there will be a significant number who will," Martens said.
That's the message she took to Terrell Halaska, a member of the Domestic Policy Council, and Dennis Grace, deputy director of the office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives. Both are special assistants to President Bush in those capacities.
Martens said Bush has indicated he wants faith-based institutions to get more involved in providing social services to individuals. That was one of the reasons she, as a representative of America's Second Harvest, and a representative of Focus Hope, a Detroit-based organization similar to the food bank, spent two days last week talking with administration officials.
"I was the rural representative, and he (the Detroit official) represented the urban view," Martens said.
But Martens said Halaska and Grace "were most cordial." She added that the best part of the trip was that she got the word out about a growing problem.
"They listened. We needed a place to start and I think we did that," Martens said.