15-Year-Old Braeden Mannering Is Combating Food Insecurity With His Brown Bags

"Just Be Cause” is our interview series where celebs, activists, and influencers answer alternating questions about social change (“cause”) and about who they are as a person (“just because”).

In 2013, Braeden Mannering attended the Kids’ State Dinner at the White House after winning the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge as a nine-year-old with his nutritious and affordable tortilla bowl recipe. There, he met former First Lady Michelle Obama, who called on him to “pay it forward” in his hometown of Bear, Delaware.

Later that month, Braeden saw a man in need and prepared a bag for him with snacks, an umbrella, and a bottle of water. Starting with that single bag, Braeden went on to develop Braeden’s Brown Bags, a public charity that has since distributed 14,000 brown bags to homeless and low-income communities. Now 15 years old, Braeden oversees the operation of 3B, speaks publicly about food insecurity, hosts hunger conferences for young people, and occasionally plays the drums.

Hear more from this 2019 Youth Empower Player in our interview below, and learn how you can join Braeden in the fight against hunger by donating food to your local food bank through DoSomething’s Huddle Against Hunger campaign, as part of NFL Huddle for 100.

What cause or organization are you most passionate about?

Other than mine? Well, actually DoSomething.org is very important to me because they gave me a $500 grant, which really started to snowball my organization. It was in 2013.

Do you have any nicknames?

People call me Brae, but usually people just call me Braeden. My sister calls me Brae-Brae. Before she really knew how to pronounce her letters correctly, she said “Beddin.”

What moment or experience made you want to change the world?

Meeting Michelle Obama for the first time because I realized that I should be paying it forward after being able to meet her and learn different things and how open she is about everything.

What is the last show or movies that you binged?

The last show that I binged was on Netflix. It was called Russian Doll. It's very inappropriate, but I was recommended it, so...

Who or what gives you hope for the future?

Knowing that there are other youth groups that want to make a difference in the world definitely gives me that hope that we will be going somewhere in the future.

What is your guilty pleasure?

I guess, snacking. There was a question in the room [when I visited the DoSomething office], "What's your favorite meal of the day?" And I said a midnight snack because I do stay up late, and I get very hungry.

What is your best hack or something that you do for self-care?

I have a computer, so I play with a lot of my friends online, just different games. That gets my mind off of things very quickly, and I just focus on what I'm doing and talking to my friends about whatever.

What are three things you would do on a perfect day?

Play games with my friends online. Sometime in the day, go to the mall with my friends just to get whatever or just look at whatever. Then getting whatever kind of food I wanted.

Who's your role model?

My mom is probably my perfect role model. She helps me with a lot of things, including with the organization. She manages the numbers and all that, but she also pushes me forward to do certain things and helps me out with school and stuff when I miss days.

What is your secret talent?

I can kind of play the drums. I wouldn't necessarily call it too much of a secret talent, but more like a secret hobby. I'm not that bad. I like to think I'm not that bad, anyway.

What issue or cause should more people be talking about?

Well, food insecurity. I mean, [it's] what I talk about and a lot of people don't know about it, especially younger people considering they're not taught that in school, but it's a very important topic to just know that this is happening and that you can help make a change in the world.

What fictional character are you most like?

Well, I actually got a suggestion from Tej [a DoSomething staffer]. I said, "I like to observe a lot. What is a fictional character that does that?" And he said Harry Potter, with the invisibility cloak on. I thought that worked pretty well.

What young person or group of young people inspires you the most?

My Gram had a daycare at her house, and it was kids five and below. Since it was my Gram, she wanted to teach them about food insecurity as best as she could, and they packed 3B bags for us all the time. They were so happy just to pack bags. They knew exactly what to do. It was just really cool.

What's your favorite meme?

It changes all the time, mostly because there's always something new. I saw this one about Avengers, the new one, and it's about how easy it would have been to kill Thanos in the first movie.

What's something you read, watch, or listen to feel inspired or empowered?

I listen to a lot of music all the time. I always have earbuds somewhere on me. As of right now, I have them in my pocket. But it's not fast paced. I listen to slower music about really whatever. It could be any type of genre as long as it's slow and not very loud.

Who or what is guaranteed to make you laugh?

Any one of my friends still makes me laugh easily. They know what makes me laugh because we've been friends since middle school.

What's the biggest change you'd like to see in the world in the next five years?

There's a lot of ignoring people, especially people who need the most help or the most attention. I'd like to see people noticing or doing the little things that really can lift someone's spirits up, simple things like holding the door open for someone or helping an elderly person across the street. Just little things like that that wouldn't take too much time out of your day. For some people it's like, "Oh, this is going to make me late." And in reality, it's okay to be five minutes late. That shouldn't be too big of an impact on whatever you're doing.

What's your most overused emoji?

It's the laughing-till-crying emoji. Tears out the side.

What advice would you give other young people who want to make a difference?

No matter what, you can make a change, even if it's something little that starts off small and gets bigger from there. It doesn't have to be this super big thing. It can be as simple as packing a brown bag and giving it to someone in need.

In three words, how are you feeling right now?

Pretty freaking chill.