08/09/2026: Generally Recognized As Safe, Growing Up Behind Walls, Hoosier Hysteria

Summary

60 Minutes Podcast Summary

Episode Date: August 10, 2026
Stories Covered:

1. Generally Recognized As Safe: The Public Health Threat of Ultra-Processed Foods
2. Growing Up Behind Walls: Hope and Resilience at a Haitian Orphanage
3. Hoosier Hysteria: Indiana University Football’s Historic Turnaround

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1. Generally Recognized As Safe: The Public Health Threat of Ultra-Processed Foods

Theme Overview:
A rare partnership finds Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler joining forces—despite sharp differences on other health issues—to sound the alarm on ultra-processed foods and the loopholes that allow potentially hazardous ingredients into America’s diet. The episode explores regulatory failures, health consequences, and mounting efforts for reform.

Key Discussion Points

• The Scope of the Problem

  • Ultra-processed foods now make up 50% of adult caloric intake and 60% of children’s diets in the US.
  • The 1958 "GRAS" (Generally Recognized As Safe) designation allows food companies to self-certify ingredient safety without FDA oversight if they have “expert” consensus.
  • There are estimates of 4,000-10,000 ingredients approved in the US, compared to just 400 in the EU.
  • Chronic illnesses—obesity, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver and heart disease—are linked to these dietary trends.
  • Dr. Kessler describes ultra-processed foods as:
    “Energy dense, highly palatable, rapidly absorbable…that have altered our metabolism and have resulted in the greatest increase in chronic disease in our history.” (03:10)

• A Crisis Compared to Tobacco

  • Kessler draws a parallel to his work exposing the tobacco industry, calling the ultra-processed food issue just as big, if not bigger.
    • “It’s as large, if not larger.” (04:38, Kessler)
    • “The scale of this. This affects everybody. Understand, not everybody smoked. Look at the number of people who consume ultra processed food. It touches all of us.” (04:43)

• Regulatory Loopholes

  • Kennedy blames the industry’s capture of GRAS for the proliferation of unvetted additives:
    • “That loophole was hijacked by the industry and it was used to add thousands upon thousands of new ingredients into our food supply." (06:22)
    • “There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe if it is ultra processed.” (06:54; also [00:07])

• Policy Efforts and Public Pushback

  • HHS’s new dietary guidelines—first to advise against highly processed foods.
  • Kessler’s petition to revoke GRAS status from dozens of additives (corn syrup, maltodextrin, etc.) unless companies can prove safety.
  • Food industry response: Claims there is “no agreed-upon scientific definition” of ultra-processed food, adherence to current FDA standards (11:09).

• Economic and Policy Underpinnings

  • Michael Pollan highlights how federal farm subsidies incentivize the production of the least healthy calories (corn/soy for additives and animal feed):
    • “We are supporting both sides in the war on type 2 diabetes. We’re subsidizing the high fructose corn syrup that’s contributing to causing it, and then we’re paying for the health care costs. I mean, it makes no sense at all.” (12:47, Pollan)

• Debate on Kennedy’s Credibility

  • Kennedy’s reputation, particularly regarding vaccines, sparks contention; Kessler demurs but is supportive of decisive action on food:
    • “Secretary and I...we disagree on a number of issues. I mean, in the strongest possible terms when it comes to vaccines, I disagree. But if he’s willing to take action on these ultra processed foods, I will be the first to applaud that.” (09:42, Kessler)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “It’s not because [Americans] got indolent or because we became lazy ...It’s because we’re being given food that is low in nutrition and high in calories and it’s making—it’s destroying our health.”
  — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (04:56)
• “Those calories are not just empty. They’re ending up in your liver. And that fat in your liver is going to migrate into other organs, and it’s the cause of cardiometabolic disease.”
  — David Kessler (07:49)
• “If he’s willing to take action on these ultra processed foods, I will be the first to applaud that.”
  — David Kessler (09:42)
• “We change how this country views tobacco. We need to change how this country views these ultra processed foods.”
  — David Kessler (15:01)

Key Timestamps

• [03:10] Kessler on processed foods and metabolic disease
• [04:38] Tobacco vs. food: scale of crisis
• [06:22] Kennedy on regulatory loophole
• [07:21] Kessler on addictive additives
• [12:47] Pollan on farm subsidies and public health

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2. Growing Up Behind Walls: Hope and Resilience at a Haitian Orphanage

Theme Overview:
In gang-plagued Port-au-Prince, MITCH ALBOM and his wife Janine have created a haven for abandoned and at-risk children at the “Have Faith Haiti” orphanage. The story explores the daily challenges, the trauma and hope of the children, and the power of education to create future leaders.

Key Discussion Points

• A Fortress of Safety and Hope

  • The orphanage, protected by 30-foot concrete walls, barbed wire, and 24 security guards, houses 63 children.
  • Tight security, regular emergency drills, and a concrete bunker are required in an area where “as much as 90% of Port-au-Prince is controlled by armed gangs.” (24:10)
  • Most children have not left the compound in over four years. They’re given care, food, and, above all, education.

• Breaking the Cycle

  • Children arrive in dire circumstances: abandoned, orphaned, or given up by families unable to provide for them.
  • Albom:
    • “Love, food, prayer works miracles. We don’t give aptitude tests to get in here. Most of the kids that come to us aren’t even speaking yet.” (19:44)
  • Director Yannel himself grew up as an orphan at the facility.
    • “I think they do it out of love. When we share and when we give, it reminds us of what God did for us. Amen.” (22:52)

• Educational Transformation

  • Rigorous schooling in both French and English, programs tailored to each child, and a no-screens policy foster learning and long attention spans.
  • All 17 graduates in the past eight years have won US college scholarships; they’re required to return and work at the orphanage for two years.
  • “We don’t allow [kids to use] any computers for personal use. There are no cell phones here. There’s no television. And consequently, we get to see childhood in a much purer form.” — Mitch Albom (25:33)

• Preparation for Leadership

  • Alumni express ambitions to become ambassadors, senators, and transformative leaders for Haiti:
    • “Education is one of the things I would really want to take back...because you need a better education to lead the government and to get a good job eventually.” (27:04)
  • “Haiti isn’t just my country. It’s like my home where I was raised, and I have a deep connection to Haiti. So, yeah, my future is with Haiti.” (27:38)

• Uncertain Future

  • International support is waning, and even visa access for future students is up in the air.
  • Nevertheless, the children, and the institution, represent hope in a devastated environment.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “If you give them something beautiful and calm, they’ll aspire to those things. And that’s what I think you see with our kids.”
  — Mitch Albom (01:02, 28:54)
• “Those stories, those interviews, they broke me in half. But they also cemented me to Haiti and cemented me to this operation, which I will do for the rest of my life.”
  — Mitch Albom (20:33)
• “That feeling of abandonment is something I know well.”
  — Yannel, director, on being left at the orphanage as a child (22:43)
• “They just have to be given the chance and the opportunity to explore that.”
  — Child at Have Faith Haiti on children’s potential (28:38)

Key Timestamps

• [17:04] Mitch Albom describes monthly journeys and dangers
• [19:13] Albom on children's right to a future
• [20:33] Yannel and the experience of abandonment
• [25:33] On the orphanage’s screen-free, education-focused childhood
• [27:04] Orphanage graduates on ambitions for Haiti
• [28:54] Albom and a child discuss reaching potential

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3. Hoosier Hysteria: Indiana University Football’s Historic Turnaround

Theme Overview:
Decades of defeat turn to soaring triumph as Indiana—long the losingest school in Division I football—clinches an undefeated season and a national championship under new coach Kurt Signetti. This is a real-life underdog story, tracing the program’s history, culture change, modern challenges, and the people behind the rebirth.

Key Discussion Points

• Historical Context

  • Indiana football: Over 700 historic defeats, a basketball-centric school with little football tradition.
  • Legendary futility: 1976’s infamous 7–47 loss commemorated with a timeout for photos when IU led by 7.
  • For years, as musician John Mellencamp recalled, the stadium was far from full: “They’re not even half full... just like a few people up here.” (35:12)

• Culture Shift and the Signetti Era

  • Athletic director Scott Dolson sought change after another 3–9 season, turning to Signetti, a successful but overlooked career coach.
  • Coach Signetti’s self-introduction: “It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.” (36:35)
  • Signetti rebuilt both staff and facilities, instilling a winning mindset and higher standards:
    • “Right away I detected an atmosphere that you can’t get it done here...facilities that had been neglected...the lack of excitement.” (37:11)
  • “You gotta adapt, adjust, and improvise.” — Signetti on the program’s resurrection (42:53)

• Resilience, Transfers, and the Modern Game

  • Emphasis on fundamentals and player development.
  • The athlete transfer portal and new NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) payment rules transform recruitment and team dynamics:
    • “There’s so many different dynamics that were never there in college football....I mean, you see coaches leaving midseason. It’s chaos.” — QB Fernando Mendoza (41:13)
  • Mendoza himself, once a middling high school player, became a Heisman winner and #1 draft pick—embodying the underdog rise.

• Financial Realities

  • IU spent over $60M on football in 2024, despite academic job cuts—justified by the program’s potential to raise the school’s overall profile.
    • “If we can get football going, the impact and the consequences for the rest of the university are significant.” — Scott Dolson (41:35)

• Embracing Change

  • Longstanding fans and alumni (including Mellencamp) marvel at the rapid reversal.
  • Despite uncertainty about sustainability, the school gave Signetti an eight-year, $90M contract.
  • “You have to embrace that...if not, you have no chance of being successful.” (42:47, Signetti)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Turnaround doesn’t do enough lifting. It’s even bigger than that.”
  — John Wertheim (33:32)
• “I had to see if the fans were dead or just on life support. I had to wake them up and set an expectation and create some, some buzz and excitement.”
  — Kurt Signetti (38:17)
• “It’s fundamentals. You know, I would like to think the leader, which is me, knows what he’s doing and has a blueprint and a plan. Create the intangibles on your football team. The culture, the mindset, the philosophy on how you want to play.”
  — Kurt Signetti (38:52)
• “Those are the rules of the road…You gotta adapt, adjust and improvise.”
  — Kurt Signetti (42:53)

Key Timestamps

• [30:01] Indiana’s underdog legacy and the start of the turnaround
• [35:12] Mellencamp on long years of empty stadiums
• [36:35] Signetti’s “Google me” moment
• [37:11] Facility and attitude challenges
• [41:13] Fernando Mendoza on chaos in college sports
• [42:53] Signetti’s philosophy for the modern era

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a triple-feature of deep reporting:

• The ultra-processed food investigation exposes a massive, unregulated threat to American health and the bipartisan momentum to rein it in.
• The story from Haiti shows how hope, education, and love can change lives—even when surrounded by violence and collapse.
• Indiana’s football renaissance serves as a modern fairy tale, highlighting the power of leadership, adaptation, and community passion in college sports.

For more stories and reporting, tune in each week to 60 Minutes.

Transcript

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe, if it is ultra processed.

[Anderson Cooper]

It's hard to find two people who disagree more on health policy than Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And former FDA commissioner David Kessler. But they have found common ground over over a common culprit. Ultra processed food.

[Bill Whitaker]

How does this compare with tobacco?

[David Kessler]

It's as large, if not larger.

[Anderson Cooper]

It's rare you hear about something good happening in Haiti, but tonight we want to take you to a small oasis where children may be growing up behind walls, but hope is very much alive.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

Do you get greeted like that every time you come?

[Mitch Albom]

Pretty much, yeah.

[Anderson Cooper]

It's an orphanage called have Faith Haiti that's run by best selling author Mitch Albom and his wife Jeanine.

[Mitch Albom]

If you give them something beautiful and calm, they'll aspire to those things. And that's what I think you see with our kids.

[John Wertheim]

Indiana entered last season as the losingest program in major college football history. More than 700 defeats.

[Sports announcer]

Surratt Corner. Touchdown. Indiana.

[John Wertheim]

So imagine the astonishment when those hapless teams, Hoosiers won the Big Ten, went undefeated, and then took the national title. How'd they do it?

[Kurt Signetti]

You gotta adapt, adjust and improvise.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Take what the defense gives you.

[Kurt Signetti]

Attack at all times.

[Bill Whitaker]

I'm Bill Whitaker.

[John Wertheim]

I'm John Wertheim.

[Anderson Cooper]

I'm Anderson Cooper.

[Lesley Stahl]

I'm Leslie Stahl. Those stories tonight on 60 Minutes.

[Bill Whitaker]

Today, an increasing number of Americans across the political spectrum, from Make America Healthy Again activists to everyday shoppers are voicing concern about the health impact of ultra processed foods. Those boxed and wrapped in plastic ready to eat items lining grocery store shelves. Leading the charge are two men who disagree on pretty much everything else about public health. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. And Dr. David Kessler, the former commissioner of the U.S. food and Drug Administration. As we first reported in February, the two men have found common ground over a common culprit. A 67 year old government classification for substances in our food. It's called grass or generally recognized as safe. Kennedy and Kessler say it has allowed big food companies to use ingredients without a full government safety review and flood the market with ultra processed foods that now make up 50% of our calories and 60% of our children's diets.

[David Kessler]

Over the last 40 years, the United States has been exposed to something that our biology was never intended to handle. Energy dense, highly palatable, rapidly absorbable, ultra processed foods that have altered our metabolism and have resulted in the greatest increase in chronic disease in our history. Type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes, hypertension, abnormal lipids, fatty liver heart attacks, stroke, heart failure.

[Bill Whitaker]

From our food.

[David Kessler]

From our food.

[Anderson Cooper]

David Kessler was commissioner of the U.S. food and Drug Administration during the 1990s when he helped expose how the tobacco companies manipulated nicotine levels to hook consumers.

[David Kessler]

I am here to provide you with actual instances of nicotine control and manipulation in the tobacco industry.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

If you raise your right hand.

[Anderson Cooper]

He was a driving force in bringing tobacco executives before Congress and turning public attention to the industry. He's now aiming to do the same with the food industry in terms of

[Bill Whitaker]

a public health crisis. How does this compare with tobacco?

[David Kessler]

It's as large, if not larger.

[Bill Whitaker]

It's that significant.

[David Kessler]

The scale of this. This affects everybody. Understand, not everybody smoked. Look at the number of people who consume ultra processed food. It touches all of us.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

70% of Americans are either obese or overweight. And it's not because they got indolent or because we became lazy or because we suddenly developed giant appetites. It's because we're being given food that is low in nutrition and high in calories and it's making. It's destroying our health. I see it when I go across the country.

[Anderson Cooper]

We met with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In January after he issued new dietary guidelines that for the first time advise against highly processed food.

[Bill Whitaker]

You have said that these ultra processed foods are poisoning us. I think many Americans would be surprised to hear that we're seeing in our

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

population people who are, who are obscenely obese and at the same time malnourished, who wants us all right?

[Anderson Cooper]

Kennedy says that's largely because we don't know the health consequences of what we're eating. Thanks to the grass exemption enacted by Congress in 1958 that allows food companies to independently verify the safety of their ingredients with no government oversight if they are generally recognized by experts as safe. Pending White House approval, he intends to close that back door.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

That loophole was hijacked by the industry and it was used to add thousands upon thousands of new ingredients into our food supply. In Europe, there's only 400 legal ingredients. This agency does not know how many ingredients there are in American food.

[Bill Whitaker]

We do not know.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

They do not know. The estimates are between 4,000 and 10,000. We have no idea what they are.

[Bill Whitaker]

How do we know what is safe to eat?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe if it is ultra processed.

[Anderson Cooper]

For his part, David Kessler is petitioning Kennedy to go further and outright revoke the grasp status for dozens of processed, refined carbohydrates, sweeteners, and starches such as corn syrup and maltodextrin, Unless the companies can prove they are safe and not fueling obesity.

[David Kessler]

They took starch, right, those cheap, easy calories, and they converted those into. Into a whole panoply of ingredients that it was able to reassemble. And those products are so rapidly absorbed in our system that they cause metabolic havoc. They target the brain reward circuits to keep us coming back for more. They trigger overeating. They deprive us of any sense of

[Bill Whitaker]

fullness, what we all call empty calories.

[David Kessler]

Those calories are not just empty. They're ending up in your liver. And that fat in your liver is going to migrate into other organs, and it's the cause of cardiometabolic disease.

[Anderson Cooper]

Kessler, a pediatrician, filed his petition with the FDA after zeroing in on grass ingredients listed in plain sight on the backs of packaged foods.

[David Kessler]

Pick up any one of these products. You ever look at the ingredient label?

[Michael Pollan]

A lot of them are things I

[Bill Whitaker]

can't even pronounce right.

[David Kessler]

Is that food? Corn syrup, corn solids, maltodextrin, dextrose, xylose, high fructose corn syrup. And then these ingredients were subjected to industrial processing so that our system can't handle it.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

We will act on David Kessler's position and the questions that he's asking are questions that FDA should have been asking a long, long time ago.

[Anderson Cooper]

Kennedy told us he will use gold standard science to review grass ingredients, but his credibility on that score has been widely called into question because of his history of vaccine skepticism and his agency's revision of the childhood vaccine schedule.

[Bill Whitaker]

Are you concerned at all that your stance on vaccines might make people reluctant to support you on ultra processed foods?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

My stance on vaccines, the same people should have good science and they should have choice.

[Bill Whitaker]

Some doctors worry that the new immunization schedule sows confusion and will lead some Americans not to vaccinate their children.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

People who want to get those vaccines can get them and they can get them fully insured.

[David Kessler]

Secretary and I, you know, we disagree on a number of issues. I mean, in the strongest possible terms when it comes to vaccines, I disagree. But if he's willing to take action on these ultra processed foods, I will be the first to applaud that.

[Bill Whitaker]

If you don't trust him on vaccines, why trust him when it comes to ultra processed foods?

[David Kessler]

I don't think it's a question of trust, Bill. I mean, this country is ill. I'm a doc. I care about the public health of this country. And if we can make progress on that, let's do that.

[Anderson Cooper]

The impact on children has been particularly alarming.

In December, San Francisco City Attorney David Chu filed a landmark lawsuit against 10 manufacturers of Ultra processed foods, alleging that like the tobacco companies, they knowingly engineered and marketed addictive, dangerous products while hiding the risks and causing a public health crisis. The Consumer Brands association, one of the largest trade groups representing the food industry, declined to respond to us about the lawsuit, but in a statement to 60 Minutes said, There's no agreed upon scientific definition of ultra processed foods and companies adhere to the rigorous evidence based safety standards and nutrit policy established by the FDA to deliver safe, affordable and convenient products that consumers depend on every day.

[Bill Whitaker]

And the granddaddy Oreos.

[Anderson Cooper]

We met with food author Michael Pollan, who for decades has been warning about inexpensive factory processed food.

[Michael Pollan]

Granola bars. Those look very healthy. All of these would qualify as ultra processed foods, even though they're very different. This, you know, we have a snack

[Bill Whitaker]

food couple snack foods, Nature Valley, I

[Michael Pollan]

would argue, because of the number of ingredients in it. So there's a lot of sugar in here.

[Bill Whitaker]

This is sold as health food.

[Anderson Cooper]

Pollan commends Kennedy for shining a light on ultra processed foods. He ties their ubiquity to longstanding federal farm subsidies.

[Michael Pollan]

We subsidize as taxpayers, through the farm bill, the least healthy calories in the diet, most of which goes to people farming corn and soybeans.

[Bill Whitaker]

What's wrong with corn and soybeans?

[Michael Pollan]

When you hear corn and soy, you think food. This is not corn on the cob. This is commodity corn.

[Bill Whitaker]

It's not the sweet corn we eat in the summer.

[Michael Pollan]

No, you can't eat it. In fact, it's all starch, big cobs. You'd break your teeth on it. And then soy, which is not in the form we grow it as a commodity, is not edamame. You can't eat it. These are raw ingredients for processed foods and animal feed.

[Bill Whitaker]

So the government is subsidizing crops that

are making us unhealthy?

[Michael Pollan]

Yes.

[David Kessler]

Yeah.

[Michael Pollan]

One way to look at it is we are supporting both sides in the war on type 2 diabetes. We're subsidizing the high fructose corn syrup that's contributing to causing it, and then we're paying for the health care costs. I mean, it makes no sense at all.

[Anderson Cooper]

In a statement, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest general farm organization in the US Told us a healthy diet relies on a variety of nutrient dense foods and a balance of healthy fats. Carbohydrates, protein and fiber, some of which can come from shelf stable foods.

[Bill Whitaker]

Why are there not subsidies to produce more of the healthy foods?

[Michael Pollan]

Cheap food is the goal of all governments. If you were to remove these corn subsidies, there's concern that the price of corn would raise and that would be a problem for the whole food industry, which of course is a very powerful lobby and would be a problem for the consumer.

[Bill Whitaker]

Conceivably, when you're taking on ultra processed foods, you're also taking on powerful industries, big, aggressive, big food. What makes you believe you will prevail?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

My belief that I will prevail is because we have the President behind us.

[Bill Whitaker]

But the president has shown himself to be pretty much against regulations. So why would he support regulating ultra processed foods?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Well, I'm not saying that we're going to regulate ultra processed food. Our job is to make sure that everybody understands what they're getting, to have an informed public.

[Bill Whitaker]

There are Americans who live in so called food deserts with little access to whole foods and these are foods that many of them can't afford anyway. So how do you speak to that American?

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

We are laser focused on making all of these foods affordable and accessible to every American.

[Anderson Cooper]

The Consumer Brands association told us the GRAS process enables companies to innovate to meet consumer demand and that food companies adhere to FDA's science and risk based evaluations of ingredients before and after they are in the marketplace. David Kessler says that's not enough.

[David Kessler]

We change how this country views tobacco. We need to change how this country views these ultra processed foods.

[Bill Whitaker]

Would you like to see the CEOs of Big Food companies come before Congress and raise their hand and be questioned like the tobacco industry was?

[David Kessler]

I'd like them to understand the consequences of what they are doing and to do something about it.

[Kaylin Moore]

Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart starts Pounding Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kaylin Moore. Each week I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying true urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror, and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of the darkly curious, check out Heart Starts Pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious.

[Anderson Cooper]

It's rare you hear about something good happening in Haiti. Sixteen years after the devastating earthquake which killed some 200,000 people and left more than a million homeless. The government has all but collapsed and gangs battle for control of the capital, Port au Prince. But tonight we want to take you to a small Oasis in that besieged city where, as we first reported in March, children may be growing up behind walls, but hope is very much alive. It's an orphanage called Half Haiti. It's run by best selling author Mitch Albom and his wife Janine. Since the earthquake, they've been taking in the most at risk kids. Abandoned infants, toddlers with disabilities, children begging in the streets. It hasn't been easy, but with love, faith, and a focus on education, the results have been extraordinary.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It's too dangerous for international flights to land in Haiti's capital. So every month, Mitch Albom flies the two hours from Florida to the northern city of Cap Haitian. That's where we met him and boarded a helicopter to reach Port au Prince. From the air, much of Haiti is a maze of dry riverbeds and rugged mountains stripped of trees. Then appears Port au Prince, a dense sprawl of chaotic streets and dilapidated buildings. Once on the ground, heavily armed guards drive Albom to the orphanage in a convoy of bulletproof vehicles.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

It's kind of crazy. Just what it takes for you to get in and out of here. And you do this every month?

[Mitch Albom]

Yeah. Back before the gangs were an issue, we had two security guards. Now we have 24.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

Wow.

[Narrator/Reporter]

From the outside, it looks like a prison. The concrete walls are 30ft tall with barbed wire and guard towers.

[Anderson Cooper]

To enter, you have to pass through

[Narrator/Reporter]

a series of locked gates. But once inside, it feels like another world. Mr. Mitch, they're chanting,

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

Oh, my goodness.

[Sports announcer]

Hello.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

So nice to see you guys.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Hi.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

Hello. Do you get greeted like that every time you come?

[Mitch Albom]

Pretty much, yeah.

[David Kessler]

Yeah.

[Sports announcer]

Oh, Mama.

[Anderson Cooper]

There are 63 children living here and

[Narrator/Reporter]

more than 50 teachers and staff.

[Anderson Cooper]

The kids range from infants and toddlers cared for by nannies to teenagers living in dorms.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Most haven't left this seven acre compound

[Anderson Cooper]

in more than four years. They play here, do chores,

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]

go to

[Anderson Cooper]

church,

[Narrator/Reporter]

and eight hours a day go to school.

[Anderson Cooper]

How did enslaved Africans.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They're taught in both French and English and prepared to go on to college.

[Mitch Albom]

All children deserve to feel like they have a future in the future. Future as possible. And there are a lot of children right on the other side of that gate. And their bellies are swollen and they're not eating, and that's not fair. And if my wife and I can do anything to change that, even if it's a drop in the bucket, that'll be our drop.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

You're not doing analysis of a two or three year old and seeing what their cognition is and what they're capable of. You are Just picking kids in the most difficult circumstances.

[Mitch Albom]

Love, food, prayer works miracles. We don't give aptitude tests to get in here. Most of the kids that come to us aren't even speaking yet. But if you put them in the right environment and you surround them with other kids who are aspiring to do certain things, they'll grow.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Not all the kids are orphans. Many were brought here by a desperate piece parent or family member who couldn't afford to feed them. Albom has to choose who gets in.

[Mitch Albom]

We try to set the conditions because otherwise it's hundreds and hundreds of children. So we say only if there's one parent, not two. Only if there's no home, no actual structure home, you know, or if there's a case of a sickness or something like that.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

What are those interviews like?

[Mitch Albom]

I don't have any food to give my baby. The parents died. I don't know who this child is. We found this child under a tree. He was six weeks old and he was starving. So those stories, those interviews, they broke me in half. But they also cemented me to Haiti and cemented me to this operation, which I will do for the rest of my life.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Mitch Albom is The author of 19 books, including Tuesdays with Maury and his most recent bestseller, twice. He first came to Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake. That's when Albom, who's Jewish, began fixing up a Christian orphanage run by an elderly pastor.

[Mitch Albom]

The pastor basically said, I don't have any money to run this place, and I'm 84 years old. And I kind of blurted out, well, I could probably run it. How hard could it be? And he said, here you go.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Bettany was brought here around that time, a year and a half old. Her father died in the earthquake and her mother was desperate. Lorvens was malnourished when he came at 3, and Gina was left here by her father at 5. She now wants to be a lawyer.

[Child at Half Faith Haiti]

I felt abandoned. I could say I was a little bit scared because there were a lot of new faces and just a lot of people staring and smiling.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

Smiling felt weird.

[Child at Half Faith Haiti]

Yeah. It was my first time seeing an American.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

Mr. Mitch, what did you think?

[Child at Half Faith Haiti]

I was like, he's so white.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

Were you angry at all when you learned your story?

[Child at Half Faith Haiti]

Honestly? Not really, because I know my mom is human. And I don't think it was a really bad choice for her to bring me here because she was looking at

[David Kessler]

my Lordman's habit for you.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

You'd said that there was a sense of betrayal for you early on, because

[David Kessler]

I feel like, why would your own family leave you in a place where

[John Wertheim]

you don't know anybody?

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

Follow me.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That feeling of abandonment is something Yannel, the Haitian director of Half faith Haiti, knows well. He was left at the old orphanage 36 years ago when he was five.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

Do you remember coming?

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

Oh, yes, I remember coming. It was the worst day of my life. Honestly, I did not like it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Yannel's father had three other children and couldn't afford another.

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

I thought that they hate me back then because they just, you know, kicked me out and they didn't even tell me why. But later on, I would understand why they did that. That's why I forgive him, you know, because I think they do it out of love. When we share and when we give, it reminds us of what God did for us. Amen.

[John Mellencamp]

Amen.

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

Almost all the kids, when they come, they all call me father. They need that, you know, connection. So I put myself there for them.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

The kids, they view each other as brothers and sisters.

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

I don't know how to put this honestly. That's all we got. You know, growing up, we have to rely on each other, you know, to survive.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

That's all these kids have, is each other.

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

Yeah. That's all we have.

[Child at Half Faith Haiti]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Keeping the kids safe is one of Yannel's biggest challenges.

Outside the walls of the orphanage, the danger is very real. As much as 90% of the port au Prince metropolitan area is now controlled by armed gangs. Rapes, robberies, and murders are common. The UN estimates more than a million people have been displaced from their homes by violence. And in just the last 24 hours in this one area, there have been three shootouts between police and gang members.

In case gunmen ever break into the compound. Yannel regularly conducts surprise emergency drills. The kids grab go bags and rush to a concrete bunker with steel doors. It's got its own generator, a month's supply of food and water, and cameras to monitor outside.

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

Hi.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Yannel wasn't happy with the results of this drill.

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

Talia, where is she?

[Narrator/Reporter]

One of the babies was left napping in the nursery.

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

Not good. Not good. Can't leave no one behind.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

So what's it like trying to keep this going? Have faith.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Haiti's budget is paid for mostly by Mitch Albom and his wife Janine, along with help from public and private donors.

[Scott Dolson]

And we try to give them a

[John Wertheim]

childhood which is stolen from so many people.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

There's not a lot of kids in

[Mitch Albom]

Haiti who get a childhood.

[Sports announcer]

No.

[Mitch Albom]

It's very hard to fundraise. For Haiti. People think, oh, the money always disappears or the government takes it. I hear that a lot. These children, they don't deserve to be ignored because Haiti has a checkered history.

[Narrator/Reporter]

After security and fuel, education is the biggest expense. The classes are small, and if a child struggles, they're given a customized lesson plan.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

You don't see kids on phones or kids.

[Mitch Albom]

We don't allow that.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

Playing video games.

[Mitch Albom]

No kids have any computers for personal use. There are no cell phones here. There's no television. And consequently, we get to see childhood in a much purer form than I think you get to see it in the States. So their attention span is remarkably long relative to American kids.

[Anderson Cooper]

17 kids have graduated from high school at half faith Haiti in the last eight years, and all of them have gotten scholarships to American colleges and universities, but they won't be staying in the

[Mitch Albom]

US all of our kids agree before they leave here that they are coming back after they finish their studies and they're going to work at our orphanage for two years for free to give back to the community. So they're not going to America to take jobs. They're not going to America to do anything but appreciate it and then come back and make their country a better place. You know, I hope our kids can stabilize this country, and that's part of what we're trying to raise them to do. We are really, really proud of you.

[Narrator/Reporter]

In December, when we visited Mitch Albom's home outside Detroit, all the Haitian college students were staying there on their winter breaks. We sat down with four of them. Whidley, Bianca, JJ and J. U.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

What's it like living in the U.S. like, what. What stands out to you?

[Student from Haiti]

For me, it's like, opportunities. Like, there's lots of opportunities here. Just being able to see the ins and out of how an actual government works.

I'd say, like, it was like relief, a relief from all, like, the violence.

[Narrator/Reporter]

All of them said they're determined to

[Anderson Cooper]

help turn Haiti around.

[Child at Half Faith Haiti]

Education is one of the things I would really want to take back in Naive will take back in Haiti because you need a better education to lead the government and to get a good job eventually.

[Student from Haiti]

I'd like to become an ambassador for my country someday.

The end goal is to be a senator for my country one day.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

It doesn't scare you off to get involved in politics?

[Student from Haiti]

I mean, there is a little bit of fear, honestly. I mean, our last president got assassinated. We have to take that into account.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

It seems like all of you want your futures to be with Haiti, to me.

[Student from Haiti]

Haiti isn't just my country. It's like my home where I was raised, and I have a deep connection to Haiti. So, yeah, my future is with Haiti.

[Anderson Cooper]

Haiti's future, however, is uncertain. To combat the gangs, in September, the United nations, with US backing, authorized a force of 5,500 multinational troops to help the overwhelmed Haitian police. But so far, about 1,000 have been deployed, and the US has slashed its financial obligations to the country by nearly 50%. Another six students at the orphanage graduated this past spring. They'll volunteer for a year of service in Haiti before applying for scholarships to study in the US Even if they

[Narrator/Reporter]

get them, however, it's no longer clear

[Anderson Cooper]

if they'll be granted visas.

[Interviewer (possibly Anderson Cooper or a correspondent)]

Is there a difference between you and kids outside these walls who are working in the streets in terms of their potential?

[Child at Half Faith Haiti]

No. Because it could have been vice versa and we could have been in the streets and they could have been here. So I think everybody has potential. They just have to be given the chance and the opportunity to explore that.

[Mitch Albom]

Every child has that potential inside. No matter what circumstance they come from, if you give them something beautiful and calm and hopeful, they'll aspire to those things. And that's what I think you see with our kids.

[Lesley Stahl]

Anderson Cooper's personal connection to Haiti, Somebody

[Narrator/Reporter]

I knew so well, my math teacher assassinated.

[Anderson Cooper]

That was shocking.

[Lesley Stahl]

@60minutes overtime.com. VRBO makes it easy to claim your dream summer spot with early booking deals from homes with pools to poolside loungers. When you book a vrbo, you don't have to reserve any loungers. They're all yours. All you have to do is book early. Book with vrbo.

[John Wertheim]

Indiana is the setting for three all time great sports movies. Hoosiers, Rudy and Breaking Away. Now comes another cinematic underdog story set in the state. Except this one is unscripted. Over the past century, defeat has been the near constant companion of Indiana University football. But then arrived a new coach who'd never gotten a shot at the big time, and Indiana became the unlikely darling of college football. We first brought you this story in December as the Hoosiers closed out an undefeated regular season. They went on to win three more games than the first national championship in

school history, just as the credits rolled. They come from the cities and they come from the smaller towns. More than 55,000 fans converging on Bloomington to watch the Indiana Hoosiers. Built from limestone extracted from local quarries, Memorial Stadium is 65 years old, but this is a completely new look. Home to a football dynamo, Indiana had always been a basketball School no longer this season the Hoosiers have won at home. Here comes the end on the road.

[Sports announcer]

Throws to the corner. Touchdown Surrech.

[John Wertheim]

They've won in blowouts and won with their season on the brink.

[Sports announcer]

In trouble. It's out. Touchdown. Wow.

[John Wertheim]

This game winning touchdown against Penn State stands as the play of the year in college football. And they're hardly doing it with prized recruits.

[Fernando Mendoza]

I think a lot of people on our team, whether it's coaches, players or staff, have all been overlooked.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

You say outcasts and transfers and rejects. You guys are doing pretty well.

[Fernando Mendoza]

Well, I wouldn't say we're like for sure outkasts and rejects. I think we're all still really, really good football players here.

[John Wertheim]

That's Fernando Mendoza, Indiana star quarterback.

He's come to embody the team.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

A few years ago he was a

[John Wertheim]

middling Miami high school player. Recently he won the Heisman Trophy and then became the NFL's top draft pick.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Can you pause for a second and admire the story?

[Fernando Mendoza]

Human nature is like, wow, like how did I get here? And it's a little bit of an imposter syndrome from that point. Whoa, am I supposed to be here? I was a two star recruit. I wasn't a five star. Who's supposed to be in this position? Who's supposed to be on the number one team in the nation?

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Talk about your imposter syndrome gone. Does the program still have imposter syndrome?

[Fernando Mendoza]

I think that we believe.

[John Wertheim]

We believe the belief has been hard won. Indiana entered this season as the losingest program in major college football history. More than 700 defeats.

[Sports announcer]

Touchdown Indiana.

[John Wertheim]

So imagine the astonishment when Indiana took down the then defending national champion undefeated Ohio State to Win the Big Ten title. The previous time Indiana was conference champion, 1967.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Paint the picture of IU football. The first 50 years you've been doing this job.

[Don Fisher]

I'd say up and down, except that most of it's been down.

[John Wertheim]

40, 35.

[Sports announcer]

Down to the 30.

[John Wertheim]

Don Fisher has been the Indiana football since 1973.

[Don Fisher]

This is the greatest turnaround. And I hate that word because I don't think it expresses really what these last two seasons have been like here in Indiana.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Turnaround doesn't do enough lifting. It's even bigger than that.

[Don Fisher]

No, it's not. It's not a good enough term.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

So I'm thinking Peyton Manning wins a Super Bowl. Like an hour up the road, you've got Notre Dame. And football is not an alien sport to Indiana. Why did it seems so hard to unlock it here?

[Don Fisher]

A big problem For Indiana was we could not recruit offensive and defensive linemen. Big boys, the big guys, we just didn't have very many of them. Football here was not a big sport. It just hadn't clicked as a football place.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Was there one low moment?

[Don Fisher]

Oh, I don't know if there was one.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Here's one.

[John Wertheim]

It's Indiana legend. But the charismatic coach at the time, Lee Corso, confirms it to us. In a 1976 game, lowly Indiana took an early 76 lead over mighty Ohio State. So unexpected that Corso burned a timeout for the purpose of commemorative photos. When the game ended, Indiana still had seven points. Ohio State had 47. One Die Hard fan in attendance that afternoon, John Mellencamp Bard of Indiana, who's been going to Hoosier games ever since his father took him as a kid in the 90s. He funded this indoor practice facility in hopes it would lure recruits.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

You've been a fan for like 50 years, you're not a bandwagon guy.

[John Mellencamp]

No, no, I've been around through thick and thin.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

How thin did it get?

[John Mellencamp]

Pretty thin.

[John Wertheim]

He says that for years the tailgates drew more interest than the actual games.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

You're going to these football games and the stadium's half full and fans are leaving at halftime.

[Child at Half Faith Haiti]

Whoa, whoa.

[John Mellencamp]

They're not even half full.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Less than half full?

[John Mellencamp]

Yeah, less than half full. I mean, you know, like if this is the stadium, there's just like a few people up here.

[John Wertheim]

In 2023, yet another dismal season. The team finished 3 and 9 and the athletic director, Scott Dolson, set out in search of answers.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

What was the hole you had to fill?

[Scott Dolson]

I think certainly the right coach is the biggest hole to fill.

[John Wertheim]

But as he scoured for candidates, he had some non negotiables.

[Scott Dolson]

We wanted an existing head coach. We wanted a coach who was offensive minded, who had developed quarterbacks.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

So the slick offensive coordinator at the big school, that's not who you wanted?

[Scott Dolson]

No, we really felt having that head coach experience was really important.

[John Wertheim]

Dolson went off the board and settled on a little known lifer who'd won relentlessly, but also been overlooked by relentlessly.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

So two years ago, when Kurt Signetti's name surfaces as a candidate, what you know about him? Anything?

[John Mellencamp]

Nothing.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

You've been covering college football for more than 50 years and you'd never heard his name before?

[Don Fisher]

Never heard his name. And when he became the hire, I was surprised by it. But then I looked him up a little bit. I googled. I googled him. You googled him? Yes, I Did.

[John Wertheim]

That was a direct order from the new coach.

[Narrator/Reporter]

How do you sell your vision of

[John Wertheim]

your culture mere weeks on the job? Tired of the who are you? Questions, Kurt Signetti dropped his usual modesty and said this.

[Kurt Signetti]

It's pretty simple. I win. Google me.

[John Wertheim]

Here's what Googling would have revealed. Signetti pinballed around the country's sidelines. Once an assistant for Nick Saban at Alabama, he left the big time to take head coaching jobs at smaller schools like Elon University and James Madison. When Indiana called, Signetti was one well beyond the usual sell by date for a maiden job.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

At this level, you've had terrific success wherever you've been. But at age 62, this was your first power forward, big time job.

[John Wertheim]

Did you come in here with a

[Student from Haiti]

bit of a chip on your shoulder?

[Kurt Signetti]

The chip probably came from when I got here. Right away I detected an atmosphere that you can't get it done here.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

You sense that?

[Kurt Signetti]

Oh, absolutely. As soon as I walked in the building, facilities that had been neglected, the stadium banners that looked old, the offices that looked like they were from 1980. And then, you know, just the general attitude of the people I met, the lack of excitement coming from a winning program.

[John Wertheim]

He was.

[Kurt Signetti]

Well, I was furious pretty much because all we did was win conference championships year in, year out.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

That's your old school.

[David Kessler]

Yeah.

[Kurt Signetti]

And I mean, we win. And so it was a clashing of two worlds, and I wasn't going to lower my standards.

[John Wertheim]

It erupted when Signetti was first introduced to fans at an Indiana basketball game.

[Sports announcer]

Purdue sucks, But so does Michigan. In Ohio State.

[John Wertheim]

Go, are you, as the kids say, shots fired.

[Kurt Signetti]

I had to see if the fans were dead or just on life support. I had to wake them up and set an expectation and create some, some buzz and excitement.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

I think they woke up a little bit.

[Sports announcer]

Get locked in good, warm up.

[John Wertheim]

The irony. Signetti is skeptical of anything resembling. Look at me. He may be from Pennsylvania, but his temperament is pitch perfect for Southern Indiana. He's measured. He commands respect. His fallback language is coach speak.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Coaches aren't in the habit of sharing the playbook. But what is the magic here?

[Kurt Signetti]

There's no magic here. It's fundamentals. You know, I would like to think the leader, which is me, knows what he's doing and has a blueprint and a plan. Create the intangibles on your football team. The culture, the mindset, the philosophy on how you want to play.

[John Wertheim]

Under Signetti, the program is unrecognizable. The last two seasons, Indiana's gone 24, 2 without losing a home game. That's the what. The how is more complicated. It starts with a coach. Not just his eye for recruiting talent, but his ability to develop it once it arrives. Based on what he's seen from his perch, a shack atop the stadium press box where he can smoke, John Mellencamp has has his own explanation for Signetti's success.

[John Mellencamp]

He does not show emotion.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

He's not emotional, not outwardly.

[John Mellencamp]

John I've made my worst decisions being

[Scott Dolson]

emotional,

[John Mellencamp]

and I bet you have too.

[John Wertheim]

The poise of Signetti and the turnaround he's orchestrated, it makes for a hell of a Cinderella story. But this is also a story about contemporary college sports. Indiana's rise has been helped by new rules. Athletes are now able to enter the so called transfer portal and switch schools at will. Signetti fortified the roster by bringing 13 players with him from James Madison. Fernando Mendoza played at Cal Berkeley last season. Then there's the money. College players now can be paid for the licensing of their name, image and likeness. And starting this year, they can get a cut of team revenue. Mendoza is reported to be making $2 million this season.

[Fernando Mendoza]

I wrote a paper in high school saying why NCAA athletes should not be able to get paid.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Should not be.

[Fernando Mendoza]

It should not be. And then now I'm contradicting myself as I'm getting paid now. So there's so many different dynamics that were never there in college football. And I think that's why you see so many teams either rising or fizzling just because of the new structure. Whether it's people talking about compensation in the locker room, which is either uniting or dividing a locker room, whether it's people going to not only one or two schools like myself going to four schools, I mean, you see coaches leaving mid season. It is, it's chaos.

[John Wertheim]

In 2024, thanks partially to donors, including IU alum Mark Cuban, Indiana spent more than $60 million on football alone. This as the school is cutting academic jobs and programs.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

There are people who will say, wait a second, these are tough times for colleges and universities and you've got 50, 60 million dollars being spent on one sport that doesn't make sense.

[Scott Dolson]

So certainly the market is what the market is and it costs a lot of money. But we earn that money, we make it through our revenue streams. And at the same time, people understand if we can get football going, the impact and the consequences for the rest of the university are significant.

[John Wertheim]

You can have all the marketing meetings

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

you want and changing logos and uniforms, but winning games is what's going to do it?

[Scott Dolson]

Absolutely. And I've joked before, if I'd have known that winning consistently would have that impact, we should have tried that a long time ago.

[Sports announcer]

Big Ten champion Indiana Hoosiers.

[John Wertheim]

The Hoosiers headed into the college football playoffs as the number one seed. But at Indiana, the joy is tempered by a fear this all could vanish as quickly as it emerged. The school vows to keep spending on football far more than on basketball. And in hopes the coach doesn't transfer out, Indiana recently gave Signetti an eight year, $90 million contract, more than 15 times his compensation at his last job.

Been around this sport a long time. It's a lot different now than it

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

was when you started.

[John Wertheim]

Do you embrace that?

[Kurt Signetti]

Oh, you have to embrace that. If not, you have no chance of being successful.

[John Wertheim]

Doesn't matter if you like it or not.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Those are the rules of the road.

[Kurt Signetti]

You gotta adapt, adjust and improvise.

[Interviewer (John Wertheim)]

Take what the defense gives you.

[Kurt Signetti]

Attack at all times.

[Scott Dolson]

The critically acclaimed series Colin from Accounts

[John Wertheim]

returns for a brand new season.

[Fernando Mendoza]

But what is it?

[Child at Half Faith Haiti]

We're friends.

[David Kessler]

We are together.

[Yannel (Director of Half Faith Haiti)]

Lee.

[John Wertheim]

We're friends together with a dog. Colin from Accounts. New season streaming September 10th only on Paramount Plus.