DC, I Can't Quit You

Folks, I'm so excited; I'm going back to Washington, DC in March for the Anti-Hunger Policy Conference!! The conference is put on by the Food Research and Action Center and Feeding America, two awesome hunger fighting organizations. Guess what I've already learned? Conferences are expensive! I guess I've only been to free or $20 ones before, but these legit, professional conferences cost between $300 and $400 for registration alone. So I thought for a while about whether I should go, but I decided yes. This is what I'm really interested in, I love DC, it will be a great learning experience, and a great networking opportunity (even though the thought of networking is slightly terrifying; at least I already have Baylor business cards ready!).

Here's some details on the conference:

The National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference draws anti-hunger and anti-poverty advocates; federal, state and local government officials; child advocates; representatives of food banks and food rescue organizations; and nutrition and anti-obesity groups, for three days of training, networking and Capitol Hill advocacy.

Participants share information and learn how to strengthen the quality and reach of federal nutrition programs, learn best outreach and program practices from other states and localities, fill in the gaps in food service for millions of low-income children, and identify creative ideas for new and innovative approaches to ending hunger. Members of Congress, Hill staff and key Administration officials attend the conference, provide comments as part of plenary sessions and panels, and join participants at receptions and special events.

Awesome, right? I can't wait to hear who is going to be speaking and attending. The conference is March 2-4, and I'm planning on staying in the area for the rest of the week to visit my dear friend Abigail (who lives in Baltimore and I visited last year before my trip to DC!), visit my youngest brother who is an undergrad at Georgetown, and enjoy springtime in DC (and do some work and maybe job searching)! I will surely blog about my time at the conference and in the city; Sarah Does DC: Hunger in America Part II, perhaps? :)

- S

Saturday Night

Just me and some wine, working on creating some flyers for a fake organization's fake fundraising event. Typical grad school Saturday (/any day of the week, really)... four more weeks!

Washington, DC: Hunger in America Day 8

Day 8: Saturday, May 25. For the last weekend we were participating in a "retreat" through the church we were staying at. On Saturday morning we started with a relaxed pancake breakfast, followed by a silent hour long walk through the downtown area, in which we were to observe, reflect, and just have some quiet time in the city. We were then sent to take a short walk up to a park where there are often homeless people, but we came upon a Monsanto protest right at one end of the park, so there was a lot going on. The rest of the day we had free until dinner. I took my friend Jem to explore around Eastern Market for a bit, where we talked to some strangers and I got yelled at for taking a picture (and unfortunately I didn't notice my camera was on a weird setting so the photos aren't great, but you still get an idea of the colors and character of Eastern Market). We had a chill evening back at the church, going to bed early (technically, not actually) as we had an early morning for our last day in the city!

^^creative cooking^^

^^my second ever Pitango (first was in Baltimore)^^

^^Tracey made frito pie for dinner, which is apparently a Texas thing. It was tasty!^^

Day 7
Day 6
Day 5
Day 4
Day 3
Days 1 and 2

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Washington DC: Hunger in America Day 7

Day 7: Friday May 24. In the morning we got lost walking around a residential neighborhood for a while, trying to find our way to the Capital Area Food Bank, for a short visit walking around their facilities and hearing a bit about their services and programs. At the end of the week we packed up to move out to our second home for the trip, Church of the Epiphany. Luckily it was only a few blocks away, though I'm sure it was a sight to see twenty of us walking the downtown streets with all of our luggage and bedding! We dropped off our things and headed out a ways to Alafia Baptist Church in Maryland, where we had lunch and then spent the afternoon doing service projects. The majority of us went to Richardson Dwellings, a low-income, black neighborhood, where we sorted through donated food and clothes, and brought food bags right to people's doors. Our guide was a little boy who knew just where we had to take the bags (and warned us what areas we should not go to). Afterwards we checked out their community garden, which was pretty great with lots of colorful signs.We had dinner at a nearby school with the little kiddos, which was really fun, getting to talk to them for a while. Of course, we went to the White House again in the evening, with a stop at McDonald's (I got hot chocolate since it was quite chilly out) before returning to the church (where we were locked in for the night).

^^little garden at the Food Bank^^

^^little strawberries under there^^

Day 6
Day 5
Day 4
Day 3
Day 1 and 2

- From the desk of Mrs. M