Day 6: Thursday May 23. Thursday morning, while everyone else went to Starbucks, I went down the street for some quiet time at Panera, and then we all went to
Share Our Strength, home of the No Kid Hungry campaign (button on my right sidebar)! On the way in I got to briefly meet Billy Shore, the founder of the organization (exciting for a dork like myself; he was also featured in A Place at the Table, book and film). I love that Share Our Strength is very research-oriented, and I appreciate their approach of being involved in many different areas of solving food insecurity, through forming partnerships with businesses, government, and communities. The other grad students and I only stayed for the first presentation, as we were scheduled to attend an over-lunch event down the street and around the corner, at
AEI (American Enterprise Institute). There we attended a panel discussion titled,
Competing Visions of the Common Good: Rethinking Help for the Poor, with featured panelists Jim Wallis, CEO of
Sojourners, author and theologian, and Representative
Frank Wolf of Virginia, as well as the president of AEI, Arthur Brooks. The panelists spoke a lot about collaboration, talking a lot about how as a nation we have failed the vulnerable populations and moved toward extremes of wealth rather than working to end poverty, and the cynicism of Washington, among other things. The quote that stood out most to me from Wallis was, "you shouldn't reduce a deficit in a way that increases poverty."
On the way back to the church we stopped at a chocolate shop, and Doug (awesome THI staff/group leader/kid at heart...I realized I haven't introduced people) kindly bought us one each! I tried the lavender caramel I think it was; it was delicious. I really love lavender lately (I tried lavender ice cream earlier in the trip!).
In the evening we had a networking dinner event at the house of former House Member Jack Fields, with Baylor alumni working in the area. I was unfortunately not feeling well and distracted by some goings on, but I think it was a great opportunity and beneficial to many students. The guests in attendance were really interesting and we very much appreciated them coming out to meet with us!
Kyle was getting back home late that night (he'd been away for a month at a training in Louisiana), so to keep myself occupied (I wouldn't be sleeping anyway even if exhausted), I went with some of the undergrads to see a late showing of The Great Gatsby, in Chinatown right around the corner from our church. Only $10.50 with military discount (city theater prices, y'all)! It was fun to hang out as friends rather than students. :)
- From the desk of Mrs. M
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