Posts Tagged ‘America’s Sunday Supper’

Let Us Turn Our Thoughts Today to Martin Luther King…

Monday, January 17th, 2011

On January 16, 2011, a new American tradition was started.  Inspired by the legacy of Dr. King, America’s Sunday Supper invited people from diverse backgrounds to come together to share a meal and discuss issues that affect their community and the possible actions they can take and highlighting the power each one of us has to make a difference.

You can watch America’s Sunday Supper below!  Let us know about your service projects on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, your own Sunday Supper event, or how you think service can address community issues in the comments below.

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America’s Sunday Supper

Monday, January 17th, 2011

It’s amazing what can happen when people come together over a meal.  You can watch the worry from the day melt away.  Our recent triumphs, and our little successes, are celebrated when we come together.  Our worries and our burdens are lessened because we share them with others.  Strangers become friends and friendships that already exist are strengthened through the simple act of sharing food.

If you’re lucky, the meal goes late into the night and conversations move towards things that are taboo to talk about around strangers – wishes and fears, hopes and dreams, “is” and “ought.”  At this point, though, you’re no longer strangers.  You’ve shared something more than food.  You’ve had the opportunity to share yourself with others.

If we start to integrate the idea that we can make money AND do good… our country can roar again – Robert Egger, America’s Sunday Supper

What do you think would happen if we sat down for a meal with the goal of talking about wishes and fears, about our hopes and dreams right from the start?  What if took the opportunity to talk about the community we wished we lived in; if we talked about our dreams of a better place to live?

I cannot be well unless others around me are. – Barton Seaver, America’s Sunday Supper

Last night was an opportunity to have those conversations.  People across the country came together to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. by hosting meals where people talked about their hopes for their community.  These dinners were safe places for people to talk about their community’s most pressing needs, and to take the first steps to solving those problems.

You can always lift yourself by lifting others. – Carl Lewis, America’s Sunday Supper

The greatest thing about these Sunday Suppers is that there wasn’t a requirement for how they should be held.  There are people hosting meals in their homes.  There are people hosting meals in community spaces.  There are people hosting meals in restaurants.  Some people are inviting people that they know, some people have open invitations, and some people are putting on events with community members and nonprofits coming together to learn about the community’s problems from each other.  Some people had brunches in the morning, and some people had lunches on Saturday afternoon.

If you tell people’s stories, I think the anger [towards them] disappates. – Michelle Nunn, America’s Sunday Supper

One of those conversations was America’s Sunday Supper.  Fox News’ Juan Williams moderated a discussion between Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, Olympic Legend Carl Lewis, Producer and Director S. Leo Chiang, CEO of Points of Light Institute and Co-Founder of HandsOn Network Michelle Nunn, Robert Egger from the DC Central Kitchen, NBA Legend Dikembe Mutombo and National Geographic Fellow Barton Seaver.  The hour long conversation (that you can watch here) was an inspiring way to move from talking about service to engaging our community in action that leads to improving our community.

Let us know what you thought of America’s Sunday Supper.  Did it inspire you to start change in your community?  Did you hold your own Sunday Supper yesterday?  Are you planning on having a Sunday Supper in the future?  Let us know in the comments!

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Kraft Foods Helps Make Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Delicious

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Kraft Foods, volunteer, volunteering, volunteerismThis guest post comes from Nicole Robinson, Vice President of the Kraft Foods Foundation.

Life’s most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?

A powerful quote from Martin Luther King Jr., a man whose legacy we honor this week on the 25th anniversary of the holiday named for him.

Through these words, Dr. King challenged each us to “apply our citizenship to the fullness of its meaning” through service to our communities.  Today and throughout the year, we should ask ourselves, how are helping our most vulnerable; how are we preserving our planet; and ultimately how are we making our neighborhoods better places to live?

At Kraft Foods, we often ask ourselves these questions. As the second-largest food company in the world, living up to the challenge of community involvement is a mission we share with our consumers, customers and nonprofit partners.  It is, in fact, our responsibility.

Naturally, we were delighted when HandsOn Network invited us to honor Dr. King’s legacy through a series of service events and community conversations.  We’re excited about the activities planned, which I personally hope will serve as catalyst for year-round civic engagement.

On Sunday, we’ll attend America’s Sunday Supper at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., where I will join several amazing panelists to talk volunteerism, social issues and ways to turn our conversation into action. It is sure to be an engaging, exciting evening. Make sure to tune in!

My Kraft Foods family will do more than watch, as many of them are volunteering in communities across the country, including Chicago, Illinois and Madison, Wisconsin. Our employees are energetic, full of optimism, bubbling with ideas, and eagerly want to be involved.   We’re proud of what they will accomplish as they serve in a variety of projects including those that fight hunger and help families get active.

And to help the organizations serving our communities daily, we’re encouraging employees to make cash donations to the nonprofits of their choice in honor of the MLK holiday.  In turn, the Kraft Foods Foundation will match every dollar donated, up to $250,000 and through our combined efforts, we’ll contribute $750,000 to charitable organizations across America.

Again, I want to thank HandsOn Network and the Points of Light Institute for the opportunity to reflect and challenge ourselves to make a difference today and beyond. I’m looking forward to America’s Sunday Supper as this will indeed be a unique opportunity to connect and inspire through giving back. And remember you can be a part of conversation too, through Facebook and Twitter by using hash tag #MLK or @HandsOnNetwork.

Nicole R. Robinson, Director of Corporate Community Involvement for Kraft Foods, leading philanthropic initiatives that are global in scope, reaching parts of  the US, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.  Nicole has served as a volunteer, board member and speaker to numerous organizations.   In 2009, Nicole testified at a congressional subcommittee hearing considering the establishment of a White House Conference on Food and Nutrition.  Nicole serves on the Corporate Committee of the Chicago Consortium to Lower Childhood Obesity in Chicago, the Council on Foundation’s Committee on Corporate Grantmaking, the Illinois Hunger Advisory Committee and the Chicago Foundation for Women board.

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You’re Invited to Our Sunday Supper

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

You’re invited to a special virtual dinner with Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light Institute and Co-Founder of HandsOn Network, Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder of the Huffington Post, Olympic Legend Carl Lewis, Fox News commentator Juan Williams, NBA Legend Dikembo Mutombo and others on January 16.  The best part, you won’t have to do the dishes!  Join your fellow citizens, celebrities and service leaders across the country in conversations and online dialogues about service and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.  Sound hard?  It’s not.  It’s as easy as Kraft Mac and Cheese, fun like Facebook and wittier than Twitter.  We are asking you to do one of the following:

  • Host a potluck on January 16.  Not into lucky pots? How about Donuts and Coffee or Brunch or Cocoa and Crepes or Ice Cream or…   No idea what to talk about?  We have that covered for you.  Click here for the conversation cards. Ready. Set. Go!  Click here to register your event.
  • Share the HandsOn Network Facebook event on your Facebook page and invite all your fans and friends to attend.  Click here to visit our event page and attend.
  • Watch America’s Sunday Supper on January 16.  You can watch the live web broadcast here.

HandsOn Network affiliates across the country are holding Sunday Suppers, too.  Here’s what a few of them are doing:

The Volunteer Center of LeHigh Valley will be partnering with the Easton Area School District to educate and inspire youth volunteers.  This project is designed to give the older students an opportunity to help educate the elementary school children about tolerance, perseverance and community service, while providing the elementary school students with outstanding role models who encourage them to work hard and dream big.

The Volunteer Center of the Virginia Peninsula in partnership with the RISE Project staff will be hosting a special day of activities to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  It will be a day of presentations, volunteer activities, Safe Assured IDs for children and seniors, and will include a very special speaker, Dr. A. Terry Morris of NASA.

The Volunteer Center of Greensboro is partnering with Guilford County Schools to engage in a county-wide youth service extravaganza on January 17: MLK Jr. Day of Service.  The VC will bring together the nonprofit community and the district’s student base of over 71,000 to impact Guilford County. Students will be empowered to define and address needs in their communities by developing meaningful service projects.

Greater DC Cares, supported by Target, will lead 300 volunteers and Members of Congress in MLK Day discussions and preparation of literacy and warming kits at Tyler Elementary School, along with over 2,000 volunteers at 30 other sites around the DC area.

Hands On Atlanta will host a full day of activities to include: a Freedom Rally, Community Conversation Forums, an Oxfam Hunger Banquet and a food drive/packing effort to feed 10,000 metro-Atlanta families. The Freedom Rally will kick off the celebration of Dr. King’s life and legacy via music, dance, and a generational talk.  The talk will feature Georgia State Senator Jason Carter. Over 800 AmeriCorps/VISTA members and more than 2,000 metro-Atlantans are expected to participate in the day’s events.

Let us know what your plans for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday are, either in the comments, on Twitter using #MLKDay, sharing your story, or writing a guest post about your service!

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Four Easy Ways You Can Be Part of Something Bigger Than Yourself for MLKDay

Friday, January 7th, 2011

At the DC Central Kitchen,  donated food is used to fuel a nationally recognized culinary job training program where unemployed men and women learn marketable skills while donations are converted into balanced meals for people in low-income D.C. communities. Through outreach and education, Robert Egger and others at the DC Central Kitchen are making a difference.

Here are four easy ways you can be a part of something bigger than yourself:

1.    Donate to your local food banks. Food banks nationwide help ensure that our neighbors won’t go hungry.

2.    Volunteer at a local shelter serving meals. Homelessness is only a paycheck away for many Americans. You can help your neighbors simply by donating a few hours to serve a healthy meal to the people in your community.

3.    Host a Sunday Supper and invite others from your community to join.  Together you can discuss the needs of your community and how you can be a part of the solution. As a host you will be eligible* for prizes like a new Flip Camera, free registration to the 2011 National Conference on Volunteering and Service and more.

4.    Watch the live webcast of America’s Sunday Supper. Broadcasting live from Washington, D.C. on Sunday, January 16 at 6:00 p.m. EST, Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo, Olympic legend Carl Lewis, S. Leo Chiang-producer and director of “A Village Called Versailles”, Barton Seaver-cook and National Geographic Fellow, Michelle Nunn of Points of Light Institute, Robert Egger of DC Central Kitchen and other special guests will share their thoughts on civic engagement, volunteerism and how we can continue the work of Dr. King.

*Eligibility based on completion of the Sunday Supper Organizer Report.

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The Road To Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Sunday Suppers

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

We’ve come out on the other side of a month of holiday meals full of cornbread stuffing and sage and into a brand new year full of possibilities and challenges, opportunities to test our mettle and lean on our friends, and chances to make changes big and small in our lives and the lives of others.

Do you know how to start making those changes?  Do you know where?  Do you know what kind of change your community is aching for?

We’re hoping that you have one more holiday dinner in you.  This one doesn’t have to have cornbread stuffing, though.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is only three weeks away, and on the Sunday before the holiday, we’re asking community members to come together to talk about their community’s most pressing needs and how to start working to address those needs.

These Sunday Suppers are a great opportunity to start taking the first steps towards creating a beloved community; an integrated community of love and justice where people can come together in brotherhood.

We’re not asking you to do all of this alone.  You can find people in your community who want to start a positive change at the Sunday Supper Meetup page.  If you can’t find a supper near you, you can sign up to host your own.  Sunday Supper’s don’t have to be at your home, you can plan one in a community space that’s open to anyone like a coffee shop or community center.  You don’t have to provide the food yourself, either.  Make your Sunday Supper a potluck and ask everyone to bring something or hold your Sunday Supper in a restaurant.

Our Sunday Supper Toolkit and Conversation Cards are great resources to help you have a successful event.  Use them when you’re planning your event and to start conversations at your Sunday Supper.

Use the Sunday Supper as an opportunity to host a watching party for America’s Sunday Supper.  America’s Sunday Supper is being held at the Newsuem in Washington, DC and is bringing together Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light Institute and Co-Founder of HandsOn Network, Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, Robert Egger, President of the DC Central Kitchen, Dikembe Mutombo, former NBA player for the Houston Rockets, and other service leaders to talk about national issues and how community service can help address those issues.

America’s Sunday Supper will be streamed live from the Newseum.  Find out how to watch here.

Let us know about  your plans for Sunday Suppers in the comments!

Thanks to Kraft Foods for their generous support of America’s Sunday Supper.

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