Posts Tagged ‘Sunday Supper’

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 . 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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The Road to Marting Luther King, Jr. Day: Tools You Can Use

Monday, December 20th, 2010

There are a lot of resources available for all of your Martin Luther King, Jr. Day projects.  Whether you’re volunteering on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a local nonprofit, planning a volunteer project of your own, or aren’t quite sure what to do, we have something you can use to make serving on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a better experience for you and the organizations you’re serving with.

We even have ways to participate in events that highlight Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community, and that don’t have to take place on January 17, 2011 in case you can’t devote the day to service.

On Sunday, January 16, people will come together across the nation for a Sunday Supper.  A meal hosted by someone who wants to bring together community members to talk about the problems facing their community and how to solve them.  Sunday Suppers are being held at people’s homes and community gathering places.  They’re meals prepared by the host, pot luck suppers, and dinners in restaurants.  Overall, they’re an opportunity to come together to start making change in communities across the nation.

Sunday Suppers are also being held to bring people together to watch America’s Sunday Supper; a meal with service leaders from across the nation talking about how community service can help solve the problems facing our communities and nation.  Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light Institute, Dikembe Mutombo, Robert Egger, founder and President of DC Central Kitchen, and others will come together to talk about how community service can be the solution to our communities’ problems.

Community Cinema events are happening across the country, and you can .  The films featured at the Community Cinemas highlight the impact of individuals on their communities.  It’s a great place to start the conversation about how you can make a change in your community.

If you’re planning your own service project, we have step-by-step plans for creating and implementing your own service project and a toolbox full of planning aids.

You can even find tools and activities to help get families and youth involved in service on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  There are tips for bringing service-learning to the classroom, resources to help teach youth about giving and volunteerism, and fun activities to help youth learn about Dr. King and his work.

Tell us about your Martin Luther King, Jr. Day service projects in the comments, and let us know what resources you need.

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Posted in Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Project Development, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 1 Comment »

The Road to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Being a Leader

Monday, December 13th, 2010

What does it mean to be a leader?  Does it mean that you have an army of followers ready to do whatever you ask of them?

Does it mean that you’re the best in the world at something?

Does it mean you have thousands of followers on Twitter or thousands of friends on Facebook?

Or does it mean that you saw something happening that you knew was wrong and acted to change it?

That you brought people together to create change in your community.

That you started something that made real, lasting change in the lives of people.

We think that everyone can be a leader when they have an idea that they’re passionate about.  There isn’t a special handshake or password that you need to know.  All you really need is a cause and the desire to make a change.

We want to help you to make that change.  You can use the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday as a springboard to starting change in your community.  Plan your own volunteer project in your community that addresses an issue that’s important to you.

You don’t have to plan a volunteer event of your own; you can take part in an event that has already been planned. Join forces with a group that works with an issue that’s important to you and work with them after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

You can be a leader without being a volunteer, too.  You can bring people together to start the discussions that lead to action in your community.  You can host a Sunday Supper or attend a Community Cinema event in your community.

A Sunday Supper doesn’t have to be a meal in your home.  Bring people together in a community gathering place like a coffee shop, library, or community center.  You don’t have to provide all of the food yourself; ask people to bring a covered dish, or hold your Sunday Supper at a restaurant.  A Sunday Super is about bringing community members together to talk about issues impacting your community over a shared meal.  Be sure to register your Sunday Supper so people can join you on Sunday, January 16, 2011.  If you need help planning a Sunday Supper, check out our Sunday Supper toolkit with tips and materials to help you host your own discussion.

You can attend a Community Cinema event and take part in a discussion about documentary films highlighting communities that are being changed by their members.  Community Cinema events support discussions about the films that can turn into changes in your own community.

Although there are many opportunities around the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to become a leader in your community, you don’t have to wait until January to do it.  Reach out to your local HandsOn action center to start affecting change in your community, or listen to a recorded webinar with tips for becoming a volunteer leader in your community.

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Posted in Volunteer Leader, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 1 Comment »

The Road to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: One Small Change

Monday, December 6th, 2010

You see them all around you every day.  Small ways that the world can be better.

You might see them on your way home from work, or on the way to the grocery store.  You might see them on the way to a friend’s house or on the news tonight.

They aren’t big things.  They’re so small you might not even notice them.

There is so much that you can do in your community to help solve its problems.

If we all took some time and lent our talents and abilities to solving our community’s problems, they’d be well on their way to being solved.

You might be wondering what you can do.  The problems seem so big.  Maybe it’s time to turn the question around to, “What can’t I do.”  The list is a lot shorter than you realize.

You’re not being asked to solve the homelessness problem in your community.  You’re not being asked to feed all of the hungry people.  You’re not being asked to help all of the children to do better in school.

Just one person.

You can stand up and say that you’re not going to let a man continue to live without shoes on his feet.  You can stand up and say that you’re not going to let a woman not be able to read to her children.  You can stand up and say that you’re not going to let your neighbor go hungry.

Just one person.

One person, working to change their world.  Someone making small changes in our world that, when we start to add them up, turns into big changes.  That change into massive movements.

That start with just one person.

If you’re not sure where to start, you can come join us as we work towards changing our world.  We’re working towards small changes.  We want people to come together and talk about how to change their world.  You can start a conversation around a meal and use that as a platform to start acting towards the changes you want to see in your community.  You can come together with members of your community to for the better.  You can stand side by side with people in your community and make the small changes that lead to bigger changes.

You can tell your story of service and inspire others to begin making small changes with you.

Tonight on your way home from work, or tomorrow on your way to the grocery store, look for the small thing that you can change.  When you go to visit your friend this weekend or watch the news tonight, look for the small thing that you can change.  Join the hundreds of people in your community and thousands upon thousands across the country that are making small changes that are leading up to making our world a better place for everyone.

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