Video of our projects posted on YouTube!

Thank you again to everyone who made all this possible! Please check out our final video of our service projects at http://www.youtube.com/user/interfaithdialogue09

Please contact Dr. Rachel Anderson-Droogsma at rachel.droogsma@mnsu.edu if you are interested in getting involved in the Interfaith Dialogue movement at Minnesota State University-Mankato or wherever you are located! More resources can be found at The Interfaith Youuth Core's website at http://www.ifyc.org as well. Thanks for checking out our page!

Link to Bridge Builders Site

Hi Everyone,

Here is the profile we have for Bridge Builders! We had some people from the Interfaith Youth Core add us, so that is really awesome! It will be a lot easier for us to communicate with the Interfaith Youth Core movement, and can be a great resource for future groups working on Interfaith Dialogue similar to what we did for ideas:

http://bridge-builders.ning.com/profile/MSUMankatoIFSPFall09

A good first step!

I was content with the service activity, and happy to see so many people there. While the service itself was fine, albeit uncomfortable at points, what I was really pleased with was the dialogue.

I thought the class members in charge of facilitating did a great job of setting people at ease, and then coaxing them towards shared values. I think we all wish we had more time – but I think what was accomplished were good first steps toward developing a body of people committed to interfaith service and dialog.

It is amazing to me how simple an effort like this is: get people together, serve together, talk together - and yet it is so rare. I am excited that the MNSU RSO (student organization) will CONTINUE this work.

Kids Against Hunger retrospective

As I mentioned in my post on the day of the Kids Against Hunger event, I have been to many similar service projects and planned more then I've been to.

Much to my chagrin, due to the larger turnout, it was decided that members of the archiving group would be more useful collecting pictures, sound bites, and information then working. While I understand and applaud the practicality of the decision, I still wish I had gotten to help out. I'll have to go back.

The evening itself, however, was a resounding success. There were unforeseen difficulties - a larger turnout then expected, many of whom were people from the community who were entirely unaffiliated with our project, yet who were willing participants in the dialogues; difficulties organizing the space around the refreshments that the group organizing the event overcame handily; and the problem of car-pooling. Despite the fact that some of us had been told to be at a particular place before 5:45, when the magic time came, I had only spotted one member of the class, who thankfully gave me a ride home. Car-pooling back up to campus, meanwhile, was a far simpler affair, as all of us were already there.

Overall, I would consider the event a success, though for future attempts at a similar event, I would suggest allowing more time initially for the 'training' video, and perhaps slightly clearer directions on where to meet - 'meet near the bus stop on the south side of the CSU' would be more precise then 'meet near the parking lots by the CSU'. However, these small hindrances were simply the sorts of hiccups one expects to find occurring around any new event.

Kids Against Hunger Event a success!

We had a much larger than expected turnout, so plenty of workers to help with all the packaging! Last night, we helped package enough food to feed over 8,000 people! Thank you to everyone who made this happen, and we plan to get the pictures from the event posted very soon. More information to come soon about this recently completed event. Please keep checking back, as we will have new material being posted from this project, and a video/photo compilation of both projects overall will come soon as well (early December at the latest).

In Case You Need Help With Dialogue Tonight...

Please take a look at our earlier posts regarding Interfaith Dialogue if you are looking for ways that you can contribute in tonight's upcoming discussion at the Kid's Against Hunger site.

Friendly Reminder! Kids Against Hunger Event tonight!

For those of you who did not see Rachel's e-mail, the Kids Against Hunger event is tonight at the Kids Against Hunger site during our normal class hours. Please try and be early, so we can prepare for the event, starting at 6pm, and we can maximize the time that we have. Please check our earlier blog postings for the directions embedded with Google Maps in the blog (the 'older posts' link is at the bottom of this blog page, so you can find the directions to the site). Looking forward to seeing everyone there tonight!

Anticipation

As I wait for my day to begin, I find myself incredibly excited, in the sort of way one normally grows out of in adolescence. It's the sort of nervous, hyperactive excitement small children experience before going to a favorite amusement park.

I experience this because of the Boy Scouts. When I was younger, still living at home and percolating through the public education system, I was a willing, if not eager participant, in the activities of my local Scout troop. While I enjoyed most of the activities, I found most of the actual merit badge work to be insufferably dull.

But I always did enjoy the various service projects that we engaged in. We routinely held a food drive, we sold popcorn and various other products to raise money for our activities (and for various charities) and I was always an eager participant in these events.

But, time passed, and eventually I left the Boy Scouts by reason of being too old to continue participating, and so I have not gotten to do anything like this for some time - and so, as I prepare for the event tonight, I find myself full of that same happy, anticipatory energy.

ECHO Food Shelf event a success!

The ECHO event last night went very well! Thank you to every one who participated, and we hope to see you all at the Kids Against Hunger event. We had a lot of interesting dialogue, and we look forward to sharing with you everything that happened tonight in class (for those of you in our class). We are working to post the highlights of the dialogue, once we debrief everyone in class tonight that did not attend. I am working on posting the pictures and video in the next day or so, so that all of you can take a look. Thank you again to all that made this possible!

Friendly Reminder! ECHO Interfaith Dialogue event is tonight!

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to post a reminder in case you didn't get the e-mail from Dr. Droogsma, the Interfaith event at ECHO Food Shelf will be tonight from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. The directions are below in a previous blog posting. We are all looking forward to this event! See everyone tonight who is coming!

-David

Interfaith Service Project Resources

These are great resources for people planning an interfaith service project:

Basics
Eboo Patel on Speaking of Faith
The Interfaith Youth Core Website

What Others Have Done
Miami University
Carnegie Mellon University

Facilitating Dialogue at upcoming Interfaith Events

Hi All,

Here are the some of the fundamentals we obtained from our training with Hind Makki from the Interfaith Youth Core. I thought they would be great to put up here in preparation for our upcoming events, since the ECHO Food Shelf is next week, and the Kids Against Hunger Event is fast approaching as well. I know that Dr. Droogsma brought them up in class last week, but I thought it would be good to add them to the blog as well. If I am forgetting anything, or if you would like to help contribute to this (or any) posting, please do not hesitate to let me know your thoughts of what you think should be added. Thank you!


Religious Pluralism:
1. Respect for identity
2. Mutually inspiring relationships
3. Common action for the common good

Methodology of Religious Pluralism (via service learning):
1. Storytelling
2. Shared Values

Tips in Leading Dialogue:
1. Do a circle or half-circle for facial recognition/eye contact
2. Describe our purpose and goal for holding these Interfaith Dialogues
3. Establish immediately that the dialogue site is a safe zone for all to express their opinions
4. Don't be afraid to participate
5. Return back to stories throughout dialogue
6. Establish strategies to maintain dialogue (ask probing questions into questions posed already)
7. Reframe questions if necessary ( person(s) gave no response, avoided question, etc.)
8. Listen avidly to what participants have to say, and don't be afraid to respectfully disagree
9. Identify shared aspects ("What do we/you and I have in common?")
10. Watch body language (task someone for this?), as body language can tell more about a person beyond their words.

Potential Questions to ask Participants:
1. Ask participants what they need to have for our discussion site to be a safe zone
2. Discuss similarities in shared value of service in scriptures/sacred texts, similar to Hind Makki's visit; ask participants what they see similar about these passages
3. What makes you want to serve your community?
4. Why are you here tonight?
5. What do you feel are the greatest barriers today in conducting interfaith dialogue?
6. Do you feel too many people focus on differences instead of similarities in any form of dialogue?
7. Did anyone attend or hear about the Christian-Baptist speakers at MSU? What are your thoughts on the event? How do you think this impacts interfaith dialogue? Why?
8. How would having more events like the interfaith dialogue event held tonight impact this community in your opinion? Why do you feel that way?
9. What did you learn about yourself tonight? Anything you would change about yourself? If so, why?
10. Would you recommend this event to others for the future? Why or why not?

Thank you all for your time and effort in making this event happen!

Videos and Pictures Posted to flickr and youtube pages!

Please feel free to check out all the great pictures, video, and other material obtained thus far for the projects! We have much more to post, so keep checking back to all the class pages (flickr, youtube, this blog, etc.) Enjoy! :)

Information Regarding ECHO Food Shelf Interfaith Dialogue Event

The ECHO Food Shelf Interfaith Dialogue Event will take place on Tuesday, November 9th, 2009, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm at the ECHO Food Shelf. Make sure to zoom out on the map ont the blog, so you can see the directions to the site. The site is located at:

614 N 2nd St
Mankato, MN 56001

A map from MSU-Mankato to the ECHO Food Shelf site can be found below:


View Larger Map

Kids Against Hunger Interfaith Dialogue Event

The Kids Against Hunger Interfaith Dialogue Session will take place during the Advanced Intercultural Communications (6-8:45pm) class period on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009, at the Kids Against Hunger site. The site is located at:

502 Patterson Ave
Mankato, MN 56001

If you have trouble seeing the map on the blog, zoom out, on the map, so you can see street-by-street directions on here from MSU-Mankato to the Kids Against Hunger site.

Here is a map from MSU-Mankato to the Kids Against Hunger Site.:

View Larger Map

ECHO Food Shelf and Kids Against Hunger Information Pages

Hey Everyone,

Here are the links to all the pages dedicated to the ECHO and Kids Against Hunger that we are helping facilitate Interfaith Dialogue at. If you guys have anything else that should be added, please let me know. Thank you everyone for all your hard work with getting the word out about these great ways for all to serve!

Facebook Page (group dedicated to our projects)-
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155262160431

youtube Channel (videos filmed for project)-
http://www.youtube.com/user/interfaithdialogue09

flickr page (pictures taken for project)-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/interfaithserviceprojectfall09/sets/

ECHO Clarification!

Good news, everyone! It turns out there was simply a communication error with ECHO, so everyone who wanted to go and help out there can still do so! They did indeed schedule us in, but then for some reason they forgot to tell us this, so we wound up assuming they hadn't.

Then, when we called to cancel and berate, we were informed that they had scheduled us in, and that indeed they were relying on us to show up. So, for all who are interested, the scheduled time for us to assist is on Monday, November 9th, from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM. The address is 614 North 2nd St in Mankato. I look forward to the turnout with great enthusiasm.

Scheduling Difficulties

It seems that the Echo group we initially planned to work with has been having some considerable difficulties overcoming bureaucracy and giving us a date and time to show up and help out. As it was put last night, "We just want to serve. Why is this so hard to organize?" by Dr. Rachel Droogsma. It appears that while we are going to wait to hear back from them, we may end up settling for one service project this semester.