The Kansas Hunger Dialogue
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Building Community: That’s one of the things we do best. Whether it is a group of 12 people around a table packaging meals or an entire community coming together to host an event, we bring people together.
Remember those “connect-a-dot” games where random dots splattered on a page are slowly drawn together by a line that then would emerge in a recognizable image? That’s what we like to do.
The 2nd Annual Kansas Hunger Dialogue is just that: connecting-the-dots of top administrators, faculty, and students in post-secondary institutions of higher education across the state of Kansas.
The idea emerged from a conversation I had with Drs. June Henton and Harriet Giles of Auburn University and Universities Fighting World Hunger. I had met June and Harriet in my research in the founding of Numana and, after our first year’s success, I traveled to Auburn to discuss ways of engaging UFWH in schools in Kansas.
Our purpose was to target all of the colleges, universities, and community colleges in Kansas to convene them for, as Dr. Jackie Vietti of Bulter Community College says, “A conversation that matters.” Dr. April Mason, Provost at K-State, was incredibly encouraging and did much to have the Kansas Board of Regents endorse the endeavor.
Our first Kansas Hunger Dialogue was a smashing success. 20 schools participated in this invitation-only event. Our Numana staff- which had never hosted a conference before- assembled top-notch speakers and put on a first class conference.
I’m far more interested, like Dr. Henton says, in starting a movement rather than building an organization. And the movement continues as Kansas Campus Compact under the stellar leadership of Ex. Dir. Matt Lindsey as well as Dr. Andy Tompkins of the Kansas Board of Regents; Dr. April Mason- Provost at KSU; Dr. Doug Penner of Kansas Independent Colleges, and Dr. Jackie Vietti of Butler.
At Numana, we focus on three things: awareness, action, and advocacy. KHD was an awareness building activity that had some great actions stimulated, one of those being SWIPE (state wide packaging event) Out Hunger in October. 16 different colleges with over 4,000 students packaged 597,000 meals to send for famine relief in the Horn of Africa.
What topics would you like addressed? What is a part of the conversation that you would like to hear spoken about? The next KHD is March 5 & 6. If your school is not involved yet, I’d encourage participation because this truly is a “conversation that matters.”