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How awesome is Heartland PeaceJam? Let me tell you... |
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Posted 10/15/2009 at 9:54 PM by Scott M |
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In 2005 or so, Heartland PeaceJam had more or less fallen apart. Although many great people, including at least two Affiliate Directors, had given several years' effort at two different nonprofit sponsor organizations, both working with the good folks at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri to host many excellent PeaceJam Youth Conferences and Slam events.
When a significant grant ran out at the same time that the last nonprofit partner was re-evaluating it's mission/organization, etc., the PeaceJam affiliate lost its host organization and the latest director, Julia, lost her job, sadly.
More importantly, some of the most amazing PeaceJam groups in Missouri and Kansas lost their regional "hub" of support.
It looked like our region was a goner. But fate had other plans...
About this time, I went from serving as a program director and service-learning practitioner in the K-12 arena to take on a new position at a nearby college, William Woods University. A colleague of mine assumed my role, and we both had a mutual friend: Julia.
Julia had diligently tried to get me to get involved with PeaceJam, which had always seemed cool--but was one too many things to add to my plate. (Why do I say yes to so many things and miss such an obvious yes?!)
In preparation for the 2006 10th anniversary shindig in Denver, Jill and I agreed to try to host a slam so the PeaceJammers in our area (and their advisors) would be eligible to attend the big event. It took some convincing on my end, as WWU was only getting started with service-learning at the time. But Jill and I were persistent, and we had an awesome network of service-learning colleagues who also believed it was a great opportunity. Some of those offered some funding support, which was greatly needed!
Long story less long, we did succeed in hosting a Slam, with much assistance from the aforementioned Julia. We took lots of PeaceJammers to the 10th anniversary event to witness the launch of the Global Call to Action.
Jazzed from the life-changing experience I witnessed, I convinced WWU to let me pursue full affiliate status. They did, and we succeeded. I think of us as the "scrappy little affiliate that could."
We hosted another Slam, and in 2007, we hosted not one, but two full-blown PeaceJam Youth Conferences with Laurates and the whole deal--in one year!
The following year, we ran into difficulty because of a combination of the economy and Laureate scheduling. We had to cancel our conference, but had an awesome Slam.
Our PeaceJammers stayed with us, though, and we are one month away from our 3rd full PJYC--with Betty Williams!
Along the way, we had a lot of helpers--including some amazing adult advisors and a series of hard working, underpaid, talented young women: Valerie, Cassie, Jen, Jasmin, and Shelly, without whom we would not be able to do this work.
Ladies, you inspire me!
I think that if we keep the "change starts here" ethic going, we can make it and get this baby institutionalized. (That sounds funny, but you know what I mean!)
And our events and activities would also not be possible without a few people who really inspired me: Jessica Gabrian, that would be you, and another person I'm not going to name. Thanks!
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