Watch the Big Game under the Big Tent!
October 17, 2021
Come together for an intergenerational gathering to watch the Vikings take on the Carolina Panthers. Kick-off is at noon under the Big Top! Bring your chair, wear your fan gear (and bring a mask!), pick up lunch from one of our local restaurants and let’s watch some football! The Committee for Children, Youth, and Families will provide some snacks and hot cider, and there will some activities on hand for kids who get tired of watching the game. We can’t wait to see you there!
Here we are, on Easter morning–a day of hope, of rebirth, of new life, and of possibilities! Over the past weeks, we have learned about young people from all over the world, all with different passions, different problems, and different plans for their futures! Each of these heroes had something in common–they didn’t wait until they were adults to start on their path to change the world. You don’t have to either! You inspire the people around you every day
When Boyan Slat was 16, he went scuba diving on a family vacation and was horrified to see more plastic than fish during his time underwater. The image stayed with him, and he spent a lot of time both learning about how plastics accumulate in the water, why people have felt they were nearly impossible to clean up and if there might be any way to rid our waters of plastic. By 19, he has founded a clean-water non-profit and began fundraising to put his water cleaning devices into production. He came up with prototypes (models) of a water clean-up system that used the currents in the ocean to naturally move plastics into nets, and then into a filtration system, to sort plastics from fish, sea creatures, and plant life. This process was not easy, and many funders and scientists felt that it wasn’t realistic. The first test models were made, and many of them broke. But Boyan and his team did not give up. He retooled his plans to instead focus on cleaning up polluted rivers, rather than the vast, open ocean, and his newest clean-up device, the Interceptor, was finally revealed and successful! Currently, there are interceptor devices cleaning plastics out of rivers in 4 countries, with plans for many more. Rather than give up, Boyan adapted, looked at the problem from different angles, tried different solutions, and stayed focused on his goal–any positive impact on the pollution of our water was a success. Boyan remains hopeful that significant portions of the plastics currently in our water can be removed, and the nonprofit he founded is also committed to stopping the entrance of new plastics into our water system from here on out!
It wasn’t so long ago that separating people in schools, stores, on busses, and at drinking fountains, was not only expected in many places in the United States, particularly the South, but actually LEGAL! In 1954, a landmark Supreme Court Case, Brown v. Board of Education ruled that school segregation was illegal and unconstitutional. However, just because the court said schools needed to desegregate, didn’t mean that the change happened quickly. It took nearly 3 years of work by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (the NAACP) to put into motion Black students actually attending and integrating white schools. In Little Rock Arkansas, 9 African-American students; Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls, were selected by community leaders to be the first high schoolers to enroll at Little Rock High School. They were selected because of their calm, strength, and ability to withstand the bullying and violence that would most likely befall them during the integration. On September 4th, 1957, the teens attended their first day of school. During the coming weeks they had to be escorted into the building by the National Guard, and endured taunting, racist slurs, getting spat on, and getting hit and kicked. Still, they persisted in attending school daily, effectively integrating Little Rock High, and paving the path to integrated schools across the country. 8 of the 9 students are still alive today, and received a Medal of Honor from then-president Barack Obama for their bravery.