Heart of America Bus Tour - The Pulse of a Nation

Thu Nov 1 09:16:23 PST 2001

A friend is launching an incredibly creative and ambitious project and is
looking for support across the country.  You might think of it as a
traveling open space, attracting participation as a bus rolls from Seattle
to New York via Missoula, Chicago, Washington, DC and Boston, leaving on
Thanksgiving Day and arriving in New York for Christmas.

The purpose of the trip is "to give the creative potential inherent in this
national time of crisis an opportunity to take root in individual and
community settings across the nation and have them linked to each other
ongoingly. It is to foster the human spirit of resiliency and radical
generosity and create a forum for ongoing dialogue in the community."

The organizers are looking for OS practitioners to get involved,
particularly in the cities mentioned above where 3-day stops are planned.
If you're interested, please contact Sarah-Jane Menato 206-285-3274 or
sjm96 at home.com.

Guaranteed this will be a one-of-a-kind experience!  Details are below.

Peggy

----------
From: "Chef Tom French" <cheftom at bountifultable.org>
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 06:09:53 -0800
To: "anne stadler" <annestad at home.com>
Subject: Support Document Final Draft

Support Request
Project Summary

Name of organization:  Bountiful Table
Type: Non-Profit / with 501(c)(3) fiscal Sponsor through Whidbey Institute
Address:  PO Box 991
                Clinton WA 98236
Tel:           (306) 579-2716

Contact:   Sarah Jane Menato 206-285-3274

THE PROJECT
Heart of America Bus Tour - The Pulse of a Nation

In the days after September 11th, along with the horror and devastation,
there has also been a sure and mighty heart opening in people and
communities across the United States and throughout the world.  This project
specifically addresses this extraordinary opportunity to support healing,
and accelerate the visibility of already emergent thinking and practices of
community.

Heart of America Bus Tour will travel across the United States, leaving
Seattle on Thanksgiving Day and arriving in New York before Christmas, on
December 17th, 2001 with stops in Missoula, Chicago, Boston and Washington
DC.  The Bus Tour will connect and strengthen the foundational ³spirit of
giving² that has come pouring forward in this time.  Trusting in, and
bringing forward that spirit of giving is at the heart of our ability to
transcend terrorism.  The genius of America is her capacity for giving.

Current events call for radical generosity  for each of us to respond with
all of our hearts and resources. The future is at stake.  How it will be
written for the sake of our children is at the core of our project.

Each stop will host a three-night, two-day event, bringing diverse people
together and reflecting the cultural landscape of each community.  At each
stop and along the way we will listen and gather stories.  We will break
bread and share meals, we will talk, we will sing, we will pray, we will
call forth the elders, and we will gather seeds.  We will honor hope and the
resiliency of the human spirit.  We will foster an understanding between
cultures, religions and philosophies, we will write the next chapter, for
our children¹s sake. We will collect and carry the messages and voices of
hope for our world to Washington DC and New York.

HOW WILL WE DO THIS?
By linking spirit to practical action through community building, community
outreach, the arts, sharing of meals and education.  We have designed a
3-night, 2-day experience to promote growth and deepen human understanding
that includes:

*      Gathering around multi-cultural tables to break bread and share meals
*     Facilitated individual and community expressive arts processes
*       Expression in all creative modalities open to everyone of all ages
*       Joining together in interfaith rituals to honor all faith traditions
*       Children's Art and Multi Generational Activities
*       Family-to- family meals in host homes with Afghani and Pakistani
families living in the US
*       High School performances
*       Open Space Events
*       Appreciative conversations through "day rides" on the bus with
poets, authors, philosophers, scientists, musicians, theologians, and others
*       Creation of physical spaces for community gatherings to engage in
the conversation that poet David Whyte in his response to these times spoke
of in the following way:  "For each of us, in this season of falling away,
at this threshold of history, when the old has gone and we are yet bereft of
the new, what is the conversation, that until now, we have refused?"
*       Communication of the gifts of our journey on the Internet, via the
      Big Mind Media portal: http://www.bigmindmedia.com/CONNECT/

WHAT ARE OUR PROJECTED OUTCOMES?
The goal of the tour is to give the creative potential inherent in this
national time of crisis an opportunity to take root in individual and
community settings across the nation and have them linked to each other
ongoingly.

To foster the human spirit of resiliency and radical generosity and create a
forum for ongoing dialogue in the community.

     We will produce a book and documentary film of the trip.

We will deliver the results of this process in the form of messages of hope
and healing to the people of New York City, to the government of the United
States, and, through the United Nations and the Internet, to the people of
the world.  The presentation will be the result of contributions by citizens
and artists across the country.

BUS TOUR ITINERARY
9th,10th,11th  Nov       Cultural Crossroads Celebration Crossroads Mall,
Seattle

17th & 18th Nov           Third Place Commons, Seattle

22nd November            Thanksgiving Dinner at Whidbey Institute and Bus
leaves for North Bend.

23rd November            Bus leaves North Bend for Missoula

25/26th Nov                 Missoula event

30th November             Bus arrives in Chicago

30th Nov - 2nd Dec            Chicago event

Dec 7th                         Bus arrives Boston

Dec 7th- Dec 9th        Boston event

Dec 14th                       Bus arrives DC

Dec 14th-16th               DC event

Dec 17th                      Bus arrives New York

Dec 19th -23rd               New York event

Dec 24th                       Homeward journey

EXPECTED ROLE OF VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers will be the collaborators in each city providing the "site" for
the event and much of the local contact.  Local volunteers in each city from
all faith traditions will contribute to the interfaith gatherings. Local
volunteers will facilitate the appreciative conversations and host the open
space gatherings as well as continue the efforts and intentions of the
project after the events.

HOW WILL WE MONITOR OUR WORK AND MEASURE SUCCESS?

*       We will see the record in the messages of hope catalogue written at
each event
*       We will have the public art work created by people in each city
*       We will track the "turn out" in each city
*       We will have a live on line forum during the trip and for follow up
after
*       We will invite people from across the nation to participate in an
international gathering at the Whidbey Institute in August 2002 to
collectively re-imagine the future of our planet.

WHO WILL THE PROJECT SERVE?
This project will serve a diverse cross section of people in each city the
bus stops in, as well as the people in New York who were directly impacted
by the attack.    The project will also specifically enroll artists, art
organizations, the culinary industry and multi faith communities.  By
deliberately inviting a diverse cross section of the population in each city
to participate we hope to foster greater understanding between cultures by
sharing stories with immigrants and natives both young and old.

HOW MANY WILL THE PROJECT SERVE?
The tour expects to directly have direct contact with 2,500 in each major
metropolitan area and indirectly (through associated impact after each
event) another 1000.  Altogether an estimated 15,000 individuals will
benefit immediately. We will also offer a daily on-line "update" through our
website and will encourage educators to utilize the daily reports as a
learning tool. We expect interest in this ongoing journal to be significant.
The intention is that this project impact world consciousness and the
current global crisis positively. The potential numbers are unlimited.

ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
Incorporated in 1998, Bountiful Table is a non-profit educational
organization with a particular focus on events that explore emerging issues
around ecology, education and food systems through community feasting. Our
client list includes organizations such as YMCA, City of Seattle, State of
Washington, Washington State University, Antioch University, Whidbey
Institute, Fetzer Institute, Institute for Children¹s Environmental Health,
and other similar organizations.  The Bountiful Table and its founders have
a successful track record in developing large community / public events that
have broad impact and positive results.

Bountiful Table works closely with the Whidbey Institute to develop programs
that explore the ecological, spiritual, economic, and social implications of
a healthy Foodshed that provides for all. The Whidbey Institute is an
established learning community which hosts some of the nations leading
experts in the area of ecology, spirituality and the human future, is also
the umbrella 501C3 for Bountiful Table.

THE BUS TOUR'S TEAM
This project is a project of The Bountiful Table.  A team has come together
to work on the project which is a collaboration between the following
individuals and their affiliated organizations:

Tom French  Bountiful Table
Katie French  Bountiful Table
Sarah-Jane Menato  Bountiful Table
Shannon Coman  Radical Change
Anne Theisen  Radical Change
James Sundstead  Radical Change
Ben Kaufman  Co-Opportunities Northwest
Master Heng Chang 
Anne Stadler Co-founder of Spirited Work at Whidbey Institute

"Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing there is a field, I'll meet
you there."
Rumi

______________________________
**** Please note new address:  peggy at opencirclecompany.com ***

Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
425.378.8331 (fax)
425.746.6274

www.opencirclecompany.com

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