Introducing Two New Twin Cities Program Leaders!

Posted on January 25, 2013 by patricialamas

Please help welcome our newest additions to the team, Aly and Elizabeth! They’ve arrived just in time for a massive transfer of information from last week at Chicago’s January Gathering. Though that’s a lot to digest over our long-distance Skype call meetings, they’ve already hit the ground running!

182590_4478390169950_1592946254_n Aly Young

I’m from Rochester, Minnesota, but I’ve made Northfield my home (I’m a junior at St. Olaf College). I love to ride and fix my bike, run, play music, ski, cook, build things, knit, read, write, draw, and make things in general. I first heard about the program from my friend and former RA, Patricia Lamas, who told me all about the awesome things she got to do in the summer of 2012. I’m passionate about helping create strong, supportive communities; when a group of people care strongly for each other and the land around them, that’s when social and environmental change happens! This summer, I’m really excited to help foster that community as part of Summer of Solutions; I’m especially eager to become a part of the active Twin Cities urban farming and biking scene. Prior to becoming a Summer of Solutions program leader, I’ve been a SustainAbilities Representative at St. Olaf, served actively in residence life, and studied ecology in the Boundary Waters and Costa Rica. Outside of the academic year, you’d most likely find me paddling up at my family’s cabin on Pelican Lake or playing banjo on the street in downtown Rochester. I’m thrilled to be a part of something great! Continue reading →

Making connections in Little Rock

Posted on January 23, 2013 by AcadiaTitone

Free stuff seems to be a pretty foolproof way to capture the attention of college students during finals week. While some students passed our table with the sullen, unseeing eyes of preoccupation and sleep deprivation, many were lured in by our sirens song of “summer jobs here!” and tote bag giveaways. Harmony, Caitlin, and I were at Hendrix College for a few hours of tabling in mid-December to build our email list, get the word out about SoS, and advertise for our latest job opening.

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Reflections on January Gathering

Posted on January 22, 2013 by nerk729

As I walked out of the house where all my new friends were and I passed the church where I had spent 22 of 24 hours the last five days, a sadness clutched my heart. I had spent so much energy in the warm and welcoming walls of that building. I had learned about some of the most powerful tools anyone my age could have. I had forged friendships that would last a lifetime. I couldn’t help but feel that each step I took was taking me away from all that.

I was headed for a lonely train ride to a lonely bus ride back home, where I’d be hours away from anyone I’d shared these days with. It was hard to keep positive with that in mind.

As I sat on the train and I gazed out the window, I saw dozens of buildings, and something slowly dawned on me. I began to grow fearful. While I was at this Gathering, my thoughts had revolved around all the things I could do. As I looked out, I realized how much I would not be able to do. In this city alone, there were millions of people affected by the complex social and personal problems we had been identifying. There were surely hundreds of people trying to help the way we were. I realized how difficult it would be to unite all these solution-seeking individuals, and how little they could do to disrupt these issues which affect all of humanity. Continue reading →

Young People in New York Take on Albany!

Posted on January 22, 2013 by ArianaShapiro

It’s been a busy month for Summer of Solutions Ithaca! The hot issue in upstate New York is hydrofracking, and January has been a crucial period for legislative decisions around fracking. As you may know, New York has had a tenuous moratorium for the last 4 years, though Governor Cuomo has nearly given the go-ahead several times. We’ve been fighting our hardest to make sure that doesn’t happen!

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FCF: Updates and More!

Posted on January 20, 2013 by fullcirclesfoundation

Full Circles Foundation is excited to announce that applications for 2013 Summer Fellow positions are going to be open this month! Please check the FCF website soon if you are interested in applying, or spread the word if you know someone who you think might be interested in applying!

In addition to the Summer Fellow Applications, the FCF Annual holiday fundraiser hasn’t ended! The Strong Camp experience – six weeks of programming that illuminates the connections between strong selves, strong neighbors, and a strong home – has been made possible for over 100 girls in Lexington and Raleigh. This year, will you please consider making a contribution to support this coming year’s Strong Camps in Raleigh and Lexington? Throughout the year, you will be kept up to date with tales of the powerful personal, social, and economic returns that your investment is growing through our new, coordinated blog and our newsletters! 2013 is going to be the best year yet – won’t you give the gift of empowerment by joining us in growing strong girls, a fair economy, and a healthy earth

Winter Bake Sale!

We also held a bake sale fundraiser this past December in Downtown Raleigh. The event was organized by Domanique Herring. Domanique is majoring in Event Planning at North Carolina State University, and happily donated her skills to FCF’s worthy mission. Herring organized donations of artisan baked goods from bakeries all over the triangle. It was chilly, but FCF team had fun dancing to keep warm and telling passerbys about FCF. Overall, the bake sale brought in $500 towards our Summer 2013 Strong Camps!

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Wintertime Bee-thinking

Posted on January 7, 2013 by threemonthsatatime

This is the debut post from our first international program located in Sofia, Bulgaria. Elena Zheglova, one of the Sofia Program Leaders, is an alumnus of the Twin Cities Summer of Solutions. She is joined by Teo Gueorguiev, a long-time friend and fellow resident of Sofia.

Good morning, America!

As you are slowly waking and stretching in your warm beds, I am looking into the snowy night through my window. What I see is how a sea of flat apartment buildings’ roofs are slowly being covered with a soft white blanket. If I poke my head out in the cold and look southward, I will see the corner of a park, one of the largest and prettiest parks in Sofia, namely The South Park, its dim lights reflected on the glittery snowflakes. It is dark and quiet in my city tonight. All the excitement and euphoria from the recent celebrations are giving way to the remainder (the greater half) of the winter.

In their sealed wooden homes, the matriarchal family of the bees is buzzing around their mother to keep her warm and last until the spring sun and bloom. As workaholic as bees are in the summer, winter time they spend at home keeping their energy, sipping on the honey they have overproduced, and dreaming of the color and light of the spring.

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The Diner

Posted on January 6, 2013 by jkoeppel

In a booth at Red Hot’s, I think about the mechanics of a non-profit solar provider and eat what’s becoming my regular breakfast: eggs, bacon, home fries, coffee, and wheat toast. Jut once, I tried to order breakfast past 11am and have never lived it down. Red Hot’s is a family-owned restaurant; Carol takes your order, Rich works the grill, and while you eat they bicker, gossip, discuss their city, and catch up with their customers. This is why my breach of conduct, my post 10:59 breakfast order, will live in a small circle of infamy for the foreseeable future. The world of Highland Park is full of uncertainty, scarcity, and emergency financial managers, but Red Hot’s is somehow separate – a stable port in a storm.

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Looking Ahead to Twin Cities SoS 2013

Posted on January 6, 2013 by patricialamas

As a born and bred Minnesotan, there is nothing better than coming home to Minneapolis, especially in winter. I love the winter wonderland Minneapolis is transformed into aftera huge snowfall. However, as much as I have enjoyed the snow, relaxation, and copious amounts of tea that come with being home for winter break, I keep thinking about how excited I am for Summer of Solutions Twin Cities 2013.

2012 Solutionaries and a beautiful new wood chip path

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Local Solutionary Stories

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Eli Shepherd

Eli Shepherd’s Story

As is the tradition, many folks like to use the beginning of the year to reflect on the past year, and also to look forward, to set, if you will, their Grand Aspirations for the year ahead. As a 2013 program leader with the Iowa City Summer of Solutions program, I am just too excited to keep my Grand Aspirations for the program from the rest of the world.

I stumbled into Summer of Solutions in June of 2012- rather, I came across a Facebook post soliciting “solutionaries,” and subsequently walked over to a church basement in downtown Iowa City in June of 2012- and at first had no idea what to think. There was one really excited person who greeted me at the door, one person who I later discovered was also in high school, several people who attended the University of Iowa, several people who were studying engineering, and enough chairs and pumpkin muffins for the whole lot of us. By the end of our training week I knew I had found a home but it wasn’t until early August that I became truly invested in the work.

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MN350 and Gandhi Mahal: Growing Energy Through Collaboration

Posted on January 5, 2013 by patricialamas

Gandhi Mahal staff, all dressed up for the 2013 New Year’s party co-hosted by MN350. Every Tuesday night, the restaurant donates 10% of its proceeds to sustaining the climate movement through MN350.

They say the first year out of college is usually a tough one. As many of my peers will testify, one of the biggest frustrations is seeking the security of that ever-elusive “full-time” work situation. But, all things considered, a handful of occupations can certainly have its perks. One of the best parts about juggling my part-time jobs and activities has been the rare opportunity to get so deeply involved in inter-organizational collaborative projects. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that everything I do right now is practically joined at the hip.

Through connections made as participant of the 2012 Twin Cities Summer of Solutions program, I began my Sustainable Community Organizer position with MN350 in September. At about the same time, a connection through MN350 led me to an additional position as a server at Gandhi Mahal Fine Indian Cuisine. The match couldn’t better! The close working relationship between restaurant owner Ruhel Islam and MN350 director Julia Nerbonne has created a dynamic that adds layer upon layer of enrichment to each organization. Gandhi Mahal has developed into much more than the home of the best Indian food in town, while MN350 has found a supportive partner and and a lively outlet for reaching out to the community.

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