Clay was looking for a lift, so I promised him smooth sailing (my reputation was well known from Spokane) and we had a quiet drive over to PLU. Ellen was feeling stress from several sources: the excellent Sean has resigned from the Foundation to accept another position, which will make our relatively flawless seminars potentially rocky. I didn't add to her serenity when my briefcase slopped coffee over the Olympia shuttle brochures. Some mornings things start in the basement and head downhill!
Dr Russell led us through reflections on yesterday's site visits, and everyone was enthusiastic about the agencies they visited and found revelations to share.
Emergency Food Network
After a break, David Ottey gave a spirited presentation on the Emergency Food Network, which serves over 140,000 hungry people in Pierce County. Not only do they distribute an enormous amount of corporate-donated food (and he gave Matt and the Potato Commission a plug), a donor gave them eight acres of land to grow fresh produce, which must be a welcome addition to a diet of largely processed foods. Called Mother Earth Farm and worked by volunteers and women from Purdy Corrections, the farm delivers 125,000 pounds of produce each growing season.
After David's presentation, Julie gave her second five-minute speech (I critiqued), then Thisj gave his. We spent some time as a class discussing possible locations for our international trip (it could well be in China or Southeast Asia) and during lunch we ranked our choices, in an exercise that looked a lot like cat-herding.
In two weeks, we meet again in Olympia for the State Government session. The year is going fast, and it's barely begun!
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