Recently in Ideas Category

You may have read somewhere already that *cino is going for a $50,000 grant through the Pepsi Refresh Project, which is giving away $1.3 million each month to organizations selected by popular vote. So what are we going to do with $50,000? Well, here's what we're thinking.

We're big believers in the idea that new spaces create new possibilities. Obviously, 27,000 square feet is A LOT of space with A LOT of potential, but the problem is: at the moment, none of that space is heated and therefore, the water is shut off to avoid broken pipes and the like. What we have now is essentially one heck of a tent. And that tent's going to take money somewhere in the millions to fully restore and renovate for the big purposes we have in mind, which is a full-blown community center shared by multiple non-profits serving local youth and families, as well as a residential off-campus program for college students from around the country.

So: we're starting with one room. One room to rule them all (that was a Lord of the Rings joke--not a very good one). The room we've chosen is the old kindergarten room, a 1,600 square foot space on the north end of the main floor. Why this room? Well, it has a separate outside entrance, which is crucial for getting a standalone space up and running--that way people don't have to traipse through a construction zone to get in. Also, it has two attached bathrooms. In terms of visual interest, it features original maple floors and woodwork, with high ceilings. Plus, it's a neat shape--kind of octagonal on one end, with an old slate chalkboard. If you sneak a peak inside the storage closet, there's also a beautiful original built-in unit that was included on the original 1918 blueprints.

I bet your next question is: what will we do with this room? Having already watched a couple of films and hosted a few musicians there, we've realized it makes a very nice space for live performance and other arts activities for a relatively intimate crowd--up to about 100 people. We've also done some research about all-ages music venues and talked with some local high school students who are very excited about the possibility of running their own music venue. In a small town like Three Rivers, where the local teens often end up hanging out at Meijer on the weekends, some positive late-night activity seems like a really good thing. We have some wonderful arts organizations in Three Rivers--the Carnegie Center, the Riviera Theatre, the Three Rivers Artists Guild--and we'd love to cultivate a passion for the arts in local youth that will connect them to these organizations, potentially for the rest of their lives.

We're also excited about the potential of the room as a site for after-school and summer programs that serve the neighborhood kids and their families. The school bus already drops students off right outside the kindergarten room door. Wouldn't it be nice if there were some local senior citizens and other adults waiting for those kids with snacks to ask how their days went, help with homework and do crafts together? We think it would be great, for both the kids and the adults. Some of the kids have very strong families, while others could use a little extra care--all of them could benefit from healthy, inter-generational friendships.

In addition to providing a space for programming, we hope to create a room that has some revenue potential for additional renovations to the school. Maybe a church will want to begin holding weekly services there. Maybe a community organization will start holding meetings or conducting some of its programming there. Maybe someone will even get married there! A major goal is to make the space beautiful, whimsical, imaginative and elegant so that it can serve a wide variety of purposes, from very functional to highly ceremonial.

And let's not forget how the room will serve a need we've had for almost a year now: hospitality to service groups. We've had over 100 volunteers give over 1,400 hours of service at the school already, doing everything from routine maintenance to ripping out walls. At times, it was very cold work with no heat in the building. It would be nice to have a space to show proper hospitality to our wonderful volunteers in all seasons of the year.

Even though we'll be working with a strict budget, we want this room to be a life-sized model of what the lovely old school can become--a space filled with color and light and art, a space that inspires people to dream about what's possible beyond what is. We also want to honor the history of the room so that visitors who attended kindergarten in the space can still see their old classroom. The old circle on the wood floor has to stay, and hopefully the chalkboard as well.

We also want the room to be a model of the green building techniques we hope to implement throughout the building, so that it's highly efficient to maintain. Super-insulation methods will keep the heating bills low, while other elements like water-saving appliances and non-toxic building materials will be good for both humans and our local watershed.

Any questions? We're certainly open to your comments, ideas and inquiries. Please feel free to post things here or get in touch another way. We've been making some progress in the past year and a half, but we're excited for this next phase of the work. Help us re-imagine the kindergarten room for the future of the school building, the neighborhood and our city!

If you're in the Three Rivers area, drop by Huss School today for our first annual Huss Future Festival! The festival features a giant rummage sale, art vendors, live music, free fair trade coffee from World Fare and tours of the building. We've even got a ping-pong challenge and an apple barrel train!

We'll see you there!

I had a short, but good conversation with a local chef the other night at a party. I jokingly asked him when he's going to start a restaurant in Three Rivers, which I'm sure he gets a lot. Turns out, it's his dream (in retirement?) to start a free restaurant: customers will enjoy healthy, expertly prepared food in a beautiful setting and pay what they can. Turns out he's also considered Huss as a location. "This is exactly the kind of project we want to see happening there," I told Rob. It's so ridiculous, it just might work--which seems to be a running theme.

So during our board meeting last Friday, when board members scattered throughout the school to read and reflect and pray, I ended up in the room where we've imagined a community kitchen. I could hear dogs barking through the broken windows and an occasional "ploop" as water dripped through the roof and into a plastic bin. A red and black sign on the window reads PEEK TUO to me, but to those who "should" be on the outside, KEEP OUT. I long for the day a sign can sincerely say, PLEASE COME IN. Sitting on the formica-topped desk that is the detritus of an institution that no longer serves this neighborhood directly, under a roof that's determined to sag in all the wrong places, that day feels very far away. And yet, it doesn't feel impossible. A sink in the corner reminds me that this room was once alive, with a controlled flow of water--that substance that is such a critical source of life.

In this room, hope is being able to peel the paper off the windows because we want people to see what's inside. Hope is a rooftop greenhouse where children and adults alike can learn how to grow fresh food year round and be nourished by the fruits of their labor. Hope is a vision of abundance for those in this neighborhood who rarely set foot in a kitchen because there's simply no food there to cook, much less eat. Hope is a multi-colored image of people from various economic backgrounds sharing conversations over a meal that satisfies all five senses. Hope is as small as a drip of water that, beyond our efforts can become a rushing stream...and hopefully, it won't be coming through a hole in the roof.

God help us.

Three Rivers, MI March 15, 2010. The youth of Three Rivers are going to be cultivating the spirit of community, neighborhood and diversity by growing food collaboratively and sustainably. In April, coordinators of the Triple Ripple Community Garden, Julianna Sauber- and Brenda McGowan-Nurturing Communities Initiative will begin what is hoped to be the first of many local community gardens. The location of the gardens will be the former Huss School. Huss School property, owned by *culture is not optional, of which two local residents, Kirstin and Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma are connected, is poised to be a space of creative collaboration among many individuals and organizations. Offering a community garden will get kids off the couch, involved in nurturing relationships and a great summer project. Youth will have an option for free, healthy food that will help with nutrition and developing good eating habits. The kids will learn to grow organic food, prepare that food and store it for the winter extending the benefits of this garden to year around. They will have the benefit of good peer and adult role models to show them that they have the skills to be successful, and with a little hard work can have the pride of accomplishment of growing a beautiful garden, and for older youth an opportunity to sell their products at Farmer's Markets. The goal is to recruit, train, engage, and mentor anywhere from 60-90 youth to invest in 9 plots. Estimated cost for tools, plants, supplies, and marketing is $10,000.00

Triple Ripple Community Garden coordinators have scheduled two informational meetings for anyone who is interested and skilled at working with adolescents and gardening. Our meetings are scheduled for Sunday, March 21st at 3:00 p.m and Thursday, March 25 at 6:00 p.m. All meetings will be held at Family Education and Development Services office, 2 North Main, Three Rivers.

For more information or to make a donation contact either coordinator- Julianna Sauber (574)238- 5289 or Brenda McGowan at (269)744-0646. All checks should be made payable to *culture is not optional P.O. Box 1, Three Rivers, Michigan, 49093. Checks should be clearly marked for the Triple Ripple Community Gardens project.*culture is not optional is a non -profit 501c3 organization. Donations of hand tools and other garden implements may be made at Eagle Auto Glass on South Main Street in Three Rivers.

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this project. Thank you!

The Tripple Ripple Community Garden project, led by Julianna Sauber and Brenda McGowan, is hosting a few informational meetings to get things rolling. Here are the details:

A free community garden is starting at the Huss School property, led by kids giving back to the community.

Please attend our first meeting. The kids and the community need your help to make this successful.

Food produced from this garden will go to those who need it most!

When: March 21 at 3pm or March 25 at 5:30pm
Where: 2 North Main Street, Three Rivers at Family Development Services

Last year at about this time, we felt the spirit move. Kirstin and I were listening to a presentation by Bill Strickland of Manchester Craftsmen's Guild at the annual Jubilee Conference in Pittsburgh and an idea began to take shape.

Strickland shared his amazing story, from growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh to creating a world-class community center that transforms the lives of kids and families in that same neighborhood. He spoke of bringing beauty into the inner-city and giving kids his prescription for thriving: sunlight, affection and good food.

His story isn't some pie-in-the-sky liberal do-gooding; he's driven to see kids live into their deep potential so this country can solve some of its most entrenched social problems. And he's got the statistics to show that his program is working. When almost 50% of students of color are drop out of high school, over 90% of the students in his program graduate. He has training programs teaching welfare mothers how to be gourmet chefs, horticulturalists and pharmaceutical technicians--the same women who have been told time and time again that they aren't worth anything. It's amazing what a little sunlight and attention can do for the human spirit.

A few months later, we took the leap of faith that is the Imagining Space project. We have a long way to go and our project will look a lot different than Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, but a lot of the underlying motivation is similar. We want to create a beautiful space for the people of Three Rivers and for students around North America, cultivating opportunities to transform this community and others toward abundant flourishing. With your help, I'm pretty sure we can do it ... we'll just need to be patient and keep pressing on toward the goal!

I'd highly recommend watching Strickland's lecture below. Unfortunately, the photos he's showing during the presentation didn't make it into the video; however, the story is still inspiring to hear. Just imagine what we might be able to do in Three Rivers!

On the way to work this morning, we heard two stories from Michigan Public Radio that sparked connections for me with the Huss School project. One was about an old school building in Detroit that's being converted into artist studios, retail space, offices and more. The other was this week's edition in a series of interviews that Christina Shockley is doing, with each interviewee suggesting three things they think could be done in Michigan to help get the state back on its feet. I especially liked how hip hop artist Invincible, this morning's interviewee, suggested that creativity needs to be woven into our problem-solving in order to expand people's imaginations and push the boundaries of what's considered possible. Makes me even more excited to try to recruit local artists to submit renderings of the space's potential...

Kirstin offers a few ideas in her catapult magazine editorial for what she'd love to see at Huss School as we move forward with the Imagining Space project. Check it out and then add your own!

For the past six years, Rob and I have been attending the Jubilee Conference in Pittsburgh every February. Jubilee is a gathering of college students from throughout the eastern U.S. and Canada who have a hunger to learn about how faith thoroughly infuses all of life, from studies to vocation and everywhere in between.

There are always wonderful speakers, both on the main stage and in workshops. One in particular has stood out for us this year: Bill Strickland. Growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Strickland cultivated a sense of worth and creativity thanks to a teacher who let him throw as many pots as he wanted to on the pottery wheel in the art room. After high school, rather than using his perspective and skills to get out of Pittsburgh, he returned to invite other students to create pottery. The Manchester Craftsmen's Guild was born as a humble house-based operation, but now dwells in a beautiful building in north Pittsburgh that includes a state-of-the-art music hall where jazz legends have recorded benefit albums for the organization. The Manchester Bidwell Corporation has also developed vocational training programs in pharmaceuticals, culinary arts and orchid cultivation.

Strickland tells his story in a book, Making the Impossible Possible, which we've recommended over and over again since Jubilee. But seeing him speak in person, I was struck by his humility and matter-of-factness. He's simply done what needed to be done in order to achieve an extraordinary vision. He's proud, but not vain and grateful, but not overly sentimental. He also has a goal to see models based on MCG emerge in 200 cities around the world. We're really tempted to take him up on that challenge as we envision what's possible in Three Rivers.

At the core of Strickland's philosophy is that people who are financially, emotionally and spiritually poor don't just need basic material things; for true internal and communal transformation, we all need beauty and affection. A serviceable building may protect the body from the weather, but a beautiful building will nourish the spirit. A boring-but-nutritious meal may give us the vitamins we need to survive, but a lovingly, skillfully prepared feast will give us the wonder we need to thrive.

As we think about how this building project might be a blessing to Three Rivers in whatever space it lands, I don't doubt that Strickland's ideas about serving deep needs with great beauty will be foundational, as well as his practical model of arts and vocational education.

May 27 is here! We set this date and the $20,000 fundraising goal early in May according to the terms of *cino's offer to purchase the historic Huss School in Three Rivers, Michigan. As I write, we have just over $5,000 left to go and we're still waiting to see what the rest of this day brings.

The past few weeks have been exhilarating and exhausting. So many words of wisdom, encouragement and caution have come our way as we've put a big dream out there to see what happens. Will we breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate if we reach this first goal? Of course! Dozens of people from all over the world have already come together in hopeful anticipation of what might be possible for a small organization in a small town in southwest Michigan.

A celebration will honor the guiding success of the past month, but it will also be an opportunity to renew our collective commitment to the next phase of hard work. If Huss School is the place we're called to be, there are many logistics in our very near future--negotiating fees and contracts, gathering information, signing papers. If Huss School is not the place we're called to be, there's the work of taking a step back as a board of directors and community of stakeholders to re-imagine where to direct the momentum that's gathered behind the campaign. Beyond either outcome, there's more planning, meeting, talking, fundraising, grant writing, blogging...

Amid all of this, Rob and I stand with all of you at an intersection--the intersection of past and future, of global and local, of pushing and being pulled, of audacity and caution. We pray that our stillness at this intersection is and will continue to be characterized by love, faith, hope and joy that reach deeper than we can ever fully know and tie all of us to the great mystery of God's heart.

So please donate if you can. Send us your thoughts if you have words in waiting. And go in peace to embody Love through service in the place where you are. Thank you for your attentiveness to Imagining Space!