ucmadmin Better Together, Domestic Poverty and Food Insecurity, Interfaith Impact, Profiles in Radical Hospitality, White House Interfaith Service Challenge

Profiles in Radical Hospitality

Hi!  Shea here. *Waving.*  Here’s another Profile in Radical Hospitality, this one written by Allison  Schoeppner.  Allison is a regular at Thursday Supper and Interfaith Impact, and is on our White House Interfaith Challenge Steering Committee as well.

– – – – –
I grew up in Athens and as a freshman I had a difficult time meeting people I could relate to and feeling a sense of belonging, which is why stumbling across UCM this year has been such a blessing. I first found out about UCM through the Better Together campaign and from that I began attending Thursday Supper and Interfaith Impact every week. What I love most about all of these activities is the openness of the people involved, everyone is friendly and easy to talk to. Not to mention, UCM focuses around the idea of being radically inclusive which exposes you to so many different types of people. The great thing about all of these people coming together at UCM is that although we may come from different backgrounds and have different opinions we can relate around the belief that all people/religions should be accepted. I feel that I have found a certain sense of belonging at UCM mainly because I feel like I will be accepted no matter what which is a fantastic feeling I can only describe is as being similar to belonging to a family.

–Allison

ucmadmin Better Together, Domestic Poverty and Food Insecurity, Profiles in Radical Hospitality, White House Interfaith Service Challenge

Profiles in Radical Hospitality

Hi all!  Shea here.  *Waving.*  This week’s post is a continuation of our Profiles in Radical Hospitality written by Alice Ragland, an OU student and another regular volunteer at UCM’s Free Meal’s program. 

– – – – –
The world is a circle
Continuous and connective;
The whole thing will malfunction
If one part is ineffective.
Nobody can eat
If somebody is famished;
No justice can exist
If in one place it has vanished.
No one can be warm
If somebody is cold;
Nothing can glitter
If ALL of it is not gold.
If one school is in shambles,
Another cannot be effective;
If the top is corrupt,
The whole structure is defective.
No river can be clean
If one is polluted;
These problems must be solved,
They cannot be diluted.
The world is not a series of disconnected points
But a continuous place, where each of its joints
Connects with another, no matter how far apart.
What appears at the end re-appears at the start.
For the world is a circle,
 Continuous and connective.
The whole thing will malfunction
If one part is ineffective.
–Alice Ragland
ucmadmin Better Together, Domestic Poverty and Food Insecurity, Profiles in Radical Hospitality, White House Interfaith Service Challenge

Profiles in Radical Hospitality

Hi there!  Shea here.  *Waving.*  As part of our Better Together at OU blog, we’re going to be posting pieces written by folks who spend time at UCM programming related to the White House Interfaith Challenge.  UCM runs on the idea of Radical Hospitality, which means we accept everyone who walks through our doors no questions asked.  In large part because of the vibe this creates there’s lots of interesting people at UCM involved in lots of interesting things.  I thought you might like to meet some of them and learn about their views of UCM, faith, life, and other stuff.  I’ve been asking around for blog posts, so here’s the first one I received.  Today’s post is by Kavin Shah, an OU student and regular volunteer at Thursday Supper and Saturday Lunch and participant at Interfaith Impact.

– – – – – 

Hello. My name is Kavin Shah and I am a lifetime member of the Clean Plate Club. This is my first year being involved with UCM and I’ve already had some of the best times of my 4 years here. I love the opportunities it provides for me to become a bigger part of what I now define as my community. Athens is no longer just a transient residence where my college is, it has become a home.  I am currently a senior studying psychology and women’s studies at OU and there is no better place where I can apply what I learn in school to form closer relationships with my community members than at UCM. Sometimes I like to clean and wash dishes but my favorite duties so far include: taking Wanda home, hugging Richard, Gerry’s stories, and listening to Frances say the word “honey”. I also enjoy pulling knotweed, petting dogs, and interfaith impact. I plan on spending as much time here as I can so if you haven’t been by this year come say hi Thursday 5:30 or Saturday 1:00 and we can share a meal!

Shalom. 

-Kavin.