A safe place is normally a group of people you know that brings you comfort and ease. The People’s Supper is an invitation to a ‘Brave Space.’
Their mission is to bridge the divide that they have been seeing on campus. This event, on Oct. 25, 2023 is through the Service Leadership Community Engagement (SLCE) office and through a subgroup, Good Meal Project.
Shelby Kennedy, project coordinator, works with volunteer programs and took on this event with the theme of bridging the divide. Brave space is a new way of thinking through conversations and the community it brings.
“We were seeing a divide on campus through politics, beliefs and value differences so through the Peoples Supper we want to bring out humanity through beliefs and stereotypes,” Kennedy said.
Even with the incentive of food, the goal is to bring people in and connect on a different level, even if it’s uncomfortable.
SLCE does not want people to change their beliefs or ideas. Their goal is to come together to move the barriers and hate within a conversation over a meal.
Shay Rawle, a senior majoring in kinesiology, took part in the activity and was able to branch out and get to know people she would have never come across inday-to-day activities.
“While we’re at this table, forced into conversation using a list of topics, it can still be hard to say what you want to say, however it influences me to have more confidence in widening topics to random groups,” Rawle said.
“This should happen more as much as it can as it broadens horizons and gains an understanding through different points of view.”
SLCE opens up communities and activities through events and volunteer programs to take people from different backgrounds, values and points of view to connect. It embraces not a safe space, but a brave space.
