It’s not every day that I get to talk to a unique group of people that are interested in changing the world.  I find myself traveling to various cities and schools and finding out about some of the most fascinating projects and amazing people that make these projects work.

Today I found myself speaking to an unlikely group.  I went and spoke with USET, the United South and Eastern Tribes.  But unlike a typical group they were not looking to start a Campus Kitchen or work on Food Security; instead this was a group of young high school students that were working on their own Tribal Impact Initiatives with a great program called CloseUp.

I spoke about DCCK and CKP, talking about how non-profits and community building.  When we got to the question and answer session I was surprised to hear the questions from the students.  They were profound and truly impactful ideas.  Students all below the age of 18 were looking to find ways to impact their communities based around their culture and their history.

They wanted to know how they were supposed to be respected even though they were only kids.  They wanted to know how to raise money for their projects.  They even wanted to find out how to network.  Every day for me is an inspiration to me and the work CKP does, and speaking with this group helped me find out a little bit more about why.

The struggles of the USET groups were the same as the struggles CKP has.  Funding, volunteers, respect; all of these are daily struggles any Campus Kitchen can have on any given day.  Yet it takes an extraordinary group of people to make a change or a difference in our society.  In the same ways each of our Campus Kitchen partners and volunteers get involved, I could see the same hunger about starting change and leading a new community into the future in these students.

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