On February 26, 2016, the annual REACH (Realizing Ethnic Awareness and Cultural Heritage) Across Dayton met for the 23 time. The mission of REACH is “realizing ethnic awareness and cultural heritage across Dayton.” The event began with few introductions of the event coordinators Tess Little and Willis “Bing” Davis. There was then Target: Dayton! Ministries Choir that sang a few songs to kick start the event.
The mission of this program is to promote cross-cultural understanding and education between African American, Appalachian, Native American, and other ethnic communities in the Miami Valley area.
The keynote speaker was U.S Ambassador Tony P. Hall. Ambassador Hall is a 23-year Congressman representing the Dayton area. Ambassador Hall was born in Dayton and served as our representative. He was appointed in 2002 to be the U.S Ambassador to the U.N Agencies for Food and Agriculture until 2006.
Ambassador Hall recounted his story about growing up in Dayton and revealed that Dayton is in the top 10 hungriest cities in the U.S. No other city in Ohio even reaches the 25 hungriest city in the U.S.
Ambassador Hall said, “We need more collaboration between all of us, we need everybody involved. This issue belongs not just to food banks… this belongs to corporations. This belongs to everyone.”
Changing the face of hunger is what Ambassador Hall hopes to do. He said that for too long there have been politicians that say they want to help, but then vote against you. He reminded us that next time we vote, we have the power to show them the consequences of their actions for not holding their promise to help us.
“When we think about ‘why should we care about the poor?’ maybe it comes down to faith. It’s a moral thing, it’s just the ‘right thing to do,’ and I guess I’m preaching to the choir, not just the [Dayton] choir here, but the choir of all of you,” Ambassador Hall said.
Ambassador Hall pointed out that when people are hungry and jobless, it can lead to terrorism. He recounts a school in Pakistan he learned of that taught anti-Western ideology. He asked the father of a child attending why he would want his child going, the man responded that he couldn’t feed or clothe his child, but the school could.
North Korea is one of the most malnourished countries in the world according to Ambassador Hall, but because the country has such closed borders, there’s not much information on the country. North Korea has even had issues with cannibalism because the country has such an incredibly low amount of available food.
Ambassador Hall ended at 10:30 a.m. and after a fifteen minute break, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., there were two speaking events.
Panel #1 took place in Frederick C. Smith Auditorium. The topic was called “Beacons of Hope.” This panel included Dr. Kathy Rowell as moderator. On the panel was Melodie Bennett, Executive Director, House of Bread; Melissa Bertolo, Program Coordinator, Welcome Dayton; David Mauch, Director of Family Services, Habitat for Humanity; and Jimmy Ryan, Farm and Market Manager, Homefull Solutions.
The second panel at the same time (10:45 a.m.–12:00 p.m.) was in Charity Early Auditorium and was called “Finding and Creating Hope.” This panel included Dr. Derek Petrey, Dr. Jessica McKinley, and Myra Bozeman as the moderators. The Sinclair students from the International Students Organization and Honors Students participated in this panel which discussed creativity, hope, and their vision of the future.
There was then a lunch at 12:00 p.m. and even though it was free for attendees, it was in remembrance of the people who are hungry in the world. At least 50 percent of community college students are currently going hungry. The earlier panels sought to bring light to solutions to these issues.
There was a 2016 REACH art exhibit and there was an opportunity to “Build a Bowl with Bing and Bob.” When people make a bowl, it will be fired and glazed by Sinclair art students and donated to the Sinclair Dietetics and Culinary Art Program to be used in the October Annual Chili Luncheon—“A Souper Way to Give.”
The REACH event thanked everyone for attending and even though they had so many attendees that they had to turn people away, they invite everyone to come back next year.
Ehron Ostendorf
Copy Editor