Dozens of Breadcoin constituents gathered in Washington, DC at our second annual Breadcoin National Conference over two days in early October for a time of training, connecting, serving together, and celebrating what we’ve been able to accomplish together.
All of our regions were represented, as were the varied roles that make up the Breadcoin ecosystem. This conference is a rare chance for people who work on very different aspects of this vast and growing network to meet each other and to understand how we are all working together for common cause, to feed people and support local businesses while moving towards a world where everyone will have a seat at the table.
Team training focused on our eight programs and the continuum of care and change that extends across each. Team members from all our regions were better able to understand their critical roles in the mission of “building a resilient food system through dignity, relationship, and connection across all stakeholders – one meal at a time, one relationship at a time, one common table at a time.”
Founder and CEO Scott Borger’s “State of Breadcoin” keynote on Saturday morning was widely acclaimed by participants as being a comprehensive and inspiring view of where Breadcoin is and how far it’s come. Board members, those who serve daily in the nonprofits we partner with to distribute coins, team members, regional leaders and others heard about our programs of Daily Bread, Purchasing, Catering, the Birthday Celebration Program, Microloans, Emergency Response, Tables, and Digital Breadcoin and the impact we’ve been able to have and expect to continue.
Other Breadcoin leaders who spoke included Dana Staley, Gwen Snyder, Pastor William Spence and Cary Umhau.
A highlight of the conference was a coin-rolling competition. With nimble fingers and much energy, our leaders took on frequent coin-rolling volunteers to see who could complete two rolls first.
Participants were fed by Breadcoin vendors Dos Gringos, Mission Muffins, and Emma’s Torch over the course of the conference.
The culminating event was a Flash Table at which we all served together, along with several volunteers from Church of the Resurrection, putting on an outdoor banquet right there on Capitol Hill. We welcomed people from the neighborhood and beyond to be served food from Dreaming Out Loud, as we saw folks linger at tables, grateful for food but even more grateful for the camaraderie around a table, a place in a hectic and sometimes stressful world to linger and to learn each other’s names and hear some stories.
Participants left the conference buoyed by the spirit of it, further equipped to do their work, bellies, hearts and minds full.
