June 2023 – Seven Charlestin

This is a transcript of a speech that Crave V leader, Seven Charlestin, gave at a Wake-Up Wednesday rally last month at the Pulse Memorial in Orlando.  The entire speech can be found on our YouTube channel.
I just want to advocate for my community … 

I thought it’d be good to come out and represent and speak for my neighborhood and, especially, my chapter of March for Our Lives. A lot of black communities don’t have the luxuries to be able to advocate for themselves the way they want to, because a lot of the social aspects of gun violence are crushing a lot of our neighborhoods. People who want to advocate for issues like gun violence have to risk their health and well-being, especially since a lot of the work that we’re doing in our communities is not paid.

And we don’t have the platform to do the type of work they want. I, like a lot of the other organizers I know in Pine Hills, whether we’re sick, injured, hurt, et cetera., are doing this civil work to try to support our community and prevent gun violence, daily.

Among other things, I want to talk about just some social aspects of gun violence and kind of the roots of them and how they transpire in my community, especially. Gun violence is an epidemic everywhere in America, but, in black communities, it’s 18 times more likely for a black American to be a victim of gun violence than a white American and any other community. And, most of those root causes are poverty, lack of access to resources, and the availability of guns.

One thing that I’ve been focused on a lot for the last two years is male patriarchy and just the way that our men are being raised and socialized, especially in our culture. Males for the most part are 50% of the population in America, and we’re over 80% of the suicides by gun violence.

And men are over 80% of the gun homicide victims. And, as far as it comes to mass shootings, just about 95% of mass shootings are taking place by men. And it’s largely because of the way that we’re socialized. Women have the same type of mental health issues, the same type of rates of poverty, et cetera. But, the way that men are raised to be, to fight for their identity above everything else is one of the key causes, I believe, of gun violence, especially in my community, where black males are especially a large faction of gun violence victims and offenders.

That’s something that my chapter of March for Our Lives focuses on in my community, mainly just finding ways to help young men, and kids in general deal with conflict resolution and understand how they can affect their community from a public safety standpoint.

I just wanted to come out to advocate for my community because, without me or one of the other few people from Pine Hills who is always advocating for gun violence prevention, I don’t think we will be represented. I want, as the fight against gun violence continues, I want people to remember that the black communities that are really at the brunt of some of this gun violence and the fact that, after the gun, I mean, if we ever get an assault weapon ban, we still need help with all the other root causes of gun violence, where it comes to just the help that boys and men need and, poverty and all those other aspects.

So thank you, guys.

Seven Charlestin

Crave V Leader

Photo by Agulia Creative

 

May 2023 – Keisha and Mark Bishop

Staying True to Your Mission

Crave alum Olivia Blase from Class III sits down with Class V alumni Keisha and Mark Bishop, of Lyles Brothers’ Sports Foundation, to talk about their experience running their nonprofit, their involvement with Crave, how to effectively work as a couple, and staying true to their mission instead of chasing funding. Get to know this inspirational and down-to-earth couple even better! 

 

March 2023 – Rev. Michele Van Son Neill

 

Feeding Hope for Grassroots Visionaries

Yesterday my son and I spent several hours packing food in boxes at Second Harvest Food Bank. If you’ve never been, I strongly recommend it: 1. clear mission, 2. well oiled machine, 3. high volume impact. Their slogan is Feeding Hope which is a clever reference to how their mercy work (feeding the hungry) is required before Maslow’s higher hierarchy of needs (hope) is possible.

When considering where to give our time, talents, resources, witness, and presence we have an opportunity to consider both mercy work and justice work. Mercy work is putting food in boxes and delivering it to hungry people to consume for one meal. Justice work eliminates the reasons people are hungry (lack of a living wage, unaffordable housing, poor education, unsafe neighborhoods, etc.). Justice work is expensive and complex, but it is the only way to make deep, lasting change.

Crave does justice work for grassroots visionaries in Central Florida by removing barriers and providing access to resources (relational, educational, financial, etc.). This was super evident at our Class VI Welcome Dinner earlier this month. Crave visionaries lead mercy efforts with impact that can ultimately change the course of generational poverty.

Please take a peek at our Class VI leader bios and dreams here. Crave coaches have been oriented; professional development sessions (strategic planning, consumer profiles, fundraising, etc.) are being finalized; and Class VI Soul-Tending sessions have begun in the way they always do: the Holy Spirit shows up tenderly, specifically, and powerfully bonds a group of former strangers who believe the world can be better…and are committing their lives to doing just that!

Keep an eye out for future Crave updates about Class VI. Class V had a miraculous nucleus around mental health. Class VI is focused on children: in foster care, educationally under-resourced, housing insecure, living in unsafe neighborhoods, and those with developmental disabilities.

Crave VI Leaders (l-r): Nikki Boswell, Eli Salhab, Joni Pugh, Lakechia Jackson, Annakay Kenlock, and Jessica Thibou

 

Crave does justice work by breaking through cultural/systemic barriers and increasing access to resources and opportunities by connecting different people with similar missions. If any of the Crave VI mercy work for families and children is speaking to you, or you have experience to share, or a desire to learn more, please let us know here!

Thank you for being a critical part of Central Florida’s grassroots visionary impact!

Michele Van Son Neill
Founder and Executive Director
Crave of Florida, Inc.

February 2023 – Olivia Blase

Who do I want to be? 

Every new season of life gives us the opportunity to decide the answer to a very simple yet important question: who do I want to be?

What do I value most? What impact do I want to leave on the world? How do I want to interact with other people? How do I want to feel? What legacy do I want to leave? Whether you are a new parent, have started a new job, moved, are going through loss and heartbreak, etc., new life situations are opportunities for us to check in with ourselves and be intentional about the people we want to be. 

Earth Day, 2020

In college I had to decide what kind of student I wanted to be. In my young adult life, I mostly questioned what kind of friend I was. Starting my first career and beyond (this journey definitely isn’t over), I was evaluating the type of employee I wanted to be. When I was a Leader in Crave III, I wrestled with my identity as a white woman, as well as my role in our world as a person who wants to use her gifts for good and justice. 

Crave III Leaders (l-r) Marquis McKenzie, Blu Bailey, Jarvis Wheeler, Olivia Blase, and Shequila Roberts

 

My newest adventure, living in Spain and teaching English, has forced me to address my identity as an American. This has been an especially interesting experience while living in Europe where everyone has an opinion about the USA. Some people thank me for how the States intervened in World War II. Others complain to me about how we get involved in everything globally. Some gush to me how much they love the USA, and others plainly tell me that they hate our country. 

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid

At first, all of this mixed feedback caused me to close up and try to hide my “Americanness”. I was confused about what it meant to be me in a place where everyone has an opinion about me. So instead of dealing with the question of “who do I want to be?” I clammed up and let others decide [for me] who I was to them. Let me tell you something – that didn’t work so well. I have spent so much time and energy wrestling with my identity on others’ opinions, yet I was wasting the opportunity to decide who I am going to be and what I am going to represent. 

And of course, my identity both encompasses and extends beyond being American – or being a friend, a woman, caucasian, a student, an employee. Much of who I decide to be is exemplified by being a part of the Crave family, a community that loves, embraces, empowers, and emboldens people who are curious, passionate, generous, humble, and not afraid to bust boundaries for the good of others. 

That is the kind of person I want to be. What about you?

Olivia Blase, Crave III Alum

YOU ARE A WONDER WOMAN! In 5th grade art class, the assignment was to draw a superhero comic. None chose a woman. I drew this on the whiteboard, and soon after, several of them wanted help drawing her, too. They see what we represent and don’t represent.

January 2023 – Jennifer McKinney

How to Gain Clarity
There are many things we were not taught. Many things we are learning and passing on to the next generation. Things like letting go of perfectionism; how to work with our emotions; how important things like our thoughts and words actually are, and how to find clarity on what we truly want. These have been learned through self-exploration, but never through traditional streams of education, and often not even from our parents and guardians who were not taught these skills.

We are at the beginning of a calendar year, which often elicits goals of taking advantage of a fresh start. We set intentions for what we want to invite in throughout the new year, but as we also now know, for greatest results, setting the intention takes some strategy. If we align ourselves more with the seasonal calendar, winter is the first step in creating intentions for the upcoming cycle.

In winter we slow down and go inwards. We meditate on what the previous year brought us; we explore our role in the outcomes we received; we peel back what may have been getting in the way, and we get CLEAR on what seeds we want to plant for the new year. This work requires bravery. It requires a season of pause before “springing” into the next goal. Slowing down is a big part of the phase of winter, giving more time for reflecting and processing the previous cycles. Slowing down allows you to notice what is and isn’t working. For this, finding frequent moments of peace, digital detoxes, meditation and prayer allow you to cut through the constant stimulation that is our current experience as humans. You have to knowingly wade into the noise, sit in it and allow the noise to settle around you to find the gems of truth that are always there below the chaos.

 

Questions to ponder in the peaceful moments: Reminder: You have all winter to explore these questions.
● How satisfied am I? (Apply to specific topic or keep it general)
● How do I want to feel this year?
● When I look through the lens of God/My Highest Self/Love, what do I see for myself this year? What is their vision for me?
● What is keeping me from moving forward? Where is there lots of struggle?
● What drains my energy most?
● What currently makes me feel alive?

The next layer to finding clarity for your new year is to express what you found in the quiet. Write it down, speak it out loud, create art with it as your muse, move your body to reflect the truths. Let it flow through and out of you, and then, pause again. Repeat the process a few times, exploring different things. After the introspection, after the expression, you digest. You tend to what needs healing, you rest and you revisit the expressive creations frequently, adding layers if you feel it’s needed, possibly getting additional support for moments that feel too deep for self exploration. There tends to be a lot of letting go and accepting what is, hopefully from a place of love and understanding for the human experience. Then, as if suddenly, you begin to see, you begin to feel what’s needed next. Slowly and simply you start to make a game plan for the next season, spring. You start to gather new tools and teachers; you invest in creating change; you build momentum in the form of foundational habits and small tweaks throughout the winter months. When spring rolls around, you are ready to spring into further action.

Clarity thru Crave
Big goals and projects may take many cycles before the momentum is there and this is very normal. Building a business, changing your habits, learning new skills all take years. This is why allowing plenty of time to reflect and get clear is so important … otherwise it is very easy to get lost in the weeds. It’s as if the moments of inner work are equivalent to pulling the weeds of your metaphoric garden, clearing all the stuff that became overgrown or neglected throughout the year. When I think about my time with Crave one of the biggest benefits was the space to dig deep and get clear on what I wanted to create. I had the idea of an online wellness program, but the project seemed too daunting. I lacked clarity. The workshops, the time to brainstorm with a trusted group, the professionals I got to meet and learn from through Crave were a very crucial part of the final product that will actually launch this SPRING!!! Five years in the making and it all started with the mindful mapping of Crave activities that unveiled my vision.

Forever grateful,

Jennifer McKinney, Crave I Leader

 

Foundational Fitness Online Wellness