We could not have asked for a better turnout at our speaking event last night. Casual conversation filled
The Beat Coffeehouse, and we all enjoyed caffeinated drinks. Everyone at NEED was excited to meet new people and catch up with old friends.
After people were settled, Adam Hanson, NEED’s managing editor, started with a moving story about a young man he met while on
assignment in Oakland. He explained that the young man had survived being shot nine times at point-blank range. We all sat in silent astonishment. Steve Floyd, the NEED photographer who worked with Adam on that
assignment, told more stories from their time in Oakland that made the issue of youth violence shockingly personal.
NEED Managing Editor Adam HansonTo bring the topic full-circle, we asked a local organization to speak about their efforts to stop youth violence in the Twin Cities. Lawrence Johnson of
Mad Dads told stories about the outreach and prevention work that goes on in our neighborhoods. The evening ended with questions from the audience and suggestions about how to get involved.
Mad Dad Lawrence Johnson with Photographer Steve FloydThanks again to The Beat, Adam, Steve, Mad Dads and of course everyone who came out to our event. Hopefully there will be more new faces at our next speaking event on Wednesday, July 22. See our
events page for details.
Youth Alive
Mad Dads, Inc
The Beat CoffeehousePhotos | Kyra Gibson
Billy Johnson. photo | Steve Floyd
NEED co-founder Kelly Kinnunen was featured on Twin Cities radio station KFAI on August 18 at 8 AM to talk about NEED’s upcoming music festival. Interviewed by Pam Hill Kroyer, Kelly described plans for the event, who it will benefit, and how listeners could get involved. This was a great opportunity for NEED to get the word out about the Street Music for Street Kids benefit concert, which will be held in Minneapolis at Peavey Plaza on August 20 from 6 to 8 PM. Kelly told the KFAI audience about the struggle plaguing the street children of Jakarta, and of the hope that the event’s beneficiary, the Nurani Insani School for Street Children in Jakarta, strengthens in them.
Thanks to all of you who came to support NEED at our second Meet & Greet of the summer. This time around, we traded in the sleek and classy feel of Spill the Wine for the quirky, cool setting of the Kitty Cat Klub.
As I looked around the Beat Coffeehouse last night and saw a room full of NEED supporters and friends I felt a rush of energy. This could have been partly due to the vanilla latte I just drank, but mostly it was wonderful to see people come together for a socially-minded event.
“Screw The Man [Save the world] really went over big,” says photographer Steve Floyd about the campaign at the LOOK3 photography festival. “Especially when dealing with photographers and magazine people, they really understood that!” Floyd explained that photographers at the festival stuck SCREWTHEMAN stickers to their equipment and talked about how advertising interferes with the stories that need to be told. “They knew the purpose [of the campaign] without it even having to be explained, they were saying, ‘who wants to pay advertising? Then [without ads] we can write and show what we want to show. What a great idea.’”
