Applicants sought for fourth annual speaker series

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, along with a volunteer from Toastmasters, will educate community members on public speaking and advocacy, the group announced.

The fourth annual series, which returns March 11, includes eight weekly 2-hour workshops, to be held in Vallejo.

“We are excited to begin working with our eight newly selected applicants including, for the first time, some community leaders,” said Mary Ann Buggs, advocacy and community engagement coordinator, in a news release. “These leaders have lived experiences with hunger and have the desire to give back to the community. They will be an inspirational addition to the group this year.”

Upon completion of the program, a graduation ceremony is held where the participants once again use the tools they have been taught to present a speech to their classmates, she added. The pride they are feeling is visible when they are presented with certificates for their accomplishments. Over the past three years, the program has had 32 graduates: Nine males and 23 females.

“I was terrified to speak in front of a crowd! The Speaker Series gave me confidence to be able to open up to speak in front of people,” said Patricia, a 2017 speaker series graduate and now peer mentor for the program, in the same release.

This program empowers people and taps into leadership skills they never knew they had in them. Many of our graduates consider their decision to participate in the speaker series to be a turning point in their lives, she said.

In addition to the workshops, every year participants travel to Hunger Action

Day in Sacramento (this year on May 6th). This serves as an exciting opportunity to use their newly-developed tools to effectively express themselves. They meet and educate legislators, so these elected officials can better advocate for the people they represent.

The series will be held inside Fighting Back Partnership’s training room, Vallejo City Hall, 555 Santa Clara St., 3rd floor.

To apply, contact Buggs at (925) 791-1965, mbuggs@ foodbabkccs.org or apply online at www.foodbankccs.org under How to help/Advocate/Speaker Series.