The People's Crisis Film Screening


October 25, 2012 @7pm
$7 suggested donation (supports North Korean refugee work and work to shift perceptions of North Korea).
The real crisis in North Korea is not about its reclusive leaders or its nuclear weapons. It is about 24 million people living under the most ruthless system of political oppression ever assembled by humankind. The North Korean people have suffered through crippling poverty, humanitarian disasters, chronic food shortages and a denial of even the most basic freedoms.
This documentary offers a comprehensive overview of the North Korean people's crisis, feature interview with North Korean refugees who have escaped, their journey to freedom, expert analysis, and insight into some of the grassroots changes happening inside the country. 
Check out the trailer here.
This screening is part of The Shift Tour.
Transit/Parking - While we encourage the use of public transit (Red Line, #29, #62 and other buses are close), limited parking is available in the rear of the building on a first come first served basis.  Bring $3 for your spot.  No one will be in the lot to take it.  You can pay at the ticket check-in table.

Kids Music and Story Time UPDATE

With the weather getting colder and the park visits getting shorter, we thought we'd remind you about our Saturday morning kids activity.  It's FREE!

Join us Saturday morning at 11am for Spanish Music and Story Time for kids ages 1 and up.  Lango Chicago will present 2-3 short stories from around the world.  The stories will be read and presented in Spanish with a focus on pictures and animated delivery to help convey the meaning.  We will finish up with a sing-along to get kids engaged and using some of the Spanish vocabulary they just learned.

The Kids Story and Music Time will continue every 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month. 

We thought you'd like to know a little bit more about our music and story time leader Megan Marshall.  We asked her a few questions to get to know her a little better.  Here's what she had to say...

What is your connection to the Spanish language? I grew in a monolingual family within what was very much a bilingual community.  It used to infuriate us, but my mother was constantly pushing my sisters and I to speak Spanish with our neighbors, friends' parents etc.  All three of us are completely bilingual, at least in part thanks to her.  

Why do you like to teach young kids foreign languages?  Again, based on my experience as a child who wouldn't necessarily have been expected to become bilingual (I am sure my mother thought she would likely fail at making that happen for us) I did, largely due to early exposure.  It's amazing what kids pick up and most of it is not immediately noticeable.  Learning language is not about memorizing a bunch of vocabulary words; vocabulary is obviously a necessary component but the sounds and rhythm of language and even the being able to conceptualize the fact that there are different "codes" for communication is really important and most easily absorbed early in life. 

What do you hope is accomplished through the Kids Story and Music Time at Overflow? I think that classes and structured learning time are important components to language learning but I think that the richer and more integrated the language environment is the more likely children are to really absorb and connect with the language.  They need to have favorite songs, books, and people in Spanish.  It's a drop in the bucket but something I would like to see more of.  I want more low-key, easy ways to expose children to other languages.  It's something I wish for, for my daughter all the time. 

What's your favorite coffee drink?
egg nog latte

Tell us something interesting you'd like us to know about yourself.
In addition to speaking fluent Spanish, I am pretty proficient in Mandarin Chinese.   I lived in Southern China for a while almost 10 years ago and I still dream about the spicy food. 

October's Featured Nonprofit: South Loop Food Pantry

In August, we launched our new fair trade store in partnership with Ten Thousand Villages.  Each month, we're giving 5% of the gross sales to a different nonprofit.  Because of September's sales, we are able to give $32.02 to Chicago Fair Trade.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but with the film screening proceeds going to them as well, they are receiving $65.57.  That bigger than we were able to do in August so let's see if we can keep the trend going and beat that amount this month.  Here's who will be receiving October's 5%...


The South Loop Food Pantry at South Loop Community Church is a member agent of the Greater Chicago Food Depository.  They launched this year and are already serving 40 plus families per week at their Saturday distributions.

I (Amanda) used to volunteer at another food pantry on the north side. While volunteering there I learned that the families who depend on food from the pantry are especially in need at Thanksgiving.  The week before Thanksgiving, there were lots of families who showed up at the pantry needing food.  Partially, they wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving just like the rest of us but also their kids were out of school and they were losing a day of work, etc.  Several factors made it very important to get some food to put on their tables.

During the season from Thanksgiving through New Year's, there are lots of people and organizations that help those living in poverty in our communities but not very many before Thanksgiving.  We were thinking about this and decided that we should use our giving in October to be ready to help in November.  Thus, the 5% we're giving to the South Loop Food Pantry will go toward distributing extra food on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

If you'd like to help more than with your purchases from our Ten Thousand Villages store, please visit the food pantry's website for information.  You can also drop off non-perishable food items the next time you stop by Overflow for your cup of coffee or croissant.


This Month at Overflow!


October continues an already busy fall.  Click on the name of each item for more information.
Also, in our building but sponsored by other groups are the following...
If you'd like to help make the neighborhood a better place to live, consider volunteering at Alderman Fioretti's Clean and Green on Saturday, October 20.  

Don't forget the Chicago Marathon is Sunday, October 7.  Go out and cheer on the runners!  We'll open early at 7:30am so you can fuel up.  :)
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