• “Belonging Exchange Conversations EP.01**
• Welcome to “Belonging Exchange Conversations, a three episode limited edition podcast where Rev. Dr. Brad Miller hosts an engaging series of conversations from the Trifling Picnic, held on August 4, 2024, in Bloomington, Indiana. 
• This unique event marked the launch of the "Belonging Exchange," a new organization aimed at fostering community, mutual joy, and support through diverse, inclusive interactions. Join us as we delve into the insightful experiences and aspirations shared by those in attendance.
• ### Episode Highlights:
• 1. **The Genesis of Belonging Exchange:**
•  In conversation with Phil and Elaine Amerson, co-founders of the Belonging Exchange, we learn about the transition from the traditional Trifling Picnic to a more purpose-driven event. Initially a casual gathering, the picnic has grown into an intentional effort to create spaces where people from various backgrounds—civic, faith-based, and diverse racial and socioeconomic groups—can come together. Phil emphasized the mission to help individuals meet new people, music, and ideas, fostering a sense of community and mutual support.
• 2. **Building Bridges in Diverse Communities:**
•  Guests like Kerry Thomson, the Mayor of Bloomington, and Charlie Nelms, a local community advocate, highlighted the importance of bridging divides. They discussed how events like the Belonging Exchange can break down barriers, enabling open conversations across different spheres of society. By bringing together people from various ethnic, religious, and professional backgrounds, the event aimed to reduce societal divisiveness and nurture a connected, cohesive community.
• 3. **The Power of Deep Listening and Mutual Support:**
• Deamon Harges, a supporter of the foundation, emphasized the critical role of "deep listening" in building strong, integrated communities. He pointed out that by genuinely listening to each other, members of different groups can find common ground and better understand each other's perspectives and needs. This approach lays the foundation for sustainable, impactful community initiatives that go beyond superficial interactions, fostering genuine friendships and collaborative efforts.
• ### Music Interlude:
• Enjoy the soothing melodies of Vincent Matthew, who performed live at the picnic. His music served as a backdrop for the event, encapsulating the spirit of connection and belonging that the Belonging Exchange strives to promote.
• ### Join the Conversation:
• Stay tuned for the next episode, featuring more in-depth interviews and reflections from the Belonging Exchange. This three-part series aims to provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the vision and mission behind this inspiring initiative.
• For more information about the Belonging Exchange 
• visit https://belongingexchange.org/
• The “Belonging Exchange Conversations” is here to encourage everyone to embrace the spirit of belonging and to recognize the transformative power of coming together as a community. Tune into Episodes of 2 and 3 of “The Belonging Exchange Conversations” to be inspired and to learn how you can contribute to making a positive difference.

On August 4, 2024, at a park in Bloomington,

Indiana, there was an event happened. It was called the Trifling Picnic.

It's about the 11th year this event was held by Phil and Elaine

Emerson. But this was a special edition of the

Trifling Picnic, which was meant to draw together some of Phil and

Elaine's friends and colleagues and people they had interchange

with. It was called the Belonging Exchange, the creation

of a new organization designed to encourage

and cultivate a sense of community, of mutuality, of joy,

to start to provide resources and education in times of

celebration for congregations and local communities and civic

organizations. An expression of this was events, festivals

such as the Trifling. Phil and Elaine created this

event as a part of their family foundation to give

back to people they know in their lives. I happen to be one of

those people. My name is Reverend Doctor Brad Miller. Phil

asked me to do some podcast interviews as a part of the Trifling

picnic, the launch of the Belonging exchange. And that's what you have

before you right now. It's a number of interviews and

conversations that took place at the picnic, interspersed with some music

from the event, just to give you a flavor of the conversations

that took place there purpose and the vision of the

belonging exchange. There is some extraneous noise because it was in

a picnic setting. I ask you to be mindful of that. This

is part of a short term podcast of

three episodes. Let's begin by hearing from the founders

of the Trifling Picnic and the belonging exchange, Phil

and then Elaine Amerson.

All right, I'm talking to Phil from the belonging exchange. Phil,

what is this belonging exchange thing all about? Why are we

here? And what. What's this all about moving forward?

Well, for ten years, up to this year, we had a little

picnic, and it's grown every year. We call it the trifling picnic.

Just trifling means just time to play. And

our family developed a family foundation called the Belonging

exchange. So in year eleven, we're

transitioning from the trifling picnic to the belonging exchange

picnic. Belonging exchange is about helping

people meet new people. Okay.

And helping music meet new music. There you go.

And helping friends discover

a new friend and a stranger. So we're expecting about

190 people today,

just a few of our friends here.

I don't know a lot of the people, and that's great. And so everyone's going

to be encouraged to learn to laugh,

to engage, and to meet at least two people they

didn't know before they came. So this is kind of a cross section of the

community people from civic groups, faith

based groups, others who have been invited to be part of this. Right.

So this started really as a group

of Methodists, United Methodist folks, and

slowly it's expanded. And the mayor

of Bloomington will be here, Kerry Thompson, a lot of other

pastors and faith leaders, but

we're hoping to have a good number of african american folks

and hispanic folks,

of course, anglo folks, and just

build bridges of relationship. Awesome. Awesome.

And now, so that's what's happening here today.

What's the impact, what's the vision moving forward for this?

Well, we don't know all the ways it'll move forward, but one

of the ways is we're thinking about hosting retreats

where we might have, for instance, pastors and mayors of

small towns come together for a couple of days just to get

to know one another and learn to work together. And one of the dreams

is to do that sometime in the next year,

maybe primarily in southern Indiana at that point, perhaps at New

Harmony Inn. Alright, go. Awesome. Well, and the

encouragement is for people to come together and to help

build on what's happening here, right? That's right.

Thanks, Brad. Thank you, Bill. But we

realized we needed to make a little

more concerted effort to involve more people and to

make it known what it was about. So the belonging

exchange is our family foundation that focuses on bringing

people together to understand one another, to live in

community, be that right next door or a

ways away. And that's the focus now, get people to know one

another they don't know. Hopefully they'll make some new friends today. So that's part of

what today is about, to bring people together who may not have had

connections otherwise to either your personal connections or groups you're a

part of. And so what are kind of your hopes or vision moving forward then,

for how this event today might lead to something

else? Well, we're encouraging people to get to know

and connect and take, you know, information so they can stay connected

and then perhaps something will come of that down the

road. We're open to whatever. Yeah. So it seems to me that also

there's a part of this is kind of intentionally connecting, like faith based groups

and civic minded groups and coming together for the, for the greater

good. Is that. Exactly. Is that a part of the vision here? Exactly. We're not

political at all, but we are saying that a

person has to be connected in the community with people who are there and,

and leading and guiding and have some say in it. So we hope

we'll bring them all together. Some investment in helping things to get get

better. Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's why getting to

know people who are different from you, you find out what's important to them

and what needs to change for them for things to get better. Awesome. Well,

share one more time your name and where you're from. Elaine Emerson, Bloomington,

Indiana.

My name's Brynn Walker. I'm a Hoosier. I'm from

Indianapolis. I just moved to Bloomington

because Kevin, my partner, is starting a PhD

here in the fall, and I just started

working on the congressional race. And

could I ask for clarification on your last question? What do you mean,

kind of? What brings you here, really? Why are you here at this

event today? I'm here to make friends as

I move to Bloomington and connect with people.

And it's been really fun so far. I love the instruments

to make friends and meet people in this organization.

This new organization is designed to

bring people together from kind of different backgrounds,

civic groups, faith based groups, political

groups. What's the value of that, do you think, in terms

of kind of raising the greater good, bringing different groups together? Well,

there's a lot of polarization today, but we really

have a lot more in common than we have difference

in a part. So it's great that that's what this organization is going to try

to do. Bring people together, break down the differences.

Good. Do you have anything to ask? Let me talk to you for a second.

Tell me your name, where you're from, and kind of what brings you here today.

I'm Kevin Chop and I'm from New York City,

born and raised. Not a hoosier. Yeah,

he's still learning to drive. Ok. I don't have

a license, so she drives me around. Very

good. I'm here to study philosophy, Bloomington, and.

Yeah, also get to know the community and

make friends and connect. As one former philosophy

of religion major to a philosophy student, let me ask you,

what kind of philosophically, if you allow me to do

that, what do you think is the value, then

of bringing people together who have different mindsets, different philosophies

about life, how to do life, community stuff, politics,

what have you. What's the value of that in terms of bringing people together? What

do you think? Well, we

have to think, and we have to think critically,

and people who have differing opinions around

us are the only ones who can actually help us do that.

So, yeah, it's essential.

Yeah. And that's awesome. I also trying to do some

philosophy of religion. I know the religion department is

connected to the philosophy department at. IU so I'm

excited to maybe wander over there as

well. I'm a buddhist, so.

Yeah, I work a lot on Buddhism as well. And.

Yeah, so there's some value of the

diversity of different groups coming together,

religious even, to be a part of something that hopefully will raise the

greater good. Yeah. Well, tell us one more time your name

and where you're from. Cavan Chada and

from New York City. One more time, your name and where

you're from. We're in Walker and I'm from Indianapolis.

I'm Kerry Thompson. I am the mayor in the city of Bloomington. I've

known Bill and Elaine a long time and I've

been here in Bloomington since 1997. I grew up

in northern Virginia outside of DC. Love coming

to these gatherings because there's always a

wonderful curation of many people. And

Phil and Elaine have such a great way of bringing us all together

for a social event that really turns into something more. Well,

as the mayor, you have obviously an interest in civic

things that are for the greater good. What do you think is the value of

bringing together folks from various backgrounds, faith based groups, business

related groups, civic groups, education, higher education,

what have you. What's the value of bringing people together in one place in

order at least to have some exchange of ideas and thoughts? That's what

community is made of. And you know, too often

today we really segment ourselves off and we have to have

a faith based discussion about this and we have a business discussion about

this. That's not really how our community works. Our community

is made up of all of the people all of the time.

And so in these now somewhat unique

situations where we can bring many facets of our community

together, it's really impactful to those of

us who get to experience it. And you think of vision moving forward,

how events such as this exchange of ideas might lead

to whatever it might be, programs, events,

educational type things that can kind of put some sort of

a framework or format on helping these things to happen moving forward. At least this

gives that a possibility. I think so. I think,

you know, these kinds of gatherings kinda can source energy from people

and what they, what they have enthusiasm about. And when

channeled, well, I think it can have a bigger impact. Awesome. Awesome.

So thanks for being a part of the belonging exchange and exchanging your

thoughts and ideas moving forward. And thank you for being here. Tell us one more

time your name, what you're part of and

where you're from. I'm Carrie Thompson. I live here in Bloomington,

Indiana, and I'm the mayor of the city of Bloomington.

My name is Charlie Nelms, and I live here in Bloomington,

Indiana. And I happen to know Phil and Elaine,

and I was invited, and it's a

wonderful opportunity to see people I haven't

seen for a while, as well as meet new people. Meeting new people

seems to be a role, important aspect of what this is about. People from

various backgrounds. Sure, sure. Faith based backgrounds,

civic groups, public services,

ethnic backgrounds, all kinds of things. What do you think is the value of bringing

people together for different backgrounds to try to, I don't know, put it.

Put a positive spin on what can be addressing

public good. So I think the most important thing is this, is that the more

we know each other, the better we know each other, the

greater the likelihood that we'll be able to decrease the divide

between people because there's so much divisiveness. And so

I just think it's a fun time to get together with people and reduce

that divide between people. Awesome.

To bridge that divide. And this is one of the ways to do that, right?

Absolutely. One of the ways to do that. And hopefully people will continue to do

it on their own beyond the trifling picket. Awesome. Well, thanks for being

here. Tell us one more time your name and where you're from and what brings

you here. My name is Charlie Nows. I live here in Bloomington, Indiana,

and I know and appreciate very much the good work of

field and Elaine.

So my name is Diamond Alecarges. I'm originally from

South Bend, Indiana, but I'm living in Indianapolis, and

I'm here to support my friend Phil and the inauguration of

this foundation. Yeah. So the name

of this is belonging exchange, and this is the trifling

picnic, kind of to help get this endeavor

underway. Do you have any thoughts on

this, what the purpose and what the meaningfulness of this event is?

I know you came here to support filling in lane, but you have an idea

of what this is all about, what impact it might be able to make?

Well, I don't know about impact I might be able to make,

but this is about friendship and belonging is

all about people striving to be friends and

lifting up love and philanthropy, you

know, and community. So what do you think? Are some of the important points

about kind of that community that you mentioned there? Kind of. For instance, the kind

of the intersection, faith based groups and civic

minded groups. How can those two groups and others come together

to kind of raise the. Raise the greater good? Well,

I think the first thing what's going to happen to the day is people are

going to do a lot of listening, and I think that's the

groups need to figure out how do we strengthen the muscles

of deep listening. To our neighbors and

deep listening to something that I understand that you have

some background in it and some interest in it, right? Yeah, I have a little

bit. Very good. Very good.

You see how those. How do those things maybe help

serve a greater vision moving forward to improve community? You think some of these things

can come together, this deep listening and bringing people together such as this, can that

be helpful? It can be if the intention for

folks to be together, you know, integrated

in community like as one, not segregated. Right.

So if people's intention, and I think people are here to learn,

how might we integrate our gifts, talents and

dreams? Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing. Tell us one more time your name and where

you're from. All right. Diamond harges. I'm living in

Indianapolis, Indiana. Originally from South Bend, Indiana.

Yeah. My name is Doug, and I'm here in Bloomington. Bloomington,

Indiana. And I'm just here to support my husband,

who's here actually working the event and just getting to meet some

new people. Awesome. Awesome. The name of this event is

the belonging exchange. What do those words

mean to you in terms of your life or things that

you're interested in? Things that you belong to or maybe exchanging of ideas? I

don't. Tell me what you reflect about that terminology. I don't

know. For me, it just is like diversity and just different people coming together

and just being a sense of community and belonging. Right.

Just like I said, just, you know, different backgrounds, different

cultures, and just getting to meet and talk to each other.

Awesome. Awesome. This part of the purpose here has to do with bringing

people, civic groups, faith based groups, groups,

businesses, what have you together. Do you think there's some value in that

exchange of personalities, ideas, lifestyles, all kinds of

stuff in terms of generating something going forward that is

a benefit to the community. Associates, more about that, how that

might. Any thoughts about that? Yeah, no, absolutely. If you think

about the culture that we have now and the environment that we have in the

world today, that's really important. Awesome.

Awesome. Well, share with us one more time your name and where you're from. Yeah,

Doug, and I'm here in Bloomington.

My name is Tracy Yovanovitch, and I'm from Bloomington,

I guess originally. Well, originally Stillwater, Oklahoma, but I'm a blue marine,

so we moved back here about six years ago, and we're very good friends with

the Emersons. And what brings us here today is just community,

seeing other people talking to other people and just having

a good time. It seems like it's also, you said, what brings you

here today is community. But this is an intentional way to build community

among maybe some people who may not come together

otherwise. Tell me a little bit about the value of maybe building a community

based on, you know, diverse backgrounds, whether it be ethnically or

social thinking,

politics, business, faith based, anything along that line. What's the

value of bringing people together here? Oh, there's so many values. It's where to start.

First of all, you get different ideas. You're allowed to have healthy

conversations. It's constructive, should be,

anyway. But it allows you, you know, it

allows you to stretch your mind, it allows you to think differently

if you let it. And I think that's the key. And I know that this,

this is a safe, I know most of the people here, I know it's a

safe zone, and you can have open conversations.

And especially at this time right now, there are a lot of people hurting,

not just financially, not just economically, but socially

as well. And so I think the value of having, coming together in a community

like this is immense. I think it's so important you emphasize this is a

safe place to exchange. Right. The name of this event

is belonging exchange. So that's something good about that. Do you think in a

greater vision, maybe some other events or programs maybe

come out of these type of things that can, maybe whatever they be educational, otherwise

can be helpful to these type of things happening? You can always have

things grow out of other events. It's just what the participants

are willing to do with it. Sure. All right, well, thanks for sharing. Tell us

one more time your name and where you're from. Tracy Ivanovich. I'm from blue region.

Awesome.

And Jada, where are you from and what brings you here today? Indianapolis,

Indiana. I come with the learning tree. I'm with ZmI

and seeing our friend field. Awesome. Well,

learning tree, an organization all about educating people and

things like that. Do you think events like this, this thing called the belonging

exchange can be helpful to advance

education? Maybe even for those who may, that may not have been

a great opportunity. As for some others, I mean,

yes. I think the start right now will be bringing

people together, which we are seeing today. So, yeah, bringing people

together. Yeah, is awesome. Have you seen evidence of that in the

learning tree, how that organization has brought some people

together who may not have normally got together?

Yeah, pretty much. I've been doing it for, I've been

with them for a couple, couple years, but I've been part of them for a

long time, since I was like 1011 years old. 1011 years old. So,

yeah, I've always been around people, bringing people together,

connecting. That's what we do. Tell me a story about how you've seen

that people coming together who may have been apart in some form

or another, how that made a difference, how that made something new happen. That

was kind of cool. I can tell you a lot of great stories. I would

probably say what we do anyways,

we go around in our neighborhood and we figure out our neighbors gifts and talents,

and we pretty much bring people together.

And one of the great stories that I do, that I, that I know

is when we brought two neighbors together, one

was trying to basically get her home

remodeled, and another lady was just trying to open up her own

Airbnb cleaning services. So we've connected

them together and they have great friendships right

now. And they might not have come together other than through

your organization. Yeah. In that group. Well, tell us one more time

your name and where you're from. Jada Ford from Indian Union.

Thank you so much for joining us in this episode.

One of conversations from the belonging

exchange. This is episode number one

of three, and so we invite you to join

us in our next episode where we'll have more

conversations from the belonging exchange launch

event, the trifling picnic. It will include a

conversation with Vincent Matthew,

who provided the music for the belonging

exchange. It was the introductory song of this

episode. It was the bumper music which you heard

provided between each, each segment. And then

in a moment, you hear a closing song from Vincent. From Vincent Matthew.

So you want to, among many other interviews, listen to that in

episode number two and then stay with us for episode number three,

this short three part series of

podcast episodes to introduce you to the vision and mission

of the belonging exchange. We, we did want to

remind you that all the links to the belonging exchange and

to other pertinent things will be in our show notes. So we

invite you to check those out. So please join us next time here

on the belonging exchange conversations. Until next

time, this is Doctor Brad Miller speaking

for the creators of the belonging exchange, Phil

and Elaine Amperson, in the sure and perfect

knowledge that indeed we do all belong

together. To close this

episode, here's a song by Vincent

Matthew. I

put this wine

like the galaxies in time

if it's freezing the white

can be never leaving

like what seashores there are shells

by now

quenches every

so if

it's special, then with the

wire

just making sure you dress and smile

posing pictures aside,

keeping danger from our child

hold Jesus

every

life quenches

every.

So.

In this magic why can't

we make it everlasting

like the lifetime of the sun?

You will leave your heart undone

but there's.