Hey Ricsters!! My name is JaVonn Turner and I’m a member of the Growing Youth Project (GYP) in Alameda, California. I went to RIC in July and it was the best RIC that I’ve been to. I went there with the frame of mind that it was going to be the same old speeches and activities revolving around organic food, healthy living and community. Things that would just bore me and make me not participate, but I was wrong!!!!! RIC in North Carolina was great! I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot of things that I would have never even thought of if I hadn’t of went there. Things like solar oven making, relaxing your mind and body because of stress, learning how to play the drums or even learning that when you yawn, it’s not because your tired but that you’re not getting enough oxygen! This RIC was super fun. It taught me a lot about changing our communities and stepping up and becoming that voice that everyone needs to hear. RIC has become a major part in my life and it has inspired me to make a difference in our food system. It taught me that our food system needs to change and the youth of today need to be the ones who speak out about it. We all need to come together as a family and work for a better tomorrow! Just like in the 60’s and 70’s where people just like you and me stepped up for what they believed in and made a change-people like Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Ruby Bridges. I know now that change will not be given, it has to be taken and that is all thanks to RIC. I’m so excited about RIC and what it can and will do for this country. I can’t wait for the next conference in 2011 and I hope to see all of our Ricsters there!!

JaVonn Turner