By Melissa Diamond

Today was one the most interesting days of the trip so far..and that is saying something! We not only visited the Food Bank of the Rockies to learn about hunger in America, but also met with Tom Mauser, father of Daniel, a victim of the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, to discuss gun control, and then met with Jim Pfaff, CEO of the Colorado Faith and Freedom Coalition, radio show host, and formerly with Focus on the Family, to discuss the Conservative perspective on issues such as same sex marriage, abortion, capitalism and global warming. We finished the educational part of the day with a wrap up discussion in the beautiful Garden of the Gods, an area of tall rock formations in Colorado Springs. We ended our day by going bowling.

At the food bank, they told us the alarming statistic that one in eight Americans is considered food insecure, and 42% of those are children. They answered all of our questions about hunger in America and the work that they do and also took us on a tour of their warehouse. At the end of our trip we are donating leftover food money to the Food Bank, as we learned that just $1 can provide 4 substantial meals. It was good to see where our donation was going to go.

Before our next meeting we had some time to play in the park. My favorite part of the day was our meeting with Tom Mauser. Our group was amazed by his strength and ability to talk about his son after the tragedy of Columbine. He even wore his son’s shoes when he spoke to us. After the tragedy at Columbine, Tom went on to be a gun control lobbyist in Colorado. At the evening wrap up, many shared that Mr. Mauser had swayed them to a pro-gun control stance. This will be tested by our meeting on Thursday with the National Rifle Association (NRA).

playing in a park before our meeting with Tom Mauser

Our final meeting of the day was with Jim Pfaff. While I disagreed with most of what he said regarding same sex marriage, abortion, climate change, and economics, it was impressive how he held his ground on every issue and answer every question we posed. The most impressive part of the whole experience though, was the discussions the erupted on the issues discussed by Mr. Pfaff as soon as we got on the bus after the meeting, which really reminded me why I am on this trip.

Climbing on the rock formation at Garden of the Gods
Bowling after a big day of meetings
bowling with Carlton our bus driver