Recently on May 29th, our LCC International University community had an amazing opportunity to gather all together one more time during the exciting “Building Peace Summer Brunch and Dialogue event”. LCC’s Center for Dialogue and Conflict Transformation (‘Peace Center’) hosted a beautiful lunch that helped to unite multiple members of our diverse community: current students, faculty members, staff, and even alumni who graduated this past April 2022.

We started our event with the process of preparing crêpes (the French version of pancakes ) together and the various delicious toppings for them. The choice of food for a Peace and Dialogue lunch was an obvious connection to the mission and the crucial role of our center. In many cultures, this food option of crepes is directly related to the ideas of warmth, union, and friendships. Crêpes were not only an amazing lunch option with a great message, but also tasty!

Spending time and discussing as a community helped nurture ties within our community through mutual discovery of what people valued. After eating the food, everyone present engaged in a specially designed peacebuilding activity called “World Cafe”.  By sharing their ideas around critical questions such as “What does community mean to you?” a rich dialogue entailed. Participants ended up creating 5 unique posters with useful insights, suggestions, and reflective ideas about the future progress and development of  LCC’s “Peace Center” and how we might continue to live into our goal of nurturing a culture of peace that might transform relationships and equip our communities to be agents of change. Solomiia Melnyk, a Ukrainian student in Contemporary Communications, shared her experience about participating in the event, stating “The lunch reminded me how the community brings new ideas into your lives. Sometimes it can be something unexpected. Despite all our differences, we are similar!”