You don’t have to travel the world to find someone worth understanding.
Chasing Community is an initiative under Chasing Cultures, and it is probably the one closest to my heart. It is the belief that you do not need a passport to find a cultural difference worth exploring. Sometimes the person sitting across from you at a diner, or standing in line at the grocery store, or raising their kids in the same town as you, they are the ones carrying a story you have never heard. And maybe, if we actually sat down
together, things would look a little different.
This program is dedicated to local community involvement. Not international. Not political. Just people, in the same town, learning how to actually hear each other.
A Community That Doesn’t Talk, Doesn’t Grow.
I have always believed that the people around you shape who you become. Not just the people you agree with, but the ones you don’t fully understand either. There is something that happens when you sit in the same room as someone who grew up differently, voted differently, believed differently and you choose to listen anyway. Something shifts.
The idea of democracy, at its core, was never meant to be people talking at each other. I was meant to be people talking with each other. Finding the compromise. Doing the hard work of actually understanding someone else’s reality before you decide what to do about your own. I think we have gotten a little far from that, and I think it starts at home. In our towns. At our tables.
That is what Chasing Community is trying to fix. Not the world. Not Washington. Just here. Just us.
What This Actually Looks Like
Chasing Community organizes real events; small, intentional, and built for the people who live right here. Events where adults, students, neighbors, and strangers can come together without an agenda, without pressure, and without judgment.
We are based in Canandaigua, New York, and that is where we are starting. Small town. Big conversations. And eventually, if things go the way I hope they will, we bring this to more towns, more states, and maybe one day… more countries. Because I do not think the need to belong and be understood is an American thing. I think it is just a human thing.
For now, we are planting the seed here. And we are really proud of that.
What We Are Working On
We have two initiatives launching in 2026–2027. These are the first. They will not be the last.
A Saturday morning for people who are willing to listen.
The Open Table is a ticketed community breakfast event — cozy, small, and completely judgment-free. This is not a debate. It is not political. It is a morning where people from completely different walks of life sit down together, have some coffee, and actually talk.
A doctor sees the world differently than a teacher. A business owner thinks differently than a single parent. None of those perspectives are wrong; they are all real, and they all matter. The Open Table is the space where those perspectives get to meet.
We are running this as a pilot; small, invite-only, and intentional. If it goes well, we plan to host it quarterly. Not monthly. We want each one to feel worth showing up for.
COMING SOON – A PROGRAM FOR YOUNG VOICES
Because ten-year-olds have something to say, too.
Our second initiative is still in development, and I am really excited about it. It is a program designed specifically for kids — built around the idea that you are never too young to have a voice, and you are never too young to learn how to use it.
Through a facilitated networking-style event, children will get the chance to meet peers they might never have crossed paths with, practice communicating their ideas, and discover that being a leader has nothing to do with age. It has to do with showing up.
More details are coming soon. If you want to be involved; as a volunteer, a school partner, or a parent; please reach out.
This Is Only the Beginning.
Chasing Community is not a nonprofit yet. It is not a household name yet. But it is real, and it is growing, and every single event we host brings us one step closer to something that actually lasts.
The dream is big. I will be honest about that. I want to see this in more towns, more states, more countries. I want people everywhere to feel like they belong somewhere; not because everyone is the same, but because they were willing to understand each other
anyway.
But you have to start somewhere. And we are starting here.
We hope you will be a part of it.
Want to Be Involved?
Whether you want to come to an event, volunteer, partner with us, or just stay in the loop.
I genuinely want to hear from you.