“If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Want to share the experience of listening to the Podcast in a more personal way? We invite you to host your own version of the podcast with your friends, family, and neighbors.
Shoebox Stories “Host Your Own” is an intimate story-holding project for 4-8 people. Invite members of your community to gather together and stand in another person’s shoes by reading aloud their story, saying their words and feeling the weight they carry.
A meaningful storytelling event for friends, families, book clubs, faith-based organizations, or other community-led groups to get to know people whose stories are underrepresented in the media.
These readings are best held in people’s homes around a meal, or in other semi-private quiet spaces where people can meet, discuss, and connect.
The first season of Shoebox Stories “Host Your Own” features the stories of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.:
Women of Resolution - Currently Available
Women of Resolution is the story of four Colorado women living in sanctuary: Araceli Velasquez, Ingrid Encalada Latorre, Rosa Sabido, and Sandra Lopez. These four women took sanctuary in churches and synagogues to prevent from being deported and separated from their families.
UndocuAmerica - Coming Soon (Current Podcast Season)
UndocuAmerica features the autobiographical stories of undocumented community leaders with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) status. Story themes include the threat of deportation; the injustice of being sent into exile from the country in which you were raised; border patrol; the current human and civil rights threats to immigrants; racial profiling. These powerful stories represent the pain, struggles, and resilience of so many undocumented Americans.
How to Host
Order or download your Shoebox Hosting Toolkit - Hard copy materials with 4 beautiful scripts, framed photos of the women featured in each story, instructions for group reading, and discussion questions. When you’re done with the reading, you can pass the Shoebox to the next host. The hard copy version is $50.00. To download is free.
Were you gifted a box? Register your reading event here!
Invite 3 - 7 friends over for dinner (See sample letter below)
Gather together, eat, drink, share these incredible stories and discuss!
After your reading fill out the Host or Participant Feedback Form below
Purchase Hosting Toolkit
Download Your Toolkit
Register a Reading
Resources for Hosts
Sample Letter to Invite Friends to Your Reading
Dear _______
Please join me at my home for a unique Shoebox Stories dinner and gathering where we get to know people with a different experience than our own by reading aloud their personal stories. The Shoebox Stories script we will read shares the stories of four women who are immigrants living in sanctuary.
Regardless of perspectives we each might have on immigration policy, this is an opportunity for us to learn about immigrants in this country through their stories. By reading these stories, we are not saying that we agree with the decisions and perspectives within them. We are simply agreeing to suspend judgment and learn how they see their choices. It is an act of civic courage and empathy to bravely see the world, for a moment, through another's eyes and discover what is gleaned from that vision.
I am excited to go on this adventure to meet some distant neighbors through their stories, as well as get to know more about you and your story. I hope you can join me.
Yours,
_________
Feedback
Did you participate in a reading? If so, please fill out this form to share your feedback.