Posted: 3/10/05
Cheerios setting table for 11th annual Youth First Mayors' Prayer Breakfast
by
L.A. Jones
Union editor
There'll be a special but simple item on the menu at the 11th annual Mayors' Prayer Breakfast, at least for keynote speaker Greg Forbes Siegman.
Siegman, founder of the BrunchBunch.com mentoring program and the 11-10-02 Foundation both based out of Chicago, Ill., will be gulping down a bowl of Cheerios thanks to this year's host and organizer of the Andover Anoka Ramsey Youth First breakfast, Andover Mayor Mike Gamache.
Gamache and Siegman crossed electronic paths when the Chicago philanthropist -- named after legendary businessman Malcolm Forbes by his stockbroker father -- did one of his two small good deeds for the day and called up General Mills to let the company know how much he liked Cheerios.
"I've never even tasted another cereal in 30 years," he told Gamache, who happened to be on the other end of the telephone line for General Mills customer relations.
What evolved was small talk about their respective backgrounds and a very large invitation for Siegman to be the keynote speaker for the 11th annual Mayors' Prayer Breakfast Friday, March 18, 7:15 a.m., at Constance Free Evangelical Church, 16150 Crosstown Blvd., Andover.
Siegman, who was branded with high expectations by his father and didn't seem likely to fill them, according to a biographical sketch of the man on his website, was inspired growing up to create a list of 30 goals he hoped to achieve by the time he was 30 years old.
Along the way, his life got turned upside down, when, in part, "a series of racially charged events locally and nationally -- and a strategically placed poster of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- helped him develop a better understanding about what it Îreally' meant to be denied a constitutional right and spurred an even greater interest in concepts like tolerance, diversity and public service," according to the biography.
Siegman eventually founded BrunchBunch.com in March 1997 after inviting two young black youths to brunch at a diner where he and them received a look of racial stereotyping from one of the diner's customers, who moved her purse, he said.
He recalls telling them he would be coming back every week with a new group of African American youths. And BrunchBunch.com was created with the hope of bringing people together of different races, cultures and backgrounds over, of course, brunch and an activity like basketball or a visit to a local facility for seniors.
When the 11-10-02 Foundation was created in July 1998, it began overseeing the program. The 11-10-02 Foundation seeks to break down racial, cultural and social barriers while also providing grants and scholarships to students whose greatest qualities may not always be apparent on the surface, and to the schools they attend.
At midnight on Siegman's 30th birthday, he hooked up on the phone with a friend he had not talked to in probably 20 years, he said.
"Tell me what I missed," Siegman was asked.
So Siegman began to explain the first 30 years of his life, which were developed into a book by the two called the "The First Thirty."
But instead of being about the first 30 years of Siegman's life, the book, only 96 pages, turned out to be the first 30 lessons we all learn and need to learn in life, he said.
"The First Thirty" is geared toward middle and high school and college students and is based on many of the things Siegman learned from various mentors in his life, the greatest of whom was his grandmother and people you might least expect to learn something from and expect to teach instead.
"Most lessons you'll never learn unless you reach out beyond your comfort zones," he said.
The book, according to Siegman, is not "a story by any means to be like Mike or Greg," but in some instances how not to be like Mike or Greg.
It's 30 lessons based on both his successes and failures -- albeit those things he could have done better in his life.
The message he will be trying to covey to the Andover Anoka Ramsey Youth First Mayor's Prayer Breakfast is that everyone needs to become more engaged with each other to learn lessons from each other.
Siegman will also be making a stop at Oak View Middle School after the Mayors' Prayer Breakfast to interact with a sixth-grade class reading the book, "The First Thirty," donated by the Minnesota Vikings.
An essay contest will be open to all Minnesota students reading "The First Thirty," and the prizes awarded at the very least will include a Vikings football jersey.
Andover Anoka Ramsey Youth First, much like BrunchBunch.com and the 11-10-02 Foundation, is devoted to making a positive difference in the lives of young people. It is a partnership of residents, the business community, school district members and other government representatives within the three communities.
Tickets for the 11th annual Mayors' Prayer Breakfast are $15 and can be reserved by calling 763-576-5800. There is limited seating and tickets need to be reserved by March 11.
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