ONLINE EVENT

Join James Beard award-winning cookbook author Sarah Owens along with architect and designer Ron Rael, Alight Director of the Americas Annie Nolte-Henning, and Sister Lika as they take guests on a journey to Nogales, Mexico.

In an effort to radically transform a series of shelters along the border in response to the increased migrant population and deteriorating conditions while awaiting approval for asylum in the U.S., global humanitarian organization, Alight, in conjunction with various partners have joined together to establish community, sustainability and hope in a new program called A Little Piece of Home.

By supplying sustainable sources of food along with educational tools, A Little Piece of Home allows the migrants to participate in one of the most basic acts of human-beings, preparing and gathering for a meal. As migrants from all over travel to the shelter, they bring with them their own stories, cultures and of course, recipes.

SARAH OWENS
Sarah Owens (she/her/they) is a former ceramist, professional horticulturist, and celebrated James Beard award-winning cookbook author of Sourdough (Roost Books 2015) who specializes in fermentation and baking. Her writing seeks the intersection between the natural world and the most celebrated aspects of living. Sarah believes that food is a powerful medium for storytelling that can anchor a community in shared experiences and traditions. After working as the curator of roses at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and baking professionally for over a decade in Brooklyn and Queens, she now lives in Sonoma County California where she writes, bakes, and defends her small backyard garden from marauding deer.

RON REAL
Professor Ronald Rael is the Eva Li Memorial Chair in Architecture and Director of the Masters of Architecture program with a joint appointment in the Department of Architecture, in the College of Environmental Design.

He is a design activist, author, and thought leader within the topics of additive manufacturing, borderwall studies, and earthen architecture. The London Design Museum awarded his creative practice, Rael San Fratello, the Beazley Award in 2021 for the design of the year, one of the most prestigious awards in design internationally. In 2014 his practice was named an Emerging Voice by The Architectural League of New York—one of the most coveted awards in North American architecture. In 2016 Rael San Fratello was also awarded the Digital Practice Award of Excellence by the The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA).

Rael is the author of Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S.-Mexico Boundary, an illustrated biography and protest of the wall dividing the U.S. from Mexico featured in a recent TED talk by Rael, and Earth Architecture, a history of building with earth in the modern era to exemplify new, creative uses of the oldest building material on the planet. Emerging Objects, a company co-founded by Rael, is an independent, creatively driven, 3D Printing MAKE-tank specializing in innovations in 3D printing architecture, building components, environments and products. In addition, he co-founded the start-up wood technology company, FORUST, where he maintains a position as design and technology consultant.

Rael earned his Master of Architecture degree at Columbia University in the City of New York. His work has been published widely, including the New York Times, Wired, MARK, Domus, Metropolis Magazine, PRAXIS, Thresholds, Log, Public Art Review, and recognized by several institutions.

ANNIE NOLTE-HENNING

Annie Nolte-Henning, Director of Americas, Alight, is an experienced and versatile humanitarian project manager with a demonstrated history of co-creating and overseeing projects with substantial community involvement and critical humanitarian partnership building. With more than eight years of experience partnering with leaders and communities across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, she is a strong communicator, influencer and leader. Nolte-Henning oversees Alight’s expansion into the Americas and the start-up programs in El Salvador and Mexico. She

manages partnerships with Burners without Borders, Catholic Sisters, and everyday people who believe in providing radical hospitality at the border. Most recently, Annie managed Alight’s Global Sisters COVID-19 Response, supporting the work of over 1,000 Sisters and their communities in 36 countries. Leading ambitious fundraising strategies and program objectives, Annie stays centered by keeping Sister’s voices at the center of decision-making.

SISTER LIKA

Alma Angelica Macías Mejía hails from Tecalitlán, Jalisco, Mexico. Having dedicated her life to serving others through the Catholic Church, Sister Lika established Casa de la Misericordia where she helps to support more than 200 people of different nationalities in their journey north in search of a better life. Since she was young, Sister Lika has been influenced by the social conscience, spirit of service and self-improvement, learned from her parents. With a great sense of humor, she is sensitive to the needs of others and joy radiates in everything she does.

After leaving home to study at the University of Guadalajara, she then entered the religious congregation of Missionaries of the Eucharist, where she concluded her studies as a Social Worker and later earned a degree in Communication Sciences at the ITESO (Jesuit University) of Guadalajara and Theology in Mexico City. With missionary energy, she has engaged in youth ministry, catechesis, prison ministry, creating mission groups and listening with female prisoners, evangelization in different places in the Mexican Republic. She was part of the General Council of her congregation, coordinator of the educational area, general director of schools, from preschool to higher level (undergraduate). She was named President of the Federation of private schools in the State of Colima. In 2011 she felt the call to continue her missionary service apart from an official affiliation with the Catholic Church. She currently serves as the Director of La Casa de la Misericordia y Todas las Naciones, a shelter serving migrants on their journey.

ALIGHT

Alight exists to inspire and unleash the abundance in every person.

We’re becoming an organization that sees possibility instead of scarcity, that provides services truly worthy of human beings instead of just ‘good enough.’ From the people we serve to the people who serve alongside us, our purpose is to unlock limitless potential, together. That’s when abundance happens.

Alight sees and helps every person make meaningful change in the world – from displaced and marginalized communities in Africa, Asia and the Americas to…anyone, anywhere.