Wes Moore greets a ballroom full of supporters on Election Night 2022

Awan Ater, Refugee Resettlement Case Manager with Della Lamb

Awan Ater is a Refugee Resettlement Case Manager for Della Lamb in Kansas City. When I met him I asked him his name, “My name is Awan Ater,” he answered. “Where are you from?” “I’m from Missouri. I am a US Citizen. I was born in South Sudan.” I met him when I was reporting on the relationship between US presidents and refugees in 2017. For that story Awan read this quote from Ronald Reagan. After reading it, he smiled.
”We in the United States, above all, must remember that lesson, for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free, and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief.”

20th Annual New Year's Shuffleboard Tournament KCMO

This group of men have been gathering in Kansas City bar The Quaff to play shuffleboard around New Year’s Eve every year for 20 years. They let me “crash” their hyper-competitive tournament.

Fast Food Union organizers and activists protest in Kansas City's Mill Creek Park

Skate Park activist Zach and Opie

Chris Van Hollen

Senator Chris Van Hollen addresses the crowd on election night 2022.

Syrna Refugees Abduli and his son, Ahmad

Supporters react to Wes Moore declared Governor Elect of Maryland

First Lady of Maryland, Dawn Moore, watches her husband speak on Election Night 2022

Don Jeronimo, Atitlan Guatemala

Don Jeronimo holds the Bible given to him by the late Fr. Stanley Rother. Beatified in 2017, Fr. Rother was the fist American Catholic declared a martyr for the Church.