In March 2026, the Interfaith Story Circle of Dunedin, Florida (IFSC-D) will celebrate its fourth year. The IFSC-D came about as an outgrowth of Dunedin’s Interfaith Walk of Peace because people expressed interest in meeting more often. Ourinterfaith story circle was originally inspired by the work of Marni Gillard and other storytellers in upstate New York. Katie Green and Marni were both storytellers who were active in the League for New England Storytelling (LANES) and its continuation as Northeast Storytelling (NEST). We are grateful for the encouragement and support offered by Gert Johnson and the Interfaith Story Network.
Dunedin is located on the Gulf Coast of Florida, north of Clearwater and across the bay from Tampa. We meet in person seven times a year because many of our participants are “snowbirds” who go north during the humid summer heat. We have a sSteering Committee that meets regularly to evaluate our program and discuss possible improvements. We continue to reach out to all local religious and community organizations, and have had participants from twelve houses of worship and two community organizations.
Each month a different spiritual community, with support from the IFSC-D Steering Committee, hosts the story circle, chooses the theme and one of the two featured storytellers. Following the featured storytellers, participants are invited to share their own stories in small groups of 5 to 7 people.
IFSC-D gatherings have provided a unique opportunity for cultural exchange and spiritual growth. Attendees come together to form new friendships and strengthen existing connections. The stories shared and the knowledge exchanged are treasures that are carried forward long after the evenings have ended.
Many of us belong to organized religions and some of us identify as spiritual beings who are unaffiliated. As we continue to meet and trust increases, we plan to present themes that encourage stories about cultural challenges and ways of maintaining hope for a peaceful future. Difficult dialogues will be invited as we build a community where everyone’s voice is heard.
We are living in confusing times; it is easy to feel more separated from each other. Storytelling is an essential tool for maintaining relationships and understanding each other’s beliefs. The IFSC-D believes that people naturally care about each other and that everybody deeply wants to be heard and seen.
We, the Steering Committee of IFSC, believe that it is essential to be able to communicate with people who may not share our beliefs.
Here are some specific details about running our meetings. Included are links to one image, which will appear in a new window in your browser, and two documents, which will be downloaded to your Downloads folder when you click on the link.
Here are our Hosting Guidelines which we use to prepare for each meeting, each hosted by a different spiritual community. It details which organization is responsible for what.
For each meeting, a flyer is created and emailed to our previous attendees as well as area faith and community groups. Here is the Flyer for Our Holiday Gathering which had a different format than our regular meetings.
The Steering Committee serves as facilitators for the small groups. We have had several excellent sessions on facilitation skills – which cannot be taken for granted unless your group is comfortable having a discussion group rather than a story group!!!!
When people go into the small groups, we offer prompts (queries) on the theme for them to use if they wish.
Here is a document, four flyers per page, front and back – a Save the Date Handout for the next meeting. These are passed out (ideally) at each meeting so participants can plan ahead. We find that when people are aware of the theme ahead of time, the stories come easier.
From the Steering Committee of Interfaith Story Circle in Dunedin: Katie Green, Rose Frazier, Brenda Thomas, and Whittier Mikkelsen (See Katie’s and Whittier’s bios in Members )