Thank you for sending me to the Annual Training Seminar of the ICPC (International Conference of Police Chaplains)! The Kansas City Kansas Police Department and Wyandotte County Christian Church paid for my registration and travel expenses, but the folks right here on Buy Me a Coffee have paid for the table decorations and free merch and most importantly the table registration. Thank you so much!
I have been blessed that most of the conferences and conventions at which I had a table or a booth have been deeply discounted or completely free, sometimes as part of a deal if I would work the conference, or speak or teach a class or something. But I paid full price for a table at ICPC this year and you guys made that possible!
The table had just about the best possible location, facing the main entrance to the primary ballrooms and right along the path most people had to take to go to classes. I had enough candy to fill my large candy jar 3 times over and that got wiped out. The most popular candy was Day 2's tootsie rolls and Werther's hard caramels -- that supply was wiped out by early afternoon. I gave away about a thousand stickers, coasters, and magnets and met hundreds of people, including some of you!
It's funny that the folks from Moldova wanted to buy my table decorations (I have no idea why) and the Ukrainians were fascinated by the concept of a police-centric podcast (even though I get downloads from Ukraine every week, so presumably someone there knows about me). The Haitians and Jamaicans had distinct preferences for my candy and I helped them dig through the jar on multiple occasions to find exactly what they were looking for. And probably half a dozen different people brought me gifts (books and challenge coins).
I'd very much like to go to ICPC next summer, but it's not clear at this point if I can make it work. But even if that doesn't happen, I want to thank you for making it possible in 2025. I believe this has really helped the podcast expand its reach across the world.
