Something happens sometimes when people meet the Bead People. They fall in love with the little guys. They start making more. They give them away. They take them places. And every once in a while someone comes to me and says, "I've been thinking..."

Those are some of my favorite conversations.

Over the years, people have taken The Bead People in all kinds of directions. A middle school class made 180 of them to give away at the end of the school year. One woman made 20 and tucked them into her luggage to take on a retreat in Italy. Groups have adapted The Wind of a Thousand Years into a stage play for children. Others have made and sold Bead People at craft shows, facilitated their own youth projects, or found completely new ways to bring them into their communities.

I love that.

You don't need to become an official "chapter" or wait for me to create a program that tells you what to do. If you fall in love with The Bead People and want to take the idea further, it is yours to explore. Make them. Sell them. Give them away. Build a project around them. Take them into schools or youth groups. Put on a play. Take twenty of them to Italy. Come up with something I haven't thought of yet.

There is only one thing we ask.

Every Bead Person travels with a copy of The Wind of a Thousand Years. The story is the heart of The Bead People. It carries the reason these little people exist in the first place—the invitation to look at our differences, think about belonging, and perhaps see one another a little differently.

So take the idea wherever you want to take it. Just keep the little people and their story together. Beyond that, The Bead People are in your hands. I'd love to see where you take them.

Bead People are meant to be made together. You don't need to be an artist, a jewelry maker, or an experienced group leader to host a gathering. You need a place to meet, enough supplies for the people coming, copies of The Wind of a Thousand Years for your project, and one or two people who have learned the simple process of putting a Bead Person together. Most gatherings have two parts. First, we gather around the bead tables and make our little people. Then we leave the tables, bring our Bead People and stories with us, and sit together in circle.

Decide how many people will participate. Order complete kits or order the books and create your own bead drive. Have a few adults, teachers, parents, or older students learn to make Bead People beforehand so there are helping hands at the tables.

There is something about sitting around a table making things together that makes conversation easier. A Bead People gathering can be an evening with friends, part of a women's group or retreat, or simply a reason to gather. Put on the coffee. Or the wine. Dump some beautiful beads on the table and see what happens.

For a larger event, plan ahead for enough books, beads, tools, and helpers. Several smaller bead tables usually work better than one enormous one. Make room for the story and the circle. Making the little people is fun, but the deeper purpose is what happens when we use them to begin talking to one another.

Yes, Bead People can be a birthday party. Have enough adults available to help younger children with the tools and make a few samples beforehand. Let everyone make a little person, read the story, gather in circle—and then, of course, there should probably be cake.

Bead People also make a wonderful family activity. All ages enjoy playing with the beads and watching their little people come to life. They're especially good for those rainy afternoons when everyone is looking for something to do together.

1. Decide how many people will participate. A few friends? A classroom? A church group? Fifty people at a conference? Your number will help you decide what you need.

2. Choose your supplies. Order complete kits for the size of your group, or order the books and gather the beads, wire, tools, jump rings, and finishing cords yourself. If you're doing it yourself, consider starting with a bead drive.

3. Learn how to make a Bead Person. Watch the how-to video and make a few yourself. For a larger gathering, recruit some helpers and teach them beforehand.

4. Set a date and gather your people. Allow enough time for both making and talking. Choosing the beads and creating the little people shouldn't feel rushed.

5. Make your Bead People. Gather around the tables and begin. People choose their beads, help one another, talk, laugh, change their minds, and eventually create a little person that is entirely their own. No two ever seem to come out quite alike.

6. Leave the tables and move into circle. When everyone has finished, bring your Bead People and copies of The Wind of a Thousand Years and gather together in circle.

7. Read the story. Read The Wind of a Thousand Years together. The story gives us a common place to begin and takes us from making something cute out of beads into the reason the Bead People exist.

8. Talk. I usually begin with questions such as: Who here has ever felt too big? Too small? Too different? Who has ever felt like they were the 'other' one—or like they just didn't quite fit in? From there we talk about difference, belonging, tolerance, acceptance, and learning to appreciate and celebrate the things that make us different.

9. Introduce your Bead People. Go around the circle. Each person introduces themselves and the Bead Person they have just made. Children often know much more about their little person than you might expect. Give them room to tell you. Listen. Sometimes, while they are telling us about their Bead Person, they are also telling us a little something about themselves.

10. Say the Bead People Manifesto together. Finish by saying the Bead People Manifesto aloud as a group. By now you have made something together, heard the story, talked about what it means to belong, and listened to one another. Then you speak the same words together.

11. Send them into the world. Some Bead People are kept. Some are traded. Some are given away. Some travel across town, across the country, or across the world. There isn't one right ending. That's part of the story too.