This simple activity developed by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is an excellent exercise for visualizing the spending allocations of the federal budget and providing input into the decision making process. This exercise was used at the Island County Fair and an Earth Day event, both in Washington State, by the Whidbey Island Fellowship of Reconciliation chapter of which St. Augustine’s Episcopal Peace Fellowship (Freeland, Washington) is affiliated. St. Augustine’s EPF operated the booth during the Earth Day event and one day during the county fair.
Materials Needed:
Two thirty to thirty-six inch 2x4s with 8 holes of 1.5 inches drilled at equal intervals, a 36 inch1x6 board and 4 dowels. A plexiglass tube of 1.5 inches is then place in each hole. The 2x4s for a base and top (see photo). Label each of the tubes for a spending category – (1) military, (2) agriculture, (3) health care, (4) response to poverty, (5) government operations, (6) science energy and environment, (7)education and jobs, (8) diplomacy and needs abroad. Eight categories were chosen to match the AFSC graph.
How it works: Each participant will be given ten beans representing revenue. The participant will then allocate spending by placing their beans in the spending categories (labeled tubes). The participant does not have to place a bean in each category e.g. the 
participant could chose to place one bean for military, three for education, two for environment, two for healthcare and two for responses to poverty for a total of ten beans.
Goal of the exercise is to cause people to think. It also presents an excellent opportunity for dialog. Do not push or direct the participant. Let each person make his or her own decision. After the beans have been allocated present a printout of the actual Federal budget allocations.
In our unofficial polling military spending exercise the military spending allocation was 20% or less, but more important than an an informal poll was the opportunity to educate.
