The Interfaith Resource Center for Peace and Justice
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Hi Folks, I know that those of you who preach at Christmastime have undoubtedly written your holiday messages by now- but in the event you or someone you know doesn’t have a clue what to talk about, I’m taking the opportunity to share my Rosh Hashanah sermon with you in the hopes that it might influence some good hearted souls in the community to help a worthwhile program we’ve been hearing about, Dinners 4 Kids, which David Tevet of Ollies Restaurant has spearheaded (www.dinners4kids.org). I should have sent this out a while ago, but I completely forgot- lulled into the complacency that comes from watching everyone else scramble about in that frantic holiday spirit while relaxing knowing that your own holidays are behind you and that Chanukah doesn’t hold a candle (no pun intended) to the gifts/cooking/preparation etc of Christmas. In fact, aside from lighting the Menorah and spinning a dreidel, my schedule is relatively clear over the next few weeks. So if you have a way to share the message of this wonderful, grassroots, 100% efficient program to get a good dinner to kids in our area every night, it would be a great blessing. Donation information is on the www.dinners4kids.org website. I hope I haven’t taken up too much bandwidth by copying the sermon below, but if you can use any of it- feel free to do so with no appellation necessary. And please feel free to forward it or any part of it to anyone you think may benefit. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy Chanukah, Kwanzaa, and anything else you may be celebrating!
Larry Kaplan
Talk for Rosh Hashanah 2011 by Rabbi Larry Kaplan
One of the central prayers of the High Holiday service is the Unetaneh Tokef- a prayer that speaks of how God enters our names into the Book of Life. So the question we need to ask is how can we improving our odds for getting our names inscribed in the Book of Life? Surely we can improve those odds physically by taking better care of ourselves. We certainly know how much our society venerates good health choices, and we have advocates warning us about everything from fracking to fast food telling us to beware of the dangers of just about everything we come in contact with that’s not pure and organic. It reminds me of the Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner routine where Reiner is interviewing Brooks, a 2,000 year old man. “So what do you eat in order to stay alive so long?” “What do I eat? I eat natural things.” “What kind of natural things?” “Natural things- you know- clouds, rocks, trees…” What does the Unetaneh Tokef tell us about improving our odds in the book of life? UT’SHUVAH UTFILAH UTZDAKAH MA’ARVIRIN ET RO’A HAGZEIRAH- Repentance, Prayer, and Acts of kindness can avert the severity of the decree- in other words, Repentance, Prayer, and Acts of Kindness can improve our odds in the Book of Life. Interesting- not a word about nature, health, physical fitness, low fats, low carbs, exercise, diet- not one word about any of the things that are on the top of our lists for staying alive. Only three things that most of us tend to ignore much of the year. I mean, we may be sure to have an exercise regimen every day, but we don’t exactly have a repentance regimen. And we’ll make sure to watch our intake of saturated fats, but we seldom pay as much attention to praying. And acts of kindness hardly match the fervor we apply to avoiding carcinogens. Who knows? Maybe such acts, maybe such tzedakah, does affect our health. Maybe doing a little of each of these three religious acts may improve our odds in the Book of Life. Or maybe not. We’ve said goodbye recently to many good people. Many of them have done great kindness during their lives, and many have been wonderfully generous with Tzedakah. Some lived long lives, and others were taken from us very young. Perhaps improving the odds for being in the Book of Life isn’t just about length of years, but rather is about quality of years. How much goodness can we pack into the years we have? Is a short life filled with TESHUVA, TEFILLAH, UTZDAKAH, genuine remorse for mistakes we’ve made, prayerful contemplation about how we can become better people, and acts of kindness and generosity- is that better than a long life filled with good health, but relatively little goodness and kindness? If we were given the choice- a short life of goodness and generosity, or a long life of mediocrity of character and concern only with self, which would you choose? I don’t think it has to be a choice. But I do think we need to work at least as hard on our goodness as we do on our good health. And goodness shows up not in good thoughts or good feelings, or even in righteous indignation about all kinds of social ills in the world. It’s measured by the things we actually do. And we all, from the meek to the assertive, from the wealthy to the poor, from the famous to the commoner, we all have the ability to do amazing good. To be honest, to be really honest, when it comes to doing good- most of us fall into the category of mediocre. I think that’s a slightly better way of saying we’re tolerable. Remember back in the olden days, when student report cards had letter grades that went from A to F? That was before we had N’s and S’s- Needs Improvement or Satisfactory. What on earth does that mean? Did my child do well or poorly? But an F was a wonderful grade. It was so clear and concise. You knew exactly what it meant. You failed. You flunked. You knew where you stood. With an N- you’re wondering, how much improvement does she need? A little, a lot? But then there was grade inflation. Kids got A’s and B’s really for just doing the work that was assigned. Then what is a C supposed to be? C used to mean average. So if you simply did your work with no extra effort, shouldn’t you just get a C? And if you make extra effort you get a B and if you really excel beyond all expectations, then you get an A? I’m guilty of grade inflation. At Kings or Misericordia I teach Bible or World Religions. They are mandatory courses everyone needs to take, and I’ve never actually had a religion major in one of my classes- it’s all physical therapy or sports medicine and things like that. It’s the last place most of these kids want to be. So I certainly don’t want to make life difficult for them, especially because I don’t want their only view of a Jewish authority figure to be a negative one. So you pretty much need to miss almost every class and forget to turn in your final in order to get a bad grade, and then it’s only a B. Otherwise you get an A. So I know about grade inflation. But we suffer from goodness inflation. We think very highly of ourselves. Ask yourself: How many of us believe we’re good people? Why? What do we do that’s so good? Well, we don’t cheat, we don’t steal, we don’t murder. That doesn’t mean we’re good- it just means we’re not bad. Being good means doing good. Without doing good, and assuming we don’t do bad, we’re really just mediocre. We’re tolerable. We get a C in goodness. So if we want to improve our odds in the Book of Life, we need to actually do good things. And many of us do. There’s a lot of volunteering that goes on in this town and our members are at the top of the list. Then again, much of that volunteering was tougher to do when we were raising kids and got easier to do after they were grown or after we retired. But all of us could probably do more. Honestly, couldn’t we all give more to Tzedakah than we currently do without hurting our standard of living? Remember, we’re not bad because we don’t give more- we just have room for improvement- and isn’t that what today is all about? As the doctor who constantly gets on my case to lose more weight has put it: It’s all about improving our odds for that Book of Life. I wonder what kind of grades God would give us on our report cards. I’ll bet we’d all get N’s- needs improvement. Two days ago our family met in children’s court as we officially adopted our son Jacob Noah who will be four next month. We picked him up from the neonatal intensive care unit in Danville almost four years ago- he was tiny. He fit into my hand. He was born three months premature when his mom’s boyfriend pushed her down the stairs. He was with us for about a year and a half, then was reunited with his mom for a while, who had too many issues in her life, and ultimately he was back with us for the duration. His mom was very courageous when she made the decision to allow us to adopt her son. It was an incredible mitzvah that she did. So Jacob joins Ashley and Saraea as the newest Kaplans, and they were all just foster kids to start with, with no idea on their part or on ours that we’d ever be officially family. Most of the 70 foster kids that have come and gone from our home we’ll never hear from again. Some of them we still have a relationship with. In many ways our participation in their lives was just a brief respite from uncertainty, a brief time to have fun with other kids in a safe home that always was stocked with food and plenty of school supplies. About a month ago the doorbell rang in the early evening. One of the girls answered it and from inside someone asked who’s at the door? And the answer was- a tall black kid. Well, it was an accurate description. Whoever answered the door didn’t recognize Malcolm, who had grown much taller than when he and his siblings were with us for some months many years ago when their mom was having difficulty and they needed to be relocated for a while. They were spending the summer with their aunt, who lives in the apartments up on Coal street. Malcolm had gotten into a disagreement with his aunt’s boyfriend, and he walked, from her apartment to our home in Kingston. It was good to see him- we had missed his smile and his gentle way. He told us things were doing pretty well in New Jersey where his mom had gotten a job, and that things would be ok at his aunt’s house for the remainder of the month’s visit. But he remembered where we lived, and hesitated before ringing the bell since the house was no longer the very blue house he remembered. But it was the same inside, still with a lot of kids, still ready to feed him. I tell you this story not to suggest for a moment that we’re doing anything better than C work on God’s goodness scale, maybe a C+. We’ve got all kinds of reasons that we’re not even at B level. There’s a lot better parenting out there, and I’ve seen it in our community and in families in our congregation. There’s a lot more reading with kids and trips to the playground and a lot less TV and video games in other homes where there deserve to be much higher grades for goodness. We’ve gotten all kinds of awards and citations, and they are lovely, but we’ve accepted them only to try to share the wealth with others, and to show that it doesn’t really take that much effort to do good. Even C+ good. We may not have improved our odds any for that book of life, but we do benefit from the blessing of getting that occasional knock at our door from someone we’ve been able to help. So I want to leave you with a plan. I want you to raise your grade. And you can do it by simply finding out where help is needed, even before being asked. I’ve got a local idea of where you could help. You’ve heard about David Tevet, owner of Ollie’s restaurant. He’s definitely pushing toward an A. In fact, he’s a real teacher’s pet. He knew that lots of kids were getting school breakfast and school lunch but wondered what they were eating for dinner. So he made some calls and discovered that a lot of kids go home after school and eat nothing until breakfast the next day at school. And others eat Doritos for dinner. These are kids with working single moms that can’t swing making dinner or leave things up to the older siblings, who may only be nine or ten years old. Or they are in the care of a grandparent who is dealing with health problems or is overwhelmed by having to raise another generation of children. So David talked to Joe DeVizia, director of human services for Luzerne County, and came up with a plan. David would order extra food from his suppliers at the restaurant, and would make extra turkeys and cook extra lasagnas and volunteers from Joe’s church would come in and they would put single servings of nutritious dinners into microwavable containers and other volunteers would deliver the meals to the homes of 20 kids that Children and Youth identified with the local school districts as needing the help. The twenty kids quickly grew to forty, and the volunteer pool grew and David met with each family to show them how easy it will be to reheat the dinners. They are packaged and delivered three days a week, two at a time- one for that evening and one goes in the refrigerator for the next evening. Teachers have called to say there has been a marked difference in the children in school- they are more focused and their grades are improving. The single moms, the grandparents raising grandchildren have only wonderful things to say about the program, and the kids are usually waiting outside for the volunteers- one who drives and the other who brings up the dinners so they don’t need to worry about finding a place to park. Government sponsored programs like school lunches cost close to $3.00 or more each to provide from our tax dollars. With little overhead, since his restaurant staff is already cooking, David can do his meals, including the cost of the containers, for $1.70 each. He once figured out that if he could do the entire country’s school lunch program he could save the United States $25 billion! The problem is, there are many more kids who would benefit from the program, and David is already starting to prepare for a total of 60 kids. $1.70 times 6 days times 52 weeks comes to about $530 per child per year. Some of you have already helped financially to support this great program- we’ve actually raised a few thousand dollars just from Temple Israel. The Shovals made a matching grant and some companies have been generous too. We’re looking into other grants, and CEO, the Commission on Economic Opportunity is the non-profit organization that handles the official paperwork. The board of community minded folks that has been meeting at Temple Israel each month to come up with fundraising strategies has talked of possible government grants. You know what I’d like to see? I’d like to see 60 families in our community underwrite the cost of a single child’s dinners for a year. We’re not talking about sending your dollars to CARE somewhere in Africa- which is a great Mitzvah as well. We’re talking about sending $1.70 to pay for a nice, balanced meal each evening right here in Larksville and Edwardsville and Plymouth. I’ve already approached some folks who might have some extra time to be part of the volunteers who package and deliver the meals. But either way- if you make a donation of any amount, or if you can sponsor a child and think you might be able to do so on a yearly basis, let me know. Or send your check to CEO and mark Dinners for Kids on it. Look- it’s an easy A. And with this act of kindness, there’s no grade inflation. It’s a sure fire way to improve your odds in the Book of Life.
Contact: Sandra Opshinsky Phone: (570) 430-7479 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 15, 2011 THE CITY OF SCRANTON AND REGIONAL HOSPITAL ARE TURNING ON THE LIGHTS!! SCRANTON, PA _ Regional Hospital of Scranton employees, Desiree Danei, daughter, Maygan LoRusso and grandson, Christopher Strenkoski, age five, all of Scranton, will flip the switch on this very popular holiday event that will be open every day (weather permitting) from 5:00 to 9:00 PM from November 25 through January 7, 2012. The Regional Hospital Holiday Light Show at Nay Aug Park will open starting Friday, November 25, 2011 at 5:00 PM. The entrance is at the top of Mulberry Street and winds through the park, showcasing over 100 displays, and exits the park near Olive St. Hot chocolate will be available for sale. This year the Holiday Light Spectacular is being presented to the community by our partner, Regional Hospital of Scranton.
This event is open to the public and is offered at no cost, however, donations are appreciated. For more information, please call 570-348-4186. -End-
Subject: Mountain Biking near the Lehigh
Dear Grandparents, parents and children (age 10 and older)……
Forget about golf, tennis, swimming and all the rest of summer time fun…….bike riding season is upon us !! No more 90 degree days, just beautiful late summer, early fall riding down the Lehigh. To make it easy we have reserved October 15. Meet at Whitewater Challengers, 288 North Stagecoach Road, Weatherly, PA. 18255 at 9:30am. Pack your lunch or eat at their canteen. All you have to do is send a check for $15.00 for the shuttle if you have your own bike and $25.00 if you need to rent a bike. Send your check payable to Whitewater Challengers, P.O. Box 8, White Haven, PA 18661 and please mark on your check “ Generation to Generation” and send it today. Should you need to call them their number is 570 443 9532 or 800-443-8554 or Fax: 570 443 9727.
This trip is from White Haven to Jim Thorpe and will take you on rail-trail mountain biking at its very best. This trip includes bike, helmet and bottled water. It is 20 plus miles through the most spectacular wilderness scenery better known as the Switzerland of America! As their website puts it you will enjoy the beauty, serenity and convenience of the incomparable Lehigh Gorge trail as it winds its way through the Lehigh Gorge State Park while you view whitewater rafting and kayaking classes in the river. Last year two riders spotted bald Eagles and several chipmunks….luckily no one spotted a bear!! It’s easy, delightfully fun, relaxing and features a groomed 2% downhill grade for the entire trip.
For directions and further information visit their website, http://www.WhitewaterChallengers.com . They caution against relying on GPS or Internet mapping services because they sometimes provide faulty information. Precise and accurate driving directions are available on their web site. Go to their website, click on “Lehigh River”, then click on “Driving Directions”. From Interstate 80, Exit 273, you’ll want to go west on Rt. 940for ½ mile; then turn left onto Lehigh Gorge Drive; go 4.8 miles; then turn right onto Buck Mountain Road; go 1 mile; then turn right onto North Stage Coach Road; go 300 yards to their entrance on the right.
See you then……rain or shine !!
Bill Runner
PS. Please forward this to others that you think might be interested in joining us !! Another bike ride……seems like some folks I ski with want to ride the entire trail, so we have reserved October 15 for a ride from White Haven to Jim Thorpe. This will give some of you the opportunity to view the canals and the town of Tannery and learn about the main industry that kept this town alive years ago. Fun, exercise and a history lesson and let’s not forget the fact that this date should be the best leaf viewing of the early fall season.
See you on the 15th !!
Bill
Award-Winning Film Directors, Tanya Hamilton (Sept. 21) and Octavio Warnock – Graham (Sept. 28) will highlight our series by speaking at King’s College.
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Hi, Please know that Pax Christi of NEPA will meet on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 7 PM in the Guild (Third Floor). The principal item on our agenda will be to plan for the future. PC USA and other groups regularly share information and announcements, which we pass along. Our guess is that traffic - and the actions, letters to the editor, and OpEds that are requested - will continue. On the nineteenth, we need to summarize our finances. We have not yet received the $1000 bond we posted a while ago, but we expect it soon. At any rate, we have no money problems. We need to discuss how to expand our membership. We need to finalize plans for a forum on the Lackawanna County Prison that we will sponsor the evening of October 26 (other details yet to be arranged). We invited the four candidates for Lackawanna County Commissioner to discuss topics related to the prison. We need to finalize plans to host a visitor from PA ACLU who has completed research on medical care of pregnant inmates provided by the state's county prisons. We need to wonder how we can support the activities of other groups, such as those planning a play on the life of Fr. John Curran and prison ministers. We need to begin a discussion of co-sponsoring a forum on "restorative justice" which might be held this spring at the University of Scranton. In case you are working on some of the projects that follow, please know that we have had no response from the ROTC Program at the University of Scranton (on requiring a course on Catholic teachings) and we have not yet seen the report developed by the diocese on prison ministry. Plus, our several requests for updated protocols (on the medical care of pregnant inmates at the LCP) have not so far produced any results. Many of you want to do something about SOA, but locally. And we have another play on the life of Blessed Franz to consider. If you have other items for the agenda, please let me know. Please remember that we operate in three tiers. We'd love everyone to come to the meetings and events (Tier I), but know that is impossible in this busy world. Some may support some of our projects (Tier II). Yet others will help us with prayers (Tier III). All three are necessary. If you can make the meeting on the nineteenth, please let me know. Peace. Joe Rogan President PCNEPA
(click below for Student Art at the Everhart program)
The Everhart Museum is planning another Student Art at the Everhart exhibit for Winter/Spring 2012, in conjunction with the Everhart Museum’s presentation of the exhibition, Posing Beauty in African American Culture that explores the representation of African and African-American beauty through photographic portraits by artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. If you’d like more detail on this thought-provoking exhibition, it was on view at NYU and posted here: http://www.tisch.nyu.edu/object/PosingBeauty.html
In conjunction with the Geisinger Ethics Committee, the Ethics Institute of Northeastern Pennsylvania is offering a program titled Ethical Issues in Healthcare: Bridging the Cultural Divide on October 5 at Luzerne County Community College. Continuing Education Credits in Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy are available for program participants.
As a member of the Board of Directors of the Ethics Institute, I encourage you to consider attending the program and to urge your students to do the same. Though the link below indicates a $25 registration fee for students, the Board yesterday decided to waive the student registration fee to enable more of them to participate.
You can register by going to the following link, scrolling down the page, and clicking on the "Register" button.
The attached document provides an updated program, which includes an outstanding group of presenters. Please let me know if you have any questions about the event.
Hoping you’ll be able to attend,
Margarita
Margarita M. Rose, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
King’s College
570.208.5900 X5778
Field of Grace Community of Faith and the Peace and Justice Center of Wilkes-Barre will be holding a service of Prayer and Healing to mark the anniversary of Sept. 11. All are invited to attend and participate. The focus will be on prayers of healing for our nation and those who lived through the attacks of Sept. 11, as well of prayers for peace and justice, and looking at how we can work together for peace in our world. The service will take place at the amphitheater in Kirby Park and begins at 10:00 am. The offering received on that day will be donated to the annual Peace Camp that is held each summer for children. For more information contact, FoGUMC@fieldofgraceumc.org, or call 570.861.9711.
Address by Cesar Chavez based on April 1978 article in Maryknoll Magazine "My friends, today we honor a giant among men: today we honor the reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was a powerful figure of destiny, of courage, of sacrifice, and of vision. Few people in the long history of this nation can rival his accomplishment, his reason, or his selfless dedication to the cause of peace and social justice. Today we honor a wise teacher, an inspiring leader, and a true visionary, but to truly honor Dr. King we must do more than say words of praise. We must learn his lessons and put his views into practice, so that we may truly be free at last. Who was Dr. King? Many people will tell you of his wonderful qualities and his many accomplishments, but what makes him special to me, the truth many people don't want you to remember, is that Dr. king was a great activist, fighting for radical social change with radical methods. While other people talked about change, Dr. King used direct action to challenge the system. He welcomed it, and used it wisely. In his famous letter from the Birmingham jail, Dr. king wrote that "The purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation." Dr. king was also radical in his beliefs about violence. He learned how to successfully fight hatred and violence with the unstoppable power of nonviolence. He once stopped an armed mob, saying: "We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. This is what we live by. We must meet hate with love." Dr. King knew that he very probably wouldn't survive the struggle that he led so well. But he said "If I am stopped, the movement will not stop. If I am stopped, our work will not stop. For what we are doing is right. What we are doing is just, and god is with us." My friends, as we enter a new decade, it should be clear to all of us that there is an unfinished agenda, that we have miles to go before we reach the promised land. The men who rule this country today never learned the lessons of Dr. King, they never learned that non-violence is the only way to peace and justice. Our nation continues to wage war upon its neighbors, and upon itself. The powers that be rule over a racist society, filled with hatred and ignorance. Our nation continues to be segregated along racial and economic lines. The powers that be make themselves richer by exploiting the poor. Our nation continues to allow children to go hungry, and will not even house its own people. The time is now for people, of all races and backgrounds, to sound the trumpets of change. As Dr. King proclaimed "There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression." My friends, the time for action is upon us. The enemies of justice wants you to think of Dr. King as only a civil rights leader, but he had a much broader agent. He was a tireless crusader for the rights of the poor, for an end to the war in Vietnam long before it was popular to take that stand, and for the rights of workers everywhere. Many people find it convenient to forget that Martin was murdered while supporting a desperate strike on that tragic day in Memphis, Tennessee. He died while fighting for the rights of sanitation workers. Dr. King's dedication to the rights of the workers who are so often exploited by the forces of greed has profoundly touched my life and guided my struggle. During my first fast in 1968, Dr. King reminded me that our struggle was his struggle too. He sent me a telegram which said "Our separate struggles are really one. A struggle for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity." I was profoundly moved that someone facing such a tremendous struggle himself would take the time to worry about a struggle taking place on the other side of the continent. Just as Dr. King was a disciple of Ghandi and Christ, we must now be Dr. King's disciples. Dr. King challenged us to work for a greater humanity. I only hope that we are worthy of his challenge. The United Farm Workers are dedicated to carrying on the dream of reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. My friends, I would like to tell you about the struggle of the Farm workers who are waging a desperate struggle for our rights, for our children's rights and for our very lives. Many decades ago the chemical industry promised the growers that pesticides would bring great wealth and bountiful harvests to the fields. Just recently, the experts are learning what farm workers, and the truly organized farmers have known for years. The prestigious National Academy of Sciences recently concluded an exhaustive five-year study which determined that pesticides do not improve profits and do not produce more crops. What, then, is the effect of pesticides? Pesticides have created a legacy of pain, and misery, and death for farm workers and consumers alike. The crop which poses the greatest danger, and the focus of our struggle, is the table grape crop. These pesticides soak the fields. Drift with the wind, pollute the water, and are eaten by unwitting consumers. These poisons are designed to kill, and pose a very real threat to consumers and farm workers alike. The fields are sprayed with pesticides: like Captan, Parathion, Phosdrin, and Methyl Bromide. These poisons cause cancer, DNA mutation, and horrible birth defects. The Central Valley of California is one of the wealthiest agricultural regions in the world. In its midst are clusters of children dying from cancer. The children live in communities surrounded by the grape fields that employ their parents. The children come into contact with the poisons when they play outside, when they drink the water, and when they hug their parents returning from the fields. And the children are dying. They are dying slow, painful, cruel deaths in towns called cancer clusters, in cancer clusters like McFarland, where the children cancer rate is 800 percent above normal. A few months ago, the parents of a brave little girl in the agricultural community of Earlimart came to the United Farm Workers to ask for help. The Ramirez family knew about our protests in nearby McFarland and thought there might be a similar problem in Earlimart. Our union members went door to door in Earlimart, and found that the Ramirez family's worst fears were true: There are at least four other children suffering from cancer in the little town of Earlimart, a rate 1200 percent above normal. In Earlimart, little Jimmy Caudillo died recently from Leukemia at the age of three. Three other young children in Earlimart, in addition to Jimmy and Natalie, are suffering from similar fatal diseases that the experts believe are caused by pesticides. These same pesticides can be found on the grapes you buy in the stores. My friends, the suffering must end. So many children are dying, so many babies are born without limbs and vital organs, so many workers are dying in the fields. We have no choice, we must stop the plague of pesticides. The growers responsible for this outrage are blinded by greed, by racism, and by power. The same inhumanity displayed at Selma, in Birmingham, in so many of Dr. King's battlegrounds, is displayed every day in the vineyards of California. The farm labor system in place today is a system of economic slavery. My friends, even those farm workers who do not have to bury their young children are suffering from abuse, neglect, and poverty. Our workers labor for many hours every day under the hot sun, often without safe drinking water or toilet facilities. Our workers are constantly subjected to incredible pressures and intimidation to meet excessive quotas. The women who work in the fields are routinely subjected to sexual harassment and sexual assaults by the grower's thugs. When our workers complain, or try to organize, they are fired, assaulted, and even murdered. Just as Bull Connor turned the dogs loose on non-violent marchers in Alabama, the growers turn armed foremen on innocent farm workers in California. The stench of injustice in California should offend every American. Some people, especially those who just don't care, or don't understand, like to think that the government can take care of these problems. The government should, but won't. The growers used their wealth to buy good friends like Governor George Deukmajian, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush. My friends, if we are going to end the suffering, we must use the same people power that vanquished injustice in Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham. I have seen many boycotts succeed. Dr. King showed us the way with the bus boycott, and with our first boycott we were able to get DDT, Aldrin, and Dieldrin banned in our first contracts with grape growers. Now, even more urgently, we are trying to get deadly pesticides banned. The growers and their allies have tried to stop us for years with intimidation, with character assassination, with public relations campaigns, with outright lies, and with murder. But those same tactics did not stop Dr. King, and they will not stop us. Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. And you cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. In our life and death struggle for justice we have turned to the court of last resort: the American people. And the people are ruling in our favor. As a result, grape sales keep falling. We have witnessed truckloads of grapes being dumped because no one would stop to buy them. As demand drops, so do prices and profits. The growers are under tremendous economic pressure. We are winning, but there is still much hard work ahead of us. I hope that you will join our struggle. The simple act of refusing to buy table grapes laced with pesticides is a powerful statement that the growers understand. Economic pressure is the only language the growers speak, and they are beginning to listen. Please, boycott table grapes. For your safety, for the workers, and for the children, we must act together. My friends, Dr. King realized that the only real wealth comes from helping others. I challenge each and every one of you to be a true disciple of Dr. King, to be truly wealthy. I challenge you to carry on his work by volunteering to work for a just cause you believe in. Consider joining our movement because the farm workers, and so many other oppressed peoples, depend upon the unselfish dedication of its volunteers, people just like you. Thousands of people have worked for our cause and have gone on to achieve success in many different fields. Our non-violent cause will give you skills that will last a lifetime. When Dr. King sounded the call for justice, the freedom riders answered the call in droves. I am giving you the same opportunity to join the same cause, to free your fellow human beings from the yoke of oppression. I have faith that in this audience there are men and women with the same courage and the same idealism, that put young Martin Luther King, Jr. on the path to social change. I challenge you to join the struggle of the United Farm Workers. And if you don't join our cause, then seek out the many organizations seeking peaceful social change. Seek out the many outstanding leaders who will speak to you this week, and make a difference. If we fail to learn that each and every person can make a difference, then we will have betrayed Dr. King's life's work. The reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. had more than just a dream, he had the love and the faith to act. God Bless You.'
The Northeastern Pennsylvania Organizing Center is a resident-led organization dedicated to providing our community the means to develop long-term solutions to human rights issues. We combine organizing support, outreach/intake, and media programs through issue based Campaigns in order to bring community voices to the forefront of policy discussion.
Hello All!
I thought some of you may be interested:
The LCCC Social Science Department will sponsor a bus trip to the African American Museum in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 16. Cost of the trip is $31 per person, and includes the bus ride as well as entrance to the museum.
The bus will depart from parking lot A on the campus of LCCC at 8am, and we are scheduled to enter the museum at 10:30. There will be no stops on the way, so feel free to bring snacks on the bus. After the museum, you will have the rest of the day in Philadelphia to yourselves. We will depart from Philadelphia at 7pm.
Anyone interested in going on this trip should contact Martha Pezzino at mpezzino@luzerne.edu. No seat will be confirmed until payment is made in full.
Thanks!
Martha
What if you didn’t think you were “college material”? What if you didn’t have anyone to help you with your application and financial aid paperwork? What if no one said your personal essay was “almost there”—then made sure you revised it one more time? What if you didn’t have people encouraging you? Or you listened to the people who said you wouldn’t amount to much? What if you were never taught to dream big for yourself? What if nobody helped you figure out how to make it happen?
Creating a College-Going Culture
A community conversation.
A story of success for 26,000 students in 180 schools nationwide.
A plan for how we can do it here in NEPA.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Burke Auditorium (McGowan School of Business) King’s College 6:30 pm
Sponsored by The Interfaith Center for Peace & Justice and King’s College Department of Economics
Dear fellow youth advocate,
I write you today to, first of all, thank you.
Over the past three months, you met with Rod Gereda and me to talk about youth initiatives we'd like to introduce to the area. You were so encouraging in your response to the after-school program that we are creating, and which we plan to offer this Spring through the Penn State Cooperative Extension. (More to come, as we get closer!)
We also spoke with you about College Summit, a Washington D.C.-based organization that partners with high schools whose students are most likely living in poverty and whose families might not have the resources to help them navigate the college application process. College Summit offers an in-school program that reinforces critical thinking and life skills, that will help both those whose goal is to graduate college as a first career step and those who will need those same skills in joining the workforce upon graduation.
I am pleased to announce that Randy Shillingburg, College Summit's director of regional operations, will be in the area next week. On his itinerary is giving a presentation entitled "Creating a College-Going Culture," which will take place on Wednesday, March 2nd at 6:30 at Burke Auditorium at King's College's McGowan School of Business. Please note the info above for full data on the event.
I hope that you will come to the event. I know you have questions--from how the program works to the results it has achieved since 1995 (the year it started), to how it gets and uses funding to what it offers the students who aren't college-bound. As a summer volunteer with College Summit, I am eager to learn more about the school-year activities, and about how the partnerships between school districts and the organization get started.
I think the event will be interesting and informative. Please spread the word!
Again, thank you for your encouragement. Your support, your questions, your willingness to help us find other youth advocates to tell about the program--all of this helped us so much.
Best, Shannon
Press Contact: Anne E. Rodella President Gaslight Theatre Company (570) 574-4912 annie.rodella@gmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 2, 2011
Gaslight Theatre Company Plans New Season
(Wilkes-Barre, PA- Jan 31, 2911) Directors! Playwrights! Theatre Lovers!
Gaslight Theatre announces an open call for directors and submissions of new scripts from playwrights for our 2011-2012 season. If you are a director who feels passionately about a particular project, or you are a playwright with a new script you’d like to have produced, send us your application.
Please keep in mind that we are a nomadic theatre troupe; locations may change. The focus of our work is directors with actors. Our aesthetic is classical and under-produced plays. We produce three mainstage plays per season, and one other project of theatrical intrigue (including but not limited to: cabaret, children’s theatre, staged readings of original works).
How to apply: Write us a cover letter stating your interest in directing or having your play produced. Your letter should include the title and the author of the play you are proposing to direct, a brief synopsis of the play, the cast size, and your artistic vision. Please attach your resume with references and be sure to include contact information. A copy of the script must be included. If you wish to submit your script electronically, you may email it along with your application as a pdf file to gaslighttheatre@gmail.com. Otherwise, please include a paper copy with your packet and mail it to: Paper Kite Books c/o Jennifer Hill 443 Main Street Kingston, PA 18704
Your application must be RECEIVED by March 1, 2011. Applications of interest to the board will be notified by email or phone. If the board is interested in a proposed project, potential directors/playwrights for the season will be asked to meet with the board for a fifteen minute “project pitch” in early April.
Don’t have a project to pitch, but have an interest in theatre? Send us an email and share with us some of your talents! We’re always looking for new people who love the theatre.
Here is a great way to support to the Peace Center and have fun doing it!
Celebrate the peaceful beauty of the Wyoming Valley from above, with a scenic flight with pilot (and longtime supporter of the Peace and Justice Center) Brad Kurlancheek.
Brad has pledged 100% of your $250 Peace Flight cost to go to the good works of the Peace and Justice Center.
An excellent gift for birthdays, anniversaries, other milestone celebrations and the upcoming holiday season, Brad's 1998 Maule Single Engine airplane accommodates peace passengers in style.
Brad is a licensed FAA certified flight instructor with over 1200 total flight hours, and holds commercial and instrument ratings. He earned his flight ratings at the Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the Maule, he's flown from the west coast to east, and from PA to FL and back several times.
Flights will originate at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, PA, where Brad keeps his plane.
To reserve your peace flight, contact the Peace Center at (570) 823-9977 or peacewb@verizon.net.
Dear Friends,
On Saturday, January 29, Ruth's Place will be hosting a Flapjack Fundraiser Breakfast at Applebee's from 8am to 10am.
Tickets are $6.00 per person and may be purchased at the door.
The staff has been working hard on putting together lovely gift baskets to be raffled off.
Hope you’ll consider bringing your families out.
Best,
Robin
DALLAS, PA – During Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, volunteers from across Northeastern Pennsylvania will converge on Misericordia University. Their goal will be to fulfill the dreams that seven local charities have. These volunteers will assist the charities over a 48 hour period, called NEPA GiveCamp, to create a website, improve their Internet presence, or help them create a social network presence.
Dress for Success Lackawanna Executive Director, Mary Ann Iezzi, is excited for NEPA GiveCamp to begin. “The GiveCamp will not only provide us with the opportunity to reach more people who are in need of our services, but also those who can help support our mission,” she has said. Joining Dress for Success Lackawanna at NEPA GiveCamp is Junior Achievement of NEPA, Young’s Funny Farm, Help Line, Back Mountain Food Pantry, Peace and Justice Center, and Back Mountain Men’s Ecumenical Group.
“Junior Achievement of NEPA is honored to be part of the 2011 GiveCamp,” stated Katie Rossi, Program Manager for the charity. “(Junior Achievement) is an organization dedicated to educating students in grades Kindergarten through twelfth about workforce-readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Thanks to the generous sponsors and GiveCamp volunteers, JANEPA will be receiving an interactive virtual tour of the JA Mericle Family Center for Enterprise Education. This tour will be viewed by many young and eager students who participate in JA BizTown and JA Finance Park.”
The NEPA GiveCamp is just one of 14 nationwide events being sponsored nationally by Microsoft, Domino’s, DevExpress, DiscountASP.net, and many more. Locally, Coca-Cola, Cisco Systems, and Verizon Wireless are assisting with the three day event.
Event co-ordinator, Jason Gaylord, expressed his gratitude towards all of the volunteers and sponsors of the event. “If it wasn’t for the volunteers, countless sponsors, and especially our host, Misericordia University, none of this would be possible. This is the only way that these charities will receive over $50,000 in free services over this weekend. It’s not often that a charity event can be this successful.”
For further information or if you are interested in volunteering or sponsoring a future NEPA GiveCamp event, visit http://nepagivecamp.org online. For information about the national GiveCamp events, visit http://givecamp.org.
Spread the word! Come see the show! You can buy tickets online! Buy Tickets Now
Quiet Cowboy an original play by Matthew S. Hinton will run Thursday, January 6 (Pay-what-you-can-preview) at 7:30pm, Friday, January 7th and Saturday, January 8 at 7:30pm and Sunday, January 9 at 2pm. All performances will be at The Mellow Theatre, 501 Vine St., Scranton. The play will be directed by Dave Reynolds.
Quiet Cowboy marks a first for Gaslight, an original work by a local playwright, Matthew S. Hinton. Wally is a lone desperado, riding the high country of his home life. Since the death of his father and the sudden absence of his brother, he has learned how to be a man by following the great film and tv tradition known only as the "Western." To make sense of his memories means confronting his past and taking the advice of the nameless cowboy of his imagination, who speaks in frontier gibberish, prairie poetry, and Elizabethan mud-soaked patois. Spanning the history of what is one of America's first and last original hero genres, Quiet Cowboy is a tale of family, love, and loss. Part Fistful of Dollars, part Sam Shepard, Quiet Cowboy pays homage to the wide open spaces of the American family. Gaslight Theatre Company is thrilled to be producing innovative new works of theatre, by emerging playwrights.
Matthew S. Hinton is a playwright, teacher, actor, researcher, editor, and all-around handy guy who earned his MA in Creative Writing through the Low-residency program at Wilkes University. He returned to Wilkes-Barre to work on his MFA, which he recieved in January 2010. Since his triumphant return to NEPA, he has served - under the tutelage of Dr. J. Michael Lennon - as head researcher on the official biography of Norman Mailer (forthcoming). He currently teaches in several area schools (both secondary and post-secondary). His publication and play credits include: An Evening with Joyce's Women (ed./design - Script Works Press), Variations on Ten Rounds (Naissance/Chapbook Publisher), Advertisements for Others (Mailer Review), Linda Goes to Mars, and Quiet Cowboy.
Tickets Cost $10. Students, seniors and groups of ten of more may purchase $8 tickets. For more information please call 570-824-8266 or visit www.gaslight-theatre.org.
ONE BOOK, ONE COMMUNITY 2011 WILL BE REDISCOVERING KINDNESS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Allegheny County Library Association is asking readers across the region for book title suggestions related to kindness for One Book, One Community 2011. Emerging from suggestions ACLA received from book clubs, community partners and library staff, the overarching theme for One Book, One Community 2011 will be rediscovering kindness and civility in an era when they frequently appear to be forgotten.
Local Secret Agent L (Laura Miller) who lives in and loves Pittsburgh is excited to be the One Book, One Community honorary kindness ambassador in the coming year. The Secret Agent L Project began with a single hydrangea flower on the windshield of a car here in Pittsburgh. Her project has blossomed into an international phenomenon of anonymous acts of kindness.
Through Friday, October 15 share your book title suggestions in keeping with the theme of kindness and civility. Post your thoughts as a comment on the One Book, One Community blog: http://onebookallegheny.blogspot.com or email acla@einetwork.net with ‘One Book’ in the subject line. Register your book club for One Book news at http://bit.ly/onebookclubs. Each spring beginning in April events and programs are held in local public libraries and throughout the community.
Begun in 1996 in Seattle, Washington, the One Book concept was developed to create a community of readers with a shared love of reading, writing and expressing ideas. In 2003, Allegheny County chose To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, as its first One Book. Since then various titles and themes have been discussed.
The Allegheny County Library Association, a federated library system comprised of 45 libraries, pursues, provides and promotes the highest quality public library service possible for all residents of Allegheny County through collaboration, cooperation and coordination. # # #
BACK MOUNTAIN FREE MEDICAL CLINIC: 6:30 p.m. Fridays, 65 Davis St., Shavertown. Volunteers, services and supplies needed. For more information, call 696-1144.
BMW FREE COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC: 6-8 p.m., second Thursday, New Covenant Christian Fellowship Church, rear entrance, 780 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre. Free basic care for people without health insurance and the underserved. Call 822-9605.
CARE AND CONCERN FREE HEALTH CLINIC: Registration 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, former Seton Catholic High School, 37 William St., Pittston. Basic health care and information provided. Call 954-0645. The Care and Concern Pediatric Health Clinic for infants through age 11. Registrations accepted from 4:30-5:30 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of each month. For more information, call 654-9923.
THE HOPE CENTER: 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Mondays, Back Mountain Harvest Assembly, 340 Carverton Road, Trucksville. Free basic health and medical care and information for the uninsured or underinsured. Call 696-1128.
VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 190 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Wilkes-Barre. Primary and preventive health care for the working uninsured and underinsured in Luzerne County with incomes less than two times below federal poverty guidelines. For appointments, call 970-2864.
WILKES-BARRE FREE CLINIC: 4:30-7 p.m. Tuesdays and 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. every other Wednesday, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 35 S. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre. Appointments are necessary. Call 793-4361.
Subject: BePeace Workshop at Unity of Lehigh Valley, November 7, 2010
Unity of Lehigh Valley is delighted to be able to offer a BePeace Workshop in our sub-region with certified trainer Sandy Strober. We would greatly appreciate it if you could print and post the flyer in your church, include the information in your bulletins and congregational communication.
There are several restaurants near the church for lunch before the workshop. So that we can assess the needed materials and support staff, please let us know as soon as possible if you or a group from your ministry plan to attend. If there is sufficient interest, we may discuss bringing Sandy back for the 32 hour training.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please feel free to call the office at 610-965-3036 or see the BePeace website at www.rasurinternational.org
Blessings,
Reverend Joy Wyler Unity of Lehigh Valley
Be a beneficial presence in the world and a channel for God's love in this day.
PRESS RELEASE for immediate release
For more information, contact Skip Mendler, 570-251-3637
“MUSICAL POTLUCK” FEATURES SONGS OF PEACE, 10/17
(HONESDALE) Local peace group Waynepeace will mark the eighth anniversary of its founding, and the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, with a “Musical Potluck for Peace.” The event will take place beginning at 6 PM on Sunday, October 17, at the Grace Episcopal Church Parish Hall on Church Street in Honesdale.
“We're inviting people to bring food to share, like a regular potluck,” says Waynepeace co-founder Skip Mendler, “but we also want them to bring their favorite songs of peace, along with their voices and instruments.” Mendler anticipates “a wide mix of music – everything from hymns to punk anthems to folk classics.”
There is no admission charge for the event, but donations will be collected for the Central Asia Institute to help in flood recovery efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. For more information, call 570-251-3637, or visit www.waynepeace.org.
It just does not seem right that Fr. William Pickard has been banned for nearly two months from doing his important work at the Lackawanna County Prison, work he has done under a half dozen wardens for over two decades. He did nothing wrong; indeed, instead of being banned, he should be honored for his consistent and forceful advocacy. There is no full-time chaplain at the prison, and now no Catholic presence. Even Sunday Masses have been canceled. On Monday, October 11 at noon, Pax Christi of Northeastern Pennsylvania invites the community - especially members of the clergy and leaders of all religions, religious orders and groups, and those who just respect Fr. Pickard - to stand with us at the doors of the prison for a few minutes. There we will raise no banners or signs; we will be completely peaceful and quiet - except to pray for those inside and for the powers-that-be to let Fr. Pickard to get back to work. Joseph Rogan Pax Christi of NEPA
Please click on this link for more info on the Immigration and Education Program
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 from 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
"ArtsYouniverse" 47 North Franklin St Wilkes-Barre, PA
Fun and Festivities For Everyone
Bring/Bake some Bread to Break some Bread
Music, Singing, Dancing, Hands on Art Bring Poetry for Open Mic
Culminating the Evening with Luminary Vigil and Prayer For Peace
We invite people from all cultures and ethnic backgrounds, religions and races to come together in a moment of prayer and meditation for peace on earth.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION: Listening Skills Peer Mediation Bullying Problems The Art of Listening Family Issues The Art of Organizing for the Common Good
ENVIRONMENT: Peace Flight: air flight tour of Wyoming Valley Justice, Peace, and the Environment Women, Poverty, and the Environment Our River -- Susquehanna
HEALTH: AIDS and HIV Is Inequality Making us Sick? (film series)
INTERNATIONAL PEACE and JUSTICE: Fair Trade Products Developing Countries and International Trade Peace and Justice Ministry
SOCIAL JUSTICE: Age of Stupid, (docudrama film) Community Self Help Dead Man Walking -- Cruel and Unusual Punishment Dismantling Racism Legislative Advocacy for Peace and Justice Made in LA, (documentary film) Empowerment Through Networking Juggling Women's Roles Posada, (documentary film) Reaching Out to Spanish Speaking Neighbors Socially Responsible Investing Q and A about Judaism Peace as Poetry
The United Nations' International Day of Peace - marked every year on September 21 - is a global holiday when individuals, communities, nations and governments highlight efforts to end conflict and promote peace.
Established by U.N. resolution in 1982, "Peace Day" has grown to include millions of people around the world who participate in all kinds of events, large and small.
For 2010, this new Web site makes it easy to find and promote Peace Day events anywhere in the world.
Wilkes-Barre region:
Path To Peace, Tuesday, September 21, 2010, from 5pm-9 pm “ArtsYouniverse”, 47 North Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre, PA Anyone, anywhere can celebrate Peace Day. It can be as simple as lighting a candle at noon, or just sitting in silent meditation. Or, it can involve getting your co-workers, organization, community or government engaged in a larger event. The impact of millions of people in all parts of the world coming together for one day of peace is immense. International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire – personal or political. Take this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to humankind. Engage in peacebuilding! In the spirit of peace and mutual understanding, we ask that you attend any program slated for International Peace Day; reading passages from the Quran (or any other item of peace).
A microphone is already set up for the readings of peace. Let us know if you are willing to take part and I will reserve a time slot at the podium. Come Celebrate International Peace Day. Join Us In Our Path To Peace, Tuesday, September 21, 2010, from 5pm-9 pm at “ArtsYouniverse”, 47 North Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre, PA. Bring/Bake some bread to share; Music, Singing, Dancing, Hands-on Art, Bring Poetry for Open Mic, Culminating the Evening with Luminary Vigil and Prayer for Peace. We invite people from all cultures and ethnic backgrounds, religions and races to come together in a moment of prayer and meditation for peace on earth. Info at peacewb@verizon.net .
May Peace Prevail On Earth!
Below is a message from Susan Shoval – let’s all vote, vote daily, and please help get this notice to go viral!
(Thanks in advance)
=========== I'm sure most of us from the Wilkes-Barre are have seen, and hopefully taken advantage of, the beautiful on-going revitalization happening at the River Common. The Cultural Council of Luzerne County is looking to help our entire community enjoy this resource and has entered a submission into PepsiCo's “Refresh Project!” -- which allows us to compete for a $50,000 grant that will be used to sponsor free, season-long cultural events that will take place in the downtown area, on the banks of the Susquehanna River! The top 10 project ideas (those receiving the most votes in the month of May) will be funded. Right now, we are #130, so we really need help to get enough votes to win!!! To cast your ballot for “Host Free, Cultural Events in a Community Park in Northeastern PA,” click the following link: http://www.refresheverything.com/rivercommon. The process is fast, easy, and potentially very rewarding. Once you’ve landed on the page, select “Vote for this idea.” I did it; it's easy! I promise that you can do it, too... Remember, everyone can (and is encouraged to) vote once a day/every day during the month of May. One more request - please send this message along to friends and family members and ask them to do the same! We need all the votes we can get... Thank you so much, Susan ============
Please send in your nomination for the Peace and Justice awards:
E-mail to peacewb@verizon.net with a brief explanation about why your nominee should receive a Peace and Justice recognition for good works in peace and justice.
William Browne, a student at Luzerne County Community College, was presented with the Student for Peace Award on, April 20, 2009. The Student for Peace Award is presented to a student whose academic and extra-curricular activities reflect a commitment to a future of peacemaking life-styles.
At the time, he was still in his first year at LCCC, he remains very active on campus. He is an active member of the LCCC chapter of the ACLU, and is the Vice President of the NAACP. He is also a member of the Diversity Committee, and is working to establish a Health Awareness Club.
Mr. Browne is very active in the community, as well. He is a volunteer organizer for The Rainbow Alliance Division of The Luzerne Foundation & GayNEPA.com. He helped to organize Pridefest 2008, 09, 10, in Kirby Park, and is helping to organize it again in 2011. He is also working with Wilkes Barre/Luzerne County Organizing for America, which will be monitoring government, promoting the advancement of minorities and women in government issues, and helping to stop corruption in politics. In addition, he helps with and is in the process of being certified as a facilitator/interventionist with the WVAC (Wyoming Valley Aids Council).
Currently he is working on an event for NBHAAD (National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day). He also serves as the budget drive treasurer on his church stewardship committee, The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Wyoming Valley.
We thank him for all his work.
My lender, my friend: Lending circles with Latino twist To build credit in pursuit of their dreams, Latinos in California are reviving an old community lending tradition, the "cesta," with a hand from local banks. By Paul van Slambrouck Correspondent posted January 13, 2010 at 8:29 am EST San Francisco — Their names are in Spanish, but easy to translate. La Millonaria. La Fortuna. And tonight, with arms raised in triumph and a collective whoop, Los Campeones are born. Eight members strong, the Champions have come together in an upstairs office in this city’s predominantly Latino Mission District. Nearly all have spent the day laboring in low-paying jobs, and nearly all have dreams of brighter economic futures. So here, over pupusas and sodas, they are meeting to take part in a pioneering program – apparently the first of its kind in the United States – that lets them pool their modest resources, disburse them among themselves at agreed intervals, and build individual credit in the process. The program was established a little over a year ago by the nonprofit Mission Asset Fund (MAF). The groups usually consist of six to 12 individuals and are called “cestas,” the Spanish word for baskets. A longtime communal alternative to traditional banking, these arrangements had one major drawback: The activity never registered among the major credit agencies, meaning participants remained stuck in a world of either no credit or exorbitantly high-priced credit. MAF’s innovation is to link this peer-to-peer networking to the credit markets. My lender, my friend: Lending circles with a Latino twist / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com 1/13/10 9:16 PM to the credit markets. “It’s a breakthrough,” enthuses economist Barbara Robles of Arizona State University in Phoenix. And it’s a model that, according to Ms. Robles, “other nonprofits can replicate.” On this night, as one cesta of eight individuals and another of six are formed, the democratic nature of the process is evident. “It’s all up to you,” MAF’s Daniela Salas, who runs the cesta program, repeatedly tells the group. “How much you want to contribute, the order of who is going to take it out, you guys have to decide,” she says. The empathy quotient is high. Johanna Suarez, for instance, is stretched thin making interest-only payments on three credit cards each month. She asks the cesta members if she can receive the total group contribution of $400 for each of the first three months. With that $1,200, she says, she can pay off her three credit cards and then proceed with her $50 per month contribution to the cesta. She knows she can manage the $50 per month because that is not much more than what she is already paying just to service the interest on her cards. But now, that same amount will be saved for more productive use, and she will be free of credit-card debt. The group agrees to put her first in line to receive the funds, and for three months. In some immigrant communities, like San Francisco’s Mission District, it’s a long, uphill climb to gain access to loans with attractive interest rates, which are driven by credit scores. Here in the Mission, 44 percent of households had no credit history at all, according to a 2008 study by ocial Compact, a Washington nonprofit research group. Also, more than half of Latino adults did not have bank accounts. “This data is very discouraging,” says MAF executive director José Quiñonez. “But we decided, really our whole approach has been, to try and view the community from a positive perspective, to appreciate what they have, not what they lack, and to build on what they have.” Founded on trust Cestas (also commonly called “tandas” and “cundinas” in Mexico and Central America) are usually formed within families or small communities where there is a high level of trust. The pressure to obey the agreed rules, however informal, is more social than legal. Business expansion, not credit-card debt, is the motivation for Reina Alguilera. Direct and amiable, she is a housecleaner with ambitions. She is a member of four distinct cestas and contributes $100 monthly to each. Her main goal is to grow her business, investing in more employees and equipment and learning more management skills. “This program really helps us women move forward financially and emotionally,” she says. When Ms. Alguilera isn’t cleaning homes, she is brushing up her computer skills in a night class. Not all cesta members want to spend the money they receive when their turn for withdrawal rolls around. Wilfredo Montenegro, a house painter, was scheduled to receive $1,300 at the end of last year and intended to park it in a savings account. Mr. Montenegro knows the value of building a credit history. “I wanted to start my credit because I know I will need it in the future,” he says. He dreams of having his own business. Olga Hernandez, another member of the Fortuna cesta, shares that entrepreneurial instinct. She makes hand-stitched artisan clothing in the traditional style of Oaxaca, Mexico, and sells it at a local market on weekends. The MAF cesta program is already showing results in terms of building and improving credit. With some 13 cestas up and running, and more than 80 participants, there is enough data to make some early assessments. An examination of the participants in the first two cestas over a period of six months shows, according to MAF, that credit scores rose on average by 47 points. More significantly, in Mr. Quiñonez’s view, is that the same group showed an increase of 9 percent in the average number of “satisfactory” credit accounts held by members of the group. “Satisfactory” accounts are those where payments are being made on time. That nine-point gain demonstrates that participants are not only making their contributions on time, they are also improving their payment performance on other credit accounts.Quiñonez believes that MAF’s approach to helping individuals join cestas, which includes a measure of financial education, is improving how they handle all their financial affairs. Not without risk There are two risks with cestas. One is that the participants will not make their contributions on time. The other is that when a member receives the pooled funds, he or she will disappear with the money, meaning that the group will lose the future contributions of that participant. There have been two such instances in the MAF program thus far. Yet MAF’s role in the system is as a final guarantor. The nonprofit agrees to make everyone whole by stepping in if any individual member stops contributing. To make cesta activity relevant, and ultimately beneficial, to credit scores, MAF needed to partner with a bank that would hold the cestas’ funds, track payments, and report the results to a major credit agency. MAF’s partner is OneCaliforniaBank, a community development bank in nearby Oakland, Calif., that serves low- and moderate-income communities. “There is a host of reasons why people don’t use banks. Some of the reasons are cultural and some of them are based on bad experience,” says Jeffrey Cheung, president and CEO of OneCalifornia- Bank. “Our goal was to find a vehicle to help bring people into banking. This [cesta program] does that.” The program is just over a year old and is still a child learning to walk. Can it scale up to something much larger with national impact? The need is clear. “Credit is fast becoming the second most important thing to have, right after a photo ID,” says Quiñonez. “Here is a clear, direct way to get people into the mainstream.” And while this program seems to be working because of its orientation toward the small, the local, and the individual, Quiñonez is not shy about saying he’d like to see it “replicated across the city and eventually the country.” Will other banks be receptive to such nontraditional activity? Robles, the Arizona State University economist, thinks it will happen as the incentive becomes clear. All this communal savings activity going on beyond the traditional sphere of financial institutions represents a large untapped market. “For banks, this is about cultivating a long-term customer base,” she says.
What is the essence of human nature? Flawed, say many theologians. Vicious and addicted to warfare, wrote Hobbes. Selfish and in need of considerable improvement, think many parents.
But biologists are beginning to form a generally sunnier view of humankind. Their conclusions are derived in part from testing very young children, and partly from comparing human children with those of chimpanzees, hoping that the differences will point to what is distinctively human.
The somewhat surprising answer at which some biologists have arrived is that babies are innately sociable and helpful to others. Of course every animal must to some extent be selfish to survive. But the biologists also see in humans a natural willingness to help.
When infants 18 months old see an unrelated adult whose hands are full and who needs assistance opening a door or picking up a dropped clothespin, they will immediately help, Michael Tomasello writes in “Why We Cooperate,” a book published in October. Dr. Tomasello, a developmental psychologist, is co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
The helping behavior seems to be innate because it appears so early and before many parents start teaching children the rules of polite behavior.
“It’s probably safe to assume that they haven’t been explicitly and directly taught to do this,” said Elizabeth Spelke, a developmental psychologist at Harvard. “On the other hand, they’ve had lots of opportunities to experience acts of helping by others. I think the jury is out on the innateness question.”
But Dr. Tomasello finds the helping is not enhanced by rewards, suggesting that it is not influenced by training. It seems to occur across cultures that have different timetables for teaching social rules. And helping behavior can even be seen in infant chimpanzees under the right experimental conditions. For all these reasons, Dr. Tomasello concludes that helping is a natural inclination, not something imposed by parents or culture.
Infants will help with information, as well as in practical ways. From the age of 12 months they will point at objects that an adult pretends to have lost. Chimpanzees, by contrast, never point at things for each other, and when they point for people, it seems to be as a command to go fetch something rather than to share information.
For parents who may think their children somehow skipped the cooperative phase, Dr. Tomasello offers the reassuring advice that children are often more cooperative outside the home, which is why parents may be surprised to hear from a teacher or coach how nice their child is. “In families, the competitive element is in ascendancy,” he said.
As children grow older, they become more selective in their helpfulness. Starting around age 3, they will share more generously with a child who was previously nice to them. Another behavior that emerges at the same age is a sense of social norms. “Most social norms are about being nice to other people,” Dr. Tomasello said in an interview, “so children learn social norms because they want to be part of the group.”
Children not only feel they should obey these rules themselves, but also that they should make others in the group do the same. Even 3-year-olds are willing to enforce social norms. If they are shown how to play a game, and a puppet then joins in with its own idea of the rules, the children will object, some of them vociferously.
Where do they get this idea of group rules, the sense of “we who do it this way”? Dr. Tomasello believes children develop what he calls “shared intentionality,” a notion of what others expect to happen and hence a sense of a group “we.” It is from this shared intentionality that children derive their sense of norms and of expecting others to obey them.
Shared intentionality, in Dr. Tomasello’s view, is close to the essence of what distinguishes people from chimpanzees. A group of human children will use all kinds of words and gestures to form goals and coordinate activities, but young chimps seem to have little interest in what may be their companions’ minds.
If children are naturally helpful and sociable, what system of child-rearing best takes advantage of this surprising propensity? Dr. Tomasello says that the approach known as inductive parenting works best because it reinforces the child’s natural propensity to cooperate with others. Inductive parenting is simply communicating with children about the effect of their actions on others and emphasizing the logic of social cooperation.
“Children are altruistic by nature,” he writes, and though they are also naturally selfish, all parents need do is try to tip the balance toward social behavior.
The shared intentionality lies at the basis of human society, Dr. Tomasello argues. From it flow ideas of norms, of punishing those who violate the norms and of shame and guilt for punishing oneself. Shared intentionality evolved very early in the human lineage, he believes, and its probable purpose was for cooperation in gathering food. Anthropologists report that when men cooperate in hunting, they can take down large game, which single hunters generally cannot do. Chimpanzees gather to hunt colobus monkeys, but Dr. Tomasello argues this is far less of a cooperative endeavor because the participants act on an ad hoc basis and do not really share their catch.
An interesting bodily reflection of humans’ shared intentionality is the sclera, or whites, of the eyes. All 200 or so species of primates have dark eyes and a barely visible sclera. All, that is, except humans, whose sclera is three times as large, a feature that makes it much easier to follow the direction of someone else’s gaze. Chimps will follow a person’s gaze, but by looking at his head, even if his eyes are closed. Babies follow a person’s eyes, even if the experimenter keeps his head still.
Advertising what one is looking at could be a risk. Dr. Tomasello argues that the behavior evolved “in cooperative social groups in which monitoring one another’s focus was to everyone’s benefit in completing joint tasks.”
This could have happened at some point early in human evolution, when in order to survive, people were forced to cooperate in hunting game or gathering fruit. The path to obligatory cooperation — one that other primates did not take — led to social rules and their enforcement, to human altruism and to language.
“Humans putting their heads together in shared cooperative activities are thus the originators of human culture,” Dr. Tomasello writes.
A similar conclusion has been reached independently by Hillard S. Kaplan, an anthropologist at the University of New Mexico. Modern humans have lived for most of their existence as hunter gatherers, so much of human nature has presumably been shaped for survival in such conditions. From study of existing hunter gatherer peoples, Dr. Kaplan has found evidence of cooperation woven into many levels of human activity.
The division of labor between men and women — men gather 68 percent of the calories in foraging societies — requires cooperation between the sexes. Young people in these societies consume more than they produce until age 20, which in turn requires cooperation between the generations. This long period of dependency was needed to develop the special skills required for the hunter gatherer way of life.
The structure of early human societies, including their “high levels of cooperation between kin and nonkin,” was thus an adaptation to the “specialized foraging niche” of food resources that were too difficult for other primates to capture, Dr. Kaplan and colleagues wrote recently in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. We evolved to be nice to each other, in other words, because there was no alternative.
Much the same conclusion is reached by Frans de Waal in another book published in October, “The Age of Empathy.” Dr. de Waal, a primatologist, has long studied the cooperative side of primate behavior and believes that aggression, which he has also studied, is often overrated as a human motivation.
“We’re preprogrammed to reach out,” Dr. de Waal writes. “Empathy is an automated response over which we have limited control.” The only people emotionally immune to another’s situation, he notes, are psychopaths.
Indeed, it is in our biological nature, not our political institutions, that we should put our trust, in his view. Our empathy is innate and cannot be changed or long suppressed. “In fact,” Dr. de Waal writes, “I’d argue that biology constitutes our greatest hope. One can only shudder at the thought that the humaneness of our societies would depend on the whims of politics, culture or religion.”
The basic sociability of human nature does not mean, of course, that people are nice to each other all the time. Social structure requires that things be done to maintain it, some of which involve negative attitudes toward others. The instinct for enforcing norms is powerful, as is the instinct for fairness. Experiments have shown that people will reject unfair distributions of money even it means they receive nothing.
“Humans clearly evolved the ability to detect inequities, control immediate desires, foresee the virtues of norm following and gain the personal, emotional rewards that come from seeing another punished,” write three Harvard biologists, Marc Hauser, Katherine McAuliffe and Peter R. Blake, in reviewing their experiments with tamarin monkeys and young children.
If people do bad things to others in their group, they can behave even worse to those outside it. Indeed the human capacity for cooperation “seems to have evolved mainly for interactions within the local group,” Dr. Tomasello writes.
Sociality, the binding together of members of a group, is the first requirement of defense, since without it people will not put the group’s interests ahead of their own or be willing to sacrifice their lives in battle. Lawrence H. Keeley, an anthropologist who has traced aggression among early peoples, writes in his book “War Before Civilization” that, “Warfare is ultimately not a denial of the human capacity for cooperation, but merely the most destructive expression of it.”
The roots of human cooperation may lie in human aggression. We are selfish by nature, yet also follow rules requiring us to be nice to others.
“That’s why we have moral dilemmas,” Dr. Tomasello said, “because we are both selfish and altruistic at the same time.”
Hello,
The Pennsylvania Works! Campaign, coordinated by PennFuture (www.pennfuture.org), aims to increase economic growth and opportunities in Pennsylvania by shaping state policies, regulations and programs that affect local communities. Topics addressed by this campaign include:
Affordable housing and housing-related issues Blight Remediation Historic preservation Smart land use and policies Workforce development
Please join us for a (free) luncheon in Wilkes-Barre to learn about this campaign and how it could affect your work.
· Location: Rodano’s on the Square, 53 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre
Founding members of the campaign: PennFuture, 10,000 Friends of PA, The Housing Alliance of PA, Philadelphia LISC, Keystone Research Center, PA Chapter of the American Planning Association, PennEnvironment, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Preservation PA and Regional Housing Legal Services.
This is not a fundraising event. Please let us know that you or your representative will join us by visiting www.pennfuture.org/events and clicking the link for the Wilkes-Barre PennsylvaniaWorks! Informational Luncheon by Monday, November 16, 2009.
You can learn more about the campaign at www.pennsylvaniaworks.org. Please let me know if you have any questions and feel free to forward this email to anyone who you think might be interested.
We look forward to seeing you on November 19.
With regard,
Pam
Pamela A. Fendrock, Web and outreach coordinator
PennFuture
15 Public Square Lobby, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 18701
PennFuture works to create a just future where nature, communities and the economy thrive. We enforce environmental laws and advocate for the transformation of public policy, public opinion and the marketplace to restore and protect the environment and safeguard public health. PennFuture advances effective solutions for the problems of pollution, sprawl and global warming; mobilizes citizens; crafts compelling communications; and provides excellent legal services and policy analysis.
The Philadelphia Inquirer called PennFuture "Pennsylvania’s leading environmental advocacy organization."
[Peter thought you would find this article of interest.]
Very few illegal immigrants use UW tuition deal By DEBORAH ZIFF | dziff@madison.com | 608-252-6234 | Posted: Saturday, October 24, 2009 10:30 pm
Very few students are taking advantage of a new law that allows illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at University of Wisconsin System schools, according to university data.
For the first time this fall, Wisconsin students who are not legally in this country were eligible for resident tuition under a controversial provision Gov. Jim Doyle signed into law in the state budget over the summer.
Only two such students at UW-Madison filed paperwork for resident tuition, four at UW-Oshkosh, one at UW-Whitewater and one at UW-Stevens Point, according to information from those universities. There were none at UW-La Crosse.
UW-Milwaukee had the most, with 35 illegal immigrants qualifying for resident tuition. The higher numbers there reflects the larger immigrant population in the state's biggest city.
"For all the people who thought this would somehow open up a floodgate, all you need to do is look at the criteria for eligibility and you figure out quickly we're talking about a very small universe of people here," said David Giroux, spokesman for the System.
To be eligible, the student must prove he or she graduated from a Wisconsin high school, has lived here for three years and sign an affidavit that he or she will seek permanent residency as soon as possible.
The System won't have complete numbers on the program from all state universities until November.
The gap between resident and non-resident tuition is significant. At UW-Madison, it's the difference between paying roughly $7,500 per year and $21,800 per year.
But even at the resident price, tuition still might be out of reach for many illegal immigrants. They aren't eligible for state or federal financial aid and few scholarships are available for that population.
Wisconsin now is one of 11 states that allow illegal immigrants to pay resident tuition, according to the National Immigration Law Center. California's provision has been challenged, under the argument that it violates a 1996 federal law.
That law prohibits states from giving any higher education benefit based on residency to illegal immigrants unless they provide the same benefit to U.S. citizens, regardless of where they live.
The case is pending before the California Supreme Court. But no state's law has been overturned. Dave Gorak, executive director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration, said he doesn't know of any challenges in Wisconsin.
Because resident tuition is subsidized by taxpayer money, Gorak said Wisconsin's law unfairly forces state residents to pay for the education of illegal immigrants.
"It's illegal," Gorak said. "What Wisconsin is doing violates federal law. That's the bottom line. Everything else is just talk."
Giroux said it is in the best interest of the state to help everyone who lives in Wisconsin get a better education and find higher paying jobs.
"The way our Board of Regents has, over the years, looked at this issue, it's really about serving people who are living in Wisconsin, working in Wisconsin and paying Wisconsin taxes," Giroux said.
To implement the new tuition levels, UW System officials sent out a set of guidelines to all the campuses.
If a student marks on his application that he is not a citizen - but doesn't have legal documentation as a refugee, legal resident or visa-holder - it triggers a review by the registrar's office.
Then the university sends out an affidavit which the student must sign and get notarized, vowing that he or she will pursue citizenship.
The students shouldn't fear being "outed," by the university, Giroux said.
"That's not our job," he said. "We're not here to act as an enforcement agency. We're here to educate Wisconsin residents.
Peter P. Balsamo, Ph.D. Academic Affairs Office Luzerne County Community College 1333 South Prospect Street Nanticoke, PA 18634-3899 Phone: 570-740--0601 or 800-377-5222, ext 601 E-mail: pbalsamo@luzerne.edu www.luzerne.edu
You might be interested in an educational workshop for the community that will be provided on Saturday, October 24, 2009 by Pax Christi USA and Pax Christi of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
GOAL:
The goal of the workshop will be to prepare participants - individuals who interact with the public on a regular basis, such as police, government workers, business persons, educators, medical personnel, clergy, students, etc. – with techniques they can use to react to racist comments and actions they confront in their daily lives and thus cooperate in a community-wide healing effort to recover from racism.
PRESENTERS:
Presenters will include Bill Marx and Altonette Stone of PCUSA’s National Anti-Racism Team. Our special guest will be Rafael Samanez, Director of NY City’s VAMOS Unidos Project.
DETAILS:
The workshop will take place at Lackawanna College’s Lyceum (the former CYC). Registration will begin at 8 AM. The program will start at 8:30 AM and run ‘til 5 PM with a break for lunch (which will be provided). The workshop and lunch are free to members of our community.
REGISTRATION:
Space is limited. Register by October 15 by calling 570.558.5050, emailing joerogan@verizon.net, or writing to Pax Christi NEPA, P.O. Box 168, Clarks Summit, PA 18411.
Group registrations are welcome.
Pax Christi NEPA
Please listen and watch this youTube interview. The person of interest is Seth Godin. Let us know what you think. The Peace and Justice Center is a tribe as described by this view.
Poetry In Transit, an award-winning community program, invites your participation.
Patterned after London’s Poems on the Underground program, Poetry In Transit displays poetry in advertising space on all Luzerne County Transportation Authority (LCTA) buses.
The poems stay up for one year, with a monthly rotation so that riders can see all poems over time. This year, the project expands its scope with a call for work in both Spanish and English. You are a valued part of the poetry community here in Wyoming Valley, and Poetry In Transit is a way to honor that.
We would love to have one of your poems on the bus! Here are the specs: Poems of 8 lines or less Theme: anything you think relevant, without profanity or outright political verse (LCTA’s guidelines) Placard size: 36 (width) x 11 (height) inches Background white, with only a few visuals to enrich the reading experience Design: We have a designer on staff, Mark Golaszewski Email your poetry to: mischelle.anthony@wilkes.edu
Or hand it to Mischelle when you see her on the street or at a poetry reading!
Deadline: April 15, 2009
~ Thank you for considering Poetry In Transit! ~
For those of you who are able to make these types of advocacy calls, please read the brief message below and take a moment to make your call or send the letter that is provided. Prevention is the best known cure for most chronic disease. It is vital that prevention funding is preserved. Thank you in advance on behalf of all of us who are advocates for and providers of prevention services and efforts (drug, tobacco and alcohol, crime, health education, family planning, domestic violence, disease awareness, youth and family services, nutrition and physical activity programs, etc.).
Senator Robert Casey DC Office: 202-224-6324 Harrisburg Of: 717-231-7540
Senator Arlen Specter DC Office: 202-224-4254 WB Office: 826-6265
Representative is Paul Kanjorski: DC Office: 202-225-6511 WB Office: 825-2200 Thanks again, Carol Hussa, Program ManagerSteps to a HealthierPALuzerneCounty
From: Prevention Institute [mailto:prevent@preventioninstitute.org] Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 6:06 PM To: carol.hussa@stepspalc.org Subject: Prevention and Wellness Funding in Jeopardy!
February 5, 2009
New Resource Alert: Take Action: Prevention and Wellness Funding in Jeopardy! The proposed stimulus bill passed by the House of Representatives includes unprecedented investment in prevention and public health.
Today those funds are in jeopardy. A bi-partisan group led by Senators Collins and Nelson have proposed a total of $77. 9 billion in cuts to the stimulus bill, including an 89.4 percent cut, totaling $5.185 billion, in the prevention provisions in the bill!! Action is expected today on this proposed amendment.
Please contact your senator and urge them to protect this vital funding by rejecting any amendments that seek to substantially reduce the funded level for prevention and wellness. Please also contact your U.S. Representative as their support will be needed to ensure the preservation of prevention funds during upcoming stimulus negotiations.
I would like to express my gratitude and support for the public health provisions included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Investing in public health will help stimulate job creation in the short-term and help build stronger, healthier communities. This bill affords the opportunity to stimulate the economy, reduce health care expenditures and increase worker productivity for the long term. As you debate and amend this bill, I urge you to oppose any amendments that cut prevention funding and to support maintaining $5.8 billion for prevention and wellness in the final bill.Investing in prevention will yield long term benefits. Creating healthy communities is a highly efficient mechanism for conserving healthcare funds, developing needed infrastructure, and delivering effective vital services. For example, our recent research shows that an investment of $10 per person per year in programs to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and prevent tobacco use will produce a return on investment in less than two years and a five-fold return in five years. Investments in communities at highest risk of disease would result in even greater savings and, given health disparities, will have equity impacts as well. Our nation needs a healthy and productive population to meet the challenges of the future, and rebound from these difficult times. An investment in public health will put us on a preferred path of prevention and wellness. To stimulate job creation in the health field and fully capitalize on the opportunity to promote health, I urge you to maintain $5.8 billion for prevention and wellness in the final version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Sincerely,[Insert name here] --- --- --- Please FORWARD this alert to others interested in primary prevention and encourage them to JOIN OUR NETWORK so they too can be informed as new prevention-related resources are released. A focal point for encouraging effective primary prevention, www.PreventionInstitute.org is your link to prevention-related ideas, projects, publications, tools, and events. Home | About Us | Our Prevention Approach | Tools
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church 601 Hepburn Street Williamsport, Pa 17701
To Whom It May Concern:
The purpose of this letter is to acknowledge my support and recognize the work of Mr. Rod Gereda.
Rod Gereda, chairs the Spirit of the Community as part of the Luzerne County Diversity Commission and the has my full support. As the senior pastor, of Bethel A.M.E. Church my involvement also includes participation on the Criminal Justice Committee for the Luzerne County Diversity Commission.
Mr. Gereda and his committee are working hard to improve the communication and enhance the diversity of the Greater Hazleton Area. His work is evident through his commitment and dedication to service the needs of the community. Various programs have implemented under his leadership and I look forward to an ongoing relationship in assisting him to meet his goals.
