Each Wednesday during lent, an odd dozen or so gathered to eat, study, and be together. We read George Williamson's book, Radicals! An Anabaptist Manifesto to the Current World Crisis. Our discussions stirred up questions:
What does it really mean to be free? Is it the ability to buy whatever you want, when you want, to drive what you will, to consume whatever you want when you want? Is this freedom? Is freedom the opposite of slavery? Occupation? Fascism? Communism? Terrorism? Are these the opposites of freedom? What do we know of God and freedom – what does scripture teach, what does Jesus say about freedom? As we read it, God requires us to seek justice and love mercy, Jesus tells us to know the truth, for the truth will set us free. Jesus teaches that whatever we do (or don't do) to the ones who have nothing, the ones many think are nothing, however we treat those are how we treat God. How can you claim to love God, who you can't see, while abusing your sister or brother, here, who you can see? Put your money where your mouth is. For everyone to have enough, some need more, while others need to give up and share out what they have. This is freedom – living beyond the mastery of possessions, beyond reductionist labels, beyond the fear of death, into real lived life. True freedom is for all to live as God intends, this is heaven come to earth. We all must work together to make it. How do you insist and create this freedom for all?
The government promised all citizens $300 - $600 tax rebate checks beginning in May. Politicians hope the economy gets stimulated before the elections, and tell us this ought do the trick. We wondered how buying new plasma screen tvs would really help people do better. Someone present challenged us to put our tax checks somewhere really useful, to really stimulate the economy, and further, to boost the community by giving our money to someone who really made a difference. Render Away from Caesar. We talked about community gardens, microlending, putting in a playground in a peace park in El Salvador, all work rooted in justice. We decided to pray on it, and see where the Spirit led. You better be ready when you make that your prayer. We told the rest of the church. The ideas kept coming: job training programs for women coming out of abusive places, Habitat for Humanity, Doctors without Borders, solar cookers for women in refugee camps in Chad. It became clear that there was no way to make this about one thing.
Not all can give $600, but everyone can pray and pay attention to where their gift could really make a difference. Some can give $30 for a cooker, others may sweeten the $600 pot with more to give.
Right now, the list gives ideas of where all our tax monies could go (think of it as your opportunity to allocate public funds).
Around June 1, assuming the checks really are in the mail, we'll begin posting where it all went, and where it keeps going. And growing.
11 comments:
I think we, as a Church, could petition the city to make one of it's inner city parks into a "Peace Park". We could get neighborhood churches to help, and neighbors, too. We need to find ways to promote peace in the city, and call attention to it. We hear so much about the violence, that I wonder if it isn't self-perpetuating. Just a thought ...
Here are some ideas ~
Put in a Playground in the Peace Park in El Puente de Cuscatlan, El SalvadorA group from Underwood traveled to El Salvador last summer to help build a retaining wall for a Peace Park. The site overlooks the River Lempa, and includes an enormous and beautiful tree where peace accords were signed after the Salvadoran civil war. The park is a place where the community gathers, the Baptist church holds services, where the women’s cooperative meets to work, and where children from the school across the street, and surrounding area play. Help them build a playground for the children. The materials and labor will come from El Salvador The total cost is $3,600. We’ve already raised over $600. Checks can be made to Underwood Memorial Baptist Church, please indicate El Salvador Peace Park in the memo line.
www.underwoodchurch.com
Buy a Solar Cooker for a Family from Darfur
Women and girls fleeing the genocide in Darfur, Sudan are placed in extreme jeopardy when undertaking the simple, but vital, task of collecting firewood for cooking fuel. Jewish World Watch is committed to protecting refugee women and girls from rape and other forms of violence, and helping them to rebuild their lives. Reduce the vulnerability of these women by providing the Iridimi and Touloum refugee camps in Chad with solar cookers, and reduce their need to collect firewood. The project protects these women and provides them with income opportunities that include: manufacturing solar cookers, training others to use the cookers and making carrying bags to increase the life span of the cookers. JWW is also developing other companion projects aimed to keep the women inside the relative safety of the camp.
$30 SOLAR COOKER Donation Provides:
• 2 Solar Cookers per family
• 2 Pots
• 2 Pot Holders
• Year supply of plastic bags
• Skills Training for refugee women and girls
http://www.jewishworldwatch.org/donate/solarcookerproject.html
Milwaukee Urban Gardens
Community gardens play an important role in urban rejuvenation and neighborhood stability. By their very nature, they are centers of community activity, creating places with lasting value and civic meaning. Milwaukee Urban Gardens acquires and preserves land and partners with neighborhood residents to develop and maintain community gardens to enhance the quality of life.
www.Milwaukeeurbangardens.org
Meta House for their Vocational Education Program
Meta House is a gender-specific treatment facility that offers a variety of programs to assist women in recovery, keeping or regaining custody of their children and building a better life through life and skills training and therapy. Their Vocational Education Program certainly stimulates the economy by training and educating these women to reenter the workforce. Many of our old clients now hold great jobs at companies like Harley Davidson due to a combined effort of treatment and training, and can better care for themselves and their families.
www.metahouse.org
Habitat for Humanity
www.habitat.org
Heifer Project
www.heifer.org
Hearts with Haiti
Support the vision and ministry of the St. Joseph's Family in Haiti, through Nurture, Advocacy, Fundraising, Administration, and Leadership Development. The St. Joseph’s Family includes the St. Joseph's Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince, Wings of Hope in Fermathe, and Trinity House in Jacmel. (Pictures of friends from Milwaukee and Haiti are on the UMBC website.) The three homes serve more than 60 children. Graduates from the first home, St. Joseph’s Home for Boys, run a home for disabled children called Wings of Hope outside Port-au-Prince and a home for young boys called Trinity House in a small coastal town. They plan to build a bakery at Trinity House to teach life skills, provide food, and a source of income.
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
http://www.nrcat.org/
The Center for Victims of Torture
The CVT provides clinics for those who were tortured. Centers are in Minneapolis, where last year 250 people received care, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 2000 survivors were served. They partner with American Jewish World Service, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Evangelicals for Human Rights, and key leaders from the military, foreign policy, and security policy sectors.
717 E. River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55455
www.cvt.org
Human Rights Watch
Won Nobel Peace Prize for work on removing land mines and cluster munitions worldwide; the good work goes on
350 5th Ave, 34th floor, New York, New York, 10118-3299
www.hrw.org
Doctors Without Borders
www.doctorswithoutborders.org
Kiva Microlending
www.kiva.org
Church World Service
Provides food, shelter, and healthcare at refugee camps; helps people around the world develop economically through self-help groups, microlending, literacy classes, well digs, equipping women and men with needed tools, etc.
475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115-0050
www.churchworldservice.org
Amnesty International
Won Nobel Peace Prize for raising awareness of abuses around the world; ongoing letter writing campaign by people concerned to put pressure on those incarcerating political prisoners, focusing on the abuse and torture of innocent freedom fighters. Their efforts won the release of numerous prisoners. Portion of work focuses on women and girls imprisoned and tortured. Address contribution to Violence Against Women for this particular program.
Amnesty International USA, PO Box 96756, Washington, DC, 20077-7131
www.amnesty.org
TechnoServe
Works in 19 countries worldwide to improve lives and communities. They find that empowering women is a key to alleviating poverty, because women will reinvest their income to benefit their family and communities, creating cycles of sustainable development.
www.technoserve.org
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists is a science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
www.ucsusa.org
Doris Day Animal League
Works to reduce the pain and suffering of non-human animals through legislative initiatives.
www.ddal.org
I couldn't wait until the checks came, so I decided to get a jump on rendering away from Caesar. The money has gone to berry bushes and microloans.
I agree with your points. I doubt I will even get a tax rebate. But I give on an almost daily basis to the service workers who surround me in the developing country where I am currently living. And the equivalent of $1 USD brings a smile to many faces. Love the ideas suggested in the other replies.
Check out this story http://www.alternet.org/workplace/84019/
Myanmar Reconstruction Appeal:
"It has been less than 24 hours since Cyclone Nargis hit the heart of Myanmar (Burma). Government figures have reported 15,000 dead but reports claim it is now 22,000. In the coming days it may move closer to 50,000. While the media will naturally focus its attention on the loss of life there are more than a million displaced in the coming weeks many will be moved into makeshift tents and lean-toos. Like most natural disasters there will no plan for long term sustainable reconstruction and little community involvement in the rebuilding of their lives."
See how you can help out: http://www.icebase.com/r.pl?2TXKWbdKxUnVaTEN_9583033061ef4fd5
Childbirth Should Not Make Poor Women Outcasts
A story today on TheRoot.com about the devastating effects of fistula in the developing world carried this headline: "What $300 Can Do." The dollar figure referred to the cost of repairing the physical damage that occurs to some women who experience long labor and difficult childbirths that leaves them incontinent. These women are often young, and the pregnancies are usually their first. They almost always give birth to stillborn babies and become pariahs in their communities because they lack bladder and bowel control. The $300 cost for the surgical procedure that repairs these emotionally and physically scarred women is often out of their financial reach but not out of the reach of American women. Imagine the message it would send if American women who can do without the paltry $300 economic stimulus checks they will be getting in the mail from the IRS were to donate the money to organizations helping these women. More important, imagine the impact. I say the heck with the economic stimulus plan. Most economists don't believe it will yield major results anyway. How about a sisterhood fistula eradication plan?
I contributed to the Peace Park in El Salvador and paid my property taxes from last year.
I sent/spent my check with:
UNICEF
Doctors Without Borders
CARE
Balance to my 2008 oil heating cost
1/2 of my check went to the Peace Park in El Salvador
1/6 went to Hearts with Haiti for St. Joseph's Home for Boys
Remainder for unreimbursed medical expenses
I have given my economic stimulus money to Milwaukee Christian Center for use in development in the local community. This, I believe, will provide more stimulus in this way. It is also more sound stewardship for the world. I've asked them to let me know ho the funds are used.
Bette Day
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