[Peace-discuss] More thoughts on Proposal for Humanitarian Drives--text (with footnotes)

[Linda Evans]

Ken (and all),

I really love all these ideas about community outreach
and I think this is really important.  Since we don't
have a lot of time in our Sunday meetings to discuss
this and put these ideas into action, I would be more
than happy to host a meeting during the week next
week.  Please let me know if anyone is interested.  I
was thinking Monday or Tuesday.

As far as the food bank is concerned, Vern Fein (who
basically started it years back) says they do not
usually take donations from non-corp.  I work with
Project Goodstart and I was asking Vern about this
type of thing in last month's meeting.  It would
probably depend on how much food we collected.  There
are lots of local churches who run food pantries that
we could contact as well.  We could work out these
kinds of things easily next week.

Linda  
--- Ken Urban <kurban at parkland.edu> wrote:
> It seems a little difficult to send food all around
> the world.  I also
> thought about what we've been say about 'billions
> for war abroad and
> nothing for starving here at home". (1)
> 
> How about a candle light vigil for world peace and
> food drive for
> illinois' hungry [again, I need slogan help here]. 
> We can just drive
> the food to Eastern Illinois Food Bank.  That should
> generate lots of
> good press (a weekly statement saying how much we've
> donated) and if the
> pro-war people match us ... great (2).  I picked
> this place because it's
> been mentioned by the N-G and DI. Please let me know
> (privately is OK)
> if they aren't legit(3).  I also picked it because
> corporations are
> always giving them stuff, and I think we should try
> to step on their
> toes as much as possible.
> 
> The news release can say something like "since the
> Bush admin is
> cutting $ for the hungry AWARE takes matters into
> its own hands and
> starts a fundraiser"
> 
> Thoughts?  I expect a full discussion of this to be
> completed when I
> check my email tomorrow AM :-)
> 
> Ken
> 
> (1) Hmmm, I must have left over energy from my
> campaign :)
> 
> (2) N-G fantasy article: Thompson said "If they gave
> $280, we'll give
> $300"
> 
> (3) From the DI: "The Eastern Illinois Food Bank at
> 208 W. Griggs St.
> in Urbana, is a not-for-profit organization that
> distributes food and
> other goods to over 200 organizations in 14 Illinois
> counties. The
> organization's food goes to pantries, soup kitchens
> and homeless
> shelters, many of which are in Champaign-Urbana."
> 
> 
> >>> "Ken Urban" <kurban at parkland.edu> 04/04/03
> 09:30PM >>>
> I like this idea, but the logistics of a blood drive
> sound difficult,
> plus you can only give blood every other month.  I
> think that we need
> to
> do something weekly, not bi-monthly.
> 
> I think we can organize a weekly 'candle light vigil
> for peace & food
> drive for justice' [yes, i'm slogan impaired, please
> help] at carle
> park
> with very little effort.  We just need to pick a
> night, find out where
> to send humanitarian aid (and how) and advertise it.
>  I think that a
> residential park has a 'safer' feel than north
> prospect and will bring
> out those who oppose the war, but are afraid of
> prowar bullies.  Also
> it
> will be difficult to bus in lots of pro-war people
> to a local park. 
> Look at the crowd the last candle light vigil drew,
> and many of those
> people have not been to P4P.  Who knows, maybe we
> can spread to other
> parks on other nights ... build community .. talk to
> our neighbors.
> Hmmm
> ... sorry, got carried away there ;-)
> 
> AWARE (well ... I) can print out  flyers with song
> lyrics hyping P4P
> and whatever else we're doing to give out.
> 
> I think a week night would probably be best and
> since Thursday is my
> free evening (with the kids) I prefer it.  
> 
> Thoughts?  Anyone one wanna help?  I can print
> flyers for P4P tomorrow
> if I get enough response tonight otherwise I'll wait
> for the meeting
> on
> Sunday.
> 
> Ken
> 
> 
> 
> >>> Charlotte Green <chgreen48 at yahoo.com> 04/04/03
> 08:43PM >>>
> Here is the actual text for Tim Kemmis's proposal
> for
> humanitarian drives, which I failed to include in
> yesterday's email.
> 
> The Objective
> Convince others that war is not the way to peace.
> 
> The Problems
> Getting the public to understand our viewpoint.  The
> Administration has skillfully couched this war in
> terms of being the American way by using the flag,
> "our troops" ("your sons and daughters"), slogans
> like
> United We Stand, God Bless America, etc. over and
> over
> and over.  As a consequence, many are afraid to
> voice
> any opposition or misgivings about the war because
> the
> Administration makes it appear "un-American" ( and
> un-Christian, too, for that matter).
> 
> The Opportunity
> The opportunity comes because there is one thing
> that
> the present Administration will never do--kindness.
> 
> Our opportunity is to offer the American people an
> alternative to the Administration that allows them
> to
> exercise their goodness without being branded as
> "un-American" and to which the Administration cannot
> criticize without seriously damaging their image.
> 
> The Plan
> Offer people an alternative: supporting peace
> through
> their own action for the casualties of war (our
> troops, people of other nations, the needy here at
> home).
> 
> This includes sponsoring monthly drives that no one
> can label as un-American and that demonstrate an
> alternative to peace in stark contrast to the
> Administration's policies and actions.  The
> activities
> include a:
> 	--Blood drive
> 	--Food drive
> 	--Clothing drive
> 	--Medicine drive
> 	--Toy drive, etc.
> 
> The plan includes the following:
> 1.  We hold a press conference announcing the Blood
> Drive ("Donor Day"), announcing that we believe
> there
> is an alternative way to achieve peace: Give Blood,
> Not Shed It.  We are announcing a Blood Drive for
> the
> Casualties of War.
> 
> 2.  At the bloodmobiles, we set up simple posters. 
> A
> suggestion is a 3 poster display.  One is a picture
> of
> a patient receiving blood with a large caption
> saying,
> "Your blood giving life.  A second is a picture of a
> dead Saddam Hussein with the large caption saying,
> "Sadddam's blood given for your Peace." A third
> poster
> has a large heading, "Are we now at Peace?" followed
> by a series of simple questions that nag at people's
> consciences which they must answer for themselves:
> 	Do you sleep better now that Saddam's threat is
> gone?
> Will the defeat of Iraq and the death of Saddam lead
> to peace in our    time?
> Are there others in the Axis of Evil that must be
> attacked and defeated?
> Is America more loved and respected now than ever
> before?
> Did war "jump start" the economy and are your work
> prospects better?
> Are you enjoying the tax reductions the President
> promised in his State of the Union address this
> year?
> 
>      3.  We man the bloodmobiles, and as people go
> out, we simply thank them for donating blood for our
> 
=== message truncated ===


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