[Peace-discuss] Re: Hello from the American Friends Service Committee

[Randall Cotton]

Thanks Jill,

I'm forwarding this info on to our main discussion list. We've had Eyes
Wide Open down here at least once in past years with great success. Thanks
for getting in touch...

R

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jill Doub" <Jdoub at afsc.org>
To: <recotton at earthlink.net>; <aware at anti-war.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 12:44 PM
Subject: Hello from the American Friends Service Committee


Hi Randall and others at AWARE,
I am the Illinois state coordinator for the American Friends Service
Committee and have been following the great work you are doing for peace
in
the Urbana-Champaign area.  AFSC has two exhibits that focus on the Iraq
War
that I thought you might be interested in hosting this summer.  I work in
Chicago and have been taking the exhibits all around Chicagoland, but I
would love to branch out and work more in other areas of the state.  I¹m
now
trying to set up a summer tour of southern and middle Illinois to lead up
to
the elections in November.

The two exhibits I can offer are called Eyes Wide Open and Cost of War.
Here is some info on them:
* Eyes Wide Open Illinois is a traveling exhibit on the human cost of war.
The exhibit features an empty pair of combat boots for each Illinois
service
person who has died in the Iraq War ­ 143 as of now.  Each pair of boots
is
tagged with the person¹s name, age, rank, and hometown.  Civilian shoes
placed alongside the boots represent the massive number of Iraqi
casualties
in this war.  Display boards explain the exhibit and the current situation
in Iraq.  Hosting Eyes Wide Open is a great way to add a powerful visual
component to any peace event, and it can also serve on its own as an
all-day
silent reminder of the human cost of the Iraq War.
* The Cost of War exhibit visually highlights the massive economic cost of
the Iraq War and the budgetary tradeoffs we are enduring as a result.
There
are five bases to which 13-foot poles attach to display ten different
banners on what the war money could have bought.  The head banner reads:
³One Day of the Iraq War = 720 Million Dollars.  How Would You Spend It?²
Examples of other banners include: ³One Day of the Iraq War = 423,529
Children with Healthcare,² ³One Day of the Iraq War = 34,904 Four Year
Scholarships,² and ³One Day of the Iraq War = 6,482 Families with Homes²

You can also check out the websites at http://www.afsc.org/eyes and
http://www.afsc.org/cost.

Let me know if this interests you.  I would bring either or both of these
displays down to the Urbana-Champaign area and help organize any event you
might want to do.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

Peace,
Jill Doub

Illinois State Coordinator
American Friends Service Committee
312.427.2533, ext. 20

637 S. Dearborn, Suite 3
Chicago, IL  60605