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Michigan 6th District  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
September 2008 meeting


Written and posted by Robert Weir, district leader

We began our regular monthly meeting of the Department of Peace and Nonviolence campaign last night with a silent prayer for the events of September 11, 2001, and for the forgiveness that our nation has exhibited in the aftermath of that day, seven years ago.

The main topic of discussion at last night's meeting was the upcoming Swami Beyondananda show on Friday, September 19, 8:00 p.m. at Unity Church of Kalamazoo. We hope you will be there. It will be a great show. For advance tickets, which we recommend, call Peg Bozarth at 269-731-4289. Your attendance and/or contribution will do much to further the public outreach work that we are accomplishing, as evidenced in the following paragraphs.

What impresses me most about our DoP campaign at this time is the public recognition that we are receiving and the connections we are making with others in Michigan's 6th Congressional District. Here are the examples we discussed last night.

1) DoP member Lowey Dickason was among the 300 people who participated in a Peace March, organized by Toni McGhee of Toni's Praise Place in Kalamazoo, in July. The purpose of the March was to recognize past youth violence in Kalamazoo and to bring attention to the need for nonviolent resolution to conflict. Lowey wrote a letter to the editor, which appeared in the Kalamazoo Gazette on Tuesday, September 9, that criticized the Gazette for headlining violence in the past and ignoring this Peace March. Through the efforts of Lowey and others, we are now known to Toni McGhee's group.

2) We will have a DoP information table at the Southwest Michigan Harvest Festival at Tiller's International in Scotts on Sunday, September 21. This will be the third year we will have had a table at this popular event. In the past, several dozen people have taken interest in the DoP message. If you can be there to talk with people about the DoP, even for an hour or so, please contact John Kinch at 269-345-3967.

3) Our recent financial donation to the PeaceJam youth group at Kalamazoo Valley Community College is helping members of that organization attend a large international PeaceJam gathering in Los Angeles this weekend. During the upcoming semester, members of the DoP will attend a PeaceJam meeting at KVCC to share DoP information with more students there.

4) We will soon make a financial donation to the PeaceJam club at Kalamazoo Central High School, which, we believe, will further DoP contacts and awareness among the students at that school.

5) The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is organizing a Season of Forgiveness that will run from January 17 through March 28. As a result of our interaction with PeaceJam, the KSO has asked the DoP to participate in this series of community events. Other participants in this Season of Forgiveness include the Fetzer Institute, PeaceJam, ISAAC, the Northside Ministerial Alliance, WMU, WGVU, the City of Kalamazoo, and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee. We will have more on this activity as it develops.

6) Persons from a new wellness directory, to be published by an organization known as CoSozo, contacted us and offered a free listing in their upcoming publication.

7) We are exploring the possibility of participating in Peace Week on the Western Michigan University campus in October.

8) We will reach out to the community more with the upcoming Swami Beyondananda show next Friday and our first Peace Variety Show on Friday, November 19.

9) Our Peace Choir will debut at that Variety Show.

Here's the significance of these opportunities.

When our DoP chapter formed only a little more than two years ago, we set two primary objectives: one, to lobby our Congressman on behalf of the Department of Peace and Nonviolence legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 808); and, two, to bring awareness of the DoP to more citizens in Michigan's 6th Congressional District.

We are doing the lobby work and doing so on an all-partisan basis. We have met several times with Congressman Fred Upton. We met two years ago with Congressional Candidate Kim Clark. And we have met with current Congressional Candidate Don Cooney.

Now, the fact that other organizations, such as the KSO, are reaching out to us and asking us to be involved in their events is a sign that we are also gaining the community and citizen recognition for which we strive.

Thanks to all of you who are making this happen, either through your positive thought energies or your physical time and efforts.
  
             

 

 

   Last updated:
September 12, 2008