As we strive for justice and peace, we can learn from what each other are doing. We can share in our successes and collaborate on our challenges. Post your stories - from everyday advocacy (the little things that sometimes happen and you even don't realize they're advocacy until it's over) to parish and community efforts that you are a part of. This is the place for Episcopalians to share how we are striving for justice and peace! Take a few minutes to tell us how you've made a difference in your community. You'll be amazed at how just one story – yours – could inspire people around the world. We welcome your contribution!
Since the beginning of the AIDS Walk in New York City over twenty years ago, there have been individual Episcopalians and certain Episcopal parishes walking to raise money for prevention of the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus and for services to those suffering from its effects. Initially, those monies they raised always went to G.M.H.C. (Gay Men's Health Crisis), which sponsored the Walk. Many of those same individual walkers and many of those same parishes also volunteered HIV/AIDS ministries in their local settings, often emphasizing healing for some of the spiritual dimensions of the pandemic or providing "safety nets" for PLWAs who sometimes fell through the cracks in public services.
In 2001, two of those parishes decided to create some interparish fellowship by sharing a Eucharist before the Walk and a luncheon afterwards. One of the parishioners, Donald Snyder, then came up with the idea of a coalition team for Episcopalians, not unlike those that some industries have. . .
I am a member of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, MN. I am also a pediatrician. The Episcopal Church in Haiti (a member of Episcopal Church USA) has a parish partnership program, by which a parish in Haiti is partnered with a parish in the US. . . On my first trip to Haiti, I met a Haitian nurse who conducts nutrition clinics for young malnourished infants and children in several communities. Before I knew what I was saying, I told her I wanted to come back and help her conduct mobile medical clinics for the people of these communities. . . I felt that God was calling me to this work. . .
Back in college in the 1960s my roommate was a girl from the Congo named Ruth Musunu. We parted in 1968 and didn't see each other again for 37 years. But we kept in touch. We each raised a family and were happy when email made it easier to stay connected. She started a non governmental organization in Cameroon where she and her husband had settled, and in 2007 our college, Linfield College of McMinnville, Oregon, sent 15 nursing students to work with women and children in the villages her NGO (Women, Environment, and Health (WEH))serves near Douala.... had promised Ruth in college that one day I would visit her in Africa. Clearly the time had come. On the day after Christmas, 2008, 43 years after I had made that promise, I flew to Douala and spent six weeks with Ruth and her husband, Raphael Titi Manyaka...
In 2000 I did a Servant Leadership course with our rector and other seeking Christians. At the time the Boll Weevil EradicationProgram (BWEP)was cranking up to spray all cotton fields in our area. Earlier, while I farmed with my father, I had a hose burst and douse me with a diluted Malathion mixture, which had almost caused asphyxiation. Since Malathion was the chemical used in the BWEP, I was concerned about my farm neighbors who had babies, asthma, or emphsysema. I got all the data I could about BWEP, informed them of people not to spray around, then started an activist group: People Insisting on Their Children's Health (PITCH).
Later I joined with a larger group SOCM in the east and middle Tennessee to launch a legislative campaign for buffer zones around houses, schools,churches; registration of vulnerable people (to be informed before nearby spraying); and other people-protective laws. During the five years I headed the Aerial Spraying Campaign we had doctors (including the head of the American Lung Assoc.) take their valuable time to speak on our behalf, took lots of seriously- affected to lobby for our bills, but eventually were out-lobbyed by Farm Bureau. During this period I prayed with people hurt by spraying and had two people just down the road from me die, both with severe repiratory problems.
My parish is one of three churches working together on a food pantry. It is pretty interesting to have Presbyterians, Lutherans and Episcopalians all working together! My particular job varies from New Client intake to checking in clients before they receive their food. It says a lot that several of our clients also volunteer -- working in the kitchen, wheeling out groceries or helping in the shopping area. Some of our clients come in once and we never see them again, but others are regulars -- the ones we worry about if they don't come in.
I am a member of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, MN. I am also a pediatrician. The Episcopal Church in Haiti (a member of Episcopal Church USA) has a parish partnership program, by which a parish in Haiti is partnered with a parish in the US. . . On my first trip to Haiti, I met a Haitian nurse who conducts nutrition clinics for young malnourished infants and children in several communities. Before I knew what I was saying, I told her I wanted to come back and help her conduct mobile medical clinics for the people of these communities. . . I felt that God was calling me to this work. . .
Back in college in the 1960s my roommate was a girl from the Congo named Ruth Musunu. We parted in 1968 and didn't see each other again for 37 years. But we kept in touch. We each raised a family and were happy when email made it easier to stay connected. She started a non governmental organization in Cameroon where she and her husband had settled, and in 2007 our college, Linfield College of McMinnville, Oregon, sent 15 nursing students to work with women and children in the villages her NGO (Women, Environment, and Health (WEH))serves near Douala.... had promised Ruth in college that one day I would visit her in Africa. Clearly the time had come. On the day after Christmas, 2008, 43 years after I had made that promise, I flew to Douala and spent six weeks with Ruth and her husband, Raphael Titi Manyaka...
