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!
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.
I have been teaching Physical Geography at the community college level since 2002. In the fall of 2005 I was preparing a lesson on climate, using a video I had made from the Weather Channel to demonstrate the anatomy of a hurricane, when Hurricane Katrina struck. By the time I got back to my class it was Wednesday into the Katrina drama and I found out that two of my students had relatives in New Orleans. As the drama unfolded, I could not help but realize how many opportunities to rescue those stranded, to save lives of those who could not evacuate were being squandered. Furthermore, to hear our government refuse assistance from Cuba, amid their failure to meet basic needs was more than I could bear. It was the first time I realized how we plan disasters out of natural events tht we fail to prepare for.
This is my story of trying to make a difference in the world around me and further away: I've been recycling since the 70's. I pick up litter everywhere I go. I've recently been entering codes from Tropicana orange juice to the Save the Rain Forest project during 2009. Each code turned in to tropicanarainforest.com saves 100 sq ft of rain forest in S. America. At my church we grow veggies for the poor, and at another church #2 and #4 plastic bags and used batteries are collected and recycled or disposed of properly. I take hazardous waste like oil-based paint to the proper disposal place, also used electronics. Those items that are reusable, I take to the Salvation Army or to the Reuse Store. I buy reused clothes. Collect money and buy groceries for the poor. I knit sweaters for poor kids and scarves for poor seamen. Give spare blankets, etc to the homeless ministry. I sponsor a child through World Vision. I buy animals from Heifer Project as gifts at Christmas. Went with a group to New Orleans where we cleaned up several homes and served a hot meal to the people living in FEMA trailers. I write my government officials to encourage them to pay attention to such bills as stopping global warning, human slave trading, racial hatred etc.
That was the title of the public forum series sponsored by the Northwest Deanery of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont in September 2006. We held four forums, one each at four different Episcopal churches in Franklin County, VT. The topics of the forums were, respectively, the Darfur crisis; the AIDS epidemic in Africa and our connection to it; economic justice; and environmental justice. Each featured a different speaker, and a grant from the diocese enabled us to pay their travel expenses and an honorarium...
