Minutes for MPJC Meeting of July 6, 2016

Present: Peter, Ellyn, Glenda Rae, Lois, Rey,Wanda, Galen

Old business

    1.  Approval of Minutes for April 25: The minutes were approved as written.

    2. Progress Reports

        a. Topic of the Month: Issues in Admitting Refugees into the U.S. - Rey submitted a draft of this document and Peter made some revisions. We discussed the contents and decided to put it on the listserv for comments from the whole coalition and address the issue at the next meeting. One of our comments was to add a paragraph #7 about DAPA, which allows parents of children born in the U.S. to avoid deportation. We also thought to look on the peace church and other activist group websites to see what they had to say about immigration. Wanda mentioned that some Church of the Brethren families had taken in some German and Polish refugee families at the end of WW II.

        b. Memorial Day Parade: Things worked out wonderfully after a lot of hard work by everyone. Rey was in the hospital until right before the parade and no one else could get his truck started so we arranged to borrow Joe Long's van with the trailer attached. Rey was able to drive the truck in the parade which worked out much better because there was room in the back for David James to sit while he played the guitar and sang some Peter, Paul, and Mary era songs. Lois arranged for 10 children to sit on the 20 foot farm trailer we borrowed from Joe Long. Bobbi Woods and Mike Poole came to supervise the children who were part of Mike's sports group. Peter made two 16 foot banners with the Vets for Peace slogan on both sides of the trailer. Peter and Bernie who were actual veterans held the Vets for Peace banner at the front of our contingent. Kevin helped supervise the children who walked and was ready to prop up Wanda who was sitting on the side of the truck. Lois rode shotgun in the front seat of the truck and got the bystanders to clap for the kids. Ellyn stayed home and prepared a nice Memorial day party for all after the parade. Rey suggested using music that people are more likely to sing along or mouth the words with. For example, this year it could have been "We are the World, we are the children."

        c. Book of the Month report: Rey has been reading Thomas Frank's book "Listen Liberal" which talks about the devolution of the Democratic Party from the New Deal to present. He recommends it. Ellyn has been reading "The Quartet" by Joseph Ellis, featuring Jay, Hamilton, Washington, and Madison. They were espousing a federal form of government in response to folks who thought America would become a collection of city-states similar to Germany at that time. It was after the Civil War that we became a United States.

3. Treasurer's Report: $83.72 with a $5.11 in petty cash.

New Business

    1. What do we (can we) do next? We incorporated this topic into other discussion

    2. Topic of the Month: We decided to finalize the topic: Issues in Admitting Refugees into the U.S. at the next meeting

    3. Hiroshima/Nagasaki Day Plans: Lois is interested in making some sandwich boards with a shadow person on each side (representing the only thing left of people near ground zero in Japan in 1945) and the words "Hiroshima & Nagasaki Never Again." She needs big cardboard pieces. Peter realized after the meeting that the soup kitchen uses big boxes of cups and he can gather the empty boxes over the next month. We also thought about handing out leaflets. Lois had a flyer labeled "What the World Needs" with a bunch of boxes and a section with the amounts of money needed for some of the world needs. Many of us found it confusing. Peter agreed to do up a flyer. We should investigate how much Obama is recommending to dismantle and make safer nuclear weapons as opposed to the amount being used to build new ones. We decided to walk with the sandwich boards and hand out leaflets from 11:45 - 1:15 on Monday, August 8, down by the red table gathering at Michigan and Jefferson. We also discussed making peace cranes. Lois will contact Bobbi and Mike and also the Montessori teachers about getting kids involved with that. Maybe we can sail the cranes down the St. Joe from Leeper Park if we make them out of biodegradable paper, such as newsprint. Instructions for making peace cranes are on the internet.

    4. Other Topics and Issues: On August 26th there will be a Michiana Women Celebration at 5:30pm at the Civil Rights Heritage Center on West Washington. Lois and Glenda Rae were honored last year at this event. We noted that Delores Huerta had a strong role in the founding of the United Farm Workers, but her picture does not appear on their website.

September 21 is the International Day of Prayer for Peace. In the past, the URC has coordinated an interdenominational program, but we have heard nothing for this year. Could CPNV sponsor it? Rey had suggested to the CPNV board that it broaden its base of support by going under the URC umbrella. Nothing has come of this suggestion. Pastor Brad Boher of Christ Manor Church of the Brethren and current URC president, although his term will soon expire, has just sponsored a series of Sunday evening workshops on learning about other faiths: Muslim, Jewish and others such as Baha'i, Buddhism and Sikhs.

To send a message to the list, send it to mpjc@googlegroups.com. Peter updated the website about joining googlegroups.

    5. Next meeting: Monday, August 29th, at 2:30pm at Peter and Ellyn's.