Minutes for MPJC Meeting of October 7, 2010

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

Old business
    1.  Approval of Minutes for September 7: The minutes were approved as written

    2. Progress Reports
        a. Topic of the Month: Food Justice: There were four email comments about this position statement after Peter posted the policy on the listserv. Ellyn mentioned that chickens are noisy and that rabbits would be quieter. John noted that none of the food pantries carry fresh fruits and vegetables except occasionally. Rey mentioned that these food pantries do not have refrigerators needed to keep fresh produce. We wondered if anyone could be found to donate coolers to food pantries. One problem is that there is fairly rapid food pantry turnover. We decided to add a sentence encouraging efforts to reduce wasted food and develop methods to prolong food life after a long discussion about all the perfectly good food that is thrown out at many institutions we frequent. Joe emailed a paragraph on organic agriculture which we decided to add to our statement with a couple of changes. After changing the sentence about bringing supermarkets to their knees, we approved the policy. Peter will post the final draft on the list serve, and, if there is no objection after a week, he will post it on the web.

        b. September 21 International Day for Prayer for Peace: This celebration was very meaningful and went smoothly. The diverse representation of clergy have no other opportunity to interact with one another. We were in sync with people all over the world. The puzzle did not work out as well as hoped since it was hard to understand what the pieces represented.

        c. David Rovics concert: His music and lyrics were very creative even though they seemed to celebrate violence and war (as long as the protagonists were on the right side of the struggle). There were about fifty folks of various ages in attendance and the space was very impressive. Kudos to Paul for arranging a new venue in town.

        d. IPJN News: We were glad that Sheila came to the last meeting. Ellyn will send email addresses for Wanda and herself, as Sheila lost the paper with their requests to be put on the ipjn listserv. Hopefully someone from our group will participate in the ipjn conference calls.

        e. October 2 DC rally: It was well covered by the national media. No local coverage. It seemed smaller than the tea party rally. We need to write letters to the editor this week to pressure politicians and candidates to commit to ending war.

        f. MoveOn campaign against Washington corruption: We have not heard anything more on this. Lori came to the Gingrinch vigil and wanted to make sure someone from MPJC was on the local Board. We thought Rey was filling this role. The Gingrinch rally came off very well. We got some coverage in the Tribune as the loyal opposition. Folks holding the Newt signs were asked to explain them, which they did very well. Pam asked folks to call her the next time we have a special vigil.

        g. LaSalle Library Update: There was a good showing at the library board meeting and the board agreed to keep LaSalle operation in the budget which will be approved on October 26. The Library director said he may need to make cuts in the budget later in the year when the state funding becomes clearer. We noted that the library sale has moved downtown from the west side, giving folks another reason not to travel to the LaSalle branch. There will be a meeting at 6pm on October 13 at the LaSalle Branch to plan the presentation for the October 26th board meeting.

3. Treasurer's Report: Our bank total is $165.02 with $30 in petty cash.

New Business

    1. What do we (can we) do next? We combined this item with Other Topics and Issues.

Pam mentioned that it is worth going to tea party sponsored events. She went to a debate at St. Paul's church for State Treasurer and found that people could ask questions. She was impressed by Pete B. She was unsure when the next tea party event is.

There will be a League of Women Voters sponsored debate with the candidates for 2nd district U.S. Representative 8:00-9:30pm on Wednesday, October 13, at WNIT studios. It will be televised live.

Peter and Ellyn went to the October 6 Fanello-Zakas debate for state senator at IUSB. It was well attended and many good questions were asked. The candidates were not very forthcoming.

Folks recommended Woodwards book, "Obama's War." Its thesis is that Obama is not in control - he has little influence over the military-industrial complex.

We decided to have a table at the Martin Luther King Day celebration at Century Center in January. The cost is $40 and Glenda Rae will submit the application. We discussed doing a workshop on the money wasted on war. We wondered who could lead it. Ellyn was to contact Joe Miller if he is in town. We will decide at the next meeting.

On Sunday, 10/10/10, there will be a farewell tribute at Kern Road Mennonite Church for Andre Stoner-Gingrinch who is transferring to Elkhart to work at the college. Also, on that day from 3-5pm at the Civil Rights Center (Natatorium) on Washington St., there will be a program "Be Green to Save Green," aimed at low-income folks although all are welcome. This program will be celebrated with 6300 events in 187 countries.

On October 17 at 1:30 in front of Morris Auditorium, there will be a healing service for victims of domestic violence.

On Thursday, October 28, the annual Marcellus Day walk will start at 3:00 at Seitz Park. There will be a reenactment of his martyrdom at 5pm at Holy Cross College, followed by a soup supper at 6 and keynote address by Bill Cavanaugh at 7. On Friday, October 29, from 8:30-12:30 there will be a workshop in Gedes Hall (Center for Social Concerns) at Notre
Dame led by Bill.

At 12:30 on November 11 at the Hesburgh Center at Notre Dame, there will be a talk on "Lessons from the South African miracle."

    2. Topic of the Month: We decided to work on the "End War, Reduce the Deficit," topic for next time.

    3. Other Topics and Issues: See above.

    4. Next meeting: The next meeting will be on Thursday, November 11, at 7pm at Peter and Ellyn's.