FYI – save the date:  Sunday, May 8th, 2011 — 3rd Annual Mother’s Day Walkathon.

Yay of the day goes to the Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas for ordaining gay and lesbian deacons.  Founded in 1952, Royal Lane was one of the first churches in their area on integrate their pews and ordain women as deacons.  Their latest act of righteousness has caused their ouster from the Baptist General Convention of Texas.  As one of their deacons was quoted as saying, “To say something is wrong with homosexuals is to say God made a mistake.  I can’t buy into that.”  (source: The Week).

Save the date:  Sunday, May 9, 2010 for the 2nd annual FUUB microcredit 10K Mother’s Day Walkathon in Brooklyn, NY.  Rain or shine.

Had a productive and nourishing strategy meeting this morning with my always-inspiring partners in crime, Pat Bernstein and Sarah Stevens-Miles.  We’re on!!

Last year our first walkathon successfully funded our second village bank in Haiti through FINCA.  This year we will absolutely fund Bank #3.  Do I hear Bank #4?

500 people x $10 = Village Bank.

For the immediate future, all donations to STILLERSTRONG will go to earthquake emergency relief efforts.

I believe strongly that Haiti has a stable, peaceful and prosperous future so please remember that while this crisis is overwhelming and requires our focus today, the majority of  Haitians are already living in staggering poverty, still recovering from the devastating mudslides and famine of the past few years and need our on-going support.

Please keep the children of Ceverine and the women of the Fraternimite Bank near to your hearts.

You can watch Ben Stiller talking with CNN about STILLERSTRONG  http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/12/22/cho.ben.stiller.charity.cnn?iref=allsearch

and you can buy a groovy yellow headband here: http://www.merchdirect.com/stillerstrong

• You can make a donation through the American Red Cross’ International Response Fund, and it will be allocated specifically for Haiti relief efforts;
• Action Against Hunger has mobilized an emergency response and has teams already on the ground, assessing and responding to needs;
• Mercy Corps has a way for you to donate your money straight to their efforts in Haiti, and Unicef also has a donation site set up;
• The United Nations World Food Program has teams “already on the scene, mobilizing emergency food assistance to families.” To support these efforts, you can make an emergency donation here;
• Operation Blessing International also has disaster relief teams on the way. A donation of $50 or more will bring emergency food, water, medicine and more to the quake victims;
• Project HOPE, which provide medical supplies and health care services to those in need, is seeking donations for their aid efforts in Haiti;
• The Salvation Army is also sending personnel and supplies to assist in the relief effort, and needs of donations;
• Yele, an organization set up by musician Wyclef Jean, a native Haitian, is an additional option.

• American Jewish World Service is collecting donations for its “Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund,” which will help “their network of grantees in Haiti to meet the urgent needs of the population based on real-time, on-the-ground assessments.”
• Baptist Global Response, which coordinates the mercy efforts of the Southern Baptist Convention, is sending a team from Florida to help for its initial outreach. In addition to donations, the organization asks that concerned individuals join in focused prayer for Haiti’s 9 million people.
• Compassion International, the world’s largest Christian child development program, serves 64,000 sponsored children in Haiti, most near the earthquake zone. Their website allows donors to earmark contributions for Haiti.
• The Episcopal Diocese of New York, which has Haitian congregations and a partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, is collecting aid both through the diocese and through the national denomination’s Episcopal Relief and Development;
• Samaritan’s Purse, the international aid and development group headed by Rev. Franklin Graham, landed a medical supplies flight with teams of emergency medical workers Wednesday morning and will begin pouring in additional aid as needs become clear.

My apologies for being away for so long.  I was attending to pressing family matters but am happy to be back spreading good cheer and the good word about Microcredit.

This time of year reminds us to give in so many ways and it’s a great time to participate as a family or whatever small community you are lucky to create.  For Thanksgiving this year we were blessed to have my brother, Rob, and his family in from California + my nephew Jonathan down from Emerson in Boston.  I searched long and hard from something we could do as a family and was delighted to connect with God’s Love We Deliver  (http://www.godslovewedeliver.org/), a New York City based organization that provides meals and nutritional counseling to men, women and children living with life-altering illnesses.

On Thanksgiving clients received a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings plus a beautiful gift basket.  Over 600 meals were delivered in Brooklyn alone.  It was powerful for the kids to meet the clients, the majority of whom live at or below the poverty level.  Every single person we met was genuinely delighted when they heard us arrive with “Happy Thanksgiving! God’s Love We Deliver!”

Rob, Jamie, Chloe-Kate & Cathy ready to deliver

It was also SundayOUT in Philadelphia, an annual gay rights event.   As we were coming out of Independence Hall, Michael Guest, the first openly gay US Ambassador (to Romania) approved by Senate,  was speaking to a spirited rain-soaked crowd while a small but vocal group of anti-gay protestors were excersising their rights to freedom of expression.   I was happy as always to point out to my kids our right to peaceful assembly.   (I have to say, though, if you’re going to use Leviticus as the basis of your argument are you not, therefore, obligated to keep kosher as well? )

So many of the poor and extremely poor people in this world do not have the means or individual freedoms to gather peacefully and have their voices heard.  Lifting people out of poverty through Micrcredit makes a tangible difference locally and globally and contributes to peace and political stability.  Please donate to our Village Banking campaign with FINCA!

Before I close I want to say a big thank you to the Phillies’ fans at Citizens Park.  They were gracious in victory and I was impressed how they embrace common civility in the City of Brotherly Love.   New Yorkers — we should take note.

–BBA

Thank you!  Thank you! To everyone who donated.  Special thanks to Sarah Stevens-Miles and Pat Bernstein who nourish this program in so many ways.

In the days just after our walkathon former president, Bill Clinton, was named UN Special Envoy to Haiti.   Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized how important it is to help Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere and it is everyone’s hope that former president Clinton’s special brand of dynamism can bring not only much-needed money and attention to Haiti but be a force for stability and unity so the nation can start to build and move forward.

For anyone visiting us for the first time, a hearty crew of us are walking 10 kilometers through Brooklyn, NY this Sunday, Mother’s Day, to raise money to start 2 new microcredit banks through FINCA’s Village Banking program.  We’ll be starting and ending on the steps of First Unitarian Church on Pierrepont Street in the Heights.   Donations are always gratefully accepted.

Things to do:

–  ask the fabulous and talented THOMAS GIGLIO (google alerts!) to make a last-minute flyer we can post inside and out of First Unitarian Brooklyn this Sunday.

–  remind fellow walkers to send another email blast to family and friends

– print map of our 10k route

Easy!  DONATE NOW!

–BBA

Big hugs to you, Thomas!!

–BBA

My 10K training has been thwarted today by rain — okay, it’s a drizzle — but I promise I’ll be back out there when the clouds clear and the pollen is washed away.  Speaking of drizzles, I’ve been loving this olive oil, Zatoun, from Palestine my sister-in-law, Nancy, gave me.   It’s cold-pressed and fair trade but more than that it’s part of the Trees For Life program — Planting Peace in Palestine.   For $20 4 olive trees will be planted, making an investment in hope and peace.

Speaking of $20, your donation to FUUB Microcredit will make a huge difference in the life of a Haitian family.  Want to know how?  Click here.

Ciao,

BBA