PERSONAL NEWS #65
Thursday, July 21st, was the NYC Dept of Peace monthly board meeting. All members were present except for Vlad and we had a guest [ie: Janet C] join us. A few DoP members had met Janet back in early April, while attending a FOR Non-Violent Weekend Training course. It was great seeing her again. Between Joe, Kevin and myself ... we provided some delicious, yummy goodies for all to partake of during the 2-hour meeting. Which, I might add, was very productive and fun. We tied up alot of loose ends regarding our upcoming "congressional training" event on the 23rd. Plus, we discussed the September Peace Conference, which is being held in Washington DC. [I'm saving money for the conference fee, meals and travel expenses. I'll be staying with my dear friends Nancie and Tim.]



After the meeting, several of us were hanging outside of Karen's office building talking, when we heard a loud clattering noise behind us. When we turned we saw part of a wooden restaurant sign on the ground and a young woman hopping on one foot clasping the other. She was definitely in pain and then we saw blood seep through her clasped hands. DoP members to the rescue! While Carol used her cell phone to call 911, we descended on the suffering woman to help out. [Whoever said New Yorkers are cold and heartless is a liar.] I grabbed two chairs from the restaurants outside dining tables for the young lady to sit on. [We later learned she was visiting NYC from Columbia and her name was Monica.] Several of us went inside the restaurant to find management, large cloth napkins & ice, plus find Monica's friend. All this was accomplished within 5 to 15 minutes, plus two people who were eating at the outside dining area also assisted AND even a passerby. We New Yorkers even helped the suffering gal with calling another friend. Monica's English wasn't that good, but she was very thankful for our help. Also, Janet gave Monica her name and cell phone number. May I add we did not leave the young woman’s side until the ambulance showed up and took her to the nearest hospital, along with her male companion. Definitely main topic of discussion while walking to the subway afterwards.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ... One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. Martin Luther King

On Saturday, July 23rd, the NYC DoP group held its first "CongressionalTraining" event and guest speaker was Lynn McMullen from Peace Alliance. [She’s such a font of info, energy & inspiration.] Ecstatic that the nasty humidity and heat wave we'd been experiencing broke the night before and Saturday turned into a gorgeous clear day. It felt wonderful! Our event was held at a spiritual center down in the SoHo district of Manhattan. [One can take the #6 subway to Spring Street. Lots of awesome shopping and cafes in this funky area.] My food contribution to the event was homemade chocolate chip cookies, fudgy brownies and two different kinds of hummus. I also contributed copies of DoP info and other documentation. Due to subway trouble, which is typical for NYC on weekends, I was about 10 minutes late. Even though we’d seen each other Thursday evening, we all shared good wishes and hugs. One of my duties was as welcoming committee to our attendants, of which about 35+ showed up. This duty meant that I would miss out on the 30 minute meditation segment before the training began. The “congressional training” started at 1pm and was to run until 4:45pm. Lynn asked those attending their thoughts and/or comments on Dept of Peace. Some of the responses were:

1] World going to “hell in a handbag” and wants to be part of the change.
2] Curious about Politians response.
3] Learn about organization.
4] Vision for future and wants to be part of it.
5] Very concerned about terrorism and violence.
6] Wants people to wake up.
7] Declaration of peace at Constitutional level.
8] Learn non violent ways to speak and present ideas to others.

Lynn had some positive things to announce. One of which is that the Dept of Peace campaign now has 235 active Congressional District Team Leaders in the US. [Of which the Duchess is one of them in District 12.] She also said that “peace is a human desire”. Let me lightly touch on some topics Lynn talked about in relation to DoP. They were lobbying, reintroducing the bill, talking to senators, prison systems, Susan B. Anthony, schools, police/fire departments, poverty, domestic violence, the Peace Corps and volunteering. After a short break we split up into District Teams and worked on assignments given us by Lynn. [She stressed that honesty and integrity are key.] We networked, made connections and left feeling very inspired. Overall the whole event was an invigorating success.

P.S. Stay tuned for more "personal news" updates.