WILPF BUSINESS MEETING
February 7, Thursday, 7PM, at Fresno Center for Nonviolence, 1584 N Van Ness. This meeting is open to all members.WOMEN IN BLACK
February 6, first Wednesday of each month at noon at Fresno County Courthouse; come on the month in which your birthday falls! Wear black, bring a sign if you wish, and stand in silence for peace.)STIR IT UP – WILPF – ON KFCF 88.1 FM (LISTENER-SUPPORTED FREE SPEECH RADIO FOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA)
February 27 3PM (4th Wednesday of each month) Jean Hays does outstanding interviews on subjects involving WILPF interests and activities. Let Jean know if you have ideas for a program. Listen!
Also on KFCF 88.1: WILPF member Dr Jean Kennedy, Keeping It Real 9PM every TuesdayRAGING GRANNIES
Meetings on selected Mondays at 7PM. Call Ellie at 229-9807 for details.
ONE BILLION RISING EVENT FEBRUARY 14
“One Billion Women Dancing is a Revolution”
WILPF invites anyone and everyone to the One Billion Rising event on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14th. We will dance in support of a global revolution to end violence against women and girls everywhere. Men are invited too! For details of the event go to www.onebillionrising.org <http://www.onebillionrising.org> , click on “Start/Join”, enter your zip code and click “Find Events.” Or contact Kyla Mitchell at kyla.noelle@gmail.com for local information. Come join the world and RISE, DANCE, STRIKE!
MEGHAN WALSH REPORTS FROM LEBANON: REVITALIZING WILPF
Meghan Walsh was asked by International WILPF to go to Lebanon for some weeks. This is a first-hand report:
I worked with the Lebanon Young WILPF representative, Anja Najjar. She and I met frequently throughout my time there and we met with various like-minded organizations in Beirut, including ABAAD- The Center for Resource Equality, Nasawiya- A Feminist Collective, and the Human Rights Club at the American University of Beirut. WILPF Lebanon has been on and off throughout the years, so we attempted to support other organizations and make connections since WILPF did not have any projects of their own at this time.
Anja and I, along with the Human Rights Club, planned an event called ‘Feminism and Human Rights’ that occurred on December 13 at the American University.
Representatives from all the above groups spoke about their organizations, as did Anja and I. We wanted to recruit new members for young WILPF and we hope we did. I will check with Anja about progress. Also, I got to meet with Aneeseh Najjar, who is the founder of WILPF Lebanon. She is 99 years old!
WILPF-CALIFORNIA BEGINS ACTION
Jean Hays and Barbara Reed traveled to Oakland on Jan. 19 to be a part of an exciting new WILPF collaboration. Here is the Mission Statement:
WILPF-CALIFORNIA will actively promote legislative bills and ballot measures as determined by the California WILPF Branches and at-large members at each Cluster Meeting and by inter-branch communication as the need arises.
A core committee will be empowered to write letters of support, join lobbying efforts, and endorse designated legislative bills and ballot measures in the name of all the California WILPF groups, branches and at-large members. The core committee will organize collective action among the branches and at-large members with greater efficiency and timeliness than now exists. It will streamline the process of getting endorsements and organizing lobbying.
WILPF-CALIFORNIA will be a line of communication to all the groups, branches and at-large members for information dissemination, recruiting calls, letters to legislators, and quick decision-making.
Watch this page for upcoming legislative issues WILPF California will be working on.
SPRING CALIFORNIA CLUSTER MEETING IN FRESNO
WILPF Fresno will host the Spring WILPF California Cluster meeting in the Spring, either April 27 or May 4 at the home of Pat Wolk. Watch this space for date and details. We need volunteers to serve on the Cluster Planning Committee. We last hosted the Spring Cluster in 2008. The committee met several times, collaborated on responsibilities, and thoroughly enjoyed working together. Please consider being a Cluster planner. Duties are not overwhelming……..in fact, they are fun! To volunteer, or to find out more details, call Jean Hays at 559-313-7674.
WELCOME BARBARA REED
WILPF Fresno is happy and excited to welcome Barbara Reed to its branch. A long-time WILPFer, Barbara comes to us from West Palm Beach, where she was active in its branch. She has also served on the WILPF National Program Committee and is currently a member of the board of the Jane Addams Peace Association (JAPA). Barbara will be working with the Catholic Worker people in Fresno and is enthusiastically jumping into the various WILPF branch activities. Welcome, Barbara! We are excited and pleased to have you in our branch!
CORRECTION: HURRICANE RELIEF
As you know, Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of the northeastern US, Eastern Cuba, and Haiti. IFCO, the parent organization of Pastors for Peace – sponsors of the Caravan to Cuba – is prepared to offer help in the US, in Haiti, and in Cuba. Details and an appeal for contributions were in the January issue of the Community Alliance on the WILPF page, but there was a misprint in the address. The complete address is:
IFCO
418 W. 145th St
New York, NY 10031
(Luckily, the IFCO office believes the mail will arrive anyway, even with the incomplete address.)
Or get details and contribute on the website: www.ifconews.org/
