Schenectady Neighbors for Peace Notes from the November 24, 2008 meeting

Members present: Martin Manley, Anita Paul, Dave Gerhan, Elizabeth Villalobos, Elaine Klein, John Good

Discussion of Schenectady Holiday Parade: the consensus was that it was OK for this year, but we will not repeat the activity next year. Pros: we took part in a community event and were noticed and announced, putting forth our peace message. Con: brutally cold, dark, message may be overlooked in all the consumerism of the event.

Letter writing efforts: 

Elaine sent a follow-up letter to Mayor Bryant Stratton, requesting that he respond to our earlier request for him to sign on to the International Campaign of Mayors for Peace.

Anita will write letters to Hillary Clinton, congratulating her on her new positions and calling upon her to focus on peace and not escalate the war in Afghanistan or make war in Pakistan.

Bertha will write Paul Tonko with several peace concerns, such as leaving Iraq more sooner, working to disarm our nuclear weapons and urging other nations to do so, as well.

There is a plan to then rework these letters for letters to the editor.

John may also do a letter.

Elizabeth and Anita noted that earlier on the group had a scheduled letter writing campaign with different members taking turns.

2 Campaigns from Peace Action:

Elaine reported on the Campaign to Bring Home the NY National Guard, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which are efforts that the broader organization is hoping we will all support. Please see:  http://www.panys.org/     for details.  There are petitions online that we can all download and get signatures on. Then, we will coordinate sending them in, probably in January. This is something we can all work on.

Fundraising Discussion:

Dave said we have good funds now for what we are currently involved in. (More than $100.00 in treasury). Elaine reported we have a few potential T-shirt sales coming up. We discussed the idea of fundraising over the winter at the Farmer’s market, but decided that it may not be necessary and would require a great deal of commitment.

Dave read a thank you note for the donation that SNP made to Women Against War’s project for the local Iraqi refugee resettlement.

Elaine related that Tom Ellis will have a table for Upper Hudson Peace Action at the Peace Fair in Glens Falls, and she asked that our group donate some cranes to help with fundraising. All agreed.

Bertha reminded us about the request we made to the Eighth Step that we be allowed to sell peace crafts at concerts. Elaine will follow up with this with Margie, who was going to consult the Eighth Step Board.  It was agreed that it is late to set this up for the Reggie Harris benefit concert.

Student Connection:

Elaine reported that David Easter had been contacted by a Niskayuna student who is very active with peace matters and is interested in connecting with our group. There was a discussion of the possibility that this may lead to some connections for counter recruitment activities in the high schools.

Martin reminded us that there is a counter recruitment video that the Veterans for Peace created that we may be able to access and use.

Plans: It was decided to leave off planning new events until the next meeting in January.

Cancellation of December meeting:  It was unanimously decided that we will cancel December’s meeting, as in other years.

Next meeting: January 26, 2009  (the 4^th Monday of the month)