We had our final training session tonight. You should have been there to witness the Muslim American Society group do the RESULTS Basics test! I was so proud of them I could bust. And we had a gentleman sit in on the training who before the night was over asked to join RESULTS. His name is Fousseni Assoumanou and he is originally from West Africa. Then after the training Mona Elkhaldy introduced me to Dhuha Tawil and we talked about microcredit and we talked about lobbying and she wants to be part of RESULTS as well! I am so excited for the November 17 meeting when everyone gets to meet everyone.
I have learned a lot from our newest activists. Kelly Soliman works at HACAP and sees poverty and hunger every day. Idris Abdul Hafiz is an engineer and has an engineer's organization that he would like to collaborate with on RESULTS issues. Aisha Nichols is interested in early childhood education as she runs the daycare at MAS. Mohamed Soliman is a genius at graphic design and wants to work with the media. And Mohamed Taha wasn't able to make it tonight but I saw him before the training session and he is so enthused about working with RESULTS.
I am just so grateful to God for growing our RESULTS group this way.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Domestic Call October 30
Lois and I were the only group leaders on the call with Douglas, so it was a quick call today. We talked about the October action of writing letters to the editor about healthcare for all. And Douglas asked about fundraising -- how we were coming with our "bread bake-off," as he lovingly called it.
Meredith Dodson had her baby -- about eight days after her due date. But both mom and baby are doing well. They haven't named him yet as they are waiting a little bit to see which of the names they've picked fits his personality. You can see his pictures at http://rookieindc.blogspot.com/.
I reported that tonight is the final training session for our activists at the Muslim American Society and that in November they would be joining the rest of the Cedar Rapids group, who are quite excited about them joining in. Lois and Douglas were both very pleased indeed.
Douglas is going to help people in St. Petersburg, FL get to the polls on Tuesday. Lois is going to work in her Congressman's office to help people in Baltimore get to the polls. I'm going to work as a greeter in my precinct, welcoming people, getting them to sign the roster for the poll watchers and directing them to the correct line. Then I'll thank them for coming in after they've voted. My mother is going to come to my apartment in the afternoon to feed Piphi her lunch. I don't want her to go hungry as I have to be gone from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Piphi hisses at Mom, but she takes it in stride; she just says, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."
There was an older man who lived in Idaho and had always planted potatoes in his garden. But he was getting older and feeling too weak to go out and plow the garden. So he wrote to his son, Bubba, who was in prison. So he wrote this letter.
Dear Bubba,
I'm feeling too old to plow the garden for potatoes this year. I'm afraid without you here I won't be able to do it.
Love,
Dad
Dear Dad,
For heaven's sake, don't plow the garden! That's where I buried the bodies!
Love,
Bubba
The next day a group of agents from the FBI came and dug all through the garden looking for bodies, but found none. They apologized to the old man for the damage they had done to his property and left. The next day the man received a second letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
Now you can plant your potatoes. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love,
Bubba
Meredith Dodson had her baby -- about eight days after her due date. But both mom and baby are doing well. They haven't named him yet as they are waiting a little bit to see which of the names they've picked fits his personality. You can see his pictures at http://rookieindc.blogspot.com/.
I reported that tonight is the final training session for our activists at the Muslim American Society and that in November they would be joining the rest of the Cedar Rapids group, who are quite excited about them joining in. Lois and Douglas were both very pleased indeed.
Douglas is going to help people in St. Petersburg, FL get to the polls on Tuesday. Lois is going to work in her Congressman's office to help people in Baltimore get to the polls. I'm going to work as a greeter in my precinct, welcoming people, getting them to sign the roster for the poll watchers and directing them to the correct line. Then I'll thank them for coming in after they've voted. My mother is going to come to my apartment in the afternoon to feed Piphi her lunch. I don't want her to go hungry as I have to be gone from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Piphi hisses at Mom, but she takes it in stride; she just says, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."
There was an older man who lived in Idaho and had always planted potatoes in his garden. But he was getting older and feeling too weak to go out and plow the garden. So he wrote to his son, Bubba, who was in prison. So he wrote this letter.
Dear Bubba,
I'm feeling too old to plow the garden for potatoes this year. I'm afraid without you here I won't be able to do it.
Love,
Dad
Dear Dad,
For heaven's sake, don't plow the garden! That's where I buried the bodies!
Love,
Bubba
The next day a group of agents from the FBI came and dug all through the garden looking for bodies, but found none. They apologized to the old man for the damage they had done to his property and left. The next day the man received a second letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
Now you can plant your potatoes. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love,
Bubba
Global Call Oct 29
News is spreading about Congressman Loebsack signing on to the World Bank letter. Allison said she's telling everyone about it. This is his first time in responding to a RESULTS request for global issues, and trusting he's going to be reelected, I'm looking forward to working with him more in the future. He is so sensitive to domestic poverty, I am tremendously encouraged that now he is looking at global poverty with the same heart.
Our next job is the Senate World Bank letter. It's only open until November 19, and our meeting is November 17, so we will be writing letters that night. I'll have your letters to Loebsack from the October meeting that you can use as a template if you like. Also, the activists from the Muslim American Society will be at our November meeting and will share the letters they wrote at their last training session.
Our next job is the Senate World Bank letter. It's only open until November 19, and our meeting is November 17, so we will be writing letters that night. I'll have your letters to Loebsack from the October meeting that you can use as a template if you like. Also, the activists from the Muslim American Society will be at our November meeting and will share the letters they wrote at their last training session.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Domestic Call October 23
We didn't have anything new to talk about today. Healthcare for All is the action for October and fundraising efforts were updated. I shared about how well the training at the Muslim American Society went. Douglas was interested to hear that one of the six had only been in the country four days.
I haven't yet called Senators Grassley and Harkin. I also have to call Congressman Loebsack's Washington office to check on when he is going to sign the World Bank letter. I also need to call his Cedar Rapids office to get on the list for a face-to-face meeting.
I haven't yet called Senators Grassley and Harkin. I also have to call Congressman Loebsack's Washington office to check on when he is going to sign the World Bank letter. I also need to call his Cedar Rapids office to get on the list for a face-to-face meeting.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Global Call October 22
Allison started the call by reading a portion of the commencement address given by Bill Gates at Harvard. Truly inspiring. She is going to send it to me and I will share it here. It can be found at the end of this blog entry.
We're still working on getting Congressman Loebsack to sign on to the World Bank letter. At Cornell last Friday seven students made phone calls to his Washington office. At our meeting Monday we wrote six letters. At the training last night at the Muslim American Society I gave the six new RESULTS volunteers the Congressman's phone number and Megan's name, and the laser talk from the website, and encouraged them to get their feet wet by making a call and leaving a message for Meagan. I left seven messages before I got to speak with her personally. Persistence is the key, I guess.
The Senate World Bank letter is now ready so I'm going to make calls tomorrow morning to Senators Grassley and Harkin.
I need to tell you something exciting about the training last night at MAS. A week ago there was a man in Egypt who committed suicide because he couldn't afford to feed his 12 children. We talked about what a tragedy that was, and what a microcredit loan could have meant to that family. More powerful stories are going to be shared.
You'll be truly excited by these newest members of our group, as I am. During welcome and introductions at our November meeting we'll see how much we all have in common, and how we are all going to be enriched by these new relationships.
Bill Gates address:
You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the world’s inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope you’ve had a chance to think about how – in this age of accelerating technology – we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.
Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause – and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?
For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year – none of them in the United States.
We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren’t being delivered.
If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: “This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.”
So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: “How could the world let these children die?”
The answer is simple, and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.
But you and I have both.
We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism – if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities. We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.
If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world. This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.
We're still working on getting Congressman Loebsack to sign on to the World Bank letter. At Cornell last Friday seven students made phone calls to his Washington office. At our meeting Monday we wrote six letters. At the training last night at the Muslim American Society I gave the six new RESULTS volunteers the Congressman's phone number and Megan's name, and the laser talk from the website, and encouraged them to get their feet wet by making a call and leaving a message for Meagan. I left seven messages before I got to speak with her personally. Persistence is the key, I guess.
The Senate World Bank letter is now ready so I'm going to make calls tomorrow morning to Senators Grassley and Harkin.
I need to tell you something exciting about the training last night at MAS. A week ago there was a man in Egypt who committed suicide because he couldn't afford to feed his 12 children. We talked about what a tragedy that was, and what a microcredit loan could have meant to that family. More powerful stories are going to be shared.
You'll be truly excited by these newest members of our group, as I am. During welcome and introductions at our November meeting we'll see how much we all have in common, and how we are all going to be enriched by these new relationships.
Bill Gates address:
You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the world’s inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope you’ve had a chance to think about how – in this age of accelerating technology – we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.
Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause – and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?
For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year – none of them in the United States.
We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren’t being delivered.
If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: “This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.”
So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: “How could the world let these children die?”
The answer is simple, and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.
But you and I have both.
We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism – if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities. We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.
If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world. This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Domestic Call October 16
Douglas asked if we'd written our LTEs (letters to the editor) about healthcare. That will be an option for us next Monday night. We'll also have the option on writing to Congressman Loebsack about signing on to the World Bank President letter on microcredit.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Global and Domestic Calls
We're still working on the House microcredit letter. I have to call Meagan Linn back (in Loebsack's office) and follow up on him signing it. I also want to talk to Jos to see if we should be working on Bruce Braley in Iowa's First District, since there's no RESULTS group there.
I'm watching one of my great-nieces, Raelynn, age 6, on Friday night and Saturday, and there is a wedding at Christ Episcopal Church, so I'm not driving in for the conference calls. I may be asked to share about our herb bread fundraiser on the domestic call, so I hope Raelynn understands that Aunt Diane will be on the phone for an hour on Saturday. She'll have her videos with her and I'll get out a snack for her and Piphi should leave her alone.
The domestic call today focused on fundraising. Through our conversations, I've decided to move up to the next level of giving to RESULTS and send them a check every month rather than just once a year. The RESULTS staff has been tremendously supportive in what I find myself doing. Lisa Marchall sent me her materials from the new member training calls and I'm adapting them for the training we're going to do Oct. 21 and 28 at the Muslim American Society.
Speaking of that training, does anyone want to go along on the 28th, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. to share what RESULTS means to you? I had six people sign up, so I'm looking forward to them joining our group. Three men and three women. Leland will be pleased to not be the only man anymore!
And speaking of outreach, I'm still waiting to hear about doing an informational meeting at Temple Judah on the southeast side of town. I haven't called Rabbi Aaron lately and I should. Been up to my elbows in butter!
I'm watching one of my great-nieces, Raelynn, age 6, on Friday night and Saturday, and there is a wedding at Christ Episcopal Church, so I'm not driving in for the conference calls. I may be asked to share about our herb bread fundraiser on the domestic call, so I hope Raelynn understands that Aunt Diane will be on the phone for an hour on Saturday. She'll have her videos with her and I'll get out a snack for her and Piphi should leave her alone.
The domestic call today focused on fundraising. Through our conversations, I've decided to move up to the next level of giving to RESULTS and send them a check every month rather than just once a year. The RESULTS staff has been tremendously supportive in what I find myself doing. Lisa Marchall sent me her materials from the new member training calls and I'm adapting them for the training we're going to do Oct. 21 and 28 at the Muslim American Society.
Speaking of that training, does anyone want to go along on the 28th, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. to share what RESULTS means to you? I had six people sign up, so I'm looking forward to them joining our group. Three men and three women. Leland will be pleased to not be the only man anymore!
And speaking of outreach, I'm still waiting to hear about doing an informational meeting at Temple Judah on the southeast side of town. I haven't called Rabbi Aaron lately and I should. Been up to my elbows in butter!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Domestic Call Thursday, Oct 2
I updated the group leaders on the success of the informational meeting at MAS Iowa (Muslim American Society). Next week we are going to talk about giving to RESULTS. Just as a reminder, at our January meeting I'll be asking for your annual $35 dues checks.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
October 1 Global Call
First item of business, the Holt-Carter letter to the World Bank on microcredit is in the House waiting for Dave Loebsack's signature. I keep trying to get through to Meagan Linn. I will keep trying.
The Senate and House both have passed the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act, but at a dollar amount that is lower than in the original bill. Not to worry, says Allison. This can be corrected in the appropriations process. The bill includes money for med research, which will benefit TB pts worldwide.
October 11 global conference call will focus on fundraising. Allison said she was going to need a dollar amount for each group as a goal. I gave her $600. I talked to Trudy Stewart today -- the woman who used to coordinate the herb bread. She said people are already calling her. I'm going to have to start making some phone calls next week.
Also, heard today from Ken Patterson that his mom lives in Dubuque and he would like to start a RESULTS global group there. I know a Lutheran pastor who's been in Dubuque about two years so I'll call him tomorrow and see what kind of progress I can make toward Ken making a presentation at his church.
The Senate and House both have passed the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act, but at a dollar amount that is lower than in the original bill. Not to worry, says Allison. This can be corrected in the appropriations process. The bill includes money for med research, which will benefit TB pts worldwide.
October 11 global conference call will focus on fundraising. Allison said she was going to need a dollar amount for each group as a goal. I gave her $600. I talked to Trudy Stewart today -- the woman who used to coordinate the herb bread. She said people are already calling her. I'm going to have to start making some phone calls next week.
Also, heard today from Ken Patterson that his mom lives in Dubuque and he would like to start a RESULTS global group there. I know a Lutheran pastor who's been in Dubuque about two years so I'll call him tomorrow and see what kind of progress I can make toward Ken making a presentation at his church.
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