Comment

Comment by Rowan Fairgrove on January 25, 2010 at 11:42am

I thought I would mention that Kiva.org, the person-to-person microfinance site supports "lending teams". That way individual donor's contributions are aggregated into the team. There is a - "Wiccans, (neo)Pagans, Witches and fellows" team We have 130 members and have loaned $21,925.00 as of today. My lender page is here if you are interested, I just made my 50th loan last week. (I started lending via Kiva before there were teams so not all of mine are counted for our team.)

Microfinance may not be everyone's thing, but if you are a Kiva supporter, please consider joining our team.

Comment by Jennifer Surdam on January 24, 2010 at 2:29am

I kind of agree with what's been said above. I think a lot of us tend to participate more on a local level vs. a global level, which makes it less... well, global! LOL ;) Some of us also quietly attend non-faith events that just don't even have anything to do with the actual faith itself, so it's done, but done so quietly as to not let people know WHO it's from, if you get my drift. Another thing to note is that we DO perform a lot of ritual healing work, which shouldn't be overshadowed, as was mentioned.

My fear in trying to get a global Pagan initiative together is that so many Pagans have a hard time agreeing on much of anything--can we get them to agree on this? Will we (a large-scale "we") agree on this--how it will work, who will "run" in, organize it, etc? We can barely agree on what constitutes Paganism itself--can we really agree on this kind of effort? Perhaps, in the name of peace, we could all find a way to come together--it's a nice ideal, but is the ideal going to work?

Not that I want to start an argument or a fight--I'm the most peaceful person I know! But I'm also one of the most realistic. That's also why I do most of what I do on a "quiet" scale. I live in the Deep South, so perhaps that'll explain my perspective a bit--don't lynch me! LOL ;)

Hugs and BB,
jen :)

Comment by Rowan Fairgrove on January 18, 2010 at 10:01am

As folks have said, there are local efforts to support food banks and other charities. I have also found that by working in an interfaith context we can expand our reach. If the local interfaith council runs a shelter or a soup kitchen, volunteering, wearing your pentacle and being part of the team can do good work and make you part of the inter-religious network in your area which can be invaluable.

Comment by Gnwmythr on January 18, 2010 at 12:28am

I should qualify my comment a little: the annual fundraiser was started in acknolwedgement of David's point, that the pagan community tends at times to be a bit short on outreach (although there are some such groups).

Comment by Gnwmythr on January 18, 2010 at 12:25am

We have had a few pagan fundraisers here in Melbourne, with one being an annual event for a while (and may be continuing). I'd support the principle of donations/supportive actions, but they would probably have to be locally based. I think doing ritual to help shouldn't be discounted, either :)

Comment by Susan Hurrell on January 16, 2010 at 10:16am

egads. I need to get used to this keyboard. Sorry for the typos. I am literate - really.

Comment by Susan Hurrell on January 16, 2010 at 10:15am

argh - pesky new computer! Let me continue ....

the remainders going to Winnipeg Harvest. Other covens and Traditions did the same.

My question to my fellow pagan podcasters on our Facebook group - The Pagan Podcasters Network - open to anyone - was this:

Given that many Pagans call upon the Ancient Ones of Haitiabln Voudou - can we coordinate a call to action for donations to reputable charities?

blessings!

Comment by Susan Hurrell on January 16, 2010 at 10:11am

We may just tend to do things locally and maybe a bit more quietly. I know of several pagan food backs across Canada that are run quietly out of temples or metaphysical book stores or covensteads. Spirit-Haven - the group I founded in 1993, routinely collected food or school supplies or winter coats or whatever at our open circles and then distributed them to those who send requests, with the remainders going to

Comment by Damon Leff on January 16, 2010 at 2:03am

Hello from South Africa. :-)

Comment by David Linton on January 16, 2010 at 12:05am

Welcome everyone! Thanks for joining.

Let me add a comment that perhaps should migrate into a discussion:

My impression of different pagan groups that I've been in, is that we tend to be short on our outreach and charity toward the rest of the world. There are hospitals, food banks, schools, etc., run by other religions, but as yet, no Wiccan hospital, no Druid food bank, no World Pagan Charity effort - Granted, much of this is just because we're not an Organized Religion, and our organizations tend to be small and splintered - but is there some way that we can do visible outreach to show our values to the rest of the world???

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