Comment

Comment by Sande Hart on December 28, 2009 at 10:46pm

Can someone suggest ways in which we can encourage more women to join our networks?

Comment by Sande Hart on December 28, 2009 at 1:21am

Hi Deb,
Thanks for your kind and generous words and for responding to that tug at your heart to gather with women for interfaith peace.
SARAH has created a Circle Guideline Book to help guide you in all the steps to start and sustain a circle group. You can start a SARAH group or create a group that works comfortably for you and the women you gather. It is a live model of how SARAH started and how She works and gives you lots of room for creativity and addressing the unique needs in your community. I will send you a Guidebook to your email.
I look forward to hearing about your progress and will help you in anyway I can. I think posting your questions about the mechanics of starting a group on PeaceNext may be empowering to others. Peace and love!

Comment by Deb Gall on December 27, 2009 at 11:18pm

Sande, I am very inspired by all the doings of Sarah in your community. I am new to the Parliament and new to the interfaith movement. I feel very fortunate to have connected with both the Seattle and Portland/Vancouver pre-parliament groups prior to Melbourne. I am still processing and digesting all the information I gathered. I want to do more in my local community but am not sure yet where to begin as yet. I will not be going to the conference in NY. Thank you for sharing what is happening in your community. Peace

Comment by Sande Hart on December 25, 2009 at 6:20pm

Are any of you attending the Interfaith Understanding Conference in Rochester, NY this April?

Comment by Sande Hart on December 12, 2009 at 12:00am

OK, I'll start the ideas!
In an effort to share ideas and collaborate and conspire on new ways to create a peaceful heart, community, world; whatever your focus if not all 3, I will start by sharing what S.A.R.A.H. (www.sarah4hope.org) recently did that proved to be pretty successful.
After years of facilitating dialogue sessions, panel discussions, educational programs, we realized that communities thrive and grow, not only when they sit and talk but when we focus on a unifying goal. Last May, we orchestrated a county wide weekend of community service. We contacted an already existing community service group in our area and asked them if we could add people and projects to their website for their given weekend. They were very accommodating and happy to help. We reached out to all the faith institutions; churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, centers, etc and asked their outreach committees to help us by sharing with us their chosen service projects. Then we asked them to encourage their congregation to join us on this weekend. Everyone went to the organization's website, signed up for a project that interested them (from collecting food for the food pantries, painting The Boys and Girls Club, restoring and cleaning parks, taking homeless kids to the park for a day with horses, and so much more.) We contributed 1000 people out to 96 service projects. We also asked a church, a mosque and a synagogue to open their doors and social halls for indoor service projects like making quilts, writing letters to soldiers, making colorful flowerpots out of tissue paper for hospital counters. We had people who have never had a chance to step into a mosque be there for a common goal with the rest of the community.
The community found themselves stocking shelves at the food pantry shoulder to shoulder with their diverse neighbors. These are some of the folks that may not come to the table, but they will go to the food pantry. This also shed light on other needy organizations and supports them as well.
Relations that have developed since last May include a synagogue and a mosque invested in a "twinning" program, and an entire group of congregations collaborating on a bunch of projects throughout the year including collecting school supplies for needy kids, watching a documentary and dialogue groups.
We need to continue dialoguing, but finding creative ways to bring our community together has great impact.
Planning for 2010 is underway!

Comment by Sande Hart on December 9, 2009 at 8:35pm

Hold that intension and continue communicating and reaching out.
What are you doing in your community or what needs to happen in your communit?
What's next?

Comment by Michaela Maestas on December 9, 2009 at 11:21am

Please! let us share, care, be merry and have fun reaching out to each other and the blessed world. love Micha in Vermont

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