American Friends Service Committee

  • | |

    Peace and Reactions to 9/11

    ByElizabeth

    Much of the reason that I began attending Friends meeting again several years ago after a long hiatus was to help me find peace within myself as I witnessed and sought to change, in my own way with my own skills, this country’s impulse to war following the attacks on 9/11.  As quiet and unlistened to as voices for peace might have been, I still needed to be among a community of people speaking about peace.

    One of the questions Friends Meeting of Washington invites attenders to consider, which has become a core contemplation for me, is “what do you do personally to eliminate the causes of war?”  For me, this extends not just to how I vote, what work I do, and what charities I support, but what I eat, what energy I consume, what media I read and support, what I wear, and how I interrelate in this complicated global web of consumption and interchange.

    Here is a letter from the American Friends Service Committee that I wanted to share with all of you.

  • |

    February House Practice Donations

    ByElizabeth

    This month’s recipient will be the Environmental Defense Fund.  Why?  Because in his State of the Union Address to much applause by Democrats (Republicans don’t clap for a Democratic President even if he is giving them everything they want), President Obama announced that part of the support for “clean” energy would be for nuclear power plants, “clean” coal (an oxymoron if I ever heard one), and off-shore drilling.

    You might wonder why not have the February cause be an organization that is doing work in Haiti?  I feel it is important to support organizations such as the American Friends Service Committee and Doctors Without Borders, who are doing yeoman-like work to ease suffering in Haiti and other places around the globe, and I have given some support.  Following disasters or major incidents, though, society as a whole often experiences “donor fatigue.”  I want to make sure that in the aftermath, the other changes I seek in the world do not go unsupported by me.  So I try to give extra, and I try to remember all the things about which I care.

  • Two Tangible Things You Can Do in Response to the Earthquake in Haiti

    ByElizabeth

    Donate to support the peacekeeping efforts of the American Friends Service Committee (or other organization of your choice).

    Write to your elected official about granting temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants.  The Friends Committee on National Legislation has made it easy to take action.