Conference hydra::dejavu

	THE INDIVIDUAL CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN HELPING THE HOMELESS

	Poverty is the condition of someone who has no permanent 
address.  Homeless individuals who live in places like train and 
subway terminals and streets are treated disrespectfully.  They aren't 
treated like normal humans.  Although it is thought that they are 
different from us, they're not.  More than half of the homeless 
population consists of families.  Most of these families are homeless 
because they have lost their jobs, and so they can't afford to live in 
a house.  In other cases, men have died so the mothers are left with 
their children, and most of the time without a job.  So, now you see 
that those people who sleep on the streets aren't different from us.  
They just don't have a job, or a home.

	There are five main groups of the homeless:

1.  Some people are victims of domestic violence.
2.  Some people have children but not a spouse.
3.  Some people are single men, usually they are veterans.
4.  Some people are single women.
5.  Some people are new poor families where one or more adults were
    formally employed.

	We can start by raising money for some of the organizations 
that are addressing the homeless problem.  Two organizations located 
in our area are the Soup Kitchen, which serves meals, and the 
Salvation Army, a Christian religious body that provides food, 
shelter, and clothing to the needy.  Some schools, churches, and 
businesses also collect items needed by homeless people.  Our school, 
Fairgrounds Junior High, is collecting can goods and perishable goods 
for the Salvation Army.  From our Society Sub Night we had many 
leftover meals that we donated to the Soup Kitchen.  Mrs. Fay, the 
Administrative Secretary in our school takes kids from the National 
Junior Honor Society to the Soup Kitchen about once a month.  They 
take canned goods and other items, and they help the kitchen prepare 
and serve the foods.  In the past few years, the Kitchen has served 
about 90 - 120 people a day.  This year they have served about 130 - 
180 people a day.  the money they use for the food and utensils comes 
from donations from various places.  The Soup Kitchen's hours are from 
4:30 to 6:30 p.m.  The majority of the people that go to the Soup 
Kitchen go there often.  There is a certain limit of food each person 
is allowed to have.  Most people do not take advantage of this 
excellent program.

	I see myself in this process as being able to help someone, 
for instance, by bringing in canned goods during our school 
collections.  I hope that if I qualify for the National Junior 
Honor Society, I will be able to go to the Soup Kitchen.  I hope that 
in the future I can start an organization, or help with one that 
assists the homeless people in finding jobs, medical needs, homes, 
food, and shelters.  Also, if an individual child is homeless I'd like 
to place the child in a happy home.

				Kendra Castaldo, age 12
				Caitlin Slein, age 12

    Congratulations to you both Ro.  What a smart little girl. :-)
    (chip off the old block, wouldn't you say? :-)
    
    Mary

         
    That's wonderful Ro - congratulations to both Kendra and Caitlin!
    
    I'm not familiar with the organization myself, however the folks over
    in PSYCHE::UU might be able to help.
    
    Cindy

    
    Make that TOOK::UU.

    Hi Ro:
    I have been affiliated with Beyond War, here in Southern California.
    The leadership consisteed of , usually retired highly intelligent
    people, like professors, business leaders, some military people, etc.
    On of the leaders was a Sales Mgr., who had responsibilities for
    selling to the Defense Dept. He lectured to the military about
    alternatives to war. When he told me that story, I had to join him. The
    organizations purpose is to show that War can no longer be considered
    asensible, reasonable way to resolve dissputes betwen Nations, and in
    fact, between individuals. They teach win/win approaches to
    negotiations. One of the most moving experiences I have had in recent
    yearswas last year's Awards ceremony. Please go--and those of you in
    major cities, just contact a local Unitarian or Bahai Church for a
    Downlink location.
    Richard B
     (ignore the rest, can't edit with my Macintoshes VT100 emulation. 
    :-(
    s
     esornia. HI

Ro,

"Kendra for President!"

:-):-)

Arie

    .6,
    
    What he said!
    
    Love,
    Kb

    A very good friend of mine is the "leader" (he refuses any other title)
    for Beyond War here in Colorado Springs.  I've been to a few meetings. 
    The thing that most impressed me was their emphasis on personal
    responsibility and how inter-personal interractions reflect on a
    National and Global level.  If everyone's attitude was to be to solve 
    their personal disputes by non-violent means  and teach that by example
    to their children (including not spanking their kids but using reason or 
    other discipline methods instead) then the world mind-set would also be 
    to solve problems by the same means.  Peace begins at home.
    
    Nanci

    The Beyond War award ceremony was very interesting and I liked their
    philosophy.  I will enter some of the literature I picked up there as
    time permits.  I very much like the inscription on the card that came
    with Kendra's necklace:
    
    		We live on one planet,
    		with one life support system.
    		The survival of all humanity, all life,
    		is totally interdependent.
    
    		I believe that the development of
    		nuclear weapons has forever changed our world.
    		War is now obsolete.
    
    		I have decided to work together with others
    		to build a world beyond war.
    		I will wear this necklace to express
    		my commitment to these beliefs.
    
    		I believe conflict can be resolved only
    		with a sincere search for truth and
    		a spirit of good will.
    
    		Therefore, I will not preoccupy myself
    		with an enemy.  Instead, I accept the
    		responsibility to work for creative 
    		solutions that will benefit everyone.
    
    		This necklace symbolizes the earth we
    		all share, surrounded by a spirit of 
    		good will.  When I wear this necklace
    		I will remember to pray or meditate on
    		this thought until it becomes a reality.
    
    
    

    I don't know about the necklace, but the rest sure
    makes a hell of a lot of sense to me.

        Just so that the true practicing metaphysicians out there
    don't give up...(keep visioning, dreaming, hoping...)
    the following came from one of the front page headlines in
    yesterday's (Mar. 12) San Jose Mercury:
    
        BAKER: Signs of hope in Mideast
        'New thinking' seen among old enemies
    
    
    
    Frederick
    

    
    :-)
    
    	good news, eh Frederick?
    
    
    	A sign of the times, my friend....  a sign of the times. :-)
    
    mary

    re: .12 (Mary & others who may be interested...)
    
         Yes, and there is more...
    
         The following are little bits and pieces from an article in 
    the WEST section of the San Jose Mercury News from Sunday, Mar. 31.
    The article is by John Hubner and he is quoting a man named
    Rober Conquest--an anthologized poet and eminent Sovietologist
    and curator of the Hoover Institution library (at Stanford University.)
    
    " ...
         Stalin, on the other hand, attempted to create a "New Soviet Man"
    and bring about the first worldwide revolution.  [my favorite part
    of all of this {fred} --> ] "The will to perfection is absolutely
    the cause of so much evil," Conquest says.  "If you start going for
    a utopia, you end up with, 'This guy is getting in the way.  Let's
    shoot him.'  As everybody gets in the way of a utopia sooner or 
    later, you can only do it by mass terror."
         The drive to utopia requires that the state "get a grip on every
    inch of a society, the economy, education, everything that's printed,
    every idea.  You end up getting purges among astonomers because
    sunspots may be connected with bad weather, and that's sabotaging
    the crops.  And of course the weather bureau was shot."
     ...
         The problem the world faces is keeping paranoid killers like
    Saddam and Stalin from taking power.  Conquest thinks it can 
    happen.  It has already happened in most Western countries.  Those
    who try to usurp power in a democracy end up out of politics:
    Richard Nixon is a case in point.  Spain, Greece, Portugal, which
    were ruled by strong men until quite recently, have made remarkable
    transitions to democracy.  That trend can continue, as is happening
    now in Eastern Europe, if countries continue to adopt pluralist
    governments that incorporate a wide spectrum of political viewpoints.
         "I'm not sure democracy is the issue, but political liberty,
    civic order and a tradition of cooperation certainly is.  England
    was free long before it was democratic.  Voting until the 1860's
    was very limited.
          We've got to settle for a world order in which the big
    pluralistic states, joined perhaps eventually by Russia, will
    have the main influence.  We've got to have a system as we did
    a century ago.  Right or wrong, the intervention into small
    states that might develop atomic weapons must be countenanced.
          What happens in the next few years in the Soviet Union
    may decide which direction the world goes in the next century.
    "Things are hanging by a thread there now," but Conquest
    points out that no matter how bad things are, the Soviets have
    had five years of real politics.  Five years in not the same 
    as 215 (the U.S.) but it counts for something.
         ...
          But he believes there is hope because, paradoxically, the
    country is exhausted.
          "One of the great things you see in Russia now is that they
    are sick of utopia.  You get some lunatic notions about the perfect
    Russia, but among the intellectual classes and the working classes,
    no one wants to hear about socialism, communism, and the revolution.
    All that stuff is gone; they're sick of the whole thing."
    
    [THe earlier part of this article compares Saddam with Stalin.
    Major difference:  Saddam only wants power, while Stalin was 
    idealistic.]
    
    Frederick
    

    
    
    We (humanity) can't make things perfect, but we can make things better.
    
    And brute force isn't the only way to make things better... as a matter of
    fact, it's the least desirable way in a world of unlimited choices.... 
    one would imagine.