Church Women United In Tucson
Fall 2009
"Ring the Bells for Peace, Love and Hope"
A Christmas in September Celebration
Saturday
September 19, 2009 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.
St. Andrews Presbyterian Church—new facility
7575 N.
Paseo del Norte (new campus)
Church Women United invites all (women and men) to attend and celebrate the birth of
Christ, as we gather new
toys, educational games, books, children's music (tapes/CDs), backpacks and other
school supplies. Please, no war related items. These gifts will be distributed to
three groups serving children, youth (through high school), and/or
mothers: House of Neighborly Service,
Pima County Adult Detention Center, and Tucson City Fire Stations. A love offering will be taken and divided
among The Reading Seed, La Paloma Family Services, and the Pima County Adult
Detention Center. Representatives
from each of these agencies and programs will tell us about their work and how
the gift items and/or money will be used.
Christmas in September has not previously supported these groups, so the
stories of service will be new for us.
We begin with fellowship over
Christmas refreshments provided by Presbyterian Women of St. Andrews, followed by a program of
Christmas music, the service presentations, and a love offering. We extend a special welcome to the Handbell
Choir from Mt. Zion Lutheran Church who will be ringing Christmas carols for
us. The Christmas in September
Celebration highlights CWU’s current priority, “Making the World Fit for All of
God’s Children.”
Child Care provided with advance
notice. Please, call Chandra at
248-9955.
Directions to the
church: Go north from Ina past Tohono
Chul Park and turn left on Chapala Rd.
Park on the west side of the large building on the southwest campus
and follow the CWU signs.
Save the Dates
October 12
Revitalizing Miracle Mile/05: A Forum Led by Beth Walkup
October 16 & 17
An Ecumenical Women’s Retreat (see enclosed brochure)
November 7 World
Community Day Celebration: Piecing Earth
Together
November 8
CROP Walk in aid of Community Food Bank,
Casa Maria Food Kitchen & Church World Service
Leader’s Lines—Claudia Ellquist, National Action & Global
Concerns Chairperson
Faith
& the Health Care Debate
As the CWU/USA Board gears up to walk for Diabetes (see page 3), there is a
nation wide debate going on about healing. Only it sounds more like
food-fights than reasoned debate. The media likes conflict, so
politicians and ordinary citizens get their faces on the news by shouting and
haranguing, instead of discussing what it is they want in a healthcare
system. When a legislative clause, which says the proposed plan will pay
when you talk with your doctor about living
wills, gets morphed into Nazi-style "death
panels," that is irresponsible fear mongering.
Where does CWU stand? We oppose cruelly frightening the frail and
disabled. "Be not afraid," Jesus said. We want to share
the facts of legislative plans in play or proposed, and examine them in terms
of
our faith and our CWU policy statements. Jesus healed folks, and told us
to do the same. In this era, for those who didn't get faith-healing down
pat, Jesus allows faith to be supplemented--by medicine, hospitals, nurses. But
the command is still there: “Heal the sick.”
The CWU Social
Policy Book tells us that In 1946, in 1976, and in 1991, our CWU leaders
called for "better healthcare for all our citizens [based on] a system of
public health insurance" [p107], on "national health insurance"
[p22], on "a national healthcare plan which serves everyone [with]
the participation of consumers, health professionals, and
government. [Funding should come from] the broadest possible resource
base. [Charges should be] based on ability to pay." [p113]
In 1965 we saw this vision enacted for some of us, when Congress passed a
single-payer public insurance system called Medicare. The first enrollee,
Harry Truman, had advocated for a universal single-payer system in 1946.
Let’s be clear. Single-payer is not
socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is what you have in England, or
in our own Veteran's Administration, where the government owns the hospitals
and hires the doctors. With single-payer systems, hospitals and doctors
stay in business for themselves, like now. But, instead of receiving
payments by jumping through all the insurance company's bureaucratic hoops with
different rules for every company, they receive payments from one single public
insurer—the government. The middle man, the confusion, and the “bottom
line" motivation to deny care, are all eliminated. As with Medicare.
We have had 44 years to test Medicare. Do you know
of anyone who has opted out? Including those folks screaming at their
congressmen? Most women my age [60] are counting our days ’til
Medicare, and are eager to buy in early. So, one obvious way to implement
our CWU position favoring public insurance would be to expand enrollment in
Medicare, instead of reinventing the wheel. And unlike today's broken
private-insurance system, Medicare has administrative costs of 3%, not the
wasteful 30% costs of the private sector.
There may be other models, besides Medicare. Let's look at everybody's
ideas for implementing "public health insurance," run by
"consumers, health professionals and government." Let's
not get caught between the Democrats and the Republicans. Not be
distracted by the media's search for conflict or by politicians'
smokescreens. Let's look to gospel, to our own policies, and to our own
lives. Fearlessly.
And, meantime, send in your diabetes-project pledge!
Thanks
for Hospitality for Two Super Programs
WELCA at Our Saviours's Lutheran UMW at
Christ Church U. Methodist
May Friendship Day Celebration June
Spiritual Life Forum.
Remembrances
In the past six
months, three faithful CWU sisters faced the death of beloved spouses:
In March The Rev. Frankie Oliver said farewell to
"Shank" and Peg Lucius to Ray. In July Jane Rohwer said farewell to
the Rev. “Bud" Rohwer. Special blessings to these sisters and their
families during their time of mourning.
Revitalizing Miracle Mile:
A Community Based Forum
Led by Beth Walkup
For Church Women United
From the Westside Police Station
“A
chain is as strong as its weakest link.”
This oft quoted proverb can be applied to our community: “We are as strong as our weakest
neighborhood.” According to Beth Walkup,
the Miracle Mile/05 zip code area is a prime candidate for being Tucson’s
weakest link. As moral and law abiding
citizens, we should always be concerned about our less fortunate neighbors. In today’s tight economic times, the need is
even more critical. The CWU Forum on Monday, October 12th will focus
on initiatives underway to strengthen the Miracle Mile/05 neighborhood
link.
Beth
Walkup, an activist on several fronts of social progress, will moderate a panel
of community leaders committed to revitalizing Miracle Mile and the 05 zip code
area. A historian will take us back to
the glory days of the 20’s and 30’s when Miracle Mile welcomed visitors to
Tucson. Rebecca Ruopp from City of
Tucson Community Services will lay out current challenges to this
neighborhood regaining a healthy and
viable environment. Former state senator Pete Hershberger will focus on related
pre-school issues.
The
forum objective is to inform and enable broader support of the efforts
underway. Interwoven with the “expert” presentations, will be small group
discussions exploring how we, as church women and our congregations, might
support the revitalizations efforts.
The
new Westside Police Station (northeast
corner of Miracle Mile and Flowing Wells), host site for the forum, was
chosen because of its strategic location and role in the neighborhood. It is worth the trip to see this beautiful
and stabilizing site.
Mark your calendar now for Monday, October 12 9:00
– 11:30 am. We look forward to seeing you there!
By Hazel Ray
A Call to Support a CWU-USA
Walk-A-Thon
for Diabetes Prevention
(More from Claudia )
Let’s talk healing!
Your CWU/USA board has adopted a National Service Project, promoting
information about diabetes, to lessen the grip this killer has on people, in
the U.S. and worldwide. The World Health Organization reports that 80% of
diabetes deaths are related to poor diet and inadequate healthcare, and occur
in low and middle income countries. World Diabetes Day is November 18, the
birth date of Frederick Banting, the discoverer of insulin.
What will members of your
unit be doing on November 18? Your
CWU/USA board will be [groan]
exercising. We will be at our fall board meeting, but up early for a
Walk-a-thon, to fund this "Rise Up and Be Healed" CWU stop-diabetes
service project. CWU is short of money from paying down past debts, so we
need to be creative in funding the future.
We have set a $5000 Walk-a-thon goal. Half will hire a project intern,
the other half will cover project costs.
Now walking is often proceeded by talking. For Walk-a-thons, that's
phoning our CWU sisters to ask, “What is it worth to you to see us off our
duffs and puffing along?” Don't like
money-begging phone calls? Then pledge now. It's a
competition: Which region will
"raise up" the funds the farthest? Think County Fair, where you
pay $5 to slam a huge hammer down and the gong sounds the level of your
strength.
Each
regional director will receive a life-size "strong woman" cut-out
showing the amount she raised, so bring a hammer to your next local meeting,
pay up, and pound out a "strong woman" response to stopping
diabetes.
Mail your pledge check now to CWU, c/o Claudia Ellquist, 1240 North
Third Avenue,
Tucson AZ 85705.
DATES TO REMEMBER
August 31 Board
Meeting
Monday 9:00 a.m. First
United Methodist, 915 E. Fourth St.,
September 19 Christmas
in September—Ring the Bells for Peace, Love, and Hope
Saturday 9:00 - 11:30 a.m. St. Andrews
Presbyterian Church (southwest campus), 7575 North Paseo del Norte
October 5 Board
Meeting 9:00 a.m. First United Methodist, 915 E. Fourth St.
October 12 Forum—Revitalization
of Miracle Mile/05 Neighborhood
Monday 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Community Room, Westside Police Station, NE Corner of Miracle Mile & Flowing Wells
October 16/17 CWU in
Arizona Spiritual Life Retreat: A Desert Adventure for Women
Friday/Saturday Desert Rose
Retreat Center, Eloy, Arizona (see
details on Calendar page)
November 2 Board
Meeting
9:00 a.m. First United Methodist, 915 E. Fourth St.
November 7 World
Community Day Celebration: Piecing Earth
Together
Saturday 9:00 -11:30 a.m TBA Postcard announcement to come.
November 8 CROP Walk
for Church World Service, Community Food Bank, & Casa Maria Food Kitchen
Sunday 2:00 p.m. Reid Park Ramada 5
December 7 Board
Meeting, 9:00 a.m. First United Methodist, 915 E. Fourth St.
December 8 Cookie
Collection (Pima County Jail Chaplain Ministry) First Christian Church, 740 E.
Speedway
December 9 Cookie
Bagging on site at Pima County Jail
January 11 Annual
Meeting TBA
editor contact info: cdredmore@aol.com 520-319-319
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