The meeting was called to order by B. Fleishman and invocation was given by Rabbi Wineman.
Minutes of January meeting were approved with two corrections. There are 4 million Palestinian refugees.
Treasurer's Report - Carol Tyrell the balance as of Jan. 22 was $4146.03. Since then $1415 was received from from registrants, $2700 from honorees and some dues have been added. Expenses for the conference have not yet been paid. Treasurers report was accepted.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Economic and Criminal Justice/ARISE/court case: Joyce Hartwell attended the Black and Latino Caucus and said it was very exciting to hear the commitment to the economically disadvantaged community. Cuomo is against the Rockefeller Drug laws.
The ARISE dinner will be at The Frankklin Plaza in Troy, March 1, 7:00 pm., the charge, $30. Soares will be the keynote speaker. He is interested in prevention, intervention, and re-entry.
The youth and parents at the Feb. 11 youth workshop loved it.
When the youth group was at Trinity, they sound proofed so you couldn't even hear it upstairs. The local people are not objecting just to the youth but also to the day care program. They do not like having poor people around and they say it is an 'upscale area'. ( Historic Albany is about buildings, not people). Joyce described a historic house in NYC where they have material about the people that lived in the building. The display is a very popular tourist spot. Knowing about the people who lived in a building makes it more interesting than just architecture. A similar display is being developed in the area in a building that housed escaped slaves.
Rev. Drown needs affadavits of support from organizations for Trinity Church's law suit. B. Fleishman will prepare a letter from us.
Review of Conference Feb. 11. The attendance was good ( about 150) and people were pleased. A number of people wanted info about our group. There was a real interest in an ongoing conversation. Working people can't come to our morning meetings. An interactive web site would be good. Cass Shaw, Carol Gerrish, Jo Paige, Jill Farnham and Hariet Warnock-Graham are interested in working on this. We would need a web master, and it would take about $500/yr.
We need to be careful about interfaith and intercultural understanding and be sensitive to feelings and customs. Deb. R. recommended a book "How to Be a Perfect Stranger" Dennis Karius and another person taped most of the conference. It would be good to keep these as a record of activities and for those who could not be there.
April 24th dinner: Programs will go to the printer this week so Honorary Committee donations must be in very soon. The dinner will be at Albany Country Club, April 24, $40.
Stop the Hate Vigil: Deb has asked Arthur Waskow to speak at the Sept. 10 (7:00 p.m.) Stop the Hate Vigil. at St. Rose. We will support this program again this year.
Deb is also organizing an Interfaith Youth Group and hopes to start that with an event Sept. 10 in the afternoon.
Faith and Hunger Network Conference will be February 25, 2007 at B'Nai Sholom Congregation, 420 Whitehall Rd. Albany 11:30-5:30. Our support was given at the last executive committee meeting.
Ed Bloch and Shirley Byers highly recommended the Interfaith Youth Corp of Chicago who were at the national Interfaith Conference. We voted to send a letter of support and $25.
Maureen Armand told us about the Walk for Peace on the 4th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war, March 18th. They are hoping to have 3200 people there, one for each service man killed so far. If you want to represent a fallen sereviceperson go to http://www.RememberingtheFallen.org You will be given the name of a person to represent. There will also be a special remembrance of the 650,000 Iraquis who have died. They will rally at 2 pm at the Empire State Plaza Museum Steps. Sponsored by Northeast Peace and Justice Action Coalition (NEPAJAC) www.nepajac.org. or call 439-1968.
Violence/Peace Activities/anger Management - John Amidon will be gone for a month. He is going to Nevada where the government is planing to bury all nuclear waste. The government is also planning to rebuild all nuclear weapons.
Meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Florence Skiff
Next Executive Committee Meeting: 9:00 a.m, Mon. February 26th , 2007, at Friendlys on Rte 7.
Next Membership Meeting: 9:00 a.m., Monday March 12th 2007 at Latham Community Baptist Church.
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