BORDERLINKS PEACE INITIATIVE

  The BorderLinks Peace Initiative was chosen by the congregation to be our National peace initiative.  We took a delegation March 9-15, 2008  to the BorderLinks headquarters in Tucson , Arizona and traveled to Nogales , Mexico .  BorderLinks is a bi-national non-profit organization that offers experiential educational seminars along the border between Mexico and the United States focusing on the issues of global economics, militarization, immigration, and popular resistance to oppression and violence.   This trip was during The College of Wooster spring break.  Upon our return the group shared their experiences and photos with the congregation at a taco soup luncheon.  We have another trip scheduled for March 2010.  The lovely banner hanging in Westminster was created by Dorothy Iams.  She also made our BorderLinks/Hartville poster.

  During the summers of 2007 and 2008 we assisted the Hartville Migrant Ministry with their children’s program.  The Hartville community has a great community center because there is a large population of migrant workers on the Zeller Farm in Hartville. The center has a summer day program for the migrant children. We sponsored several of their events this summer and went to Hartville to work with the children and chaperone for some trips.  Over the past two years we have contributed $3,000 toward this ministry.  The children presented us with huge thank you notes each week we assisted.

  July 2-6, 2007 was Art Week:  Candy Relle coordinated collecting or buying 35 cameras and film so each child could take pictures and do scrap-booking.  Dorothy Iams and Sharon Romich traveled to Hartville to help with the scrap-booking.  The children visited the small library at the Ministry to choose books to read and then made a small report. They had a short Bible story and were in the process of memorizing a Bible verse.  They were very enthusiastic during the scrap-booking.  Dorothy returned on July 6th to chaperone the trip to the Canton Museum of Art.   After touring the section of the museum the children were taken to a work room where they had the opportunity to make and decorate a ceramic object. 

July 23-27, 2007 was YMCA / Service Projects Week: The children visited the Refuge of Hope Homeless Shelter and decided to draw some murals to decorate the walls of the shelter.  They were working on the murals when Mary Kilpatrick, Jean Brazee, and Becky Pratt arrived.  They had a Bible lesson and then headed off to the YMCA for swim lessons.  Westminster donated $300, which was distributed, $10 to each child who then went to the grocery store to buy supplies for the shelter with their money.  The children decorated the bags of groceries with stickers and markers before the supplies were taken to the shelter.  The director of the program said it was a unique experience for the children to be the ones to give rather than receive.  We also donated $250 for the bus for swimming lessons each day.

August 20-24, 2007 was Animals Week: It culminated with a trip to the Cleveland Zoo, which Barbara Bell, Fritz and Alice Schmitthenner helped chaperone.  The children enjoyed seeing all the animals and many children followed Fritz around the Zoo because he had a camera!

  September 23, 2007 we invited Jeff Stewart, head of the Immigrant Worker Project, to present a talk on “Immigrant Life and Immigration Policy in Rural Ohio.”  There were about 33 college students and members of Westminster who attended this event.

  During November 2007 we presented two adult education classes on BorderLinks and the Hartville project.  During the seasons of Advent and Lent we collect money for the lunch program at the day care center in Nogales , Mexico called Casa de la Misericordia.  We have sent over $500 which provides over 1,000 hot lunches for the children.  Currently we are helping the Women’s Co-op by purchasing their copper pendant necklaces and selling them to members of Westminster .