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LOUISVILLE UNITED AGAINST VIOLENCE AUGUST 15, 2018 First Unitarian Church 809 South 4th Street Members present: Trish Ramey and Louise Penman, co-chairs, Marina Holt, Kim Mapp, Rosemary Smith The meeting was opened with a prayer by Rosemary. The financial report as listed on the agenda by Trish was discussed and approved as correct, with minor changes. Right now, we are -$18. Kim said she had contacted JenCare about financial aid, but had not heard back from them. No report from Lana on the businesses she has contacted in Middletown. Trish contacted some large companies in the West End, but was told their donations were only done at the beginning of each calendar year. It was suggested we contact smaller businesses in the West End for donations. Rosemary volunteered to contact Sweet Peaches, a restaurant. Others will try to do contacts they know about, too. We will tell them that all donors of $100 or more will have their names listed on a poster at the event. The t-shirts and cards (500) have been delivered. Seven t-shirts were sold at the meeting and others were taken to be sold at area churches by the members. They will be sold for $10 each for sizes S-XL, $12 each for size XXL, and $13 each for size XXXL. We will make a profit of $5 for each shirt sold. Since St. Martin dePorres has given us the money to buy these shirts, any checks written to pay for them should be to St. Martin, with LUAV-Social Responsibility on the check. A site to store the shirts is needed. Emily Mosby and Kathy Thistleton will be asked to contact the Louisville Water Company about donating bottled water for the event, as they did last year. Trish has not heard back from the Courier-Journal, but she will contact them again. No report on Insider Louisville from Steve Petrey. Rosemary has spoken with Ruby Thomas, a reporter at The Record, and given her all the information about the event. Ms. Thomas told her it would be in the Archdiocesan newspaper very soon. If not published this week, Rosemary will contact her again. Trish has gotten two free junior-sized billboards from Maloney Outdoor Advertising, one at 6 th & Muhammed Ali Streets, and the other at Cane Run Road & Bells Lane. These will go up on September 1. The tail ads on two TARC buses will also begin on September 1. Rosemary reported that we only have 10 blocks sponsored at this time. She asked that all contact as many churches, schools, and organizations as possible in the near future. Trish has not heard back from Interfaith Paths to Peace, but will contact again. Rosemary will contact the man at the Urban League who has agreed to speak at the event. Louise and Kim will continue to seek out churches in the West End. Kim will contact Dawn Gee about emcee-ing our event. The interfaith prayer service is on track. Lana has gotten a rabbi who is willing to participate and will give Trish his contact information. Kim has gotten an imam, Jamal ?, and will get his contact information to Trish. Trish has the sheet music for all the short songs to be used at the service, and will get those to Louise soon, so she can give them to James Taylor on Sunday. Trish feels they are all simple enough for his Multi-Cultural Choir to learn in one practice. Hopefully, he will agree. There was no new business. We set the dates for three future meetings, since time is getting closer to the event. They will be: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, at 6 p.m. at Epiphany Catholic Church, 914 Old Harrods Creek Rd., 40223 Tuesday, September 11, 2018, at 6 p.m. at Catholic Enrichment Center, at 31 st & Broadway Wednesday, September 26, 2018, at 6 p.m. at St. Augustine Catholic Church, at 1310 W. Broadway. The Block Captains will be invited to this meeting to finalize any plans for the day of the event. The meeting was closed with a prayer by Louise.
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MINUTES
LOUISVILLE UNITED AGAINST VIOLENCE July 31, 2018 Members present: Trish Ramey, Emily Mosby, Marina Holt, Steve Petrey, Jack Lydon, Lana Kelly-Fitzgerald, Rosemary Smith Trish opened the meeting with a prayer. Our 501c3 organization, Center for Transformative Action (CTA), reported that they had received the $500 check from the Ursuline Sisters. Trish was given a check for $38.50 from Karen Cronin for one ad on the back of a TARC bus. No other new income to report. Kim Telesford-Mapp has been unable to get the T-shirts and cards ordered because of difficulty in getting a check from St. Martin dePorres. Trish offered to use her personal credit card so that the order can be placed more quickly. Marina will contact Kim and tell of this plan. Lana has personally visited 20 businesses in Middletown, giving them a flyer and a letter asking for financial support for LUAV. They have not yet responded, but she will contact them again. Rosemary suggested contacting the businesses that advertise on the back of Epiphany’s church bulletin. Lana and Marina offered to do that. If anyone gives us $100 or more, their name will put on a poster to be displayed at the event and on the program at the interfaith prayer service. No logos will be used – just names of persons or companies. There was some discussion about contacting businesses in the West End. Trish will contact some of the larger ones. Jack said he would contact someone at the Sav-a-lot stores and ask for their support. Jack also sent the Courier-Journal a flyer, and told them to contact Trish. Steve had no report yet on Insider Louisville, but spoke about One Love Lou being an organization that might be able to help us garner support. This organization encourages community involvement and supports citizen led work toward violence presentation efforts in Louisville. The next Ambassador Program will be Saturday, August 25, at Spalding University. We will use this program as our August event and encourage anyone reading these minutes to go online and register or call the Office for Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods at 502-274-1903. The program is free. Trish spoke with Rev. Vincent James at Elim Baptist Church, who is also part of One Love Lou, and encouraged him to support LUAV. Rosemary spoke with Ruby Thomas at The Record about doing an article on LUAV, early enough in August to encourage parishes in the Archdiocese to adopt a block. Ms. Thomas will report back after the staff meets tomorrow to decide future articles. Trish sent information to Cultivating Connections e-newsletter. She also spoke to Maloney Outdoor Advertising, and they will once again give us free billboards if they become available. They cannot advertise the date of the event, however. Emily reported that Kathy Thistleton had gotten permission for Epiphany to provide 2 porta potties for the event. The bill for that will be sent directly to Epiphany. Trish reported that she and Louise Penman had visited with Chandra Irvin, Director of Peace and Spiritual Renewal Center at Spalding University. She has agreed to be the Service Leader for our Interfaith Prayer Service. Fr. Chuck Walker, pastor of 5 West End Catholic churches, has also agreed to take part in the service. Others have been contacted, but not yet confirmed. Mr. James Taylor has been contacted by Louise Penman about leading his Multi-Cultural Choir at the service, but this has not yet been confirmed. If he is not able to participate, Trish has confirmed as backup, Mr. Ethan McCollum, from First Unitarian Church. Rosemary reported that 9 blocks have been sponsored, most of them by Catholic churches. We hope other denominations will begin to sponsor a block. She has also contacted 3 Catholic high schools about sponsoring a block. Trish took the contact name at Presentation High School to see if they want to share a block with her church. Rosemary reported that the Urban League would be sending their Chief Engagement Officer, Mr. Lyndon Pryor, to the event, and she has invited him to be one of the speakers. She has not yet heard from him, but will try to contact him again. She also had the offer of advertising our event on WUOL Radio from Anne Peak, who is sponsoring a block for the Shawnee Christian Healthcare Center, Inc. She accepted, but has not heard back from Ms. Peak yet. Steve will contact Rick Howeland about advertising on another radio station. Trish presented the idea of using large sidewalk chalk during the hand-holding part of the event. Any children attending would like to use the chalk and adults could leave meaningful, peaceful messages that would last until the next rain. Most liked the idea, and block captains will be encouraged to provide chalk for their block. Trish will also buy some extra for those who forget. She also presented the idea of having a sign-making meeting shortly before the event, where we provide all the materials for block captains to make signs for their group. Since this would be more expensive than the chalk, it was decided that each block will be asked to make signs for their organization to use during the hand-holding part. We spent a short time discussing the possibility of working with Greening Neighborhoods, a project with the Center for Transformative Action (CTA). This organization tries to reduce stress, depression and anxiety by creating green spaces in areas of the city without them – like the West End. This is a noble idea, but needs more discussion before we would commit to it. The next meeting will be held Wednesday, August 15, 2018, at 6 p.m. at First Unitarian Church at 4th & York Sts. MINUTES
LOUISVILLE UNITED AGAINST VIOLENCE JULY 18, 2018 Members present: Mike & Lana Fitzgerald, Trish Ramey, Louise Penman, Kathy Thistleton, Marina Holt, Emily Mosby, Jack Lydon, Steve Petrey, Rosemary Smith The meeting was opened with a prayer by Rosemary. Trish reviewed our financial situation. It is: $617 from Hands 2017 budget $500 from the Ursuline Sisters in 2018 $1000 from St. Martin dePorres for T-shirts, $800 of which will be returned when shirts are sold. Epiphany Catholic Church will probably donate the cost of two porta potties, as they did last year. Kathy will check on the cost and the pastor will be asked if they can contribute that amount this year. Rosemary reported on the cost of advertising on the back of TARC buses. It costs $38.50 for a small ad and $137.50 for a large ad that covers the back of the bus. We decided that a small ad on two buses would be sufficient for this year. The ad stays on the bus for 4 weeks, but we cannot pick the route. Karen Cronin and Louise Penman will donate the money for these two ads. Trish will contact the woman in charge to get the logo and wording to her. Kim Mapp was not present to give us an update on the cost of T-shirts, cards or banner. Marina volunteered to help Kim with this job and will contact her about this. (It was later found out that Kim has gotten good prices on all these items, and will try to have them ready by our next meeting.) Lana has a letter ready to distribute to businesses in Middletown asking for financial help, but has not begun to canvas them yet. Trish reported that several groups have requested tables at the event – Moms, Urban League, a suicide prevention group, and Rosemary said that CEDAW might want a table, too. Calls need to be made to churches, especially in the West End. Louise volunteered to call several of them. All were asked to contact a church where they knew someone to ask them to sponsor a block. Kathy volunteered to call Andrea Brown, with the LMPD, and ask her to provide a police presence and maybe have a table at the event. Rosemary will write an article for The Record about the event soon, so parishes will have another reminder about it. She has already sent Cecilia Price an article, which has been sent to all Catholic parishes. She will ask her to send out a reminder at the beginning of August. So far, she has had 5 requests to sponsor a block – all from Catholic groups. Other denominations need to be contacted. Trish has 5-6 people who have said they would speak 3-5 minutes at the Community Rally after the prayer service. They include: Barbara Sexton-Smith and Bill Hollender, Metro Council members. John Yarmuth is a probable speaker. Trish will make a schedule of the speakers when all are finalized. The proposed prayer service was discussed at length. Louise was asked to invite James Taylor to bring the Multi-Cultural Choir to provide music at the service. Louise agreed to ask him, but felt that he may want to decide on his own songs. Trish asked that two of her selections remain. She also asked that the Litany remain part of the service. The clergypersons have not yet been confirmed. Emily said she would check with Fr. Chuck Walker, the new pastor of 5 west-end Catholic churches. (It was later found out that Fr. Walker has agreed to participate.) Lana has left messages with a woman rabbi, but has not heard back yet. Trish will contact a Muslim imam. She will also ask her pastor, Rev. Kathy Hurt, to participate. Our event for July is to take part in a Trivia contest, the proceeds of which will go to Hand-in-Hand Ministries. We will field a table of 8 on Sunday, July 29, from 4-7 p.m. at Good Shepherd Church on Rudd Avenue. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, July 31, at 6 p.m. at St. Augustine Church. MINUTES
LOUISVILLE UNITED AGAINST VIOLENCE JUNE 27, 2018 Members Present: Trish Ramey (First Unitarian), Mike & Lana Fitzgerald (Epiphany), Steve Petrey (St. Martin deTours), Kim Mapp (St. Martin dePorres), Jack Lydon (Cathedral of the Assumption), Rosemary Smith (Epiphany) Rosemary opened the meeting with a prayer. The minutes of the last meeting were approved by acclamation. OLD BUSINESS Rosemary reported that Deacon Turner of St. Martin dePorres said that money kept at St. Martin for LUAV could not be transferred to Center for Transformative Action. We just need to give any receipts for money spent to St. Martin to be reimbursed until our approximately $617 kept there is spent. Trish said that she had invited many Metro Council members to attend the event – Bill Hollender, Sherry Hamilton, Mary Woolridge, Jessica Greene and Barbara Sexton Smith. Barbara S. Smith has replied that she will attend. State Representatives like Attica Scott, Charles Booker, and Daryl Owens will also be invited. Jack Lydon volunteered to contact Mayor Fisher. Trish will contact Cathy Mekus with Moms to see if she has contacted John Yarmuth. She will also ask Kathy if she can send another rep from Moms to our meetings, since Cathy can no longer attend. Rosemary reported that she had sent a letter to the Ursuline Sisters thanking them for their $500 donation to Hands (which was returned), and asking that they consider donating the $500 to LUAV. She has not heard back from them. Lana will contact them to see if they have received it. (Post-meeting Update: The Ursulines will sponsor LUaV with $500!) Lana did not have a work activity with Hand-in-Hand Ministry for July, but Trish told us about a Trivia event that is a fund-raiser for HIH Ministry taking place on Sunday, July 29, at Good Shepherd Church from 4-7 p.m. We decided that our attendance at the Trivia event would be our July event. Lana will collect the $20 per person for a table of 8 and register us for the event. Five of us committed. (If anyone receiving these minutes would like to participate, please contact Lana Kelly Fitzgerald at 502-429-8181. We will be called the LUV Team.) Kim has asked Dr. Andrea Davis, who is connected with JenCare, about a possible sponsorship. She will follow up with Dr. Davis. Kim was told that the T-shirts should be a pale aqua, with the logo in the darker aqua color. She will order those shirts soon from MPS. She will also order a large banner with our new logo. Trish had priced the small cards at MDS at $189 for 1000. Kim felt she could get a better price, and will let Trish know what the quote is. Steve said he will help with Publicity, but does not want to chair the sub-committee. He will contact the TV and radio stations, and will also contact the University of Louisville about involving the students. He showed us an article from “Insider Louisville”, and said he will have them publish an article on their website about LUaV. Kim, who knows Dawn Gee of WAVE-TV personally, will invite her to emcee the Community Rally portion of the event on September 30. Jack will contact the Courier-Journal about publishing an article about LUaV. Rosemary has contacted Cecilia Price, with the Archdiocese of Louisville, about getting information out to all the Catholic parishes about LUAV. She has said she will be happy to do that. Trish will remind Kathy Thistleton and Emily Mosby about obtaining insurance for the event from the Archdiocese of Louisville. Trish said that Kathy Thistleton had expressed concern about the way we had dispersed in past events, from the main site of the event to the block along Broadway, saying she felt it had made us less unified. After some discussion, it was decided that sponsors of blocks would no longer choose their block, but be assigned a block (or ½ block) by Rosemary or Kim. This would keep gaps from happening along Broadway. The blocks would be assigned from near St. Augustine, both east and west, trying to put both Eastern and Western churches and organizations united along both sides. It was decided to keep TARC’s service, since it is of no cost, and can facilitate moving some of the folks to the farthest sites along Broadway. Until we know approximately how many participants there will be, we cannot say how best to facilitate dispersing along Broadway. The biggest problem is not knowing how many will attend the prayer service and speaking events, and how many might only want to participate in the hand-holding part of the day. (Maybe that question can be asked when blocks are sponsored.) Trish gave us an outline of the Interfaith Prayer Service, and asked for help in inviting Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim prayer leaders. Rosemary reported that Archbishop Kurtz will be unable to participate at the event, due to being in Covington for the day.
next to St. Martin dePorres. Submitted by Rosemary Smith As is clear from all the changes on the website, the Steering Committee has selected a new date for the annual event -- September 30. We moved it to Sunday afternoon, so that the event would be more accessible for more of our interfaith attendees.
We also settled on a new logo for the new group name. And we obtained permission to hold the prayer service at the Community Center at St. Augustine Catholic Church. This will start at 2 pm. Then, we'll move to the parking lot facing Broadway and have a community rally, with different public figures from around Louisville to energize us before we head out to join hands up and down Broadway. Buses will be provided by TARC for easy transport to-and-from the blocks and St. Augustine. Things are moving along, so we encourage you to join with us as soon as possible. Trish Ramey, Steering Committee chair Join us this Monday, April 16, 6:30 pm, for our next Steering Committee meeting. It will take place at First Unitarian Church. Note that the entrance is at the back of the parish house. Parking lot entrance is on 4th Street, between First Unitarian and Calvary Episcopal.
I am thrilled to share with you that a newly energized steering committee has refocused our direction. We agreed to maintain our mission statement:
But we decided to change just about everything else. We chose a new name -- Louisville United Against Violence, agreeing that it better reflects our mission while also highlighting the new focus. We decided to move the major annual event to September (exact weekend TBD); the new event date allows us to collaborate better with a related organization that also works against violence and has an event in West Louisville in the first week of June. And we've decided to have our event on Sunday afternoon, to better allow people of non-Christian faiths to collaborate with us. The location is still open for discussion, but we are considering spots like Elliot Park (a couple of blocks off Broadway, and St. Augustine Catholic Church, on Broadway but nearer the midpoint of Broadway between Shawnee Park and Cave Hill Cemetery. Well, is your head spinning yet? Mine is. I am so happy to be working with this group of loving, compassionate people, and have renewed hope that we can make a difference. If you're reading this and are new to our group, I hope you'll join up. Comment here, but better, send me a message from the contact page. In peace, Trish Ramey, co-chair of Louisville United Against Violence Dear Hands Across Louisville participants,
We are sad to inform all of you that Hands Across Louisville will not be held on Saturday, May 19, 2018. The event will be postponed and held at a later date. As co-chair of this year's event, I would like to share why this happened. As is often the case in startups, organizations often falter as they grow and become more successful. The direction of this project [as agreed on by the expanded group of volunteers] began to diverge from that envisaged by one of the originators. The divergence made it necessary for us to rethink our process. So much time was lost as the group tried to find its footing and direction that we decided we had to postpone the May event. The majority of the steering committee volunteers still plan to continue our outreach efforts. We hope again to bring together many different religious institutions, schools, and other groups, to galvanize our action to heal the divisions in our city and to help end the violence; but it won't happen this May. One other change – because a departed originator helped coin the name Hands Across Louisville and lays claim to it, we decided it was wise to change the name to avoid potential problems. We also view this as an opportunity We hope a new name will help us clarify our focus.. Our intent and purpose is essentially unchanged – we want to work together to unify the community to end gun violence in our city and we hope a new name will convey our mission better. We invite you to attend our reorganizing meeting on Saturday, March 31, 10:30 am at the Catholic Enrichment Center (next to St. Martin dePorres at 31st and Broadway). Please use the back door of the building, since we will be meeting in the basement. The proposed agenda is below. We plan to be no longer than 1 1/2 hours. Top on the agenda, of course, is affirming our mission, renaming our project, and determining our preferred time frame for the event. If we have time, we will consider the other items. We will also hold an open vote to be sure all positions necessary to the completion of our mission are filled and reflect the will of the membership. Thanks for your understanding and for your continuing support. BTW, if you can't make the meeting, but have a name idea or wish to express a preference for the event date, do let us know. (Note: The date consideration is for a general time-frame, e.g. mid-May, mid-June, mid-August, early September, early October.) We will still be using the event to hold hands up and down Broadway as a focus of our efforts to build unity. We also hope to continue having festival-like activities, supportive speakers, and an interfaith prayer service before the hand-holding. In peace, Trish Ramey, Current co-chair of the outreach effort =================================================== Proposed agenda: 1. Affirm the mission statement: Our mission is to collaboratively make a difference in our community by bringing all neighborhoods in the city together. On one day, every year we will stand hand-in- hand in solidarity to oppose the crime and violence around us. Throughout the year, we will continue to inspire others through service. 2. Vote in new leadership of the Steering Committee 3. Rename the project 4. Determine time-frame for next event (late summer, early fall, later fall, next May, next June) 5. Discuss possible change of the event venue |
Steering CommitteeSharing notes for the planning of the BIG DAY, members of the Steering Committee provide updates about the event and what projects we're working on. Archives
August 2018
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