February 24, 2009

Erie Peace Initiative Minutes

Feb. 24, 2009

1. Intros and agenda

2. Report on last 2 weeks of actions

A. Rally at Frontier on 2/13. It was short, but the group hadn't been out for a while. A lot of honks and waves. We can start doing more of this as soon as we want to put up with the weather!

B. Speaker at Unitarian church on 2/17: It turned out to be a nice interfaith communication event, but not really Gaza-focused. It was a good discussion for what it was.

3. Upcoming actions

1. D.C. rally

a. Arranging Transit -- We decided to go with the Merton center buses.

They leave from Pittsburgh -- people who are interested in going can sign up on the website http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/. The bus leaves at 6 a.m. Friday (March 20). We will try to arrange housing for anyone who wants to go down the night before can probably arrange housing through the Merton Center. Tickets are $35 per person.

Mark can put his landline down as bus contact info. We will act as a liaison -- getting the word out and potentially organizing carpools or van(s) of people to go down to Pittsburgh.

b. We need a flyer for the Merton Center buses. They made one -- we can put our local contact info on it.

c. Let's endorse the Merton Center bus. Mark will do this ASAP.

d. Phone-a-thon to get the word out about the Merton Center bus (in addition to the Darrel Vandeveld event and the local peace vigil) will be held 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday (Feb. 28) at Kaye Cofini's house, 622 W. 9th. She will make scones!

I. We need to find out who has various EPI phone lists. Mark will contact Anne and Lora.

-- Kaye will think about getting the LEAD list for us to use.

-- Richard has a phone list. He gave it to Mark.

-- After the event some of us can go to Dahlkemper's town hall meeting at Gannon's Waldron Campus Center, in the Yehl Room. Mark will make flyers for us to give out there, if we make contact with anyone who is interested in the march.

2. Darrel Vandeveld

a. Flyer - Looks good, but text should be centered and the date/time should be in a bigger font. Vandeveld's retired Army status should be listed more prominently before his name -- his specific title. Also, his name should be moved right on top of or right under his picture. Contact phone number on the flyer should be 456-3158. Sponsors' names should be put on the flyer when/if we get them.

b. Save the Date announcement -- Let's spam our listservs. Kaye will contact WJET. Lora can contact Showcase and the Erie Times-News.

c. Co-sponsors - Kaye will talk to LEAD, others will talk to Josephites and Benedictines. Penn Action can co-sponsor.

d. Info table, ribbons, signs and banners - Kaye will table for LEAD. What does EPI want to do? Let's figure this out next meeting.

3. Local Rally on March 19 -- let's incorporate this into the Darrel Vandeveld flyer, too.

I. Time? Noon

II. Place? On the corner of State St. across from Federal Building

4. Counter-recruiting update: We discovered that other people already placed AFSC literature in schools about a year ago. Tabled until next meeting.

5. The rest of the agenda was tabled due to a lack of time.

Announcements:

The movie A Beautiful Noise will be shown March 15 at Tinseltown. Tickets will cost $15. It is a fundraiser. Talk to Kaye for more info.

Next meeting -- Tuesday March 3, because we have a lot to address.