CHARITY ART EXHIBIT & SILENT AUCTION 

To take place at the Rotterdam Community Center, Fri- Sun Apr. 21-23, 2023

Why? This year, because of the dire humanitarian situation in the world, SiCM, Schenectady Community Ministries, in addition to the Crop Walk, (the 1^s Sunday in May), will try to raise additional funds/awareness. 

How? We are asking local artists and/or people who have original artworks to donate one and/or several. The works will be sold to the highest bidders, and all proceeds will benefit The Phil Grigsby Memorial Crop Hunger Walk

How Can you help? Register/submit artwork/s online any time before April 21. Bring your artwork donation on Fri April 21 (latest by Sat. April 22).

Use the link below to submit your registration an image or several images of your donation at https://sicm.salsalabs.org/ArtforCharitySubmissionForm

 

When? The Exhibit Dates & Events will take place…

- Fri. 4/21 from 4 - 7p: Art Drop Off day (bring your work/s- latest by 4/22, by 3p)

- Sat. 4/22 from 3 - 6p: Art Showing / Bidding with Opening Reception at 3pm

- Sun. 4/23 from 1 - 5p: Art Showing/ Bidding and acquirers announced at 3p

- Sun. 4/23 from 4 - 5p: Art Pick Up (if your artwork/s isn’t / aren’t sold)

Who will inform the public about this event and the Crop Walk?

Chinira Lovick or Laura Pinckney at the Schenectady Community Ministries (SiCM), Phone:  518.374.2683   or visit: info@sicm.us  And me, Ottavio Lo Piccolo,  at 518-421-6807          ottaviolopiccolo5@gmail.com

Finally, the Rotterdam Community Center, Tel (518) 364-3216

 

This year the need is dire- extremely serious and urgent. In the US alone more than 34 million people, including 9 million children are food insecure, and in the world, the number of refugees has surpassed 100 million, in addition to the war in Ukraine, a devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria, which as of 10 March 2023, has caused more than 55,100 confirmed deaths: more than 47,900 deaths in Turkey, and more than 7,200 in Syria. It is the deadliest earthquake in Turkey since the 526 Antioch earthquake, making it the deadliest natural disaster in its modern history.

 

You’re also invited to

The Phil Grigsby Memorial Crop Hunger Walk

on Sunday, May 7^th, 2023

At the  Trinity Community Center, 705 Curry Rd. Schenectady, NY 12306.

Registration begins at 12 pm. The walk starts after the Opening Ceremony at 1pm. You can choose to walk 5km (3 miles) or 1 mile.

The Phil Grigsby Memorial Crop Hunger Walk is a national annual event sponsored by CWS, Church World Service, an interdenominational group of US churches, whose objective is to raise funds and awareness in reducing poverty here in the USA and overseas. Each local CROP Hunger Walk can choose to return up to 25 percent of the funds it raises to hunger-fighting programs in its own community.

So, if you’d like to support this cause and reduce poverty and alleviate suffering in the US and around the world make a pledge/donation.

You may also donate online now- visit:

https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2023/ottavio-piccolo

Or my FB Fundraiser at:  https://facebook.com/donate/913829679865075

 

If you donate by check, make it to CWS/Crop – you give it to me personally or send it via US postal mail (latest by this June)  to SICM,  PO Box 1049, Schenectady, NY 12301

Or turn them into the following churches: St. Luke’s, St. Anthony & St. John's Evangelist Churches.

Please help asylum seekers (refugees/immigrants) who escape abuse, poverty, and persecution, by contacting your congressional representatives; urge them to treat immigrant children arriving from Central America as the refugees most of them are, to resist inhumane proposals that separate mothers from children at the border or strip children of special protections they have long been entitled to, and to continue foreign aid to Central America designed to reduce violence.

Why? Because on February 21, 2023, the Biden administration announced it is preparing to implement an asylum ban that would have a devastating impact on those fleeing persecution and arriving at our doors. The proposal – if implemented – would create a presumption that certain migrants are ineligible for asylum if they have not first sought protection in a country they transited through en route to the border.

Our U.S. laws and treaties protect asylum seekers and prohibit their return to persecution and torture. Our laws also explicitly guard asylum seekers’ right to seek protection regardless of how they arrive in the United States. The rule would unlawfully deny protection to asylum seekers and require them to seek asylum in countries that do not have functional asylum systems and where they may still be in harm’s way. (From the Web)

Finally, read this book!

Enrique's Journey: The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother By Sonia Nazario a two-time winner Pulitzer Prize, one for feature writing and another for feature photography. This is an astonishing story that puts a human face on the ongoing debate about immigration reform in the United States. Enrique's Journey recounts the unforgettable quest of a Honduran boy looking for his mother, eleven years after she is forced to leave her starving family to find work in the United States. Braving unimaginable peril, often clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains, Enrique travels through hostile worlds full of thugs, bandits, and corrupt cops. But he pushes forward, relying on his wit, courage, hope, and the kindness of strangers.

 

Immigrants

 Contribute to America’s Economy in many ways

They work at high rates and make up more than a third of the workforce in some industries. Their geographic mobility helps local economies respond to worker shortages, smoothing out bumps that could otherwise weaken the economy. Immigrant workers help support the aging native-born population, increasing the number of workers as compared to retirees and bolstering the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. And children born to immigrant families are upwardly mobile, promising future benefits not only to their families but to the U.S. economy overall. Immigrants increase the potential economic output by increasing the size of the labor force. Immigrants also contribute to increasing productivity.

Source: Immigrants Contribute Greatly to U.S. Economy, Despite Administration’s “Public Charge” Rule Rationale. AUGUST 15, 2019 | BY ARLOC SHERMAN, DANILO TRISI, CHAD STONE, SHELBY GONZALES, AND SHARON PARROTT

Additional immigration facts: Immigrants and immigration are good for our country, our communities, and our economy. Efforts to cut legal immigration – particularly in the midst of the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic – will keep American families separated, hurt public health, and damage crucial recovery efforts to jumpstart our economy as the country begins to reopen. New arrivals to the U.S. help drive business creation, fuel innovation, fill essential workforce needs and strengthen the middle class. Family-based immigration promotes family unity and integration, all core principles of American values. And many immigrants will go on to become citizens, taking the solemn oath of allegiance to America and the Constitution. 

Source: Immigration Facts: The Positive Economic Impact Of Immigration

Immigrants and Immigration MythBusters: Addressing Common Misconceptions

https://www.fwd.us/.../immigration-facts-the-positive.../

DO YOU WANT TO HELP IMMIGRANT CHILDREN? Here are some ideas:

If all of us do something, even something small, together it will make a difference. You can help in the U.S., organizations in Mexico, or people and groups in Central America.

1. HELP A RECENTLY ARRIVED CHILD OR FAMILY IN YOUR COMMUNITY: Some people want to work one-on-one to help someone in their community. Most states and cities have local Latino groups you can find and volunteer to mentor a child or help in other ways. Some people find this to be the most meaningful way to help.

2. WRITE OR CALL your congressional representatives and urge them to treat immigrant children arriving from Central America as the refugees most of them are, to resist inhumane proposals to separate mothers from children at the border or strip children of special protections they have long been entitled to, and to continue foreign aid to Central America designed to reduce violence. This aid helps support programs in Honduras that are making a difference like the Association for a More Just Society. The single most important thing for immigrant children, once they are in the U.S., is that they have a lawyer when they go to immigration court. That can mean the difference between winning the right to stay in the U.S. legally, which most are entitled to, or losing their case and being sent back in many cases to the danger they just fled. Ask your representative to do all of these things using this template letter I’ve put together for you to use.

3. DONATE OR VOLUNTEER: to help Kids In Need of Defense, KIND, a nonprofit, whose board Sonia Nazario sits on, provides free lawyers to immigrant children facing deportation. KIND has recruited 14,000 pro bono lawyers to help represent children in immigration court. It’s not enough. KIND really needs resources, attorneys, and translators to volunteer to represent children. (See below for ideas of other organizations).

4. DONATE MONEY OR AIRLINE MILES: to Lawyers for Good Government’s Project Corazon Travel Fund, which sends pro-bono lawyers to the southern border to help migrant families, children, and individuals with legal representation. The travel fund was created in July 2018 with a mission to reunite families at the border and has since expanded its mission to defend the rights of detained immigrants and assist those released from detention.

 

5. PLEDGE TO BECOME A HOST: Volunteer to provide free housing to asylum seekers so that they don’t have to spend months or years in immigrant prisons while their claims are being heard. Recently, the LA Times wrote about how California residents are volunteering to take in asylum seekers as Trump and his administration are slashing the number of refugees. “Since June [2018], nearly 800 people around the country have pledged to offer housing through California-based Freedom for Immigrants. The organization has raised more than $100,000 this year to bond 50 immigrants, including Aguilar, out of detention. Immigrants eligible for release from detention must provide the address of a sponsor to immigration authorities. Other organizations, including those associated with the sanctuary church movement, are also opening their doors to detained migrants in need of transitional housing.” Click here: https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/join-us-1/ to support an asylum seeker.

 IN HONDURAS, Sonia Nazario saw several organizations that are doing great work to help improve conditions for these children: Asociación Para Una Sociedad Mas Justa [Association For a More Just Society]

In Honduras, the Association works on several fronts to reduce government corruption and violence. They have tackled corrupt government hiring practices, reduced teacher strikes that crippled schools, and made more transparent the purchase of medicines by government hospitals and institutions. Perhaps most important, in a country where 96% of all murders are never investigated or lead to a conviction, they have hired teams to go into pilot neighborhoods and investigate all homicides, dramatically increasing the odds that people who commit murders are brought to justice. You can read about their work here and you can donate to this site. Click on the link below:

http://enriquesjourney.com/about-the-family/update-2/#

then click on: HOW TO HELP, at the top of the screen, and then click on: GET INVOLVED