Greetings to all on this holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr!
One might wonder why I am sitting in front of my computer today, rather than engaged in community service in honor of Dr. King. That’s a very good question, and my answer is probably not very good, but this newsletter is a service for those interested in the work of the Center, and so the time spent in preparing it, I hope, is on a par with the many hands that are extended in service throughout the country today.
Today in the Courier Post, the South Jersey newspaper, is the beginning of a four part series on water in the Garden State. Forty years ago, state government challenged itself to clean up the waterways of the state so that we could boast of our commitment to the environment. This series reports that only one waterway in the entire state passes all the tests set up to insure the safety of the water. ONE WATERWAY in all of New Jersey! Click here to read the first installment in this series. As the article points out, many millions of dollars have been spent to clean up the waterways of NJ, and yet here we sit, 40 years later, with only one waterway safe for drinking directly. It can become discouraging to think that so much effort can produce so little. Indeed, it is discouraging.
We measure ourselves by our effectiveness in the effort to green business, or politics, or our lifestyles. We want people to tread more softly on the earth, on its resources. We want to encourage new sources of energy, new food production processes, new purchasing patterns. All of this is aimed to make human living more responsive to the environmental and social costs of that human living. But this effort can become discouraging when we meet people for whom the environment is no more than a source of human satisfaction, when we meet people who consider environmental racism or the injustice of sighting polluting industry in poor neighborhoods as the blathering of weak kneed liberals who are trying to cover up for the inadequacies of those who are poor because of their choices. It can be discouraging!
Into the darkness of that discouragement come the light of young voices, of fresh perspectives, of new enthusiasm. This past week at the Center we hosted a group from Rutgers/New Brunswick. They were a fantastic group; they worked hard in our neighborhood and at two agencies in Philadelphia. At the end of their week, they shared their insights and reflections on themselves and the work they did. One young man noted that he became aware in a new way of the disconnect between those who seek to satisfy their wants and those who struggle to meet their needs. He remarked that we ought to be committed to a society where everyone’s basic needs for food, shelter, security, healthcare and education are met before any of us pursue the satisfaction of our wants! Isn’t this the vision offered us in the Acts of the Apostles, where the early believers were described as sharing everything in common so that all would have enough to eat and shelter?
Another student realized that her success was not an individual accomplishment; there is an entire community of people who support her in the pursuit of excellence. Indeed! Where would any of us be without our families, our friends, our mentors, our heroes? Where would we be if not for the social structures supported by our government? Where would be if, indeed, we were left to our own devices, only our own devices, without the cooperation of hundreds, if not thousands, of people? Be each of us doing our “bit,” this student said, we can help each other to be all that we can be. But we have to do our “bit.” No one else will do it for us, and it does not help if we look at what others are doing or not doing. Our job, our role in creation, our task is to figure out what our bit is, and to do it, with enthusiasm and fidelity.
Is the work of justice, of building a better world, a frustrating experience at times? Oh yes! But then there are those moments when God reminds us of the power of human imagination, of human compassion. We meet it in the words of young college students. We meet it in the smile of a homeless man who thrills to tell his story. We meet it in the marks of beauty throughout the struggling city of Camden which signals that the human spirit will not be defeated. These are the signs of hope, the signs that our toil is valuable, that the world is changing, that peace and justice are a possibility for human beings, that walking more respectfully, more tenderly, more attentively on the earth is a possibility.
There is nothing like a young person naming hope to dispel the darkness of frustration and disappointment. The future of our planet is in the hands of the generation coming of age as we speak. What a gift it always is to witness the joy of young people!
In this season of resolutions, I challenge you to nourish your own joy, your own hope, your own commitment to be a more faithful steward of the gift of creation. That is my resolution; this past week made it an easy one to live up to!
Sincerely,
Mark Doorley, Ph.D.
President, Board of Trustees
NEWS AND NOTES
1. February Work Day: As we rapidly approach the growing season, we need to get the greenhouse ready. Come on Saturday, February 4th, at 9AM. Be sure to bring your own water and work gloves. Please contact Andrea Ferich at aferich@gmail.com to let her know that you are coming.
2. Tell your friends about us. Send us their email addresses and we will add them to this distribution list. Forward the email to those you think might be interested in our work. Send email addresses to info@camdencenterfortransformation.org.
3. RETREATS: Rutgers/New Brunswick students spent a week with us, leaving on Sunday, the 14th of January. As indicated above, they worked in the school, in the Center, at the Writers’ House and the Firehouse, as well as at two sites in Philadelphia. They were an absolute joy! Check out our Facebook page in the next week for a few photographs. We will be hosting a group from Neumann University in March and another group from Rutgers/New Brunswick in April. If you’ve been here already for a retreat and/or learning experience, please consider scheduling your group again. If you’ve never spent an overnight with us, please contact us for information. We would love to work with your group to plan a wonderful experience in Camden. Contact us at retreats@camdencenterfortransformation.org.
4. Our work would not be possible without the support of foundations in the area that value our efforts. In the last month we received two substantial grants. The first is from the Community Foundation of South Jersey in the amount of $5,275.00 to be used to further the mission of the Center. The second is from the Elmo Foundation, based in Virginia. They gave us a grant of $1100 to support the Junior Farmer Program. THANK YOU!
5. CAPITAL CAMPAIGN: On December 1, 2011 we began a capital campaign for the Center, aiming to renovate the old side porch on the building, redesign the front entrance, and finish the replacement of the old windows in the building. Our goal is $50,000. As of today, you have helped us reach 2% of our goal. Thank you to all of you who have already contributed. For those of you who haven’t gotten around to it, please remember to support these projects which will enable us to create an ever more inviting space in Waterfront South and be more efficient in our use of energy. Send a contribution to 1729 Ferry Ave., Camden, NJ 08104.
6. The Fair of the Heart: Each year, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Sacred Heart Church hosts a fair at which handmade items are available for sale. This is the second year in which 75% of the proceeds go to the operations of the Center for Environmental Transformation. We received $4,288 from the fair this year. Thank you to the people of Sacred Heart Church for their generosity, and to Barbara Hopkins, Betty Musetto and all their helpers who make this event so special.
7. January 20-22, 2012: The next installment of the South Camden Theatre Company’s celebration of Tennessee Williams is set for this weekend. Two Williams’ plays are featured. The first, “The Case of the Crushed Pentunias,” directed by the theatre’s artistic director, Joseph Paprzycki, features young adults from Camden city. The second play, “The Glass Menagerie,” will be read by an African-American cast, directed by Connie Norwood. Make plans for this uniquely inspiring event! For more information visit this site.
8. January 26th at 7PM: At Haverford College, the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship is hosting a talk by Susan Gelber Cannon, teacher and author, committed to spreading peace. Her recent book, “Think, Care, Act: Teaching for a Peaceful Future,” will be the focus of the talk. She is featured in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer today. Read it here.
9. Dynamic Sustainability: The role of diversity in creating a sustainable world: Sustainable Cherry Hill, The Center for Environmental Transformation, among other organizations are sponsoring an afternoon of conversation and reflection on the role of diversity in pursuing sustainable ways of living. Sunday, February 26, 2012 from 2-5PM: Join us at the Urban Promise campus on the border of Camden and Pennsauken. For more information, visit this site.
10. A HAIKU OPPORTUNITY: The Nick Virgilio Haiku Association is hosting a world reknown haiku writer on March 3, 2012 in Waterfront South in Camden, NJ. See the attached flier for information on this event. Consider coming out for the opportunity to discover your haiku voice.