D.O.E.R.S.
Newsletter of Doers Offering Emergency Relief Support
Spring 2002

P.O. Box 259525, Madison, WI 53725-9525 (608) 251-6892
E-mail:doers@terracom.net
Soon to be up-and-running Website: http://DOERSWI.homestead.com


“Seeds of Hope” for Afghani Refugees: D.O.E.R.S. Fund Families’ Return to the Land.

        What would you do if your home were destroyed by a bomb, and you had to flee to a refugee camp? As soon as it was safe, you'd want to return home, but how could you, if all of your possessions had been destroyed? Thousands of Afghanis are in that situation, and the new D.O.E.R.S. campaign, "Seeds of Hope", will help some of them make a new start in their old villages. Rick Fast, who works for the Mennonite Central Committee, wrote about the plight of these "internally displaced people" upon his recent return from a fact-finding trip to Iran and Afghanistan.

May 11th Ethnic Afghani Dinner to Benefit D.O.E.R.S.’ “Seeds of Hope” Campaign!

        D.O.E.R.S. supporters and the general public are invited to an ethnic Afghani meal on Sat., May 11, at the Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ, 1501 Gilbert Rd., Madison, at 5:30. The meal, cooked by members of the local Afghani American community, with help from D.O.E.R.S. members, will offer attendees a chance to enjoy a bit of Afghani culture, while benefitting displaced rural Afghanis who want to return home. Plans are being made for a speaker knowledgeable about Afghanistan. Tickets cost from $12 to $25- sliding scale. Both vegetarian and meat-based entrees will be available. (Please specify when buying tickets.) Please buy your tickets asap! You can do so on the coupon in this newsletter. At the dinner, we will be collecting school kits from any who wish to donate them. School kit contents listed below.

D.O.E.R.S.’ Autumn Efforts a Huge Success!

        The two aid collections which D.O.E.R.S. sponsored on Oct. 27 and Dec. 1 established our group in a wonderful way. Each time, over 100 people attended, bringing aid which is now saving lives in Afghanistan. The first event, held at the First Unitarian Society in Madison, gathered 725 blankets, and over $5500 for food for Afghani refugees. These were loaded on the "Solidarity Truckers" truck by the volunteers, and driven to the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) processing center in Goshen, IN by Ned Powell. The trucking expenses were paid by the Madison Mennonite Church.
        Our goals were expanded for the second collection, held at Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ, to include five kinds of refugee kits and other resources sought by the MCC, for refugees around the world. We spent four weeks spreading the word, and the results were fabulous. Churches, Girl Scout troops, a mosque, schools and others, organized and gathered resources and brought them to the church.
        Nine women brought their sewing machines and spent the hours sewing scores of kit bags, which were immediately filled by other volunteers. Others bagged up the blankets, assembled newborn kits, made up cardboard boxes, or whatever was needed. So many people came that our little committee of eight women would have been overwhelmed, if it hadn't been for the wonderful people who saw a need, stepped in and started working. When the last people left at 6 p.m., we had assembled, packed and loaded an amazing amount of aid, and our total financial contributions for food aid was up to $11,000!
        We collected 64 relief kits, 159 school kits, 176 health kits, 50 newborn kits, 7 sewing kits, ca. 178 yards of fabric, 197 blankets, 4 boxes of soap, and 28 boxes of clothing, sheets, bandages and various supplies. Borkholder Furniture, of Goshen, Indiana very generously donated a "backhaul" of our cargo to the MCC Depot, and so we were able to donate the $222, which we had collected for shipping, to buy more food for refugees. The blankets donated on Oct. 27th arrived in Iran in December and were distributed by the Iranian Red Crescent Society, to refugee camps along the Afghani border. The blankets collected Dec. 1 are in bales at the MCC warehouse and will be shipped in the next month to Afghanistan. The relief kits we collected are headed for Priedor, Bosnia; some of the health kits were sent to North Korea, and some will be sent to Bosnia soon; and the school kits have gone to many places. (Recent school kit shipments have gone to Bosnia, Colombia, Haiti, Iraq, Mozambique, Nicaragua, North Korea, Palestine, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine.)
        Monetary donations since Dec. 1 have brought the total donated to feed Afghani refugees up to over $14,000! Congratulations to everyone who has worked or donated to help so many people overseas!

We Need More D.O.E.R.S.!

        To make the “Seeds of Hope” campaign a success, we need your participation. Enclosed in this mailing is a one page leaflet which you can copy and post, in schools, stores, libraries, places of worship, etc. You can also email it to your circle of friends, put an announcement in your church bulletin, organize a drive at your school, or whatever! The more people hear about this opportunity to help the people of Afghanistan, the more funds we will raise.
        Our fall aid drives were such big successes because so many of you became organizers in this way. Please help again!

Helping the Women of Afghanistan

        On Dec. 1 D.O.E.R.S. also hosted an art sale to benefit RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. This courageous group, which readers may have learned about on Oprah’s show, in the New York Times Magazine, or many other media outlets, has been struggling for women’s rights inside Afghanistan, and in the refugee camps of Pakistan, since it started in 1977. They run many humanitarian services for refugees, including schools, clinics and orphanages, as well as documenting Taliban abuses. (For more info, see their website at rawa.org.)
        Our art sale, inspired by artist Betsy Tuttle’s donation of 50 designer potholders, brought in $1273, which was sent to the Afghan Women’s Mission, a California group which channels aid to RAWA. It was used for relief efforts.
        Another way which you can help RAWA, and have a great time, too, is to attend the monthly “Bad Art Parties”. These are held on the second Friday of the month, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Atwood Community Center, 2425 Atwood Ave., on Madison’s East Side. (But there will not be one in April.) The idea is simple: make a donation to help pay the salary of a teacher in a refugee school in Pakistan, and then enjoy yourself making art, bad or good. “Your inner critic is not invited”, is how Norah Cashin, the organizer, expresses it. Each month people of all ages gather to make art, chat, listen to music and snack. A wonderful array of supplies is provided, and you can bring more if you want. Likewise, you can bring some refreshments, but it’s not necessary. For more info call Norah at 249-7887.

A Big Thank You

goes out to Richard Russell, who has developed a data base for D.O.E.R.S.! This huge job, performed free of charge, will help us immensely in keeping in contact with you.

D.O.E.R.S. Email Update

        We'd like to announce that D.O.E.R.S. now has it's own email address: doers@terracom.net. So you don't have to use Phyllis Hasbrouck's email any longer, in fact, that address will shut down.

Action Alert!: “Day of Prayer and Faxing”

        The Mennonite Central Committee, the service arm of a traditionally pacifist church, is our conduit for aid to the suffering people of Afghanistan. They have sent out an appeal to all the people who have so generously donated blankets to protect the people of Afghanistan. They are asking us to take part in a “Day of Prayer and Faxing” to promote peace in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. D.O.E.R.S. is not a religious group, but many of our donors are religious people, and all of us want to end needless human suffering. So we are passing along their appeal with the understanding that some will want to make prayer a part of it, and some won’t.
        The basic idea is to “give cover” to Congress people and Senators who want to oppose widening the war to include Iraq and other nations, by flooding them with faxes in favor of peace on Palm Sunday, March 24. Their aim is to send 40,000 faxes (the number of blankets they sent), and the method they suggest is gatherings around a fax machine where people write and fax their members of Congress and the President. (Faxing is the best way because mail is still slow, due to the anthrax problems.)
        Can you, D.O.E.R.S, help make the goal of 40,000 a reality? Can you organize something very quickly, even if it’s just 5 or 10 people who meet at the home of a friend who has a fax machine? You could make a potluck, and enjoy a meal together before writing and faxing your letters. You could work through your congregation, club, or school group, to meet and fax letters after church, school, club meeting, etc. It would be nice to have it happen on March 24, but if it only works on some other day, that will be fine too. If nothing else, you can fax a letter yourself, or email it, or call Washington on Monday, Mar. 25. And you can pass this call on to your friends via email or telephone or letter.

Addresses of members of Congress and the President:
Senator Russell D. Feingold
506 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510-4904
Fax: 202-224-2725
TDD (202) 224-1280 Local # (608) 828-1200
Email: senator@feingold.senate.gov

Senator Herbert Kohl
330 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510
Fax: 608-264-5473 Phone: (202) 224-5653 or 1-800-247-5645 (toll free in Wisconsin)
Email: senator_kohl@kohl.senate.gov

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (for Madison and vicinity)
1022 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515
Fax: 202-225-6942
Local # (608) 258-9800
Email:Tammy.Baldwin@mail.house.gov

George W. Bush
The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 202-456-2461 TTY/TDD Phone Numbers (for the Hearing Impaired Only): 202-456-6213
Email:president@whitehouse.gov

You can access any congressperson through the congressional switchboard: 202-214-3121.

Here follows the text of the MCC suggested letter: (The optional Christian part is in parentheses.)

Dear_____,

        I am writing today to express my concern regarding the expansion of the war to Iraq and other countries. I mourn the death of the many innocents that died on September 11. I also mourn the death of the many innocents that have died in Afghanistan since October 7, and the many that have died in Iraq as a result of bombing and sanctions. I fear for the many soldiers, and civilians who will suffer and die as a result of the war being expanded to other countries. I believe that expanding the war will only plant more seeds of hatred and cause more needless violence.
        (As a follower of Christ I am called to love my enemies and to pray for them, I believe that God loves all people and desires to restore broken relationships. ) I think the U.S. can take positive steps in that direction by choosing not to expand the war; by ending sanctions in Iraq; by respectfully dialoguing with countries; and taking a broader more just, regional approach to disarmament and weapons of mass destruction, including other Arab states and Israel. I do not think the process will be easy or quick, but I believe it is necessary in order to prevent the spread of more hatred and violence towards the U.S. As well as to prevent the death of more innocent people in other countries.

Sincerely,
[Your name and address]


Please phone (608-251-6892) or email (doers@terracom.net) us to share the number of faxes sent, so we may relay this information to The Mennonite Central Committee. Thanks!

Yes I want to join D.O.E.R.S!
Enclosed are my dues for one year, check payable to D.O.E.R.S. $50___, $30___, $15___, $5___, other___

Yes I want to donate to the “Seeds of Hope” campaign!
Enclosed is my tax-deductible donation, check payable to the Mennonite Central Committee, for $250___, $100 ___, $50____, $25____ other $____

Yes I want to buy ___ ticket(s) to the May 11 Afghani Dinner! Ticket price $12- $25 sliding scale. Enclosed is $____ check payable to D.O.E.R.S. for ___ tickets, ___meat and ___ vegetarian.
I can sell__ tickets. Please contact me.

Name:____________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________

Email:__________________ or Phone: _________________________

Please mail this form to D.O.E.R.S., P.O. Box 259525, Madison, WI 53725-9525