Featured speakers Kathryn Harrison and Ibrahim Hamid of the Darfur Alert will present a brief video on the Darfur Crisis, followed by their personal experiences and a presentation on ways in which the public can help promote peace and justice in Darfur. This program also includes a faculty panel and a Q & A session after the presentations. All are welcome!
West Chester University - Sykes Theater
October 27, 2009
7:00 PM—10:00 PM

Bread for the World is a non-partisan, Christian citizens' movement to end hunger.

Offering of Letters is an initiative where communities of faith write letters to congressional Representatives expressing their feelings about world poverty issues.

This year, we at Berwyn are encouraging sponsorship of HR 2139, the “Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009”. 

This law would make our nation’s foreign assistance more effective and streamlined and have a greater impact on poor and hungry people around the world. The act would require the Obama Administration to implement a comprehensive national strategy for global development and to make U.S. foreign assistance more accountable.

The Berwyn Church and Society Committee is sponsoring this Offering of letters here, where church members who support this effort write letters to their congress-person and bring the letters to church on June 7th. We will place these letters in the offering plates during church service, prayerfully offering them to God before sending them to Congress.

This outpouring of concern sends a powerful message to our political leaders and helps us move closer to a goal of ending hunger. Information on this worthwhile initiative can be found on the church web site.

Earth Day and Creation Celebration

• April 22 - Earth Day
Responding to widespread environmental degradation, Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, called for an environmental teach-in, or Earth Day, to be held on April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated that year, and Earth Day is now observed each year on April 22 by more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries.

• April 26 - BUMC Creation Celebration
This celebration will serve as a venue for the public to be educated, get inspired, promote community involvement, instigate action, and have family fun.

Get political!
Make a difference by writing your legislator.

The Church and Society Committee is taking an ative role in Pennsylvania's education crisis.

Because of insufficient state funding, public education in Pennsylvania is overly dependent on local wealth, with the result that the quality of educational opportunity for children varies widely.

For example, spending in Lower Merion School District was recently more than $6,000 per student per year higher than in Philadelphia, and more than $8,000 per student per year higher than in a nearby rural Chester County school district.

• In national comparisons, Pennsylvania ranks 37th out of 50 for efforts to make sure education funds in the state are spent fairly across the Commonwealth.
• The state share of school costs is far below the national average and ranks Pennsylvania near the bottom of the 50 states.

In addition, the amount of state appropriations on a per pupil basis also lags the national average. In addition to a disparity in educational resources, Pennsylvania also has a great disparity in local school taxes, ranging from 10.8 mills to 42.5 mills. Ironically, it is many of the poorest school districts that have the highest tax rates, yet still do not have adequate levels of funding to ensure a high quality education is available to all students.

Go to http://www.goodschoolspa.org for more information.

Fair Trade practices, also, the UMCOR Fair Trade site
Global Climate Change