Winter, 2003, Update for Members and Volunteers
Contents
30th Anniversary Preview
When
Alternatives celebrates its 30th anniversary from March, 2003-March, 2004! Here's a glimpse at our plans.
Events
At the Board of Directors meetings in Sioux City, March 2003 and March 2004, we will have special programs.
Launches
We will be launching an Endowment fund in March, 2003. If you would like to be a charter contributor to that fund, send a check for $1000 or more. Or contact us for more information.
We are also assembling an Honorary Board of Directors, which we will announce publicly in March, 2003. Below are the distinguished charter members so far. These prominent folks should help Alternatives raise awareness among the general population. Simpler living will have more influence as it becomes "mainstream."
Resources
In 2003, we plan to issue "The Anytime Game," a year-round version of our popular "Christmas Game." We are working on a series of anytime greeting cards called Spirit of Simplicity and an audio CD called "Living Simply and Loving It!" "Worship Alternatives" has been postponed.
The simple greetings cards will be printed on 100% recycled paper in calm colors, blank on the inside.
The audio CD will be a four-part presentation that can be used for personal inspiration, for sharing with friends, for a small group discussion at church or elsewhere. We plan to offer the CD free for contributions of $100 or more during the 30th anniversary year.
We have acquired basic CD duplicating equipment so that we can make copies as needed instead of having large quantities on hand.
These resources need underwriters. A total of $5000 is needed for production and some marketing. Recognition is negotiable. Please contact us if you're able to help.
Honorary Board of Directors
(Preliminary list, not for further distribution)
David Beckman
President
Bread for the World
Walter Brueggemann
Professor
Columbia Theological Seminary
Millard Fuller
Founder & President
Habitat for Humanity International
Alisa Gravitz
Executive Director
Co-op America (publisher of The National Green Pages)
John McConnell, founder of Earthday
Vicki Robin
author of Your Money or Your Life
Convenor of The Simplicity Forum
Ronald J Sider
President
Evangelicals for Social Action
Betsy Taylor
Executive Director
Center for a New American Dream
Jim Wallis
Executive Director
Sojourners Magazine and Call to Renewal
Simplicity Forum
Alternatives is a founding member of the national network of simplicity leaders called The Simplicity Forum. We met this past summer in Oberlin, OH, at the site of one of the most ecologically friendly buildings in North American on the campus of Oberlin College. Our leader is Vicki Robin, coauthor of the classic "Your Money or Your Life."
We are a group of organizations, authors, academics and others. We work on many fronts, including policy & advocacy, research, education, communications, philanthropy, and justice & diversity.
Our most visible plan is Take Back Your Time Day, scheduled for October, 2003. We are working to make it as well known as Buy Nothing Day or even Earthday. It confronts North America's addiction to work and constant busyness. For more information, visit http://www.timeday.org
Simplicity Shorts
Last year at this time you were dutifully filling out Alternatives' Survey 2002. We intend to make Alternatives as interactive as possible. We do not have a definite date for Survey 2003. It's not in this issue. We are still digesting all of your valuable comments from last year.
Gift Membership
Nancy Goodno Weinstein of Seattle, WA, gave a gift membership as a Mother's Day gift to Margaret Arnold of Palo Alto, CA.
Parents Bill of Rights
Alternatives is a cosponsor of a new initiative from Commercial Alert, called the Parents Bill of Rights.
It deals with the disruptive effect on children of advertising, which you may notice during this Christmas season. You can sign on too! Read the full document at www.commercialalert.org
Refocusing
In July of 1998, I was diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer. As it happens I am long term survivor but I am mindful that my days are numbered. The beauty of knowing for certain that death will come sooner rather than later is that you can change your life to reflect better what you really value. By the same token, you can achieve closure for those many tasks you would like to accomplish in the time you have remaining.
In this context I have struggled with the matter of making bequests to people I wish to benefit when I die. I hit upon the following strategy. Instead of giving them money or material things, I decided to leave selected beneficiaries with a source for ideas that could help them simplify their lives as I have done and thereby to stand a better chance at happiness. I effected this strategy through an executor's letter of instruction (which everyone should have in addition to a will). In my executor's letter of instruction I list the names of some 40 individuals and families that I know and cherish. The instruction to the executor is to contact Alternatives for Simple Living, fax the list of names and addresses, and include a $50 gift certificate and a catalog so that each beneficiary can learn about voluntary simplicity. In my humble opinion this is the most valuable thing I can do for the people I wish to benefit on the occasion of my death. It is likely to have a larger multiplier effect than anything else I might consider giving them. I also leave these beneficiaries with the clear message that I think well enough of them to help them on a grand scale.
How much better it is to give someone ideas to live by than to just hand them money or objects. This fits with the Hindu proverb that if you give someone a fish they can eat for a day but if you teach them how to fish they can eat for a lifetime. I hope that my beneficiaries find my bequest to be thoughtful. It could serve to dramatically improve their lives in each and every case. This possibility more than justifies the time, effort, and money to required to render this bequest.
I recommend this strategy to others who wish to conclude the affairs of this life in a thoughtful way. Whether facing a terminal illness or in good health, each one of us is here on a daily basis by the grace of God. Take the time to write your will and executor's letter of instruction. When you do, consider a bequest that truly is the gift of giving - a gift certificate through Alternative for Simple Living. - Fred Frankena, Brooklyn Park, MN
Editorials
'Moving' Inspiration
There's nothing than can put one's addiction to stuff right in your face like moving can. I know. I just did it.
Despite my previous best efforts to dispose of the majority of 25 years worth of collections, I felt the heavy burden of toting and the painful psychic indecision of what to keep and what to say good-bye to.
Rita's and my beautiful plan to reduce our possessions by 10% a year for 10 years was compressed into fewer than 10 weeks. We are now ahead of the plan by several years!
-Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
The Guilt Exemption
When faced with our own over consumption, we try to figure out why it really doesn't apply to us - how we're exempt - instead of figuring out a way to change. For example, cars. Though we know that avoiding SUV's are a Top Priority*, we try to justify owning one... or two... instead of taking the bus, biking or walking. Walking and biking are seen as simply exercise or recreation instead of their real purpose - transportation.
-Gerald Iversen
*Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices (Union of Concerned
Scientists)
We Are Alive
My house burned down. It was stuck by lightning a little before 5 a.m. on a Friday in June. Lightning hit the gas line that feeds into the house, creating a giant blowtorch effect. The structure and its contents were destroyed. By chance, nobody was home at the time.
I don't mean to minimize what happened, or make light of it. It was a tragedy. But we are alive. Nobody died. Nobody got hurt. The most important things in life are your faith and your family, and both of them are doing fine. They didn't get so much as singed. We lost a lot of stuff, but it's just stuff.
Granted, some stuff is hard to part with. The two-handed plastic mug your kids drank from when they were babies. Your wife's wedding gown. Journals. Photographs.
But most of the stuff was just stuff. I've long had the feeling that I was choking in stuff, and I rather like the idea of starting life anew less encrusted, like a lobster that has shed it skin and for a time is sensitive and vulnerable. Advertisers tell us that the more stuff we possess, the happier we will be. But that's just a line. A line is a lie with an n in its belly. The last thing we need is more stuff, and we would be far happier, and heaven would be happier, if we gave a lot if give away to folks who truly need it.
It was a hard day, that Friday in June. Lightning hits the gas main and the house burns down. Then the mail carrier come with the mail, and all you get is a bill. From the gas company.
-Lou Lotz, minister of worship at Fair Haven Ministries in Hudsonville, Michigan and a member of Alternatives board of directors. Lou is also the author of the reflections for Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? 2003.
Web Pages of Special Interest
Care to comment on Alternatives' new Home Page design before it's finalized?
Before January 1st email us after you view the various versions.
Alternatives' Business and Privacy Policies are now on the web site at http://SimpleLiving.org/main/Policies.php
For hundreds of articles for personal inspiration or to reprint, visit Alternatives' Archives at SimpleLivingWorks.org >> Archives
Want help selecting titles to "Send a Simple Message" to others? Visit our Recommendations page at http://simpleliving.startlogic.com/indexoth.php?place=archives/Editorial.php
Want help selecting a Study Guide for yourself or a group? Visit our new Study Guide page at http://simpleliving.startlogic.com/indexoth.php?place=archives/StudyGuides.php
Want help knowing where to start on the Simple Journey? Visit both of those pages.
Get in Print!
If you would like to contribute to the 2003 edition of our most widely-read, family-oriented booklet, "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" please send ideas before January 15, 2003. That gives you time to prepare something during the holiday season when it's really on your mind. An item may be new or not, original or not. If it's by someone else, include a complete description of the source.
We can use...
- Art (line drawing, photo) that depicts the tension between faith and culture.
- Personal experiences (especially intergenerational ones) related to simplifying Christmas or finding meaning in relationships instead of stuff.
- Ideas for worshipful ceremonies or family rituals and activities.
We print over 100,000 copies and reach many more through our website. We intend to translate much of it into Spanish.
To read past editions of "Whose Birthday," go to our website. Click on Information, then Archives, then Collections, then Whose Birthday. Or go directly to http://simpleliving.startlogic.com/indexoth.php?place=archives/XB/XBindex.php
Gentle Reminders
Get a free copy of our new CD-ROM "Simply the Best: 30 Years of Alternatives" with a donation of $100 or more. Over 1500 pages!
Read and comment on our free web site e-zine - "Alternatives' Reader" - at http://simpleliving.startlogic.com/indexoth.php?place=archives/Review/AQIndex.php
Get our free email newsletter by simply sending us your email address. Called "Simply :60," it's meant to be read in under a minute.
We update your many Comments weekly on our web site. Visit HOME window #5.
ASSIST has been discontinued. Our Program Committee is considering ways of helping people connect for support in simpler living. Share your ideas!
Yes, "Member Update" and "SLOw Down News" have been combined into one newsletter. To read past issues of "Let's SLOW Down," go to http://simpleliving.startlogic.com/indexoth.php?place=archives/News/SLOwDownNews.php
To read past issues of "Update," go to http://simpleliving.startlogic.com/indexoth.php?place=archives/InsiderInfoIndex.php#IssuesAvail
Outreach Report
SLOw Down Network (speaker's bureau)
10/00-10/01 = 32 requests for help
10/01-10/02 = 30 requests
Display
10/00-10/01 = 24 requests
10/01-10/02 = 19 requests
Consignment Sales
10/00-10/01 = 11 requests
10/01-10/02 = 7 requests
Resource Guide (bulk requests)
10/00-10/01 = 3550 copies
10/01-10/02 = 4970 copies
Volunteers Hours (Sioux City)
1999 (partial) = 160 hours = 1 month, 1 week labor
2000 = 470 hours = 3 month, 2 weeks labor
2001 = 609 hours = 4 months, 1 week labor
2002 (partial) = 443 hours = 3 months, 1 week labor
Requests for Whose Birthday Promotional Flyers
6/02-1/02 = 14,230 flyers sent out
Page updated 20 February 2013 (6 February 2003)
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