Inside Info: Members/Donors/Volunteers

Summer, 2007

Previous Issues of Newsletters

CONTENTS
* Position Opening
* LIFE Profiles
* Movin' Ahead
* Coming Soon on SimpleLiving.org
* Ways You CAN Help

My goal is to pass a healthy Alternatives organization to the next generation. After my retirement in 2008, I pledge to support Alternatives with a significant commitment of time and funds. I ask all of our members, volunteers, donors and friends to welcome our new leader with a similar pledge and then work to make simpler living a viable movement in the long haul.

-- Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator since August, 1995.

POSITION OPENING

Alternatives for Simple Living, a national nonprofit educational organization with an active history of 35 years, seeks a new NATIONAL COORDINATOR (Executive Director).

Alternatives' mission is Equipping people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly. Following Jesus' example, Alternatives offers an ecumenical and non-partisan Christian approach to simplicity and responsible living.

Alternatives currently realizes its mission through an extensive website, a quarterly Resources Guide, and a national network of volunteers. Alternatives' best-known resource is the annual booklet Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? which offers resources and activities that provide better choices for the celebration of Christmas than the consumerism of popular culture.

The new National Coordinator will work with a small staff to continue its well-established strategies and to develop new ones, especially reaching out to young adults.

The new National Coordinator will be involved in outreach (organizing one's own travel and directing volunteers), fundraising, resource development and production, and marketing.

While currently situated near Sioux City, Iowa, the National Coordinator has the option of relocating Alternatives. Alternatives' current headquarters, called the Earth Dome, is a geodesic structure providing a working example of ecological and conservational methods such as rain water collection and solar heat.

This job requires advanced education, experience, and commitment to the cause of voluntary simplicity. Experience in communication, writing, and/or resource development is a plus. The application deadline is Sept. 15, 2007. The new National Coordinator will assume his/her duties between January 2 and May 1, 2008.

Salary is negotiable at $40,000 (based on experience and education) with a self-administered benefit package equivalent to 20% of the salary. Alternatives is an equal opportunity employer.

* * *

LIFE Member Profiles

More Folks Support Alternatives

Dear community of Alternatives,
I am an elementary teacher in Chicago Public Schools. I believe God led me to this ministry not only to teach children to love learning, but also to share with them the passion for justice for all.

So far this year, we have read books about conservation, stories of children from all over the world and discussed community. As I neared the holiday season, I wanted more resources for my room to help me teach about the holidays.

In addition, as a Christian with a commitment to simple living, my heart was getting heavier as the world filled with tinsel, reindeers and ads equating love with gifts. Every year, I struggle to turn away from the mall and towards the manager. As a person of prayer, I needed resources to help me peacefully prepare for Christmas.

Thankfully, I had a recent Alternatives' catalog. (I gave your Wedding Alternatives to a friend last year.) I found exactly what I needed for my prayer chair, many resources for my classroom and things to share with my church.

The Nativity book was a hit in the classroom and with children I know. Your multi-cultural angels hang beside the Menorahs, Kwanzaa mats and Santa Claus faces we've made. I've been opening my day with the Shaker melodies CD and closing my days with Simplify & Celebrate and A Christmas Reader. I would like more copies of The Nativity. I have many babies in my life!

My heart and I are saddened with the consumerism running rampant, but we are nourished by Alternatives' resources. Thank you. I believe in the work you do. May God bless all of you and the work you do.

Peace, Renee Grogg, Chicago, IL

Renee worked in an orphanage in Bolivia and in the Sojourners community. She shows many examples of Latin American art on her walls. Her mission statement is 'With laughter in my soul, I want to walk an uncluttered path of love and service.' She has a 13-year-old foster daughter, LaMya, and a little dog, Shamus.

She hosted Alternatives at a gathering of her young adult friends, all involved in social service professions. Read her fascinating story and more about that exciting, revealing discussion at SimpleLivingWorks.org >> scroll to posts 90 & 91.

Marilyn Feldhaus and David Gross of San Jose, California, are happily childless. Married 20 years, they live in a pleasant suburban home that is decorated with artifacts from their many trips abroad, including Japan, China and Latin America.

She's Lutheran, he Jewish. She's a Special Ed teacher, he a client software problem solved for IBM. He loves volunteering at the local hospital emergency room each Friday.

We took a nice morning walk to gather vegetables for supper. Marilyn and David are almost completely vegetarian and she prepares most meals from scratch.

She plays piano and helps an immigrant with English (as she improves her Spanish). He likes to ski at Tahoe in the winter.

She's deliberate about how she chooses not to pollute and to conserve water, washing dishes in a pot and then watering plants outside with the left over water. They use a bucket in the shower to catch and reuse water for gardening. Landscaping in front and back is planned to fit dry weather.

She's very well read and gives talks on simple living. She lives and thinks simplicity as a deliberate decision. Both of their families do not understand or appreciate their lifestyle.

Marilyn wrote recently: Since we are actively (or at least I am!) negotiating retirement and since after that the gravy train will slow down considerably, I figure I should get this LIFE Membership to Alternatives now.

I am thinking to get a little group together of like-minded souls. I am still thinking about your offer to lead Simple Living group in California. Since I continue to be something of a crank about the importance of simple living it seems logical to at least take a stab at this.

For more, read post #55: Deliberate conservation in the suburbs
at SimpleLivingWorks.org >> About Us >> Travels.

Wouldn't you like to become a LIFE member?

Movin' Ahead!

Tony Campolo

Shane Claiborn (photo by Becky Garrison)

By the time you read this, Whose Birthday? will be out and we will have recorded and begun to edit the Tony & Shane DVD for Young Adults.

Please help reach more with the message of a simpler, more meaningful Christmas.
1. Distribute free Whose Birthday? flyers or the summer Pre-Christmas Resources Guide. All we ask for promotional copies of past issues of the booklet is help with the shipping costs.
2. Order copies of the new booklet for yourself and your church early. Send them instead of Christmas cards.
3. Plan a fall workshop or event early. For help visit SimpleLiving.org >> Volunteers >> Activities.

Please help reach more with the message of a simpler lifestyle, especially young adults.
1. Start talking the DVD up so that people are anticipating its release in early fall.
2. Help fund the DVD by urging others to become members, by giving your church or a good prospect a gift membership, by increasing your own membership.
3. When the DVD is released, help distribute it through your networks. We'll have quantity discounts. Give it as gifts to friends, resource centers, libraries, schools, you name it. It's not just for young adults. All caring people need to have authentic solutions -- not just cheap advice -- to share at 'teachable moments' (such as January 15th, the day the Christmas credit card bills arrive). Let's be ready! HEAR Tony & Shane at SimpleLiving.org >> Services >> Archives >> Collections >> AUDIO >> Tony & Shane's DVD Project.

SEE short video about the project there too (or YouTube).

Possibly you could provide a grant or know someone personally who could. Possibly you or your agency would place an advanced quantity order. Or both. We welcome your ideas. Request a DVD and share it with others. We'll gladly provide you a copy of a detailed proposal. Please be in touch.

Coming Soon on SimpleLiving.org - Something new everyday on our dynamic home page! Window #1 - New Resources Window #2 - Celebrating Window #3 - Blog: Faces of Simpler Living in the Northwest, then the Northeast (If you missed CA, NC, KS, OK, CO, TX, NE, MO, MI, OH and Chicago, they're waiting for you in the Blog archives.) Window #4 - Your Daily Simple Living Calendar Window #5 - Your Comments Window #6 - Struggles & Solutions, Simple Living 101, Volunteer Activities and Featured Writers Window #7 - Surprise

Get a free update weekly (or monthly if you prefer) by giving us your email address. Our eNewsletter is meant to be read in under a minute.

Gerald is planning speaking tours in the Southeast (mid-July through mid-August) and Wisconsin (early September). We send information by email. If you're not receiving our email newsletter, send us your address so you can receive tour updates. His itinerary will also be posted in Window #3 as Where's Geraldo? Alternatives on the Road. Watch for it.

Ways You CAN Help!
*Send referrals! Be proactive. Sharing names and contact information of anyone who shows interest in simpler living.
* Be a volunteer for Alternatives in your community. Visit SimpleLiving.org >> Volunteers >> Activities.
* Pledge a LIFE membership.
Donate regularly, each month or quarter. We're tax deductible!
* Lower taxes through Alternatives' Endowment.
* Give someone a simpler living nudge. Share Alternatives' resources, give gift memberships.

Member/Volunteer Reply [6/07]

Donations
___ I want to support the Young Adults Initiative, including Tony & Shane's DVD!
$5000 / $2500 / $1000 / $500 /$250 / $100 / $75/ $50 / $35 / $25 -- all levels tax deductible
___ I want to pledge per __ month / __ quarter.
___ I want to be a dues-paying member, or renew.
___ I want to be a charter member of Alternatives' endowment. I'm pledging at least $500.
___ Send me information about including Alternatives in my will and about planned giving.

Volunteers
___ Yes, I want to become/continue as a member of the Simpler Living Community Network (incorporating SLOW Down Network).
___ No thanks, I'm no longer interested in volunteering.
___ Contact me about hosting a speaker in my area.
___ I will distribute Alternatives' free Whose Birthday? flyers. Send me __ copies of the half-sheet. Send me __ copies of past Whose Birthday? (I'll pay the shipping for the booklets.)
___ I will distribute Alternatives' free Resources Guide. Send me __ copies of the full master catalog. Send me __ copies of the current mini-catalog.

Thank You's -- for yourself and to share with others
___ I'm giving $100 or more by check or credit card (include numbers and expiration date). Send me one of the following free resources for each $100 . . .
___ Audio CD: Alternative Christmas Trilogy
___ Audio CD: Living Simply & Loving It!
___ CD-rom Simply the Best: 30 Years of Alternatives.
___ Unplug the Christmas Machine Workshop-on-a-CD
___ Living More-with-Less Study/Action Guide
___ Spirit of Simplicity: Quotes & Art book
___ Spirit of Simplicity: Quotes & Art CD-rom
___ Break Forth into Joy: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle video (VHS tape)
___ Stories & Songs of Simple Living book
___ Stories & Songs of Simple Living CD
___ Worship Alternatives CD-rom
___ Sing Justice! Do Justice! Music CD
For more choices visit SimpleLiving.org >> eStore >> Misc. >> Premiums. For donations under $100, claim FREEBIES at Misc. >> Freebies.

recycled paper

Past Issues of Newsletters

Simple Living Works! * SimpleLivingWorks@Yahoo.com
BLOG: SimpleLivingWorks.WordPress.com | Blog INDEX
PODCAST | Podcast INDEX
VIDEOS: YouTube.com/SimpleLivingWorks
MISSION: Equipping people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly // An all volunteer educational organization.