Subject:
Please help the victims of the California fire storms!
Date: October 23, 2007

ISSUE:
Fires are raging throughout Southern California?ACTION: Help make donations to victims of this disaster

As most of you know, one of largest evacuations of human beings in this history of California is underway, especially in San Diego County. With fires burning hundreds of thousands of acres, with over 1300 buildings already lost in San Diego County alone, and with one life taken and many others in peril, we MUST act to help.

This is about humanity in general - it is also about us. One of our member churches, Malibu Presbyterian Church, has been seriously damaged, while scores of our individual members are fleeing for their lives not knowing if they will have homes when they can return.
For us here in Sacramento, it is all too real. We have written today to several IMPACT allies in the fire areas - with no response from any of them. One of our organizational allies, Interfaith Community Services in Escondido, is running a day center for victims of the fires. Another, the Ecumenical Council of San Diego is working tirelessly to house whom they can and find resources for others.

This disaster is not abstract. It is about strangers. It is also about people whom we know, whom we've met, talked to, written to. Friends.

We urge you to offer support to these victims and to the organizations supporting them. The Red Cross has run entirely out of supplies - cots at homeless shelters are being commandeered, and stores are offering sleeping bags to those who have no other beds. People are jammed on freeways and roads trying to escape, and there is no place for any of them anymore.

Please help. Donate what you can. Here are a few suggestions:
The Red Cross needs whatever you can send. Right now money rather than material goods will help the most. You may make a general donation to any Red Cross office or to the national office.

However, for local donations you may send money directly to affected areas.
In San Diego and Imperial County you may make an online donation to: http://www.sdarc.org/site/pp.asp?c=erKQL4NQE&b=127361

For Los Angeles the Red Cross link is: http://www.redcrossla.org/index.php

For San Bernardino County the Red Cross contact is by mail or phone at:
202 W Rialto Ave, San Bernardino, CA 92408. Phone: (909) 888-1481

To make donations through our faith allies, please send checks to one of the agencies listed here;

Interfaith Community Services, 550-B W. Washington Avenue, Escondido, CA 92025
Ecumenical Council of San Diego, 1880 Third Avenue, San Diego, Ca 92101
Diocese of San Bernardino, Office of Social Concerns, 1450 North D Street, San Bernardino, CA 92405

All of our faith service allies in these areas will see to it that donations are directed to essential services and to individuals who have no other resources due to the fires.

If you would like to help the Malibu Presbyterian Church directly, they have a temporary web site - the other was burned out - at: http://www.malibupres.org/main/ Their address for donations is still functioning at Malibu Presbyterian Church, 3324 Malibu Canyon Road, Malibu, CA 90265.

When we write to you, we write to people who are now victims of these terrifying fires. For us, you are but one people. Please feel the need of people we consider to be your brothers and sisters, and help all the victims of this horrible event. We will be out of the office Wednesday through Friday this week, but if you have other suggestions for means to help, please let us know, and we will post that information early next week.

And please keep everyone in these fire areas in your heart, thoughts, and prayers.

Subject:
Put an end to torture - three things you can do to stop this immoral practice
Date: September 13, 2007

As part of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), we are sending you three steps you can take to outlaw our nation's involvement in the use and endorsement of torture. Torture IS a moral issue, and it is up to the faith community to speak against it.

How does it affect California? We are one of the largest states supporting victims of torture and their families. We also have men and women in the CIA, the military, and civilian contract positions around the world who have become perpetrators or observers of torture to the detriment of their minds,health, and morality. This is not a distant issue - this starts right here at home.

Stop the CIA program of 'enhanced interrogation techniques' The National Religious Campaign Against Torture is working actively on a number of fronts to stop U.S. sponsored torture. NRCAT now has staff people to make us all more effective, but our strength lies in what you can do. With Congress in full gear for the next few months, NRCAT has three important requests of you.

1. Send an email to your Members of Congress and tell them to stop the CIA "enhanced interrogation techniques" program.

On July 20th, President Bush issued an Executive Order on the CIA's interrogation techniques for U.S.-held detainees. The order made clear that the program of "enhanced interrogation techniques" used by the CIA will continue. The military, under the Army Field Manual, is prohibited from using interrogation techniques that violate the Geneva Conventions. The CIA is not subject to the limits of the Army Field Manual. Two administration officials told the Washington Post that under the new Executive Order "suspects now in U.S. custody could be moved immediately into the 'enhanced interrogation' program and subjected to techniques that go beyond those allowed by the U.S. military ."

To stop U.S. sponsored torture, the CIA should stop the enhanced interrogation program. Please go to www.tortureisamoralissue.org to send an email to your senators and representative, telling them to stop the CIA enhanced interrogation program -- stop the torture -- stop cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of all detainees. You may also wish to call their Washington offices. The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-225-3121.

To send an email or FAX in yur own words, you can also log onto the IMPACT link at:
http://capwiz.com/cachurches/home/ If your representatives in Congress ar not listed, just enter your address, and then you can click on the names and send your message via email or get the FAX number and send a letter there.

2. Sign Up for Spotlight on Torture

We sent an earlier email that mentioned the availability of this outstanding video, "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib", that is available for your congregation's viewing and discussion. Rory Kennedy's HBO documentary received the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Non-Fiction Film last weekend. If you have not had a chance to sign up your congregation to show this powerful and challenging film between October 21 and 28, please do so by close of business on Friday, September 14. If you sign up online by Friday (go to the NRCAT web site at www.tortureisamoralissue.org) you should receive the DVD and supporting materials by the end of September. If you are unable to sign up by Friday, but do so by the end of the month, you'll receive the DVD and materials in mid-October. For more information, visit the Spotlight information page. The DVD and materials are FREE to the first 1000 congregations that sign on. Please reserve now since the demand is increasing. You may also contact the California field organizer Allan Shore at allanshore@msn.com or phone him at 916.730.2801 for more information and to help obtain the DVD and informational materials.

3. Help NRCAT "win" $100,000

NRCAT has 48 days left in the Peace Primary, a special fundraising effort provided by the Ploughshares Fund. NRCAT is one of 12 organizations invited to participate in a project in which visitors to the Peace Primary web site during the months of September and October are encouraged to make financial gifts between $10 and $1000 to one or more of the selected organizations. Actor Martin Sheen thought so highly of NRCAT that he devoted the majority of his votes on the Ploughshares nominating committee to see that NRCAT was one of the organizations in the fundraising project.

The organization receiving the most money between September 1 and October 31 is awarded a gift of $100,000 in addition to the funds contributed to the organization during the month. For those committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, the Peace Primary provides an opportunity to increase the capacity of NRCAT to bring the moral and religious voice to an issue that has tarnished the moral fabric of the U.S.

If you are able to contribute during the week of September 10, your gift to NRCAT will be matched up to $1,500 with funds given by two contributors to the Peace Primary. Thank you for any contribution you are able to make. Please also consider telling your friends about the Peace Primary.

CLICK HERE TO EMAIL YOUR COMMENT --

RETURN TO SITE