Stand Up and Take Action

October 12, 2009

by Sammi Fredenburg

As Stand Up quickly approaches next weekend, I find that I have self-victimized myself to the tyranny of the urgent. I inquired about a paid position at World Vision to find myself in that position within days, and my life of volunteer leisure has been momentarily disturbed while I adjust to a multi-county commute and essentials like laundry and dishes, while dealing with guilt about obligations like this that that seem to be getting less than I wish to give them. Over the years I have come to adopt the Klingon philosophy, as Worf tried to teach his young son, about honor. I can either do the job to standard, or I can do it to honor. It’s that extra mile. And I don’t want to do this work we do for the “least of these, “ those that you and I love, to just standard . . . that to me would be a copout. I want to go over and above to honor them, honor the Lord, honor all of you, honor the work of RESULTS/ONE/Bread/Jubilee, other organizations that have provided me with tools and opportunities to lobby for the kids. But enough about me.

Next weekend, Friday through Sunday, 72 hours of opportunity. I hope that as many of us can stand up collectively with as many as we can at some time over the three days as is possible. Teresa and I have coffee-shopped an awesome agenda for the Saturday morning around the Paul Farmer call, we’ve got RESULTS business cards printed to share thanx to the template provided by Leslie Reed . . . we have a bake sale silent auction going on at the event . . . we are looking forward to the RESULTS Snohomish group individuals sharing their one-minute story on why they come and participate in Snohomish RESULTS. And we will include our “partners” at this event: Teresa is the Director of TB PhotoVoice, I will be sharing about ONE and asking folks to join the ONE campaign and have white ONE bands to share, and Bread for the World which is with us addressing foreign aid reform, and Jubilee has the postcard campaign for change, not chains. Coalition work is important to us here, we are greater than the sum of our parts.

I was reading Senator Bill Frist’s blog this past week, his book recently came out (Heart to Serve, not about politics but his medical work in developing countries, it’s a great inspiration) and as my commute consists of predominantly news radio, I’m continually reminded that partisanship is very live and loud right now in our battles on health care, foreign aid, justice issues. One appealing attribute of RESULTS for me is it’s non- or even, anti-partisan, that these kids don’t care if we’re red or blue, black or white, rich or poor by western standards, but that we are there for them, we are their voice. Especially in my tyranny of the urgent, I’ve got to be there for them. But one of the coolest things about the Senator’s blog: he stated he held a house party for Tennessee ngos, and there he held what he called “NGO speed dating.” Now that is brilliant! TW and I are going to play with thought; maybe not for Saturday, but for other occasions. Still, we could use it to pair off, spend a few minutes telling our story, ding. Listen to the other person’s story. Ding. Rotate. Dang that sounds like fun!

Did I mention that both Teresa and I have sisters flying in for the weekend next weekend? sigh

Paul Farmer’s call is an amazing opportunity to have an outreach for RESULTS. I hope that many of us can take this opportunity. And please consider leading Stand Up at your places of worship. And your places of work. Lead your family. Share with us.

Thanx for listening. Stay close,

Sammi in Seattle =)

Save the Date!

WHEN: October 17, 2009

WHERE: The home of Teresa and Will Rugg, 5 minutes from Highway 2 in Snohomish. 7619 137th Ave. SE, Snohomish, (360) 862-9034

TIME: 10:30–noon

WHAT: Dr. Paul Farmer will be in the house! We will be joining RESULTS volunteer activists from over 100 communities to acknowledge International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Dr. Paul Farmer will be live with us via speakerphone to inspire and underscore the importance of the work we do in RESULTS. We will also be extending an opportunity to community members to change the world by joining our Snohomish RESULTS group.

WHY: Poverty has decreased in many parts of the world, but there is still much to do. Last year, 116 million people Stood Up and Took Action on Oct. 17, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This year, millions more will stand again to let world leaders know that we must keep our promises to reduce poverty. Join us and learn how RESULTS allows everyday people to take real actions to end poverty.