Weekly Update – August 9, 2016

WNY Peace Center Weekly Update – August 9, 2016                            Contact: 716-332-3904

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Dear Friends and Members,
Take action!
Stand in Solidarity with Prisoners! Support the SAFE Parole Act. See Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce just below.
Peace!

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Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce
The Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce and other organizations are going to gather in support of the SAFE Parole Act and in memory of the recent death of John MacKenzie. Mr. MacKenzie was imprisoned for 41 years. A model prisoner, he took his own life when he was denied parole. Senator Tim Kennedy, a supporter of the SAFE Parole Act, may be there to speak.Wednesday August 10, 4pm. NYS Division of Parole, 465 Main St., Buffalo.

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Racial Justice Taskforce
Community Speak Out on Ethical Peace Officers
Training and culture can be changed, who is hired and how breaches are handled must be changed too. This is the third in a series, with information and discussion to help us work together, creating the culture of peace and justice that we all need.
Thursday August 18, 7-9pm. at the Delaware Family YMCA, 2564 Delaware Ave., Buffalo.

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Tune in!
Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center Radio show: 91.3 FM. Produced by Jack Kanack.
Monday, August 15, 1-3pm. Host Vicki Ross, on Indigenous Peoples Day, Nuclear issues, and Policing.
Call in phone number: 716 878-5104.

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Latin America Solidarity Committee (LASC)
Stand in Solidarity with Farm Workers: Boycott Wendy’s!
Farm workers are among the most abused and exploited workers in the United States. For 23 years the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), has marched, picketed, and fasted for justice for farm workers in Florida.
Their efforts have convinced many corporations to join the Fair Food Program, a partnership that has eliminated modern-day slavery and sexual violence in the Florida tomato fields, improved farmworker wages for the first time in decades, and guaranteed basic protections for workers.
Most of the major fast-food chains now participate in the FFP including McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, and Taco Bell. But Wendy’s refuses to join. In March, 2016, the CIW called a consumer boycott of Wendy’s until they join the FFP.
Sign the petition indicating your intention to boycott Wendy’s until the corporation joins the Fair Food Program.
Working with Weaving for Justice, collectives of women weavers in the Chiapas Highlands are able to sell their crafts at fair trade cost. All proceeds of sales go back to the weavers to help them maintain their families, provide for their children’s education, and continue their pursuit of social justice. Find out more at weaving-for-justice.org . If you are interested in seeing/buying beautiful Mayan textiles, please call Maxine at 716 835-4705.

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Resist Militarism! Taskforce
Vigil: Disrupt the death squadron operating at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station (NFARS):
Join us at the main gate to the NFARS on the 2nd & 4th Thursday each month (August 11) at 3:30-4:30pm (or pick another day of the week and bring a group with signs).
For more information, contact Russell Brown, at 716-570-5200; hobadoxa@me.com .

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COME AND JOIN US! Peace-Justice-Nonviolence Walk and Festival 2016
Sunday September 11th, 2:30pm-dusk. Canalside, downtown Buffalo
WNY Coalition of Peace, Justice & Nonviolence Advocates Joining Together for Mother Nature and All of Our Brothers and Sisters! More than 90 partners! Live Music, Tabling, Children’s Activities, and more! If you or your organization would like to be a partner or help with event planning, please contact one of us:
Vicki Ross (716) 931-3520   victoryross9@gmail.com
Tom Casey (716) 491-9172   caseytpc@aol.com
Paul McQuillen (716) 997-8659   paulmcqesq@nyagv.org

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Environmental Justice
Save Money and Save the Planet
Workshop will share information on how to get free energy audits of residential houses and how to get assistance in implementing the changes needed to make your home more energy efficient. This is in response to Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si, Care for our Common Home.
Thursday September 1, 7pm. Our Mother of Good Counsel, 3688 South Park Avenue, Blasdell, NY. Contact Sr. Sharon Goodremote, FSSJ for more information, 202-4706.

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Please consider connecting with PUSH Buffalo to get your home insulated and possibly powered by solar panels.
From PUSH Buffalo:
“We are doing a series at different breweries where people can come out and learn/sign up for solar & weatherization assessments. We are partnering up with Solar Liberty with these events. They are completely free and include a free beer. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/going-green-the-rusty-nickel-brewing-co-tickets-26083031048
Please forward to your friends and colleagues.”

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Chairman’s Book Club, hosted by Library Board Chairman, Frank Housh
“Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Panelists: Heron Simmonds-Price, Professor, Canisius College; Anthony Neal, Professor, Buffalo State College; Sharon Holley, Storyteller, retired Librarian.

The book is available at library branches.
Tuesday Aug 16, 12 noon. Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Branch Library, 1324 Jefferson Avenue, Buffalo.

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Please contact your Buffalo Common Council representative and ask him/her to stop the Freezer Queen Project as no environmental impact statement was done.
A lawsuit has been filed. Here is a link to a Channel 2 report which includes the actual Petition that was filed:
http://www.wgrz.com/money/business/lawsuit-challenges-freezer-queen-project/259456158
Individual petitioners are Margaret Wooster, Jay Burney, Jim Carr, and Lynda Stephans.
Our primary initial focus is to challenge that a Negative Declaration was issued on this, and we think that we can legally prove that it is an incorrect determination by the City of Buffalo Planning Board, and the Buffalo Common Council. We think that the precedent of issuing a negative declaration is a roadmap that will be followed in subsequent Green Code decisions, if an when the Greencode is adopted.

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The Living Theatre
“A visceral examination of the social contract between the governed and the government, Seven Meditations was written after Malina and members of the company were imprisoned-and some tortured-by the Médici dictatorship in Brazil in 1973. Considered one of the company’s most significant pieces, the play explores Sacher-Masoch’s Six Houses of Bondage: Love, Money, Property, State, War and Death, with a seventh meditation on Revolutionary Change.”*
*there is nudity and simulated violence in the show. Not appropriate for children.
$10 or pay-what-you-can. Monday August 15, 7:30pm. Manny Fried Playhouse, 255 Great Arrow Ave, Buffalo. Sponsored by Burning Books and Subversive Theatre.

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Elmwood Festival of the Arts
Saturday and Sunday Aug 27-28, 10am-5pm.
Come to the WNY Peace Center table on the Cultural Row!

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Women In Black – weekly vigil for nonviolence. Every Saturday noon to 1pm. Bidwell and Elmwood. Signs provided. (You don’t need to be a woman or wear black.)

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Please send announcements to weeklynews@wnypeace.org for possible inclusion in the Weekly Update.
Also, check out our website: wnypeace.org

To UNSUBSCRIBE: Email weeklynews@wnypeace.org with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line, and include the email address you would like to have unsubscribed.

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General Info :
PEACE CENTER CONTACT INFORMATION

For questions, comments, inquiries, suggestions, and concerns regarding the Peace Center, contact our Executive Director at:
Victoria (Vicki) Ross
Phone: (716) 931-3520
Email: victoryross9@gmail.com

Our Weekly Office Hours (for drop-in visits, calls, etc.) are:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday:  1-3 p.m., or by appointment.
1272 Delaware Avenue (use back entrance and ring buzzer to get inside), Buffalo, NY 14209
Phone: (716) 332-3904

PEACE CENTER TASKFORCE CONTACT INFORMATION

ECONOMIC JUSTICE:
Eric Gallion
Phone: (716) 310-4292
Email: egallion@verizon.net

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:
Charley Bowman
Phone: (716) 688-2374
Email: CandABowman@verzion.net
Website: http://wnypeace.org/new/projects.html
and
Frank Gage
Phone: (716)893-5584
Email: snowbird1967@roadrunner.com

LATIN AMERICAN SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE (LASC):
Phone: 716 838-2962 and 716 835-4705
Main Website: http://www.lascwny.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/LASC-wny/143873822377380/
WNY Peace Center Page: http://wnypeace.org/program/lasc.php/

PEACEFUL CONFLICT RESOLUTION/PEACE EDUCATION PROJECT:
Victoria Ross
Phone: (716) 884-0582, (716) 931-3520
Email: victoryross9@gmail.com

PRISONERS’ RIGHTS:
Chuck Culhane
Phone: (716) 348-4006
Email: culhane9@gmail.com
Website: http://wnypeace.org/program/Prison%20Action%20Committee.php/

RACIAL JUSTICE TASKFORCE
Heron Simmonds-Price
Email: heronimousphunk@gmail.com
Phone: (716) 768-2986

RESIST MILITARISM! TASKFORCE
Russell Brown
Phone: (716) 570-5200
Email: hobadoxa@me.com
Website: http://wnypeace.org/program/ResistMilitarism.php/

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DONATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
Student/Low Income: $10
Peacenik: $50
Sustainer’s Circle: $125
Director’s Circle: $250
Major Donor:  $1000
Lifetime Membership: $2500
Other Donations (you may indicate any reason):
Send Checks and/or Money Orders (made out to “WNY Peace Center”) to:
Western New York Peace Center, 1272 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209. Please write “Membership” or the purpose of your donation on the memo line of your check.
You can also pay with your credit card via PayPal at www.wnypeace.org

PEACE CENTER WEBSITES
Main Website:  http://wnypeace.org/new/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/WesternNewYorkPeaceCenter/
Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/wny8peace8center/
YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-irmY8IAJdDGF8oFTB98nA/feed/

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