Flood Damage Relief: Second United Presbyterian Church of Wilkinsburg

When heavy rainstorms blew through Pittsburgh on June 17, a number of churches in the Pittsburgh Presbytery sustained significant damage. In particular, Second United Presbyterian Church of Wilkinsburg suffered extensive damage to their Fellowship Hall, kitchen, two bathrooms and the downstairs hallway. They need to raise $24,880 to purchase materials and are asking for the prayers of their brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the Presbytery, and for any funding or labor that could help them through their repairs.

If you are interested in helping, through your time and talents or a financial contribution, please contact Rev. Deborah Warren at 412.242.4430.

For more on Second United's ministry, see http://web.mac.com/secondpresbyterian/iWeb/SecondUnitedPresbyterian/Home.html .

Have a Few Minutes? Speak Up!

Speaking of how we spend our time.... Nora writes that she is increasingly frustrated by the wimpiness of our elected officials in terms of tackling head-on the challenging but not impossible task of health care/insurance reform, especially in the face of hollering crowds.

Have two minutes? Read Nora's letter, below, which she has sent to her senators and congressman via email. I've included both her 'call to action' (addressed to all those who care about this issue) and her letter.

Have five minutes? Send an email to YOUR senators/representatives! Nora won't mind if you want to crib some from hers! You can find the email address for your senator (most of you reading this are probably represented by Casey and Specter) at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and the address for your representative at https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.

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Hi, friends -

Our federal elected representatives have gone home for the summer without enacting health insurance reform. Worse, it's questionable whether or not they'll ever be able to break through the ties of money and influence that bind them. I sat around all last week stewing helplessly about this. This morning, as the weather threatens to stew us all in fact, I pulled myself together, and e-mailed and called Senators Specter and Casey and Congressman Doyle. My letter follows to show that I really did get in touch with them. I

If you're contacting them as well, do let me know. I'm finding it very discouraging that the legislation under discussion so far has moved far from anything that might make a difference to all the un- and underinsured in this country or to the high costs of health care, and that the mindless yelling of bought-off crowds seems to be so influential. It's hard to be enthusiastic about what's being proposed at this point. So I'd like to hear if others of you, just to get a sense of a common interest. Thanks so much!

Nora

Dear Sen/Rep:

Please work to get us real health insurance reform. So far, it doesn't look good. It looks like the vested interests, namely big health insurance and big pharma, are having their way. They're bankrolling mob pressure against any meaningful change, and they've got the "Gang of Six", led by Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, batting around in their wet paper bag unable to do anything at all.

In fact, I heard Sen. Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Committee, say: "We've got a good health care system." What? What country is Senator Grassley living in? Canada maybe, where they do have a good health care system? Meanwhile, Kent Conrad, a Democrat on Sen. Baucus' committee, is proposing a health care co-op system. Please.

What we need is a system that will serve everyone and will save money in the long run. Single-payer health care does that. Why not work vigorously to educate your constituency about the facts of single-payer? There has not been enough information because everyone is so frightened of what the well-funded noise machine will do. Please break out of the mold and bring us a real solution to our overpriced, ineffective, and corrupt health care system.

Thank you very much.

How Do You Spend Your Time?

The New York Times posted an interesting chart on how people (over 15 years old) in the US spend their time on an average day.

It's fascinating (in ways that may or may not be healthy!). You can pick a random time -- let's say 6:50 PM -- and see the percentage of Americans who would normally be engaged in a given activity at that time. At 6:50 PM, 3% of Americans are playing sports. 1% are voluntering, while another 1% are engaged in religious activities (does blogging for a church committee count?). 24% of Americans, at 6:50 PM, would typically be watching television or a movie.

Walk the [CROP] Walk!

C+C Co-Chair Fred is one of Sixth's most faithful CROP walkers. Won't you join him and others on Sunday, October 11th, as Sixth Presbyterian walks through the East End of Pittsburgh to raise funds for Church World Services?

Our fall calendars fill up so quickly: please mark your calendars now so that you can walk or participate in some other way on October 11th.

Summer Calendar Alerts

It's Vacation Bible School Week at Sixth! Yay! Do you have a favorite Bible school memory? My two strongest memories of those days as a child are (1) grape kool-aid plus pretzel sticks tasting soooooo good; and (2) loving the way we got to all call out together "His steadfast love endures forever" during the psalm reading.

Taking a staycation and want to do a little volunteering? Sign up for the Tuesday, August 4th (10 AM till Noon: plenty of afternoon left for ice cream and the swimming pool!) volunteer stint at Global Links! Global Links collects unused medical supplies from local hospitals and ships them to hospitals serving the poorest of our extended human family in less developed countries. Contact Jan Maxwell if you'd like to help!

The deacons invite you to the first monthly Family Gathering on Tuesday, August 11th: an evening of supper and sharing. You're invited (but don't need to) bring a gently used item for little ones under 2 to be shared with other families who might need those items right now during a family expansion period! Babysitting and children's activities will be provided.

Pittsburgh Presbytery Says 'Get Connected!'

Presbytery has a new service, Let's Get Connected, that allows churches to list their talents and their needs online. In this way, congregations that need help in a certain area can find fellow Pittsburgh Presbyterians to help them, while those with gifts and talents can find opportunities that best match those gifts.

See Let's Get Connected! on the Presbytery website.

Allegheny County Council Approves Non-Bias Ordinance

Sixth's Session wrote to Rich Fitzgerald of the Allegheny County Council to express our support for the establishment of a county ordinance that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity. That bill -- and an accompanying move to establish a Human Relations Commission -- was approved yesterday.

Session's letter noted that, since 1978, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has had a policy of supporting exactly this type of anti-discrimination ordinance; the General Assembly of that year agreed that “vigilance must be exercised…to initiate and support federal, state, and local legislation that prohibits discriminating against persons on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodation.”

Council supporters included John DeFazio, James Burn Jr., Joan Cleary, Rich Fitzgerald, Dr. Charles Martoni, William Robinson, Robert J. Macey and Amanda Green. See http://www.alleghenycounty.us/council/members.asp should you wish to write a note of thanks to your County Council representative regarding the approval of this ordinance.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09183/981333-455.stm#ixzz0K75YkVMw&C .