Faribault Diversity Coalition: Winter Clothing Drive, The Spirit of Giving and Asking.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Winter Clothing Drive, The Spirit of Giving and Asking.

Once again another successful Winter Clothing Drive. The weather was frightful, but the Library was delightful.

A lot of faith, big hearts and a little asking is a great recipe for a wonderful Christmas season on a cold snowy day and happy people leaving with many warm smiles and bodies.

A lot of faith:
1. That people would come through by bringing in warm clothes through the month of November.
2. That the word would get out to the people, (200+) that needed some warmth for their bodies, souls and hearts.

Big Hearts:
1. Again in time of need the Faribault Daily News came through with very timely stories asking for clothes and letting people know that it was time to pick up the warm clothes.
2. South Central College Students, Hagre Lutheran Church, and many of the same people that gave last year came in with big smiles and warm clothes.
3. People brought in families to pick up clothes when their cars wouldn’t start or didn’t have transportation and too far to walk.
4. Church’s, companies, schools and organizations spread the word of the needs and to the needy.

A Little Asking:
1. I called Divine Mercy Catholic Church and asked Fr. Thomas Joseph if the Net Team could help sort the mountain of clothes and 6 angels spent 3 hours getting everything just right. Thank you Emily, Chris, Angelle, Freddy, Danielle, and Claudia.
2. The day before distribution of the clothes I asked Paulene Schrieber to do a little splash in the Daily News to remind people to come and pick up warm clothes and she did a lovely piece and pictures on the front and second page. People who saw it brought in more clothes and many that read it left a little warmer because of the article.
3. Thanks again to Buckham Library and wonderful staff for allowing us to use their site and letting us in early on Friday and Saturday and graciously showing the people where to go.

Big Hearts are plentiful in this city and with everyone that we associate with. Once again life around here is a little more harmonious for everyone and a little warmer for others.

Thanks everyone and have a gentle day, Milo

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PROTEST

My protest shall be:

To act with kindness when faced with hatred,

To plant a flower, raising beauty as my shield against the ugliness,

To share my food, because others are hungry,

To write a letter, instead of wringing my hands helplessly,

To cry tears of grief and anger, so numbness cannot overtake my heart,

To refuse to fall for false reassurances and the tempting comforts of ignorance,

To contribute my voice in outrage, when others are forced into silence,

To immerse myself in the courage of others, when mine fails me,

To speak the truth as I find it, humbly aware that it is

not the whole truth,

And, when I do not know how to love my enemies, to find a way to love their children.

Reverend Lynn James

LEADERSHIP ATTITUDES, by Harlan Cleveland

In his book Nobody in Charge, Harlan Cleveland suggests the steepest part of the leadership learning curve and the management of complexity is not skills but attitudes..............

1. Intellectual curiosity, an interest in everything because all things really are related.................

2. Interest in what other people think and why they think that way...............

3. A sense of responsibility for envisioning a future that is different from a straight-line projection of the present. ("Trends are not destiny.")............

4. A hunch that most risks are there to be taken..........

5. A mindset that crises are normal, tensions can be promising, and complexity is fun...........

6. A realization that paranoia and self-pity are for people who don't want to lead.............

7. A sense of personal responsibility for the general outcome of your efforts..........

8. "Unwarranted optimism"--the conviction that there must be some more upbeat outcome than would result from adding up all the available expert advice

Faribault/Northfield Census - 2004-2006

(Information can be sought at "http://www.lmic.state.mn.us/datanetweb" www.lmic.state.mn.us/datanetweb, the state demographers office, the Education MN website, etc.)

The four largest immigrant communities in Faribault are: Latino, Somali, Cambodian, and Sudanese. There are smaller numbers from an additional 12 language groups represented in the schools.

Faribault, 709 of 4035 students (2004-2005 school year) spoke a language other than English at home (17.6%). In Kindergarten, those numbers were closer to 25%.

In Northfield, 280 students of 3835 (7.3%)

Major languages:

Faribault: Spanish (555 students), Somali (54), Cambodian (48), Nuer (17) . 16 languages other than English are represented.

Northfield: Spanish (239), Vietnamese (8) , Russian (7). 14 languages other than English are represented..........Latino: (Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, Panama, Guatemala, Peru, other. Also included are Mexican-American families who identify themselves in the census as Hispanic)

While Census 2000 estimates list the Latino population in Rice County at 3117 (5.5% of total of 56,665), a closer local look suggests that the population could easily be double that. The latest information from the Chicano-Latino Affairs Council of the State records data as “within a 15 mile radius of the population center.” Under those criteria and using 2000 Census data, Faribault is listed as having the second largest Latino population cluster in the state (4,084), following Minneapolis/St Paul. Northfield follows as third (3,488). (It is unclear to what extent an overlapping of those areas affects the numbers)

Somali: The Somali community seems to be growing with new refugee families arriving. Public Health reports that between 120-125 new refugee individuals arrived in Rice County during 2006, the majority being Somali. Estimates of the number of Somali residents in Faribault is around 500.

Cambodian: The Cambodian families tend to have a longer history here, having arrived in the late 70s and early 80s for the most part. The number of Cambodian students in the school district is declining as they graduate

Sudanese: The Sudanese community seems to experience a lot of movement, with people moving to and from their communities in Nebraska. The community here is not real large at this time

Population pyramids show that while the pyramid for all races in Rice County is rather broad at the top with respect to age, the pyramid for Hispanics shows very few over 60 and a broad base of children under 10

(Prepared by Bob Kell, Welcome Center, 507-333-5036, welcome@hickorytech.net)

Faribault Diversity Coalition

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Winter Clothing Drive, The Spirit of Giving and Asking.

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Faribault/Northfield Census - 2004-2006

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