The Joint Oversight Committee and staff would like to thank you for your continued support this year – 2022-2023. Thank you for your church’s participation in the Joint Oversight Committee and for donations from congregations, individuals, and your state conferences. IPN is able to continue its work because of your gifts.
Our budget allows for about 30 paid hours for the
coordinator per month.
The coordinator maintains IPN’s website,
www.iowapeacenetwork.org. The website
work for our official website includes adding two posts to our website monthly
and updating the events page weekly.
We continue to do a weekly email update of peace events in
Iowa and elsewhere to a list of about 300, in addition to opportunities to sign
petitions and to write Congress and other officials. Many peace event items on this calendar are
online, but there has been an increase with in-person events as the world
continues to feel more comfortable holding in-person events after COVID-19. We also publish three newsletters during the
year to about 700 individuals and churches, and we publish two articles on our
website monthly.
In 2022 the coordinator worked with other peace leaders in
the Des Moines area over Zoom to plan a Nagasaki/ Hiroshima commemoration on
August 9, and an Iranian womens’ freedom leafletting event in October. IPN cosponsored a teach-in on Iranian Women’s
freedom movement planned by a Middle East Peace group at Drake University in
November. We worked with other groups,
such as the Iowa chapter of NIAC (National Iranian American Council), Catholic
Peace Ministry (based in Des Moines), and MFSA (Methodist Federation for Social
Action). We cosponsored the Palm Sunday
Procession and Prayer Service for Peace in April, International Day of Peace in
September and the Feast of the Holy Innocents in December, all of these planned
by the Des Moines Faith Committee for Peace.
IPN signed a letter from over 1000 faith leaders, calling
for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine. Also,
we held our Annual Holiday Open House & Alternative Gift Fair December 3
this year at the Des Moines Mennonite Church.
We had several vendors at our Gift Fair, including Equal Exchange items,
items from Guatemala, and our IPN items- New Harmony pottery and other items. We also had non-tangible items available for
donating in someone’s name: Heifer Project, Church World Service, and others.
To close out the afternoon Dr. Maria Corona, Executive Director of Iowa
Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (ICADV), spoke on their work. It was a very
interesting and well-done presentation.
The coordinator attended display tables at both of Iowa’s
Quaker yearly meetings Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) and Iowa Yearly
Meeting (FUM/Friends United Meeting), and the Northern Plains Church of the
Brethren District Conference, for at least a day at each in late July and early
August. The coordinator attended the
Iowa United Methodist Church peace and justice rally during their
conference.
Last, the committee and coordinator are thankful to Des
Moines Mennonite Church for continuing to rent us a room for our Des Moines
office.
We thank you for helping us continue to work for peace and
justice in Iowa and around the world. We
can’t do it without you. We’re grateful
for any and all donations, which can be mailed to Iowa Peace Network, PO Box
30021, Des Moines, IA, 50310. There are
addressed envelopes tucked into this Dovetail, for your convenience. Also, we have an online option for giving. If you’d like to use Paypal, via our website,
feel free to give that way as well Thank
you!
Last, sadly, Amazon Smile has discontinued, so that is no longer
a venue of income. Those of you who use
it might have realized that now.
Thanks again, for joining with us in our work for peace.
Sincerely,
The IPN staff & Joint Oversight Committee ~ Mark Leichty
(Mennonite Church)-convener, Jess
Hoffert (Church of the Brethren)- secretary, Myrna Frantz (Church of the
Brethren), Joel Beane (Friends United Meeting), Peter Clay (Friends
Conservative), Sue McCullough (Friends United Meeting) Keith Sheller-
Treasurer, & Christine Sheller- Coordinator
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