shared food with church members. We applied to join the ― End The Occupation / BDS ‖ movement. We organized a protest at the federal courthouse supporting the ACLU in prosecuting Mitchell & Jessen, Assoc. reverse engineering of the SERE Training at Fairchild AFB creating the torture regimes used at Abu Graib & Guantanamo. We are pursuing a radio program at KYRS to be called ― One Hour Left.‖
Eight members plan to See You In Berkeley!!
Chapter 41- Cape Cod, MA
Duke Ellis
In February we met with leaders of the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center and created the " Cpl. Jeffrey M. Lucey VFP Direct Aid Fund ", administered by CIVOC and funded by Chapter 041 to provide financial aid to vets in crisis.
Our 21st annual " Voices of Peace " Poetry Contest went off without a hitch and with no signs of slowing down: 702 poems submitted from 24 schools and 53 teachers facilitating their students ' efforts. This year many of the poems showed remarkable empathy for the victims of war both civilian and military.
Later in the Spring we provided financial and vocal support for Pat Scanlon ' s " Extremists for Peace " music video. In May the chapter was asked to join " Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America " in marking National Gun Violence Awareness Day on June 2. We were happy to add our voices to the call ' domestic disarmament '.
Finally, we learned that Amalie Scheltema had passed away in 2015. She and her husband Rudi, a WW II veteran, were strong supporters of our chapter, of national VFP and led peace and justice efforts on the Cape for decades. We were fortunate to have them work with us for several years and for their strong support for our poetry contest.
Teacher & prize-winning poets. Photo: Alan Belanich
Chapter 58- Woodstock, NY
Jay Wenk
We are located in Woodstock, NY, the ‗ ostensible‘ home of Peace and Love. We are also home to Woodstock‘ s largest employer, Ametek-Rotron. They are a war equipment supplier to the Pentagon, especially parts for Drones. Their premises are under high security. They claim to be ‗ good‘ because they operate the local public Ambulance service, for free. Nevertheless, we are starting to prepare a program of protest activity against this Devil in our midst. We‘ ll keep you informed.
Chapter 63- New Hampshire Sally-Alice Thompson
We have had a busy tabling season: at the theater where Christmas Truce was shown, at the Tribute to Women in the Military, at Veterans Day at the legislature, and at the Memorial Day observance at Veterans Memorial Park.
A number of us attended the theater where Same, Same But Different was presented, where our member, Suel Jones, read a passage from his book, Meeting the Enemy. A friend of our chapter, Mark Rudd, accompanied a VFP tour of VietNam. We had an Award Dinner for our treasurer and photographer, Willard Hunter, and for Bill Prinkey, who has spent many volunteer hours as our representative at Veterans Memorial Park.
We were the prime sponsors and organizers of a local Democracy Awakening event, which attracted almost a hundred people. Thirty other peace and justice organizations participated. Several of our members who volunteer at the Visitors Center of Veterans Memorial Park were honored at an Appreciation Breakfast. Our president, Charles Powell, visited the office of U. S. Senator Tom Udall to alert him of the facts of veterans being deported. The field representative with whom he spoke was not aware of the problem until informed of it by Charles.
Chapter 67- Long Beach, CA Richard Madeira
Veterans For Peace 067 in Long Beach California continues to accomplish the goals of our grant as recipient of the 2014 Zinn Fund, to support and accomplish specific projects that facilitate peace and understanding within our own communities.
The Zinn Fund grant has facilitated a network of 6 peace clubs, where young people can network, educate themselves and interact with other youth beside vets and local activists. The young people have participated in tabling at peace events, assisted in displaying the Teen Memorial that honors the over 500 teens that have been lost in our current wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Libya( and on and on), attending our annual summer Peace Camp and organizing educational seminars in our local Long Beach community. Students from the peace clubs will be involved in the planning and execution of a mural of peace entitled ― Commit to Peace ‖ on a wall located wall near the major north / south freeway in Long Beach this summer. Peace clubbers will also attend our Summer Peace camp in the Santa Monica Mountains for an entire week. Their growth, awareness and empower-
VFP Newsletter Spring 2016 13