7:30pm Saturday July 17, 2010, Resistencia Bookstore, 1801-A South First St.
“As people of faith and conscience, it is our duty to resist and condemn this cruel US policy,” declared Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., Executive Director & founder of Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a 42-year old ecumenical agency. “IFCO/Pastors for Peace rejects this licensing system as both immoral and illegal. It is immoral because it endangers the lives of millions of Cubans and inflicts suffering on innocent children,mas well as adults.”
This ecumenical initiative is a project of IFCO. It has delivered more than 3100 tons of urgently needed assistance to the Cuban people without seeking a US Treasury license. The traveling caravan of Pastors and assistant citizen volunteers will speak along with Rev. Smith who will share his important perspective on why we challenge an unjust law that asks us to hate our neighbor. There will be a short reception after the meeting for those who gather.
All are encouraged to attend, and are welcome to contribute to these efforts by your presence and donations. The TUMC is hosting a evening covered dish dinner & reception when the carvanistas arrive at their community church hall at 600 E. 50th St., Austin, TX 78751 at 5.30PM on July 17th. All are welcome to bring a dish and participate in welcoming our travelers, prior to the public event at Resistencia Bkstr. There will be 3 buses and a 20 foot box truck and approximately 10 caravanistas arriving in Austin on the way to the border crossing .
Sunday morning July 18th: Reverend Smith will be a guest speaker at Trinity United Methodist Church at the morning service. Reverend Thomas E. Smith currently serves as the Pastor of the Monumental Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His duties include the senior pastoral responsibilities of a three hundred member congregation. In addition to pastoral duties of the church, Rev. Smith serves as Executive Director of the House of David, Chairman of the Center for Family Excellence and Chairman of Monumental Mission Ministries Inc. Rev. Smith serves on the boards of the Allegheny County Volunteer Board for Emergency Food and Shelter and the Metro-Urban Institute.
Rev. Smith also serves as President of the Board of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization/Pastors for Peace, and has traveled with Pastors for Peace to Cuba on many occasions, as well as to Chiapas, Mexico. Rev. Smith was one of the members of the caravan who met with ex-president Fidel Castro on the 2009 caravan.
FMI: John Waller – US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan Coordinator
IFCO/Pastors for Peace, 418 W 145th Street, New York, NY, 10031
Tel 212-926-5757 / fax 212-926-5842 / cell 831-512-6688
cucaravan at igc.org / www.pastorsforpeace.org
press contact(s) : Austin, TX / sylvia.benini at gmail.com
512 .579. 9114 / Director at austinpeacecenter.org / www.austinpeacecenter.org