New News and Views and Coming Events

Hi all.

First, it is with heavy hearts that we pass on the news of the sudden illness and pending removal of life support from our friend, board member, and co-conspirator for love and justice Gwen Goff. Prayers for her, her family, all of her community connections; her spirit still guides us and will be present in all of these gatherings mentioned below.

Coming so soon after the death of our other partner Steve Eberle, and this past Spring of Michael Niles, one of our partners and husband of our president, and then more recently the fires, the break-in, the breakdown of AC and plumbing which closed us for a while (which is now fixed), the closing of the post office pending in a few days, and the start of this school year without students at Cherokee/Turley for the first time in a hundred years, and the continuing heat wave, and it has been a rough summer of grief and stress. We are looking toward September. It is time to celebrate, to be with one another, to commit and to connect.

And so we continue to be a presence for justice, for community renewal, for growing healthy lives and neighborhoods. Please come to these following events and pass on the news to others, and look for ways you can partner with us in these and so much more. After the events, be inspired by a quote from someone who captures well what we do here...

TURLEY AREA COMING EVENTS For All

@ Welcome Table Community Center, 5920 N. Owasso Ave. www.turleyok.blogspot.com

1. Don't Miss this opportunity...We are partners helping to coordinate The University of Oklahoma Turley/NorthTulsa area Community Health Summer 2011 Project: Take a health attitudes survey and get a free Visa gift card to use at local northside stores. Throughout this month, our community health focus month, we have been conducting surveys and handing out gift cards at various events. We are about to finish the project which we have been able to extend. So....Come to the Turley Area COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION Public Meeting, Tuesday Aug. 30 at 7 pm to be held this month here at The Community Center to participate. Must be 18 or over and not taken the survey before, and live in the 74126 or 74130 zipcodes or nearby to them. Meet local officials, join in neighborhood planning groups, find out what's going on.

2. Turley Area Disaster Response Planning, and Community Leadership Coordination, Thurs., Sept. 1, 2 pm, and first Thursdays of the month at the Community Center, 5920 N. Owasso. Followup to the fires, continuing to pursue small area planning to help us get sidewalks, lights, incorporation, and followups to school closings and changes.

3. Benefit Bean Dinner for Turley Fire Department, in response to the recent fires, Sat. Sept. 3, Noon to 5 pm, Fire Station, 6408 N. Peoria. Help support those who support and save and protect us.

4. Free Back to School Workshops and Conference For All Families in elementary, junior, and senior high, Sat. Sept. 10, 8:30 am to 1 pm, McLain School, 4949 N. Peoria, for more info call Andrea Walker 918-830-7016, walkean7@gmail.com. Thank you to Metropolitan Baptist Church for sponsoring this event. Also our McLain Foundation will begin meeting again this week on Tuesday at 4:15 pm. And Plan now to help us help others at the Back to School Night, Horace Greeley School, Tuesday, Sept. 13. We were blessed to have the opportunity to feed all the staff and teachers before school started, which was so vital as the school is merging staff as well as students this year, and eating together is a way to build relationships and morale among staff that will benefit our children. We hope to do more of this with them during the year, and with other schools in our area. September will be Education Focus Month here at the Center.

5. Turley Area Litter Clean-Up Day and Heritage Lunch, bring stories and photos and honor our elders and learn the history of our area, and Planning Groups and more, 8 am to 2 pm, community center, 5920 N. Owasso; free trash bags, bottled water, free lunch for volunteers, workshops, community information.

6. Benefit Spaghetti Dinner for Fire Victims, Turley Odd Fellows Lodge, 6227 N. Quincy Ave., All Welcome, Monday, Sept. 26, 5 pm, $5 meal.

7. Movie Club, Education Focus Month, “October Sky” Wed. Sept. 28, 6:30 pm, community center, free pizza popcorn. Come be inspired. Come discuss how we can help children who no one else believes in.

8. "Taste and Teach" events at our Welcome Table KitchenGardenPark where the new orchard is, 6005 N. Johnstown Ave., come every Wednesday from 6 pm to ?, or on Saturdays from 8 am to 10 am, meet others who wish to learn, to grow, to serve, to celebrate, to connect. This is why the park is being developed, so share with others and see how the miracle among the ruins is continuing.

9. Recovery Groups, Saturdays, 5 pm Jerks Anonymous and 7:30 pm Alcoholics Anonymous, at the Center.

10. Other public meetings. TURLEY WATER BOARD PUBLIC MEETING LAST WORKING DAY OF MONTH 8:30 AM AT THE WATER DEPT…. and TURLEY FIRE AND RESCUE MEETINGS THURSDAYS 7 PM, Fire Station.

11. Worship Circle, Welcome Table Church, a free universalist christian missional community, write to revronrobinson@aol.com for times of gatherings at the center or gardens or other places, or follow on facebook at www.facebook.com/revronrobinson, or at www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com or www.missionalprogressives.blogspot.com. We have been worshipping with others lately, but we will be back at the center beginning Sept. 11 for special worship; contact me 918-691-3223 or by email to find out more about where and how we will gather. See recent sermons at the sites above.

Commentary: Here is one of the best depictions of what we are up to, and why, and what our vision is. It comes from Mary Lou Kownacki and "A Monk in the lnner City":

"What do I do here? I listen. I get to know my neighbors, really know them. I listen to their hopes and dreams for decent jobs, decent homes, a safe place to raise their children. They are worried about their children, especially their teenagers, who can see no future except minimum-paying jobs, lockup, or dropping out on the streets...What do I do here? I plead a case for presence, beauty, community, and a call to follow God into the wilderness.

"Once upon a time men and women who wanted to seek God relocated themselves in abandoned places. These "wilderness places" often associated with the desert [like our healthy food desert], gave the seekers a unique perspective and freedom. Living on the margins of society, stripped of the trappings of social expectation and pressure, they began to see differently. Immersed in the word of God, they began to listen differently. They put on the broken heart of God and spoke the truth on God's behalf for the poor, the victims of injustice, the suffering.

"Their location in the wilderness gave them great freedom. Why? Because no one paid attention to them. Because they were not the movers and shakers of the city. Because they had no political influence, no one cared what they did. No one even noticed their quiet works of transformation among the poor until suddenly "the desert and parched land bloomed with abundant flowers."

More to come, blessings, thanks, Ron