From The
TCPJ Fall 2015 Newsletter
Executive Director
Greetings Friends of the Peace Center!
Time gets away from me! Summer is coming
fast to a close, and it’s been a good one for
TCPJ. We had 30 children in our annual
Peace Camp which was held this year at the
First Congregational Church. We are so grateful for their hospitality! Our theme this year was “Remember
Rosa”. It was 60 years ago this year that Rosa Parks made
the bold decision to refuse to give up her seat on the Montgomery AL public bus. The kids learned all about how her decision, which landed her in jail, also began the Montgomery Bus
Boycott. The city learned just how wrong their policies were
about African American people being treated as second class
citizens. When we told the story on the first day, one of our
boys blurted out … “Now that’s just wrong!” I think they got the
point. We did have fun, and offer our thanks to the Topeka
Metro Transit system, Topeka Fire Department, Police Department, Brown V Board Historic Site, Standing Bear Native
American drum group, and the American Medical Response
team.
Our biggest news at the Center is that we have resurrected the Victim Offender Mediation Program (VOMP). We
took a bold step in January and launched this program as a
pilot, just to discover if the need for the program existed. More
on this from Lindsey in this edition of the newsletter. I am excited about this because I believe we are in the business of
turning lives around. Kids who make one mistake and end up
in juvenile court do not deserve to carry around a bad record
for the remainder of their lives! The District Attorney’s office
grants these first time offenders a diversion, after which our
office takes over in doing mediation. The program can be identified as restorative justice. I am very proud, but also a little
nervous. Lindsey will likely become a full time employee as of
the first of the year, and at this point we are about $20,000
short of funding. So please think about doing a little extra for
us this year, and know that it is going to a good place.
We are also busy with our gun violence prevention initiative
(see Duane Johnson’s article) and our human trafficking initiative (see Sharon Sullivan’s article)
Topeka Center for Peace and Justice
2914 SW MacVicar
Topeka, Kansas 66611
[email protected] www.topekacpj.org
785-232-4388
From our President
Dr. Sharon Sullivan
It’s been a
busy summer at the Topeka
Center for Peace and Justice!
Peace Camp is one of our favorite things about the summer. We
are so grateful to the staff and
volunteers who make this happen in our community each summer. In a world filled with violence and violent images, it’s important that we
offer children alternate messages of peace and
give them the tools to create peace in their lives.
It’s going to be a busy fall, too! TCPJ is growing
quickly and we need your help. Members are
encouraged to volunteer with us. In fact, all of
our programs depend on members’ participation
to succeed. We work for peace every day in
multiple ways. Let us help you find your place at
the Topeka for Peace and Justice! Best, Sharon
STARS-I’m excited to announce that Hy-Vee is
doing a drive for us to help victim/survivors of
human trafficking on September 12 and 13! We
need volunteers to staff the table and talk to
shoppers about our human trafficking victim assistance fund. Hy-Vee will make donations of
matching products when particular items are purchased. Watch our Facebook page for details.
Hy-Vee will also allow shoppers to make cash
donations at the registers. Please shop at HyVee on September 12-13 and help people in our
community!
Welcome Ashley Grubb as a new STARS presenter! Ashley is ready to speak to community
groups and faith communities. Please contact
[email protected] to schedule a free
presentation about human trafficking in the U.S
and Kansas.
FROM LINDSEY
SCHWARTZ
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
There has been a lot of excitement around the
Center with our Mediation Pilot Project moving
into an actual Program the center has taken on.
Since December 2014, we have been doing
needs assessments to find out if Shawnee county could benefit from a Mediation Program. We
learned in mid-June that indeed there was a
large need for one. We met with the Shawnee
County District Attorney's Office to find out that
there was a high demand for a First-Time Juvenile Offender Diversion Program. As of July 1st,
the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice became the organization that the District Attorney's
Office selected to head the juvenile diversions in
Shawnee county. We hit the ground running
when we were handed over many cases on the
1st. The idea of the program is based upon the
theory of Restorative Justice. Restorative Justice
focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders, as well as the involved community. Victims take an active role in the process, while offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for
their actions, to repair the harm they've done.
This practice is an alternative to the justice system. One of the ways this process can be
achieved is in Victim-Offender Mediation. In order
to become eligible for the program, juveniles
must be first-time offenders of low level crimes.
This is also an alternative to keeping juveniles
out of the juvenile justice system. Upon completion of the program, the pending criminal charges
are then dropped and the juvenile does not receive a conviction on their permanent record. We
have had a continued steady stream of cases
come in on a weekly basis and we hope to continue to reach all the juveniles in Shawnee county
that are eligible to participate in this program to
bring back peace and repair the harm that has
been done.
The Peace Center has been asked to provide a workshop again this year for the
annual
Safe
Schools
Conference
sponsored
by the Kansas Department of Education.
The KDE invites school administrators, social workers, nurses
and others to attend this event
which is held annually in Manhattan. The Peace Center’s workshop will deal with the
issue of bullying, and what school administrators need
to know regarding Kansas law, and how they can
make a difference in the climate in their schools.
PUSH TO REDUCE GUN VIOLENCE GAINS
MOMENTUM — TCPJ forms
Heeding God’s Call
Recent tragedies this spring and summer involving
gun violence have prompted TCPJ to form a local chapter of Heeding God’s Call, a faith-based group dedicated to reducing gun violence. One of the most prominent
campaigns of H.G.C. chapters in Pennsylvania and
Washington, D.C. has been to encourage gun retailers
to voluntarily adopt a code of conduct to deter illegal
purchasing and trafficking of handguns.
The Topeka chapter, comprised of about a dozen
leaders of local faith groups, have held five vigils for
recent victims of local gun violence to mourn their
deaths and to call attention to the need to do more to
prevent gun violence. At a recent meeting of the group,
faith leaders decided that in the future they will hold one
vigil each year to mourn the deaths of victims of gun
violence.
TAGV update...
Meanwhile, Topekans Against Gun Violence members Carolyn Litwin and Kevin Carr met with Topeka
Mayor Larry Wolgast in July to discuss actions the city
might take to reduce gun violence. Carolyn reported the
mayor was receptive to suggestions on what the city
might be able to do. More details will be made available
in the next few months.
TAGV is developing a series of public service announcements to raise awareness of the impact gun
violence has on our community. The PSAs would be
shown in local theaters and/or on television.
TAGV also has begun working with Heartland Coalition Against Gun Violence, a group of organizations in
Kansas and Missouri, and with the Northeast Chapter
of the Brady Campaign to build a stronger network of
groups in Kansas. If you would like us to
share your e-mail with the Brady Campaign, please contact Jim McCollough at
the Peace Center.
Peace Center
Contributors
August 31, 2014-August 31, 2015
We are so grateful to
each and every one of you!
Check your records!
Let us know if we have made an
error, and if it’s time to send your
check in, we’d be most grateful to
accept it!!
HEROES - $10,000 +
Richard Alexander
Don and Edith Snethen
CHAMPIONS -$4500 - $9,999
Bill Beachy
Joanne and Phil Roudebush
ADVOCATES - $2500 - $4499
Great Plains Annual Conf. of UMC
PATRONS $1000 - $2499
Jim and Charlotte McCollough
Ken and Marion Cott
Larry Keller Memorial Fund
Southern Hills Mennonite Church
ALLIES $500-$999
Ben and Judy Coates
Carol and John Christensen
Carol Rank
Chris and Kate Hamilton
Christian Church in Kansas
Duane & Rachel Goossen
Eva Brown and Meredith Williard
Lori Oesch
Patricia Verscheiden
Phyllis Todd
Roy & Bev Menninger
Stanley and Sandra Vogel
Temple Beth Sholom
Trinity Presbyterian Church
Trudy and Rick Racine
SUSTAINERS $150 - $499
Barney and Marjorye Heeney
Betty Shrimplin Memorial
Bill and Nancy Michener
Carolyn & Jon Zimmerman
Dale Fooshee
David Rodeheffer
Dennis Dobson
Dorothy Harder
Duane and Elvera Johnson
First Congregational Church
Islamic Center of Topeka
Joe and Peggy Kutter
John and Lila Bartel
Judy Lambert
Karen and Mark Herrmann
Key Staffing
Larry James
Mary Ellen Schmidt
Monique Pittman Lui
Nancy Daniels
Nancy Maxwell
Oliver and Johne Green
Patricia Bossert
Patrick Yancey
Paul Post
Peggy and Stan McAdoo
Rev. Bill and Alyce Gannaway
Susan and Brad Parry
Tobias and Abbey Schlingensiepen
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Victoria White
SUPPORTERS $100 - $149
Alden and Enid Hickman
Betty and Don Nelson
Candy Caufield
Carolyn Litwin
Carl Frazier
David Ritter
Dolores and Frank Werder
Douglas Phenix
Gregory Monaco
`
Herman and Sondra Hafenstein
Islamic Center of Topeka
James Mosher
Jane George
Jerry Hopper
Jim Miller
Jocelyn Graber
Judi Salyer
Judith Kooser
Judy Nickelson
Interfaith of Topeka
Kevin Carr
Lauretta Hendricks-Backus
Lee McCuan
Les and Linda Goering
Lew Mills
Margaret Ahrens
Martha Peterson
Martha Spacek
Tom and Mary Ann Benaka
Mary Powell
Michael Piper
Mike and Caroll Glotzbach
Mona Magee
Roger and Cynthia Neufeld-Smith
Renita Harris
Saint Mark's United Methodist Church
Sally Fronsman-Cecil
Sarah Laing
Stan and Donna Voth
Susan Nelson
Teresa Walton
Virginia Hummell
West Side Christian Church
MEMBERS $10 - $99
Alice Eberhart-Wright
Allyn Lockner
Ann and Lary Mah
Anne and Ted Heim
Barbara and Terry Manspeaker
Barbara Davis
Betty Shrimplin Memorial
Bill and Nancy Cutler
Carolyn/Frank Weinhold
Charles Bates
Chaunzey Tenbrink
Countryside United Methodist Church
Debbie and Steve Stiel
Deborah Dawkins
Don and Bobbie Anderson
Don McClain
Donna and Emma LaLonde
Donna Schneweis
Edward Taylor
First Baptist Church
Geri Goldstein
Gianfranco Pezzino
Hakim and Lou Saadi
James Walters
Jeanne and Jerry Frieman
Joann Howey
Kansas Against the Death Penalty
Karen Hiller
Imam Omar Hazim
Kristin Bollig
Lee Rathbone McCuan
Leigh Barrett
Lester and Patricia Wilson
Lisa Schwartz
Lucy Fair
M. Gene Soathoff
Marcia Gitchell
Margaret and Leonard Masilionis
Marjorie Van Buren
Mohammed Shamshaddin
Nancy and Dan Shaughnessy
Paxton and Janie Jones
Peggy Shughart
Rev. James Guy Owens
Rev. V.G. Glenn III
Robert Remington
Robin Rosenberg
Sharon Sullivan
Shawnee County Baha'I Community
Sherrita Camp
St. John A.M.E. Church
Stephanie Harsin
Stephanie Smiley
Sue Wilber
Susan Beachy
Susan White
Susan Zuber-Chall
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Topeka Baha'l Spiritual Assembly
Topeka Friends Meeting
Tricie Young
Unity Church of Christianity
Vernon Beachy
Vicki George
Vicky Walters
We have a new email
address:
[email protected].
Please make this change in
your email address book.
We find in searching through our
records that we do not have email
addresses for many of our members. Would you please take a
moment and send us an email to
our new address so we can add
your address to our data file?
EVEN IF YOU KNOW WE HAVE
YOUR ADDESS, WE WOULD STILL
APPRECIATE AN EMAIL FROM
YOU. We want to make you
aware of events that come up in
which we think you would be interested. Please!
Editor’s note: . We share this with you as a part of our “Heeding God’s
Call to End Gun Violence” program. Please share this with your congregation’s Justice ministry team. This announcement came in a denominational mailing from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was
signed by Timothy M. James, Associate General Minister and Administrative Secretary, National Convocation; April Johnson, Reconciliation Minister; Sharon E. Watkins, General Minister and President; and Robert W.
Welsh, President, Council on Christian Unity
Dear Colleagues in Ministry,
Few of us will ever forget the horror of the murder of nine
church members in Bible study - in church. Nine African
American faithful, including pastors and laypersons, had
welcomed the white stranger into their midst at Emanuel
African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. But he was intent on death. Leaders in the African Methodist Episcopal
Church are determined to re-write the significance of this
heinous act, and make it the moment that the faith community leads the United States into a genuine commitment to end
racism - not just the direct, individual racism that causes one
person to pick up a gun, but the broad systemic racism that
nurtures such a motivation in the first place.
Our brothers and sisters in the African Methodist Episcopal
Church have called all Christians to participate in a
"Confession, Repentance and Commitment to End Racism"
Sabbath, to be observed on the date of your choice. Worship materials have been compiled by both the AME
and ELCA churches which may be used for your preparationOne Sabbath day is a place to begin. Our Interfaith family is calling us to join them on a difficult journey. We are not
alone. God is with us as we reach out to bridge the divides
between us. Let us go forward together.
The Peace Center is sponsoring three special events in
February and March regarding Climate Change. Be watching for
more information. And hold open
the dates of 2/29/16, 3/3/16 AND
3/7/16. Each of the forums will be
in Marvin Auditorium (Topeka &
Shawnee County Public Library) at
6:30 PM.
Global climate change is a “wicked problem” that defies easy or
conventional solutions. This problem is actually an emergent condition of modernism that must be managed and is too multidimensional to be simply "solved." Managing climate change effectively
in the years ahead will require political and social action on many
fronts, including: A) reducing carbon emissions through conservation and by expanding the use of existing forms of alternative energy generation and transportation; B) developing and implementing new low carbon technologies for energy generation and transportation; C) adapting to rising temperatures, extreme weather
and rising sea levels; and perhaps D) experimenting with ecologically sophisticated carbon sequestering, geoengineering, and
other innovative engineering measures designed to combat the
problem. Please visit http://www.weforum.org, and view the powerful YouTube, “A Climate For Action” featuring Nobel Laureate Al Gore in a new and encouraging film.
Topeka Center For Peace and Justice
2914 SW MacVicar
Topeka, KS 66611
Commitment to End Racism" Sabbath
GLOBAL WARMING SEMINARS
SPONSORED BY THE PEACE CENTER
COMING IN
FEBRUARY AND MARCH, 2016
TCPJ WILL BE HOSTING OUR ANNUAL MEETING IN EARLY OCTOBER. WE NEED YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS SO WE CAN SEND YOU AN
INVITATION!
"Confession, Repentance and