Category Archives: NunsontheBus2018

Travel Log: Tucson

Travel Log: Tucson

Sister Michele Morek, OSU
October 11, 2018

The Nuns on the Bus visited Tucson! Local advocates for justice were successful in securing a lobby visit in the district office of Representative Martha McSally (AZ-02), so four of our Nuns on the Bus joined two constituents, Christine Krikliwy of Vincent de Paul and Jeanette Arnquist, a local justice-seeker, at the visit, while Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, Sister Mary Ellen Lacy, DC, Sister Dusty Farnan, OP, and Sister Chris Machado, SSS, attended from the bus. There was a large police presence at first: four cars, due to intense protests the week before.

The Sisters returning from the visit did not look too happy; indeed, one looked a little “steamy.” CJ Karamargin, Representative McSally’s District Director, was not very receptive to their input or ideas. He said the Representative thinks the economic benefits that will come with the bill will help businesses hire more people, who are hoping for more construction.  Thus far, Representative McSally has not looked at the Affordable Care Act or possible healthcare solutions, but she voted against provisions protecting individuals with pre-existing conditions and lifetime caps.

Local people I met at the bus-side rally and the evening Town Hall told me that Representative McSally does not like to talk with local constituents, and usually refuses to see them.

Christine, one of Rep. McSally’s constituents, talked about the level of poverty among Arizona children (24%, higher than national average): Arizona is #45 of 50 overall in the level of poverty. Next, fellow constituent Jeanette talked about the local area’s interests and programs , such as AHCCCS (Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System).

The crowd of about 75 was very receptive, consisting as it did of a large number of justice-seekers. The AFL-CIO was there with a big banner, and they brought us a cooler of drinks; in return, we left them with a box of Connection magazines and Nuns on the Bus signs, which they requested and said they would put to good use at their own events.

For our evening Town Hall for Justice at St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church, the crowd was large, noisy, enthusiastic, indignant about “the way things are,” and very welcoming! There was a friendly, comfortable spirit, with popcorn, drinks and snacks for the attendees.  Fr. Bill and the “Raging Grannies” warmed them up very effectively.  I believe it was our most enthusiastic Town Hall, and certainly the most fun.

The attendees loved the exercise we used to demonstrate the impacts of the Republican Tax Law and encouraged us to get the information out there in a form they could share, so attendees could convert their families and teach their children and co-workers.  Put it on YouTube , they said! There were some common themes that had arisen the previous night: win trust/make friends, and concern over voter suppression.

I met a woman who had dragged her Republican husband to the event, and she said he was absolutely converted by the end, saying, “I just didn’t REALIZE.”  People were offering generous donations to the Nuns on the Bus; we later learned that the sum we collected that night was the largest yet.  What fun!

Travel Log: Phoenix Day 2

Travel Log: Phoenix Day 2

Sister Bernadine Karge, OP
October 11, 2018

A beautiful Phoenix day dawned with cool temps and blue sky.

We headed to the Human Services Campus in downtown Phoenix, AZ, where we were welcomed by Rick Mitchell, the Executive Director of the Homeless ID Project. This campus is an amazing project of cooperation and collaboration between private and state agencies working together to serve those experiencing homelessness in the area. The goal of this client-centric program is to end homelessness.

Over the past decades, 13 agencies that provided individual services to persons experiencing homelessness in overtaxed rundown warehouses in a neighborhood called “the zone,” have created a mall-like campus to deliver comprehensive services to thousands of persons in Phoenix each year.

With a central admission center where they offer coordinated services, including obtaining identification documents and a campus ID for services, individuals can begin their new start in life.

Among the collaborative services available are: assistance reunifying with family members and providing shelter until permanent housing can be obtained. The St. Joseph the Worker program assists individuals with computer access to apply for jobs online.  The program director stated that  today there are 38,000 jobs available in the county: 50% of them would be jobs that their program participants could fill. The quote on the wall of St. Joseph the Worker expresses the mission well:

No one can go back and make a brand new start.  Anyone can start from now and make a brand new beginning.

The array of medical services was most impressive including a walk-in clinic, a 24 hour clinic, and an array of dental services with new equipment. The latter provides a rotation for dental students to learn the latest techniques and equipment.

The State of Arizona has offices on the Campus which enables persons to apply for state benefits and  services. The vision of the founders of the Human Services Campus was to have a mall-type setting with services available within a manageable distance for those seeking them. In October 2017, Maricopa County transferred ownership of the Campus to the Human Services, Inc.

All of us Nuns on the Bus were truly enthusiastic about this model of service delivery with its blend of public and private funding to serve the common good.  It made me think of the Four H club: health, housing, humanity and HOPE.

The usual Nuns on the Bus rally followed our visit.  A few dozen folks joined us and Amy Schabenlender, Executive Director of the Human Services Campus, welcomed us and thanked us for visiting. This model of service delivery was praised by Sister Simone as a magnificent example of collaboration and the use of reasonable revenue for responsible programs.  Sister Julie Fertsch, SSJ, expressed our gratitude for the opportunity to see how each segment of the operation did their part extremely well. She shared Bishop Ken Untener’s reflection on St. Oscar Romero: ”We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well.”

Travel Log: Phoenix Town Hall

Travel Log: Phoenix Town Hall

By Sister Phyllis Tierney, SSJ
October 10, 2018

The Phoenix Town Hall meeting on Wednesday evening at Shadow Rock UCC Church was an amazing experience. We arrived about ten minutes before the program was to begin and were greeted by Pastor Ken Heintzelman, the pastor who welcomed us to the beautiful sanctuary with a full view of the desert and mountain landscape in which the church is situated. His congregation is socially active. They have been assisting hundreds of immigrants in transition from detention centers to their various destinations to stay with relatives and friends.

Reverend Ken opened the program with his own “bad poetry” ( his words) about the Nuns on the Bus. His words were enjoyed and appreciated. Sister Simone opened the program by inviting everyone to buzz about why they came and what they were hoping from the evening’s event. Most of the audience were older and many were retired but one woman in the audience had brought her teenaged son “so he could meet some cool Catholics!” Later in the discussion when the audience was asked to suggest solutions for attacking the great divisions among us, this woman stood up and said she knocks on 550 doors every month to ask her neighbors if they need help. She visits hospitals, nursing homes, and provides transportation for those who need a ride. She also brings a small gift, flower seeds, a recipe, and more.

The second part of the evening was a visual presentation of the effects of the Republican tax policies on each income level. After the presentation, the audience was invited to buzz in small groups about their own experiences and observations. The women in the group I attended worked for Dignity Healthcare System. One worked in the finance department and the other was one of the chaplains. They both spoke to the issue of people without healthcare insurance, particularly people experiencing homelessness, who require hospitalization at the cost of thousands of dollars per day which the hospital has to absorb because they do not refuse to treat people who cannot afford healthcare.

When Sister Simone asked the audience to generate ways we might attack the issue of economic disparity and the great divides we currently experience the one word that was repeated many times was the need for community building.

  • Meet your neighbors; knock on their doors.
  • Talk to your representatives at the state and federal level.
  • Encourage millennials to become active in politics.
  • Women are part of the answer.Their presence in political leadership is important! Especially women of color, they know how to speak up and they are great leaders!

Travel Log: Las Vegas Canvassing

Travel Log: Las Vegas Canvassing

Sister Quincy Howard, OP
October 10, 2018

We started our second day in Vegas after a late night of heavy drinking and gambling (I’m joking, of course).  We were warmly greeted by the Culinary Workers Union 226 at their headquarters, joining a large room crowded with culinary workers diligently prepping canvassing materials.  Their morning briefing before heading out was raucous and full of energy—a great primer for a quick rally with the nuns to follow.  Sister Bernadine Karge, OP and Sister Simone were joined by two female union members to address a crowd of 150 or so unionized workers.  They spoke powerfully about human dignity, the need to respect workers, especially women (54% of their union members are female) and the importance of communal action and unity to bring about change.  The idea of solidarity and shared responsibility is especially crucial for a union that consists of 50,000 members from 173 countries that speak 40 languages.

Since over half (55%) of Union 226 members are Latinx, Sister Chris Machado, SSS and I had the opportunity to canvass with two Spanish-speaking women from Mexico and Cuba.  Most of the union workers had taken a political leave of absence—one of the contract provisions won through years of hard-fought negotiations.  Maria and Martha were both proud to take a leave—along with a pay cut—in order to put in their share of hours canvassing.  They want to promote candidates who will, in-turn, support workers’ rights and strengthened collective bargaining.

During their familiar routine going door-to-door, they explained that the names and addresses were of residents who did not, or rarely, voted in past elections.  As non-partisan participants, for myself and my fellow Nuns on the Bus, our primary push was to stress the importance of voting on November the 6th—that their vote and who we elect makes a difference. Most knocks had no response, so we left the materials at the door and Maria and Martha would return to follow-up.  Each time Maria saw that a resident was a registered Republican she would make the Sign of the Cross before approaching the door—but she did it anyway.  Needless to say, they are sometimes turned away with harsh words, but these workers are a persevering bunch.  They are driven for the sake of their families and inspired by their fellow union members who they consider their sisters and brothers.

 

To view more photos of the canvassing event, visit our Flickr album.

Reflection: A Kaleidoscope of Faces for the First Day

Reflection: A Kaleidoscope of Faces for the First Day

Sister Michele Morek, OSU
October 9, 2018

This post originally appeared on the Global Sisters Report website. 

Christine, the pastry chef at Homeboy Industries, helps us bake cookies Oct. 8 (GSR photo / Michele Morek)

 

Jesuit Fr. Greg Boyle’s “awards wall” does not feature his numerous awards, trophies and citations he has won for his work as founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles.

It was really an honor to meet Janet, a former client but now newlywed and a certified social worker at Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the Nuns on the Bus’s first site visit of the 2018 tour. (Provided photo)

The wall is full of pictures of his success stories: the men and women who have been saved from a return to a life of crime or jail by his programs, which offer jobs, training, counseling and education.

The visit to Homeboy Industries was one of the site visits the Nuns on the Bus are making to listen to people all across the United States — from Los Angeles to West Pam Beach, Florida — to see how U.S. tax policies are affecting them.

As impressive as the work they are doing is, it is the faces we will remember: Christine, the pastry chef who let us “help” on the afternoon batch of cookies (ours did not meet quality control standards because of size variation, so we had to eat them); George, the former homeboy who in his new role as security guard took pride in showing us around; Janet and Boris, who met and married after successful completion of the program.

Other highlights of the day include the happy faces of the waiting crowds, like the lady wearing an “I’m with the nuns” T-shirt and GSR freelancer Heather Adams, who wrote about the opening event.

George shows us around Fr. Greg Boyle’s office at Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles on Oct. 8. (GSR photo / Michele Morek)

Now, would you like a tour of the bus before we get too many days down the road? This bus is a Cadillac that came “wrapped” (with its decoration) from Nashville, Tennessee. Our driver came from Nashville, too; he drove the bus to LA to pick us up. Meet Glenn Childress, driver of celebrities, including many country-music stars, actors and politicians. He has driven buses for Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton and spent six months with Barack Obama.

He’s driving the biggest bus I have ever seen, 45 feet and an imposing presence on the road. Inside, it has a back workroom where most of the sisters hang out, working on blogs and tweets. The staff room is in the front, and both sections have Wi-Fi and electrical connections. In the center, there is a fully equipped kitchen and restroom.

Sisters and staff use the back of the bus as workroom and living area. (GSR photo / Michele Morek)

But here’s what you have been wanting to know: the Nuns on the Bus! We are 10: Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell of Washington, D.C.; Social Service Sr. Chris Machado of Encino, California; Dominican Sr. Quincy Howard of Washington, D.C.; Dominican Sr. Bernadine Karge of Chicago; Dominican Sr. Reg McKillip of Madison, Wisconsin; Dominican Sr. Dusty Farnan of Milwaukee; St. Joseph Sr. Phyllis Tierney of Rochester, N.Y.; St. Joseph Sr. Julie Fertsch of Philadelphia; Daughter of Charity Sr. Mary Ellen Lacy of Washington, D.C.; and me, Ursuline Sr. Michele Morek of Shawnee Mission, Kansas.

We are staffed (assisted, bossed, waited on and shamelessly spoiled) by seven Network staff members on board, some permanent staff, some temporary.

Left: It was fun to meet a fan of Nuns on the Bus at the Santa Monica beachfront at our Oct. 8 kickoff event. Right: Glenn Childress of Nashville, Tennessee, has a lot of miles under his belt and will be our driver all the way to the end of the route at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida. (GSR photos / Michele Morek)

So much to share, so hard to fit in the time to do it! I wrote this at 3:45 a.m. (my body is still in the Central time zone) and am trying to type it on a bouncy bus heading for a 3 p.m. appointment in Las Vegas. This morning, after prayer and breakfast, we also accepted an award from U.S. Rep. Lou Correa from Orange, California, and led a rally outside the local offices of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters. So keep us in your prayers as we carry you with us in our big bus!

 

 

[Ursuline Sr. Michele Morek is Global Sisters Report’s liaison to sisters in North America. Her email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @MicheleMorek.]