“Do It While I’m Here”

by Ellen Finkelstein

“When I’m Gone” by Phil Ochs is in my head. I’m busy scheduling interviews with 25 applicants for WWFOR’s Peace Activist Trainee (PAT) summer program [most ever!!] while juggling numerous other projects & events.

One week in April stands out and illustrates what I do – and WWFOR does. We connect with many different issues, support our allies, link different threads through our understanding of change and with our commitment to nonviolence. Rosy Betz-Zall & I did a nonviolent direct action training for Olympia FOR’s climate crisis group that drew about 25 people. The next two days, WWFOR and friends held penny polls in six neighborhoods in Seattle around Tax Day, gathering 450 responses about how people would like their tax dollars spent. Two days later, I was MC during a No Drones rally that drew folks up-and-down the I-5 corridor. It was attended by a number of WWFOR folks. (I also got to lead the chants on the march.)  Several days later WWFOR held its annual Spring Assembly, highlighted by keynote from Father Bill (Bix) Bichsel and the voices of the Seattle Labor Chorus.

Check the calendar for details on: “Creating a Culture of Peace” nonviolence training with Janet Chisholm; BioSand Water Filtration Training; and FOR annual Northwest regional conference at Seabeck. Do it while you’re here!