Westport Friends Meeting

June 08 Newsletter Text

1. Final Book Sorting & Pricing Phase:
Sunday, June 15, books move to Community House; Beginning that night and each Sunday and Wednesday evening thereafter, sorting and pricing continues from 7:00-9:00 PM (With ample breaks for ice cream and chat!)

2. Tent Raising
Weather permitting, small tent goes up after meeting on 6/29 and big tent after meeting on 7/6. We will need a stout crew to raise the tent Check Web site or call Emily/Dave at 508-636-4963 for latest info.

3. Book Fair Day, July 12.
We need all hands on deck to get the books out under the tents beginning at 7AM on July 12th!. The Book Fair officially opens at 11:00 AM and runs until dusk. Please call Drew or Deana if you have a specific job you’d like to do…or they’ll call you!

4. Book Fair Wind-Down
Book Fair Open Season doesn’t officially close until 2 weeks after the sale—this year on Sunday July 26. After Book Fair Day, the community continues to come together Sundays and Wednesdays 7:00-9:00 pm to consolidate books, break down boxes, fill the dumpster with trash…and, yes, take breaks for ice cream and chat.

For more specific questions or volunteer preferences, call Drew Lizak at 508-675-4172 or Deana Chase at 508-636-8980.

Above, some of the Boots from the larger AFSC “Eyes Wide Open Exhibit” were on display during the Pancake Breakfast in May. In the next column is a picture from AFSC’s site and statement by Mary Ellen McNish that speaks for itself. For more information about the work of AFSC visit www.afsc.org/eyes. (Photo above by Emily Sutton)

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"Eyes Wide Open, the American Friends Service Committee’s widely-acclaimed exhibition on the human cost of the Iraq War, features a pair of boots honoring each U.S. military casualty, a field of shoes and a Wall of Remembrance to memorialize the Iraqis killed in the conflict, and a multimedia display exploring the history, cost and consequences of the war.

Since 1917, the American Friends Service Committee has championed the dignity and worth of every individual, the sanctity of human life and humanity's collective responsibility to promote peace. For almost 90 years of work in war zones on four continents, we have gained an intimate knowledge of the costs and horrors of war.

When this exhibit was unveiled by our Chicago office in January 2004, there were 504 pairs of boots symbolizing the lost lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. With each passing week, each stop in a new city, more pairs of boots are added to represent the newly fallen. Alongside the boots stands a wall of remembrance with the names of the more than 11,000 Iraqi civilians who have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion.

As the exhibit makes its appearances across the country, families and friends come to grieve for lost loved ones and strangers honor those who gave their lives to a cause far from home.

At each stop, person after person leaves notes of commemoration, photographs of lost soldiers, identification tags, flowers, and American flags to accompany the boots on their journey.

Although a majority of Americans now believe this war is a tragic misadventure, the human cost of the Iraq War grows every day. How many more boots will be standing at silent attention before this war ends, before Iraqis and American soldiers are out of harm's way?

This traveling exhibit is a memorial to those who have fallen and a witness to our belief that no war can justify its human cost."

Above piece by Mary Ellen McNish,General Secretary, AFSC