Dear Friends
Having received our 2009 Year End Letter recently, you know that we are preparing for the Holiday Season! Our Monday night meal will be having our Thanksgiving Meal on November 23rd at 5:30pm, so make sure to contact us if you’re interested in joining us! Last year the house was packed, to say the least, and we are excited for another celebration this year! As they do every fourth Monday evening, local church Coram Deo (in partnership this year with Core Community) will be providing the meal, and we can’t thank them enough for being one of our longest-serving partners on Monday nights.
Another exciting event coming up is 2009’s Miracle on 13th Street! Last year 68 volunteers, partners and donors joined us for a warm and fun-filled evening, celebrating all of the blessings of 2008, which included the beginning of the Community Meals in the Park Avenue neighborhood, the launching of our CommonLife ministry, and our staff’s 30-hour van trip down to Miami for a conference (might not be classified as a “blessing” but definitely worth remembering…)!
This year our Miracle Event will take place on Thursday, December 3rd @ 6:30pm. We’ll also be having a local art gallery & auction coinciding with the fun (which will extend into Friday evening),
so please let us know if you are interested in submitting your artwork to our collection. We look forward to an awesome evening honoring all of your hard work and commitment and celebrating the Holidays! You’re all invited!
As you know, our ‘tagline’ here at inCommon is that we are working to “transform communities through community.” Everything we do is focused on relationships and cultivating community, and as you can imagine, we treasure each and every one of you who are supporting us, partnering with us, and volunteering in any capacity alongside of us. Thank you so much for being such an ongoing inspiration to all of us.
–Jodi Cooper, Community Coordinator
CCDA 2009
It’s a long, long way to Cincinnati in a van with eight co-workers. A couple weeks ago, we drove through the night – taking three hour shifts at driving – and arrived at the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference at noon the next day. I think we all felt road weary, bleary eyed and exhausted for the first day of the conference. I’m happy to report that such an unorthodox road trip, even though it did test the limits of everyone’s personal space, lent itself well to strengthening our cohesion as co-workers and friends. And that was before the conference even began.
The conference itself was very motivating and 
reassuring. There were several hundred people in attendance who were all committed to enabling supportive community networks to help those in need in their communities. While inCommon’s mission is fairly unique in the Omaha area, it was great to see so many people devoted to the same principles from all across the country.
The CCDA hosted some excellent speakers who shared their stories of success and failure in their efforts to reach peoples’ hearts. Across the board, the message I most took away was to keep up the good fight, even when obstacles seem daunting. While we cannot succeed in every relationship, the trials and tribulations are worth it in the end. To help empower even one of our neighbors to overcome great obstacles, or to simply help our marginalized neighbors feel the value that all human beings should feel; that was a powerful and motivating message.
– Andrew Tonnies, Development Coordinator
CommonGround
Here are a few exciting updates for Park Avenue!
- Last month a local business graciously provided us with a large donation of business and fall/winter apparel. These items were sorted by youth participating in Stand Up Against Poverty, a day of service organized by United Methodist Ministries. The clothes were then transferred to the Clothing Closet at First Baptist Church, a free store open every-other Saturday during the Park Ave Community Meal.
- The Park Avenue Community Meals are expanding. We built a few new relationships among faith communities in Omaha. Members of King of Kings Lutheran Church, Simple Free (located in Gifford Park), and Sunset Hills Baptist Church have joined us at the Park Ave Community Meals during the last two months.
- St. Peter Catholic Church, who frequently cooks for the Park Avenue Community Meals, and is a committed member of the Interfaith group, Neighbors United, will open their doors to the neighborhood this Thanksgiving! On Thursday, November 26th St. Peter Catholic Church will provide a free Thanksgiving Meal at their Parish. For more information contact the church @ (402) 341-4560.
- Neighbors United will celebrate a year of holding the Park Ave Community Meals in December! We hope to see all those who have come to the Community Meals at this celebration. We will share our stories, eat, and reflect on the blessings of being with one another. More details to come soon about this event.
And, if you are interested in attending, but have never been to a Community Meal – You are welcome! Please contact Cait!
CCDA and CommonGround – The Importance of Listening
At the CCDA conference I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop entitled, Listening to the Community, with facilitator Mary Nelson. Mary is a staff member at the CCDA Institute and has been a community organizer in Chicago for many years. It was inspiring to witness such a beautiful spirit and listen intently to her stories, experiences, and years spent in an under-resourced neighborhood.
Mary reaffirmed the core principles of Asset-based Community Development; a process that focuses on opportunities and not needs, addresses chronic situations and not crises, and requires that we ask,
- What are the gifts?
- What are the relationships?
- What are the dreams?
Among the many intelligent and heartfelt comments Mary Nelson spoke during her workshop on Listening to the Community, it was this statement that stayed with me;
“Programs are not the answer;
Services are not the answer;
People are the answer.”
Finding our community voice and empowering one another requires a long-term commitment. Mary Nelson made this very clear as she discussed her journey in Chicago that involved building relationships, improving the geography of her neighborhood (trash, water, parks, etc.), holding public institutions accountable, and improving public services/advocacy. As Mary listened to her community she reminded herself and others to, “Start with what the people have and know, and build upon it.” This kind of commitment involves deep, intentional listening.
Unfortunately, we live in a world fixated on quantifiable results, and waiting for social services “to solve the problems” of our communities and people. And so, it is very difficult to replace this fixation on results with a fixation on listening.
In 2008, I heard Muhammad Yunus speak for the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Concordia College. During his presentation Mr. Yunus remarked, “Charity is not the answer to poverty. It only helps poverty to continue. It creates dependency, and takes away the individual’s initiatives to break through the wall of poverty.”
As I reflect on what I’ve learned from Mary Nelson, Muhammad Yunus, and the staff at inCommon, I am thankful that our relationships strive to be those that listen and walk with the community, sharing all things in common.
If you are interested in this conversation and empowering others, please consider the following.
- Spend some time with us.
- Come to a Park Avenue Community Meal (email Cait) on Saturday and eat with us, or schedule a time to visit with us @ our office near 13th and Williams Street.
- Listen to your neighbors, wherever you live.
- Share your skills with us.
- We are always looking for teachers, learners, cookers, bakers, dancers, musicians, construction workers, fixers, etc.
Current creative needs:
- Musicians
- Visual Artists to donate artwork for December art-auction (we accept full donation or 50/50 split)
- Webpage designer to help teach us, and design a few things for our webpage
–Caitie Caughey, Community Advocate
