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December 22, 2009
Tennessee Grandmother Joins International Mission of Peace! While most grandmothers are making plans for the holidays and doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, Elizabeth Barger of Summertown , Tennessee is heading for Gaza , where a coalition of over 1,000 international peace delegates plan to join an estimated 50,000 Palestinians in a peace march from Northern Gaza to the Israeli border. Jewish peace activists will be joining in solidarity with them. The goal is to end the blockade of Gaza, which has left 1.5 million people – most of them women and children – in grinding poverty and despair. (Jimmy Carter visited Gaza recently and said the Gazans are being treated more like animals than human beings.) Egypt just announced that it will not allow the marchers to cross into Gaza, but the peace marchers plan not to take “no” for an answer. In addition to a courageous Tennessee grandmother, the GAZA FREEDOM MARCH will include writers, lawyers, politicians, students and celebrities like Pink Floyd superstar Roger Waters. A woman of accomplishment in her own right, Elizabeth has worked tirelessly for peace and justice for over 40 years and has been awarded a special commendation for her domestic violence work with the Department of Justice. This year she won the "Long Haul Lifetime Achievement Award" from TAP, the Tennessee Alliance for Progress. She will be working with Code Pink, one of the many groups organizing the March, focusing on the plight of the children of Gaza. During the invasion of Gaza last December some schools were devastated, and since then school supplies like crayons and coloring books have incomprehensibly been banned as "security risks" during the ongoing blockade. Elizabeth and others will be taking Gazan children much-needed school & medical supplies, toys and warm coats. As Elizabeth says succinctly, "Books not Bombs!" At age 73, Elizabeth is determined to carry her own load; this will include a well-worn backpack and an extra tote full of baby clothes. A group of concerned Tennesseans helped raise money and supplies for the trip. You don't have to be a grandmother to feel love or compassion for the children of Gaza. Many other people will also go bearing gifts and well wishes. When asked why on earth she would leave her own family and travel to such a dangerous location at Christmas, Elizabeth responded like a true messenger of peace: "Look, I really DON'T want to go, but I have to because I take very seriously what my Country should live up to, and that's 'liberty & justice for all' and God knows all people as beloved children." By Lynn Grassmeyer-Mt. Juliet, Tn Elizabeth will be flying out of US Airways at 8:30am, Saturday, December 26th from BNA--we hope to have some press there, and hope the Tennessean will at least pick up this story!   At last week’s NPJC Green Home Tour, nearly 40 people attended to view the “green” home of Eric and Beth Lewis. The tour took participants inside the Lewis home to view home energy conservation retrofit measures, a solar hot water heater and a solar green house; and, outside of the home to view rain water catchments, two tree houses, a deck on the HarpethRiver, two gardens, and two cars that burn vegetable oil instead of gasoline. While viewing the Lewis’ innovative and eco-friendly home, participants learned ways to implement these green ideas in their own homes.
Stay tuned to the e-blast for the next NPJC Local Green Meeting! NPJC Board Director Eric Lewis is in the Tennessean “Most of the hot water at the home of Eric and Beth Lewis near Bellevue comes courtesy of solar panels that are remnants of tight energy times and a TVA program from almost 30 years ago. The program, which included plans to have 10,000 solar water heaters in Nashville alone, died as the fuel crisis and tax credits ended.” Click here for the full Tennessean article. |
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