the Simple Way

The Simple Way, a New Monastic Community founded by Shane Claiborne - one of my favorite people (see my sidebar, re: Folks I Dig) - suffered a tremendous and terrible loss earlier this week in Philadelphia. The story, below, has been taken directly from their website. Anything anyone could do to help rebuild this essential part of this extremely poor community would be gratefully and graciously accepted as a blessing from God...I have provided a button which links directly to the site where donations are accepted, and will place it on my sidebar, as well.

6/20/07 11:25PM (UPDATED)

This morning, a 7-alarm fire consumed an abandoned warehouse in our Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Simple Way Community Center at 3200 Potter Street was destroyed as well as at least eight of our neighbors’ homes. Over 100 people were evacuated from their homes, and 400 families are currently without power. Despite this tragedy, we are incredibly thankful to share that all of our community members and every one of our neighbors is safely out of harm’s way.

This fire will forever change the fabric of our community. Eight families are currently homeless, and in many cases have lost their vehicles as well as their homes. One of our neighbors, the Mahaias Family, lost their three cars as well as the equipment one family member uses for her massage therapy business. Teenager Brian Mahaias is devastated not because he has lost his belongings, but because he fears that this fire will force him to move away from this neighborhood that is his family as well as his home.

The Simple Way has lost a community center that was home to our Yes! And… afterschool program, community arts center, and Cottage Printworks t-shirt micro-business as well as to two of our community members. Community members Shane Claiborne and Jesce Walz have lost all of their belongings, Yes!And…’s after school studio and library were ruined, and community member Justin Donner’s Cottage Printworks equipment and t-shirts were destroyed.

We are thankful that we are able to help each other during this time of need, and we will continue to keep your informed about today’s events.

We have established funds to support the families who have lost their homes, the Yes! And… afterschool program, and the Simple Way community.

These funds have been established through a partner organization, EAPE. Tax-deductible donations can be made at http://tonycampolo.org/simpleway_donation.php. Please make sure to designate “TSW-Kensington Families Fund” or “TSW-Rebuilding Fund”.

-The Simple Way Community

take up the challenge

Photographer: Michael Paul

i am a great fan of shane claiborne and will hopefully be privileged to hear him speak in philadelphia in march, thanks to a lead from my new friend, apn. i should probably be attending services at the simple way, but that is for another post altogether...

one of the things i enjoy reading is his site when it is updated. i sat this morning while my coffee grew cold and culled the list of things to do to make a simple difference, which list is itemized under "practical," linked above under the simple way. it is easy to sit back and say "somebody should do something!!" but how many actually do?

i liked several of the items, cheered at some (Gut your TV and turn it into a pot for a plant), squirmed in my seat at the suggestion of others (Write only paper letters for a month (go computer free?!?), but this one i liked: Give your winter coat away to someone who is colder than you are.

and so she shall.

this morning at the restaurant, we began a coat drive: coats, hats, scarves & gloves -- for the Rescue Mission in Atlantic City -- hey, we may be having tough times at the cafe lately, but we are warm and others are not so let's stop the apathy, change it into empathy, and see what comes out of it. if one or two are warm because of our efforts, how cool will that be?

what can you do to take up the challenge?

next stop: Try jack-hammering the church parking lot to make space for potato plants...