“COVER TEXAS NOW”

ADVOCACY DAY AT THE CAPITOL

MARCH 30, 2011

Join advocates from around the state as we focus lawmakers’ attention on health insurance.

OVERVIEW:

• Meet at the Capitol at 10am (buses will be available from Dallas)

• Hear up-to-the-minute information from legislators and issue experts and share breakfast with health advocates from across the state

• Gather on the Capitol Steps for a press conference on the importance of health care in this legislative session

• Participate in scheduled meetings with legislators and their staffs

• Lobby Day events will end at 5pm

Texas has had the highest uninsured rate in the nation for two decades, and it’s time to get covered!

• Texans have new opportunities to get quality, affordable insurance and our state can benefit from new federal resources—legislators need to make health care reform work in Texas.

• We can’t balance the budget on the backs of sick people. Lawmakers are proposing cuts up to 30% for health insurance and health care services—this will take our state farther backward instead of helping get Texans covered!

Join us if any of the following issues are important to you:

• Protecting CHIP and Medicaid health coverage for 3 million Texas children and nearly 1 million adults including expectant moms, seniors and those with disabilities.

• Ensuring that hospitals stay open for everyone. Cutting resources to hospitals reduces availability and puts everyone at-risk during a medical emergency.

• Ensuring seniors and the disabled are able to continue receiving care in nursing homes and in their communities

• Ensuring access to all the benefits Texans should get from national health reform and preparing for full reform implementation in 2014.

HOW CAN YOU SIGN UP TO ATTEND LOBBY DAY?

Register NOW! Cover Texas Now Lobby Day is free, and registering early helps us make your day as worthwhile as possible.

Visit www.covertexasnow.org to register for Lobby Day and check bus pick-up location and times.

Participants should wear a bright green t-shirt to the event!

Dallas Bus and Travel Info

Team Lead: Jessica Davila (jdavila@citysquare.org)

Bus Meeting Information:

East Dallas Christian Church
629 North Peak St., Dallas, TX 75246
Parking lot on the southwest corner of Worth St. and N. Peak St

Time: Meet at 5:30 am to leave at 5:45 am sharp

Need more details? Call 214-303-2146 or email JDavila@citysquare.org

Can’t make it to Austin on March 30?

Contact us for more information on how you can get involved – in your own backyard! Sign up for email alerts, contact your legislator, or even plan an event in your area for the same day. Let your lawmakers know that people in your community are talking about health!

Children rally for fairness. . .by faith

Recently, I received a copy of the "lobbying" plan developed by a group of 6th grade Sunday School members who live in St. Louis, Missouri.  I've reproduced their simple booklet that they created for a trip to their state capitol.  They met with representatives to argue for a new state policy that would create an earned income tax provision for working people in their state. 

I find the media that they developed for their trip to be most effective. 

Even more impressive is the fact that their teachers and their congregation clearly established a link between faith and fairness in public policy. 

Seen anything like this coming out of your Sunday School lately? 

"I Will Thank You"

Forgive me and indulge me.

My 7-year-old granddaughter, Gracie, shared this song with us on Thanksgiving Day.

Red Letters

Generations

I can remember feeling this way about both of my grandfathers. My memory of both of them makes me wish that I'd known their fathers.

Generations and connections between them--something we need to get back.

30 Things Out of 100 That Tarak Believes

Take the time to listen to 7-year-old Tarak McLain share 30 of 100 things that he believes right here.

The class assignment on the 100th day of school was to bring 100 of something to class. Kids brought all kinds of things. Little Tarak brought a list of 100 things that he believes.

NPR did a story as a part of its "This I Believe" feature.

I'm going to list the 30 things that he shared on the radio segment so you can read them. But the best way to take in the child's wisdom is to hear them in his own words at the link above.

Here is his list of 30 beliefs:

I believe life is good.

I believe God is in everything.

I believe we're all equal.

I believe we can help people.

I believe everyone is weird in their own way.

I believe hate is a cause for love.

I believe that when I meditate I feel peaceful.

I believe we should be generous.

I believe brothers and sisters should be kind to each other.

I believe kids should respect their parents.

I believe I should not whine.

I believe people should wake up early.

I believe people should go outside more.

I believe in nature.

I believe people should use less trees.

I believe we should help the Arctic and rain forest animals.

I believe people shouldn't throw litter on the ground.

I believe people should not smoke.

I believe God is in good and bad.

I believe in magic.

I believe people should not give up.

I believe love is everywhere.

I believe that God helps us to have a good time.

I believe we live best in a community.

I believe we can protect people in danger.

I believe we should help the poor.

I believe it's OK to die but not to kill.

I believe war should not have started.

I believe war should stop.

I believe we can make peace.

Pretty good basis for community development, I'd say. How about you?
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"Encourage Yourself"

Below is a version of the Donald Lawrence song "Encourage Yourself," rendered by one of the young ones in CDM's After School Academy.

Another version of the song by Sheri Jones-Moffett is also available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6yhgFxDQMw

Anthem heard in church last Sunday

Church music fascinates me. I suppose this is due to my fundamentalist background and the place of song in its tradition.

But it's also the result of a theory I have about churches.

It is simply this: you can tell an awful lot about a congregation by paying close attention to the words it sings on Sunday.

I'm talking values, theology, relevance and practical engagement with the world.

Here's an anthem sung in a Dallas church last Sunday. It's titled Prayer for the Children.

See what you think:

Can you hear the prayer of the children,

on bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room?

Empty eyes with no more tears to cry, turning heavenward toward the light.

Cryin' Jesus, help me to see the mornin' light of one more day.

But if I should die before I wake, I pray my soul to take.

Can you feel the hearts of the children,

aching for home, for something of their very own?

Reaching hands with nothing to hold on to, but hope for a better day.

Cryin' Jesus, help me to feel the love again in my own land,

but if unknown roads lead away from home, give me loving arms, way from harm.

Can you hear the voice of the children,

softly pleading for silence in their shattered world?

Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate, blood of the innocent on their hands.

Cryin' Jesus, help me to feel the sun again upon my face.

For when darkness clears I know you're near, bringing peace again.

Can you hear the prayer of the children?

A thoughtful, compassionate church concerned about something beyond their own comfort or consumer desires for "satisfying worship," I'd say.

May their number increase.

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