BTC Visit to St. George Parish Guilford, CT 11/3 & 11/10/2008

11/3/2008
Last night we had close to 100 9th graders attend our presentation. These kids were really on the ball and we never lacked for anyone to volunteer with an answer to our questions.
When we got to the part of our presentation where we went over the three questions and asked them what they learned about poverty that they hadn't know before, we received more responses, I believe, than we ever had before. A good group of kids.
Five of us presented. Me, Johnnie F, Mark, Jeanette, and Doug. Worked perfectly fine with the five of us. We talked for just over an hour and we al felt it went very well. It will be interesting to see the difference when we speak to 10 graders next Monday night.
St. George's parish seems to be a very active parish. Over 1300 families. I think we have to try and get them on our agenda to meet with the larger community. We will se how that plays out.
Looking forward to next week. So far we have expected to attend, Lou, Jeanette, Pam, Bob K, Doug (possible), Mark.

Lou Terzo

11/10/2008
Last night, 11/10, we met with close to 90 10th graders at St. George's. We had to overcome some technical difficulties to complete our presentation but overall it went quite well.
My computer, which I practiced with on Sunday to make sure it would "work" when we got there, seemed to be quite temperamental and locked me out. Lucking a teacher there let us use his computer and we got the presentation up and running, but we couldn't use the remote to change screens for some reason and he did not have his power cord so we ran out of battery power with about 10 minutes left in the presentation. We were right at the Two Feet of Social Justice. Oh well, sometimes you just have to improvise.
The kids were very good again last night. Seemed interested and when we addressed the Three Questions again they did respond very well. At least it proved they did listen. They were challenged as they had to meet the expectations set by the 9th graders from last week.
Claire Nichols has a great handle on both grades. She did not take any disrespectfulness from them and had total control. Nice to see.
Bob, Pam, Jeanette and I presented and aside from the computer problems all went very well. It looks like we may be able to get invited back to present to the general parish.
When we were done Claire Nicholls asked if they could donate to our cause. We mentioned how we really do not take donations and preferred they do an Action thing, like writer their legislators concerning one of the poverty issues like Healthcare. She asked for a form letter which I have requested through Doug.
Doug also suggested that in the future when we presented with an opportunity to accept a monetary donation that we suggest they make that contribution to such organizations like CCHD, CT Voices, End Hunger CT, Ct Association for Basic Needs, etc. I think that's a nice idea. We can discuss at out next meeting.
Peace,
Lou
PS: Next presentation is December 14 at St. John the Evangelist in Watertown. Please advise if you can attend. I will be sending out a more formal reminder and request.