NEWSLETTER and CALENDAR APRIL 2020
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“THE NEW NORMAL”
We know its pretty obvious, but these past few weeks have not been normal. As we navigate the changing world around us, we hope that you, your family, your friends and your fellow activists are safe and remain healthy. Without getting too negative about how a certain “leader” has botched the “war” against COVID-19 let’s move right into things that you can do to thrive in our new digital lifestyles.
STAY SAFE – STAY HOME!
This is the best way you can keep the virus from spreading. It’s not convenient nor does it feel normal. Do it anyway!
STAY INFORMED (BUT NOT TOO MUCH)
There are plenty of outlets for news about the pandemic but make sure they are reliable before you believe what they say and before you pass it on.
For the latest facts on COVID-19 our LOCAL AND STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENTS are both good and reliable. Some have REMARKABLE INTERACTIVE MAPS that show the progression, graphically, village by village and county by county.
GO TO:
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
STAY IN CONTACT
We have attended more ZOOM, GotoMeeting, Facebook Live, WebEx, Skype, Facetime and just plain old conference calls this past two weeks than we have in our lives up to this point. You may have too. If you haven’t used any of these communication tools you are missing out on how we are going to recharge our movement, our campaigns, our causes and our lives in the near future.
To help stay in contact, check out our calendar for the many virtual gatherings we have set up to organize our activities the month of April.
STICK TOGETHER:
- The new normal … hey! happy hours on Friday .. a little comic release after a serious “new normal” .. words heard across the world for the last 2 weeks…
- Can you hear me?
- Can you see me?
- Is your video on?
- Can you mute?
- Who or what is happen behind you?
It will get better, Cheers!
Chris Kious, Sara Horan, Bill Davis, Kathy Carter and all the NWSOFA-Indivisible Leadership and members
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Annual Meeting Notice
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When OFA dissolved, we formed an Illinois not-for-profit corporation named “NWSOFA” to carry on our work. Every Illinois not-for-profit corporation must have a Board of Directors.
The only thing the Board of Directors must do is to hold an annual meeting and elect the Board for the next year. If we ever had a factional dispute, the Board of Directors would have the final say. The initial Board of Directors consists of Bill Davis, Sara Horan, Kathy Carter, Patrick Watson, and Matt Flamm.
We will hold the annual meeting of the Board of Directors later in April. If you know anyone who should be on the Board of Directors, let one of us know in the next week.
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE REMINDER:
WASH YOUR HANDS
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Wash your hands for 20 seconds! Soap kills the virus but it takes time. Dry thoroughly.
Check on your neighbors. Join our virtual meetings. Watch for emails with the issue, the day, times and instructions to join.
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE REMINDER!
Fill out your 2020 Questionair:
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- It’s quick and easy. The 2020 Census questionnaire will take about 10 minutes to complete.
- It’s safe, secure, and confidential. Your information and privacy are protected.
- Your response helps to direct billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities for schools, roads, and other public services.
- Results from the 2020 Census will be used to determine the number of seats each state has in Congress and your political representation at all levels of government.
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UPCOMING SCHEDULED EVENTS FOR APRIL 2020
- APR 7 – NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: Team Casten Checking In
- APR 11 – NWSOFA Indivisible HAPPY HOUR 5 PM
- APR 16 – NWSOFA Indivisible Gun Violence Prevention Monthly Meeting 7 PM
- APR 18 – NWSOFA Indivisible Cancelled/Rescheduled Partner Event: Sierra Club 50th Anniversary of Earth Day
- APR 19 – NWSOFA Indivisible HAPPY HOUR 5 PM
- APR 21 – NWSOFA Indivisible Fiscal Monthly Meeting
- APR 25 – NWSOFA Indivisible HAPPY HOUR 5 PM
- APR 28 – NWSOFA Indivisible Climate Change Meeting with Guest Speaker: Cam Davis
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE HAPPY HOUR!
April 3, 10, 17, 24 @ 5:00 PM
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JUST FOR FUN, join us every Friday at 5:00 PM for our weekly “Friday Happy Hour”. Join us, bring your favorite beverage and your smile. There will be no agenda so we will use the time to reconnect and refresh.
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Partner Events:
“Takeout Tuesdays”
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Help local restaurants by ordering takeout–to make this An Event, we’ll all post pics of our takeout on Tuesdays! We’re doing this until Election Day!
We are partnering to help local restaurants with GPAD .. POST PICS on the NWSOFA Facebook Pages and /or GPAD Facebook pages.. We’re All In This Together..
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Partner Events:
“Team Casten Checking In” Training Sessions
April 7
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“𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧” 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟! 𝐁𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭!
t𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 on now!
From our homes to their homes, we’ll be calling 6th District residents to check in on how they’re doing during this difficult time. Won’t you join us in reaching out?
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NWSOFA – STAND WITH WOMEN
Sometime in April
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Stand With Women (SWW)
Our team lead, Terri is making masks and sending them out… Nurses in NY say “thanks for the masks” ..
April .. coming up with some activities during april.. but will be “on the fly” .. and OnLine.. What Women’s Issue should we tackle during this “new normal” of Social Distancing? Terri Asks! Drop Terri a note…
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE
April 16 @ 7:00 pm
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Zoom Meeting
Because of Newtown in 2012 and more than ever before, because of Parkland in 2018, the NWSOFA GVP Team, currently in its seventh year, has re-committed itself to become relentless advocates of change and action.
We are determined to change the conversation surrounding gun violence in America, change the hearts of people we encounter through a spirit of volunteerism and kindness and take action to change the laws to create safer communities for every family in America.
The GVP Issue team educates by having periodic informational meetings, collaborates with coalition non-partisan groups, such as local faith communities and Moms Demand Action and takes action by supporting the efforts of our youth and March for Our Lives and by recruiting legislators to build support for legislation.
In addition, our GVP Team celebrates the success that has been achieved in America – because of Parkland – in changing the conversation around gun violence prevention. We also celebrate the fact that Gov. Pritzker signed, in January 2019, the law that requires a certification process for gun dealers in Illinois. We know from the research that this law will definitely help to save lives, including the lives of our police officers.
And we continue to work to strengthen background checks and raise community awareness through hosting vigils, using social media, writing letters to the editor and handing out fliers.
Please join us – together we can make a difference in creating safer communities for all Americans, including our law enforcement officers.
Until our days of social distancing are over, we will hold 1 hour video conference meetings on the 3rd Thursday of the month. Registration is preferred since since “seating” on the Zoom video calls is limited to 100.
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE
Cancelled/Rescheduled Partner Event: Sierra Club 50th Anniversary of Earth Day
April 18
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Hopefully, we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary in the Fall!
Stay safe, stay healthy!
Our annual Earth Day event is, unfortunately, cancelled. We are hoping to reschedule for this fall- stay tuned.
We encourage you all to celebrate Earth Day in your own way (and safely!). Some ideas may be: plan a garden and start seeds indoors, pick up garbage in your neighborhood, watch an interesting documentary about the environment, research your local recycling rules to make sure you’re doing it right, and more!
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE
On-Line NWSOFA Webex Virtual Presentation
April 21 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
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On-Line NWSOFA Webex Virtual Presentation
April 21 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
There is a Chinese curse which says “May he live in interesting times.” Like it or not, we live in interesting times.
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Over 10 million Americans filed new unemployment claims in March. Although the employment report for March showed 700,000 lost jobs, we won’t begin to see the real impact in the monthly employment reports until the April report in early May. In the meantime, the Thursday reports on new unemployment filings are probably the best measure of the impact on our economy.
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How long will the downturn last? An unknown, as this should be driven more by the behavior of the novel coronavirus than politics. If we can convince everyone to stay home except for necessary trips and wear masks when we go out, we can suppress the spread of the virus and the downturn could be shorter. Especially if we can create sufficient testing infrastructure for when we loosen the restrictions.
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We met remotely in March and will be doing that again in April. The meeting will probably be April 21ST
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You can view our March meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LF9I721TA0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRo062E5WqI
Come join us on-line just prior to 7 pm ….
Click here
Karl Faulstich
(m) 773-991-6587
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE
Climate Change Meeting with Guest Speaker: Cam Davis
Commissioner – Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
April 28 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
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Join us for our climate change team meeting with our guest speaker
CAM DAVIS,
Commissioner – Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
Cam will discuss all thing tried and true & new .. things that will surprise you .. “Cam Davis has been a valuable member of the MWRD board since he was elected in 2018 after an unusual write-in primary race. He has been a leader in setting the district’s environmental agenda, having come to the board well prepared by his previous experience as President Barack Obama’s point person on the Great Lakes.”
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE
Healthcare Reform
Update on Continuing Efforts
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The NWSOFA Healthcare Reform
From Our Affordable Care Act Team:
There is nothing more important right now than staying at home, reading a (or a few) good books, and trying to keep all of us safe. The only action item to be taken is to encourage family, friends, and neighbors to comply with the stay at home order. I am stunned at the number of folks that are not taking this stay at home order seriously enough, which of course puts all of us at risk.
As you know, our health care system can not possibly handle the projected increase in this infection. The only defense we have right now is to not get infected in the first place. The larger health concern is that the social distancing now will not be enough to halt the spread of the virus. In my opinion, for all of the obvious reasons, many folks will eventually not comply with the order to stay at home.
So, we must continue to reinforce the necessity to stay at home now. And, of course vote Trump out of office in November.
The Covid-19 restrictions will pass so we will to continue to contact our partner organizations and work in unison with them.
Keith Moens, ACA Issue Lead
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE
Volunteers on the Move
Update on Continuing Efforts
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NWSOFA Volunteer Notes:
Christine Heerman is printing of masks and face shields on her 3D printer at home and donating them to local hospitals.
Terri Klowden our SWW Lead is making Masks and donating them to local hospitals.
On-line Training … Joyce Slavik has agreed to be our webex / zoom online trainer for our leads who may be struggling to connect or who can connect for a meeting but unsure how to run a meeting .. Joyce is available Nights and weekends.
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE
NWSOFA YouTube Channel
Update on Continuing Efforts
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NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE
Flipboard Magazines
Update on Continuing Efforts
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NWSOFA Flipboard Magazines
NWSOFA 9 “on-line” Flipboard Magazines are available on social justice, bigotry, gun violence prevention, climate change, healthcare, immigration, gerrymandering, fiscal & economics, social justice reform, stand with women, I’ll send post it on the newsletter.
Check out NWSOFA Progressive magazines and follow me on Flipboard for more stories.
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IN THE BOOKS-RECENT EVENTS
- MAR 3 -SUPER TUESDAY
- MAR 3 -NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: GPAD Super Tuesday at Emmitt’s
- MAR 7 – NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: Go Green Barrington – 8 Billion Angels Film Screening
- MAR 10 – NWSOFA Indivisible Stand With Women Celebrates Women’s History Month
- MAR 14 – NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: GPAD at the Palatine St. Patrick’s Day Parade
- MAR 15 – NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Greater Palatine Area Democrats, IL Sixth Congressional District Democrats 11th Debate Watch Party
- MAR 17 – Illinois Primary
- MAR 19 – NWSOFA Indivisible Gun Violence Prevention Monthly Meeting
- MAR 23 – NWSOFA Indivisible Fiscal Monthly Meeting
- MAR 24 – NWSOFA Indivisible Climate Change Meeting with Guest Speaker: Gerri Songer
- APR 3 – NWSOFA Indivisible HAPPY HOUR 5 PM
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Notice: These are public meeting(s) / event(s)
NWSOFA is a 501(c)4, non-partisan organization.
All opinions are solely those of NWSOFA
NWSOFA ORGANIZATION CHART NWSOFA Issue Leads 2019
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