Spring meetings (5 cities in 6 days!)

<updated 4/1/10> On Saturday, April 24th we will be having our Spring Update & Info Session for Our Response from 9-11 am at Cambridge Intermediate School.  This will be a time to hear about the Our Response movement and hang out with others who are passionate about responding to global poverty, disease and suffering.  We have only been around about six months and. although engaging a few others outside of Cambridge, our focus has been there although this is a movement we describe as across East Central Minnesota.  Therefore, we are going to start our geographic expansion of awareness and engagement during April leading up to this Update & Info session in Cambridge.

We will be hosting sort of “Town Hall” type meetings in a few surrounding communities leading up to our larger 4/24 event.  Each of these will be from 6:30-8:00pm and there will be free pizza at each!  We will be in Pine City on Monday 4/19 (Pine City Library), Braham on Tuesday 4/20 (East Central Energy), Princeton on Thursday 4/22 (New Life Church), and North Branch on Friday 4/24 (North Branch Library).  Did I mention that in each of these venues we will be having FREE PIZZA!  So please let people know about these and feel free to join us.  These will be set up to be interactive and engaging; so bring your questions and ideas.

If you are on Facebook, the following are links to info on the meetings; please let us know if you are coming at any or all:

Pine City (4/19): http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=108692339150982

Braham (4/20): http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=10150157275360322

Princeton (4/22): http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=113898555292727

North Branch (4/23): http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=113030965377752

Cambridge (4/24 – Saturday): http://www.facebook.com/?sk=events#!/event.php?eid=366649098001

If you want to stay updated easily on what is happening, send an email to stevefredlund@gmail.com and we’ll get you on the email update list.  You can also check us out on Facebook in the group Our Response.  Thanks for your interest and engagement.  Feel free to peruse other tabs/pages on this blog site.  (We are in the process of re-launching a new website).

Update on the movement

This is an email update that was sent out on March 17^th (and mailed to those without email). If you want to be on the email list, please send me an email at stevefredlund@gmail.com.  Thanks so much for your engagement.

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Greetings Our Response folks… there has been a whirlwind of activity with a number of people doing different things so I wanted to send you off a quick update.  I’ll just give you some bullet points so feel free to let me know if you have any questions or want more info — honestly there is more than this – it’s just all I can remember!  Hang out – lots of great stuff happening (my apologies if I’ve forgotten anything or anyone):

 * Sponsorships now at 86! Encourage you sponsors to write letters to your sponsored kids. 

* We are going to be holding our “Spring Info & Update Gathering” on Saturday, April 24th from 9-11am at the Cambridge Intermediate School.  Please invite everyone you know!  Thanks to Carol Lex for her work in setting this up.

* We are hoping to do shorter, more informal meetings in the communities of Braham, Pine City, Princeton & North Branch the week leading up to the Spring larger gathering.  At this point we have reserved space in the East Central Energy building in Braham for 6:30-8pm on Tuesday, April 20th.  We will be ordering pizza to arrive about 7:30.  Invite all you know in Braham to this.  We will promote that peope at these meetings also try to attend 4/24 to get connected with the broader group.  Thanks Carol Lex for also setting up this meeting.  If anyone knows of good spots in Pine City, Princeton or North Branch, please let us know.

* We are looking into doing as much free broad marketing as possible through radio, billboards & newspaper.  Thanks to Kriste Erickson of the Haven Center for sending us the contact information and Robin & Shawn Wetther for trying to set these up.

* We are looking into all the possible events we might be able to have a presence at and how to make that happen. Thanks to Tom Yotter!

* On September 24th, the Fish House in Isanti is hosting Tim Hawkins in concert at the Cambridge-Isanti High School Performing Arts Center as a fund raiser.  They are allowing Our Response to have a table at this event to promote our activities.  Thanks to Shannon Lynch for making this happen and Howard & Jill McCray for their generosity.

* We are in the process of creating our logo, brand, and overall design and applying that to a new website.  Thanks to Jesse Gillespie for his logo/design work (looks great so far) and Chris VanAnda for volunteering his website skills.

* We are starting to develop quality & clear marketing brochures to equip each of us to share about Our Response much easier.  Thanks to Shannon Lynch for her leadership on this.

* We are looking to create “event kits” that can be used at whatever events we participate in; to have high-quality engaging booths or information set-up.  Thanks to Shannon Lynch, Mark Radeke and Joanna Johnson (World Vision) for your involvement here.

* We are still looking into a specific project in Kivuruga to support (thanks to Joanna at World Vision for digging into)

* The funds from the 30-Hour Famine done by New Hope Community Church will be dedicated to Kivuruga

* Received a very generous donation from the Pregnancy Resource Center toward our efforts with Our Response (thank you Gina Kennedy and the crew there)

* Have had a volunteer step up to help us film, edit, and create high-quality videos (thank you James Paine!)

* Have received several emails from people with great ideas from bumper stickers to concerts to Golf Tournament fundraisers – keep the ideas coming – awesome!

* Had our first official board meeting as a 501(c)3 non-profit; what a great group of leaders – thank you Bob Jonsson, Mark Radeke, and Mark “Homer” Holm

* Are looking into creating financial giving options beyond just sponsorship that will help others participate in this movement (thanks Melody LaBeau)

* We are looking into options for being able to get available sponsored children’s pictures on-line to make it easier for people to select a child to sponsor.  If anyone wants to take on this project, that would be great… need a scanner, editing capability, and then post files to the web (or send us the file(s) via email/disk).

 Phwew!  Thanks everyone!  Can’t wait to spread the word throughout April and have the meetings at the end of the month.  Our website – our-response.org now points to the blog site until we get the new site up & running.  Feel free to send this to whoever you think might be interested; if they want to get on the email list, please have them send me a note.  Thanks.

 Steve Fredlund — Director, Our Response —stevefredlund@gmail.com  — Cell: 651.57.5435 —

www.our-response.org

“I always thought I should do something”

These are words that I have heard echoed over and over again in the years before my involvement in Rwanda and ever since this journey began.  I hold a strong conviction and most people in our rich western world want to help those with less financial resource.  I believe that at our core, we are wired with the capacity to recognize injustice and with the heart to seek justice in those situations.  But I also feel that most of us, for years, have felt helpless in knowing how to respond. 

Our efforts in Rwanda… this movement we are calling “Our Response” is largely about equipping each one of us to respond; to give us an avenue in which we can respond to the two great truths we have come to recognize: That much of the world lives in a constant state of emergency and that most of us have the capacity to help. 

If you are among the many who feel you should help, but have never felt like a clear way was presented… perhaps this is an option for you.  We are working together to bring transformation to a region of Rwanda known as Kivuruga through a partnership with World Vision.  This is the place four of us visited this past November to meet the World Vision indigenous staff, the community leaders, and the residents.  There is great hope in the middle of there difficult situations and each of us has the opportunity to join together to bring that hope.  One resident summed it up when I was there.. “just the fact that someone from America cares gives us hope.” 

We have the opportunity to be an answer to people’s prayers; we have the opportunity to literally change lives.  The radicalness of child sponsorship goes beyond our typical western mindset… by sponsoring a child, contributing $35/month to the work in Kivuruga, and engaging in writing letters back & forth with your sponsored child… this has incredible impact.  When we were there we saw firsthand the processes for how this works and the direct transformational impact these investments make.

If you would like to stay up to date on what is happening, email me at stevefredlund@gmail.com.  Thanks for your ongoing encouragement and support.