Who we are -- What we do

Peace and Justice chairperson Bob Walden will be visiting Mennonite congregations from time to time during 2008 for conversation about our work together. Please contact us if you would like Bob to speak at Sunday worship, with a Sunday School class or other church group. (See more details here)

Food Programs

• Grocery Bag Program: Collects grocery donations every winter for families in need in Philadelphia and New York City. In February 2007, 725 bags of groceries were collected for distribution to Brooklyn, Bronx, and Philadelphia under the leadership of Mary Keller and Judy Francis. This program is changing in 2008 -- individual congregations which would like to provide bags of groceries will be matched with specific urban churches or organizations in need of food.
  See Grocery Bag program or contact the MCC Material Resource Center in Ephrata (Lisa Merk) at 717-733-2847 for more details.
• MCC Meat Canner: Each spring we host the MCC meat canner usually for two or three days (this year canning only pork). In 2007, about 14,000 cans of pork were filled -- enough for about 140,000 meals, and some additional meat was donated to local outreach programs, including Graterford Prison Ministry. The MCC Meat Canner was at at Christopher Dock on March 24-26, 2008 (Mon.-Wed), and will return in spring 2009. (Volunteers may schedule work times through the Conference office, 215-723-5513.) For further information, contact us:
  Program coordinator: Abe Landes, 215-723-3140.
• Vegetable Basket Program: Donated fruits and vegetables are collected from local farmers and gardners, this year in coordination with with the Food Trust, a Philadelphia based non-profit organization which sets up farmers markets and negotiates with grocery chains to serve low-income communities. The program has delivered an abundance of fresh produce to two agencies that serve low-income people: the Shepherd's Shelf in Kulpsville, and the Indian Valley Opportunity Center in Souderton. In years with a good growing season, volunteers have processed and distributed over 10,000 lbs. of donated produce.

  The Vegetable Basket Project collects fruit and vegetables (from mid-July until early October). Drop off your produce on Monday mornings before 9:30 a.m. at Deep Run East Mennonite Church, Blooming Glen Creamery Apartments on Rt. 113 in Blooming Glen, Indian Valley Mennonite Church, or by 10:00 am at the Mennonite Conference Center in Souderton. The summer of 2007 brought us an abundant growing season, and we look forward to working with the Food Trust again in 2008. For more information, contact Bob Moyer (215-766-0825) or the Mennonite Conference Center at 215-723-5513.

Peace and Justice Education

The PJC also has been represented on the Boards of the Montgomery County Mediation Center which provides mediation services and intensive mediation training and Crossroads Community Center in Philadelphia.

From time to time the PJC also plans or co-sponsors other projects and programs, including a Peace & Justice Fall Gathering for local church representatives (October 13, 2007 at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church), and the 48th annual Christmas Peace Pilgrimage from Nazareth to Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) on Dec. 8th, 2007. We are currently planning a young adult peace and justice event for late spring 2008.

We sometimes work directly with people in our local congregations to identify or provide peace resources, lead workshops, or arrange programs on current peace and justice topics. (See more information here).

Some of our congregations are now turning attention to youth and the military in response to the U.S. military buildup and intensive armed forces recruiting that began after 9/11/2001. We have hosted a Sunday afternoon workshop "Why Object" on military, draft, conscientious objection, and voluntary service options on March 25, 2007 -- for youth, parents, and youth leaders. (See 2007 Calendar for details.)

We have also sponsored a pastor's workshop on preaching peace.

Who we are

Peace Resources

Community-Based Peace Resources in Pennsylvania:

Peace Resource Centers

• Bucks County:
  
  • Peace-Talks On Line (www.peacetalksonline.org)
    project of Newtown Meeting, PO Box 224, Newtown PA 18940
  • Langhorne Peace Center (www.thepeacecenter.org)
    Contact Christa Tinari, ctinari@snip.net, or 609-397-7290.
• Chester County:
  
  • The Peace Center at Birmingham (peacecenterbirmingham.org)
    a peace garden and display, project of Birmingham Meeting,1245 South Birmingham Rd., West Chester PA 19382
• Delaware County:
  • Peace Center of Delaware County (www.delcopeacecenter.org)
  • Delco Wage Peace & Justice (www.delcowagepeacejustice.org)
• Lehigh Valley: (Lehigh and Northampton Counties)
  
  • LEPOCO Peace Center (www.lepoco.org)
    In the Lehigh Valley the LEPOCO (Lehigh Pocono Committee of Concern), Peace Center publishes a monthly newsletter, and sends out an email calendar of events. Nancy Tate, Director. Email: lepoco@fast.net, 313 W. 4th Street, Bethlehem 18015 610-691-8730.
• Montgomery County:
  
  • Bellefonte: CenterPeace (www.centrepeace.org)
• Philadelphia and vicinity:
  
  • Brandywine Peace Community (www.brandywinepeace.com)
  • Shalom Center (www.shalomctr.org)
  • Peace and Concerns (www.pym.org/peace-and-concerns) Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Quaker), Peace and Concerns Committee -- includes events calendar
• West Chester:
  
  • Chester County Peace Movement (www.ccpeace.org)
• Wilkes Barre:
  • Peace and Justice Center (www.ourpeacecenter.org)
• Princeton, NJ and Southeastern PA:
  • Coalition for Peace Action (www.peacecoalition.org)

Other Resources: Peace and Justice Calendars by Email

• There is an Email calendar for Bucks and Montgomery counties which includes peace-related events. Contact Tom Ulrich, tomulrich@mybluelight.com.
• In central Pennsylvania, there is an Email "Peace and Justice Calendar" for the Harrisburg, PA area which includes some events of regional interest: Contact Darrel & Kirsten Reinford, kirstendarrel@pa.net.