Board Appoints Three New Members, 2016 Officers
Three new members will join the Board of Guidance of Interfaith Winston-Salem for 2016 as three others complete their service on the board. The new members are Rev. Dianne Horton, Protestant Christianity; Dr. Shadi Qasem, Islam; and David Teague, Quaker/Protestant Christianity.
We are mindful of all of our past Board members who have helped shape our organization and who continue to support understanding and respect. This year we honor Art Bloom, Aaron LaVallee, and Sandy Phocas with gratitude for their years of service to Interfaith Winston-Salem.
Drea Parker has been relected chair of the board, serving her second year. Other officers are Deon Strickland, vice chair; David Harold, secretary; and Jim Collins, treasurer. Committee chairpersons are Truman Dunn, Programs; Kim Williams, Marketing; and Jim Collins, Fundraising and Finance.
Profiles of new board members:
Rev. Dianne Horton -- A Chaplain and Christian minister who currently resides in Winston-Salem, Dianne received a Bachelor of Arts from Salem College with a major in sociology and minor in religion. She later completed her Masters of Divinity at Wake Forest School of Divinity. Diane currently works at Wake Forest Baptist Health – Lexington Medical Center where she serves as the manager of Chaplaincy and Clinical Ministries.
Dr. Shadi Qasem -- A resident of Clemmons, Dr. Qasem practices Islam and is a member of the Annoor Center in Clemmons as well as The Community Mosque in Winston Salem. Originally from Amman, Jordan, Dr. Qasem received his M.D. in 1999 from Jordan University of Science and Technology. He later completed residency in pathology in 2007 at the University of Iowa and completed a fellowship in Pathology the following year at Emory University. He is a practicing pathologist.
Mr. David Teague -- Mr. Teague is a long-term and active member of the Winston-Salem Friends Meeting. A native of Kernersville, he has a BA in Religious Studies from Guilford College. He works as a Reader/Evaluator for Measurement, Inc.
Other members of the board for 2016 are Jim Collins, Truman Dunn Ph.D., Jay Ford Ph.D., Rev. Peggy Matthews, Jerry McLeese, Deon Strickland Ph.D. and Kim Williams, all Protestant Christianity; Imam Khalid Griggs and Darlene May Ph.D., Islam; Seretha Masdon, Unitarian Universalism; Michelle Nicolle, Ph.D., Zen Buddhism; Andrea Parker, Pantheism/Naturalism (Paganism); Sita Somara Ph.D., Hinduism; and Alan Williams, Ph.D., atheism.
Compassionate Winston-Salem Forms Housing Constellation
Compassionate Winston-Salem, a movement formed within Interfaith Winston-Salem, has been working for more than two years now to build a more compassionate city. Using a “constellations” model, the goal is to create working groups in many different areas of the city's life. Thus far, constellations have been organizing to work with our schools, the healthcare system, the justice system and animals.
A new constellation has recently begun to build compassion in housing. The housing group was sparked by the present community concerns about the possible elimination of a large number of affordable living spaces at Ardmore Terrace and Cloverdale Apartments with high-end apartments built to replace them. Being a compassionate city means we seek to respect and care for the needs of others, treating them as we wish to be treated. All of our city's residents deserve the basic right to a safe and affordable place to live, and among the community concerns about the razing of Ardmore Terrace/Cloverdale Apartments is the lack of affordable housing for those displaced.
Sensing a larger issue than just this particular development project, a small group came together to determine how Compassionate Winston-Salem might address community housing concerns. The idea of creating a “compassionate housing” movement came out of this concern.
The first step was to create an understanding of what “compassionate housing” means. Compassionate housing is more than just the cost of a mortgage or rent. It includes availability of services nearby, such as fresh foods, transportation, jobs and schools. We quickly learned that much of the city's affordable housing is located in “food deserts” with no grocery stores and limited other services in the vicinity. Compassionate housing also includes living in a safe neighborhood, not just free of crime but also free of such health threats as lead and other toxins. It means living in an environmentally appealing neighborhood with green spaces, trees, plants and birds. Compassionate housing is accessible for older adults and the disabled. It also means neighborhoods are protected from inequitable economic forces such as gentrification. In treating others as we wish to be treated, is this not the kind of neighborhood we all want to live in?
The next step was to begin to gather information, learning all we could about the present state of housing in our city, a process that continues. The City-County Planning staff, including Director Paul Norby, warmly welcomed seven of us to meet with them and the city’s Community and Business Development staff recently. At the request of the mayor and City Council, the Planning staff has done a study of housing in the city, including home prices, rental prices and available services. They confirmed that the trend is clearly a shift in the balance towards more expensive housing. We also have met individually with members of City Council, Habitat for Humanity, program staff of The Winston-Salem Foundation and others. This is a great concern to the city leadership, including the Planning staff. However, beyond zoning regulations and tax-related incentives, there is little that can be done to prevent land-owners and developers from replacing affordable housing with high-end construction.
The challenge of maintaining, much less increasing the availability of affordable housing in our city, is daunting. It is a complex issue with many aspects and parties involved. A reason for hope is that the vision of Compassionate Winston-Salem is to bring everyone to the table, so that the sum of our work together is far greater than what we can do separately. We hope to soon have city government, land owners, developers, city residents and others working together to find ways to build a truly compassionate city, where all are living in safe and affordable neighborhoods.
We welcome all who might like to join this effort. You can join us or get more information by emailing Jerry McLeese (jmcleese1@yahoo.com) or Truman Dunn (tldunn104@gmail.com).
In the NEWS...
Media Notes
Three representatives of Interfaith Winston-Salem are quoted in this article in the December 9 Winston-Salem Journal about comments on Muslims by presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Drea Parker comments for Interfaith Winston-Salem in this December 11 Winston-Salem Journal article on the placement of a billboard in Kernersville by American Atheists, Inc.
Interfaith Winston-Salem was highlighted in an article in the December issue of “Winston-Salem Monthly" magazine. You can read the article here.
You're Invited - Book Study Group
How do we maintain our own faith identity while respecting the traditions of others?
The next reading by the Interfaith Winston-Salem Book Club may help us answer that question for ourselves. The club will be reading “The Interfaith Alternative: Embracing Spiritual Diversity” by Steven Greenebaum for discussion Tuesday, January 12 at Highland Presbyterian Church.
A review by Amazon says:
“Whatever your spiritual path, chances are that the primary tenets of your faith include universal love, acceptance, and compassion. Yet three thousand years after Moses, twenty-five hundred years after the Buddha, two thousand years after Jesus, and fifteen hundred years after Muhammad, we are still divided by our differences. Religious intolerance, discrimination, even persecution and violence make up the not-so-golden rule.
“The Interfaith Alternative shows us how we can celebrate each other without fear of losing our own identity. It illuminates the path to creating a nurturing spiritual community that honors and includes all religious languages—an alternative to Jews worshiping only with Jews, Christians with Christians, and Muslims with Muslims. In doing so, it demonstrates that through coming together in a mutually supportive environment we can concentrate on our shared desire to remake the world into a compassionate, loving place.”
Interested in being a part of the Interfaith Winston Salem Book Club? For more information contact: Contact Barbara Bowman bbowman2@triad.rr.com or Linda Lewis llewis2006@bellsouth.net
Ties That Bind: Oct. 18 - Protestants In Conversation
"Ties That Bind": Oct. 18
American religious communions are in a time of permanent transition. Traditional ways of organizing faith communities and declaring faith perspectives are changing dramatically. What might that mean for the church's message and the church's future?
The Ties That Bind: Protestants in Conversation movement explores that and other questions at a gathering in Winston-Salem Sunday, October 18, 4-6 p.m. at United Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, the church on the hill above U.S. 52 at Fourth Street. The event is open to the public at no charge.
Discussions will be led by Dr. Bill Leonard, Dunn Professor of Baptist Studies and Church History at the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University; Rev. Terrance Hawkins, associate pastor, Winston-SalemFirst Church, and community activist; Mia Sloan of St. Peter’s Church and World Outreach Center; and Rev. Emily Hull McGee, senior pastor, First Baptist Church on Fifth Street. Their comments will be followed by 45 minutes of small-group conversations that cover questions like these:
· What does it mean to speak of and engage with God’s New Day in the world?
· How do we understand that most basic aspect of Jesus’ message and its implications then and now?
· In what ways might faith communions engage in that dynamic through their own ministries and in shared ministries in the community?
· Is the meaning, message, and action involved in recognizing that God’s New Day continues to come near an appropriate guide for renewing faith, ministry and congregational life?
Registration for tickets and childcare can be made online at https://godsnewday.eventbrite.com