We all stand with Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake.  Here are two creative ways for your to support relief efforts in Haiti, and getting some rocking products while you’re at it.

Hats for Haiti, by Krochet Kids International -  This creative non-profit employs women in northern Uganda to crochet beanies that are sold in America.  In response to the devastation in Haiti they went back to their roots as crocheters themselves and created seven one-of-a-kind hats.  Each one is being auctioned off, with all of proceeds going to relief efforts.  But they don’t stop there.  They are going to match those proceeds out of their own pockets, so 200% of the sale price of each hat will got to the Haiti relief efforts of World Concern and Partners in Health.  Learn more about Krochet Kids at krochetkids.org

Acholi Gras + Haiti, by Acholi Beads – This is my fair trade business, which partners with women in Uganda to create beautiful beaded jewelry from recycled paper.  To support relief efforts in Haiti we’re donating 100% of the proceeds from our annual Acholi Gras clearance sale to Partners in Health (read the book Mountains Beyond Mountains to learn more about this incredible organization).  So you get beautiful jewelry at up to 65% off, and we send your money where it’s needed most.  Win-win.  Acholi Gras, by the way means ‘Fat Acholi’ – which believe it or not is a pretty great compliment in Uganda. Learn more about Acholi Beads at acholibeads.com

The Welcome Wagon is a married couple, the Reverend Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique, who execute a genre of gospel music that is refreshingly plain. Their hymns are modest and melodic takes on a vast history of sacred song traditions, delivered with the simple desire to know their Maker—and to know each other—more intimately.  Their album was produced by Sufjan Stevens and released by Asthmatic Kitty Records.

Russell Shaw:  Tell us a bit about yourselves. How did The Welcome Wagon get its start?

Vito Aiuto: I’m not sure how The Welcome Wagon started.  At the risk of a bad pun, it probably began out of what you could call a “rolling start”, which is to say I don’t think it had a definite beginning.  My wife and I started to play music a little bit in our home, playing old hymns, and sometimes improvising or making up our own tunes, and at some point our friend Sufjan started to play with us, and record what we were doing.  And then one day he told us that he wanted to put one of our songs on a compilation that his label was going to  put out.  And I guess at that point we were a band.

Russell:  Is there any significance or story behind your name, “The Welcome Wagon,” that you’d like to tell us about?

Vito: To be honest, I cannot really remember how the name came about.  When I was in high school I used to have an impeccable memory, my family would look to me to give accounts of stories and facts and figures and trivia, etc.  But at some point it started to be that I’d give what I thought to be the definitive version of a story and everyone at the table would look at me and furrow their brows in unison and say, “That’a not how it happened.”  So maybe I used to be the person to ask that kind of question, but no longer.

I think my wife came up with the name.  I’m not sure why, but I know that now we think of the name and our band in the spirit of the practice of frontier towns in the West who would bring some of the finest wares of their community out to the trail (heaped up in “Welcome Wagons”) to entice travelers to settle in their town.  Often in our shows now we will bring homemade cakes or cookies, or food from our neighborhood, to give away to audience as a sign of love and welcome.

Russell:  At the end of 2009, you released “Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing,” a great, four-song EP. I’ve heard that all proceeds from it goes to help stop sex-trafficking in Sonagacchi – the largest red light district in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Can you tell us more about that cause and your involvement with it?

Vito: When we made our record we produced more music than could fit on one LP.  But there were still some songs that we liked enough to want to put out in the world.  So we planned on putting out some kind of EP or some singles or whatever.  About the time we heard about Freeset, a fair-trade business in India that helps to liberate and empower women escaping the sex trade in the largest red-light district in Kolkata, India.  The people who told us about Freeset asked if we’d like to support that work, so we came up with the idea of a benefit CD: Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing.

Freeset is a company located in Sonagacchi, the largest sex district in Kolkata where about 10,000 women work as prostitutes (“sex slaves” is probably a more accurate term.) Freeset works to provide freedom for these women by training them as skilled craftswomen able to make fair-trade, eco-friendly bags and t-shirts.

Russell:  Since you’re also leaders at Resurrection Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, how has balancing recording music and still continuing your work in that faith community gone for you so far? Has The Welcome Wagon changed anything about how you lead them, and have they been supportive of the music endeavor?

Vito: It is a balancing act, my work as a pastor and as a musician.  But my job as the pastor of our church comes first above my work as a musician. But I like being an artist who is not a full-time artist.  I think some people are called to a full-time vocation as an artist, but I think that art should be encouraged as an endeavor for people who are not full-time artists.  Some of my favorite artists were not full-time, professional artists: William Carlos Williams and Frank O’Hara were two of the preeminent poets of their generation, and neither was a poet by trade.

In terms of people at the church being supportive of the Welcome Wagon, I think there are many people at the church who like our music.  But it’s not something we talk about much at the church.  We don’t play at our worship service, it’s not an official part of our church really.

Russell:  Should we be expecting another album soon and, if so, can you tell us anything about it – themes, inspirations, etc.?

Vito: I don’t think you should be expecting an album, but much about the Welcome Wagon has been a surprise to me, it has rarely developed as I ever thought it would, so I’m not sure.  I’ve got a pretty large backlog of songs, and I am writing more even now.  And we continue to play the those songs at home.  I’ve even got some arranged in to a suite of songs that sort of follows a classic Christian liturgy that could make up an album.  But it’s hard for Monique and I to find the time to learn the songs together and make up arrangements and learn to love them well…  Let alone to find the time to record them.  So it may be a while.  But who knows?

Lazarus Ministries started with two people serving about 20 of Atlanta’s homeless men and women in the year 2000. Now Lazarus has over 500 hundred volunteers annually serving over a thousand homeless.  Allison Mitchell shares with Plywood People what she is doing in the city of Atlanta to help make a difference both in the lives of the homeless population, and others who volunteer, hoping to make things a little better for the people and city of Atlanta.

Lazarus holds an annual health day.  It is a street fair for the homeless where we close off Ellis Street in Downtown Atlanta on the third Sunday of every September. Last year (2009) it down-poured but 224 volunteers still served and 623 guests were able to have a fun and meaningful day.  Our goal for health day (and all of our large events) is to intertwine meeting physical needs (medical, food, clothing) with meeting social needs (fun, laughter and fellowship). We are able to do this in several ways throughout the day:

-Basic Medical Screenings: Blood Pressure, diabetic checks, asthma screenings, and routine physicals were offered

-A Clothing Store: After going through the Medical Station, participants are given a certificate to shop at the clothing “store” of donated clothing.

-Hair and Nails: At this station, the homeless are able to get haircuts, manicures, and (if they desired) facials.

Food: We usually made over 2000 turkey sandwiches and Land Of a thousand Hills coffee donated coffee enough for all the volunteers and guests.

-Karaoke/open mic: There was a supervised open mic/karaoke station where the homeless were able to exhibit their musical skills. For most of the homeless this was the first time in a while (if ever) they were applauded.

-A Church service: At the end of the day, Trinity Vineyard held their normal evening church service. Chairs were set up along Ellis Street, a stage was made for worship, and the volunteers served communion.

Lazarus’ Mission is “To involve the community in providing for the homeless by meeting their basic needs.” The Health Day is an obvious way to involve the community. We hope to motivate the community to be involved by providing the opportunity to do something good- by just being faithful. It will be 10 years in November that we have been investing in the lives of the homeless of Atlanta. In our experience, the community is usually ready and willing to invest time if given a meaningful (and hopefully fun) opportunity.  I am always amazed at how many people want to serve. Last year, we had well over 500 volunteers, serving 6000 volunteer hours. That is the equivalent of 250 days of service. Even in these difficult economic times, when there are more in need of being served,  I am always amazed at the quality (and quantity) of people that come and serve at Lazarus. Most of our volunteers come from Trinity Vineyard.  They are a strong advocate of service and social justice-of being the hands and feet of Jesus.

There are many kinds of poverty that we encounter…the materially poor, spiritually poor, emotionally/relationally poor or a combination. We experience this poverty with our homeless friends, but also in our volunteers.  I find that most have some area of life in which they are poor. I am finding, that what transforms communities is for each person who is involved, to look at the other no matter what their situation or station is and realize we can learn something from each other. A lot of interaction with the materially poor is one sided- which in essence says I have all the answers, I am the only one that has something to bring to the table.

What will transform the community and the lives of the homeless are the moments of calling out what they bring to the table. Volunteering can bring great change when done in that mindset- but the change will be on both sides.  I have been transformed by interacting with my friends on the street – because of a back and forth of me encouraging them and them encouraging me, sharing the highs and lows of life. Allowing them the dignity of being equal to me and I equal to them.

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Relying on goodwill, guts and gumption Duncan, Ben, Dave and Jonnie travel the globe in a purple transit bus to complete a list of 100 things to do before you die and to help and encourage others to go after their own lists. For every item they complete on their list, they help a stranger achieve one of their dreams. Everywhere they go they ask the question: What do you want to do before you die? Check out the skype conversation below, watch their crazy stories unfold on MTV and add your bucket list to their site: The Buried Life.

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Gift Card Giver launches:
SUPER GIVER PARTY
Feb 7, 2010

A Super Bowl Party Benefiting Haiti Relief
The super bowl is the house party of the year. We know, you will be at a house watching the big screen with your friends, eating junk food, yelling for no reason and voting on what commercial was the funniest.

We need you, yes you, the one with the cheese dip in your lap. While you are cheering, we need you to help us collect gift cards to help with relief efforts in Haiti. Every person has an unused gift card ($8 billion annually) and you can help do something super by collecting  those cards to support a great need.

Party with a purpose. Simply, have a super giver bowl and put gift cards in it instead of chips.  When you’re wiping up soda spills and filling your dishwasher, you can throw the gift cards in an envelope to Gift Card Giver and you’ll have given your party even more purpose.  But don’t forget to tell your friends to bring their gift cards!

SUPER STEPS
1.  Tell your friends to bring gift cards to your super bowl party.
2.  Put a bowl between the cheese dip and ice cubes, make people give.
3. Watch our video at halftime to share the SUPER idea.
4.  Put the gift cards in an envelope: Gift Card Giver, PO Box 17628-Atlanta, GA 30316
5. Help Haiti people in great need.

I’m sort of a late bloomer when it comes to New Years Resolutions.  It seems like I only actually begin considering what I would like to change about myself or how I’d like to grow after everyone else starts telling me what they’ve resolved to do for the year. So it’s a few weeks into January now, and I just remembered to think about it.

There might be a few others like me, or at least I’m hoping so, so that I’m not left out on this limb alone. I was thinking about it after breakfast with a friend and I was starting to feel down about the fact that I forgot to be intentional about how I want to grow.  I drove around running errands still thinking about it, and then I remembered that I want to learn how to write grants.  I’ve wanted to learn for the better part of a year and just haven’t done it.  I’ve even bought a book that promises to teach me really effectively how to do it because the best grant writers and grant givers wrote the book.  Sounds promising, doesn’t it?  Well, I’m going to give it a good try! There are a few other things as well, like I want to learn how to listen to people better, and I want to tell people when I see something in them that encourages or challenges me to be a better person. These are my “New Year’s Resolutions” a few weeks late.

Maybe you forgot to write down your resolutions or like me, even to think about it.  Is there something you’ve wanted to do for a long time and just haven’t done it?  What about last year’s resolutions?  Did you follow through? Did you think about them again after you first thought them up?  If not, then instead of setting a whole new list of things you’d like to do [but secretly you don’t think you will], what if you went back to the old list, only with a year’s worth of wisdom to help you through it and see what happens in 2010.  Don’t leave them behind because most likely, there was a reason why you thought you needed them in the first place.  Maybe you just needed another 365 days to get the job done.

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These are images from the production shop in Ciudad Vieja, Antigua, where the bags and wallets are made for Plywood People. These women lost their jobs working in an apparel factory about 10 years ago, when Guatemala made labor restrictions for employers.  They outsourced to Honduras where there were fewer labor laws, and left these women without jobs and ways to provide for their families.  Now these women have jobs where they can use their skills to provide for their families.

Relying on goodwill, guts and gumption Duncan, Ben, Dave and Jonnie travel the globe in a purple transit bus to complete a list of 100 things to do before you die and to help and encourage others to go after their own lists. For every item they complete on their list, they help a stranger achieve one of their dreams. Everywhere they go they ask the question: What do you want to do before you die? Check out the skype conversation below, watch their crazy stories unfold on MTV and add your bucket list to their site: The Buried Life.

Relying on goodwill, guts and gumption Duncan, Ben, Dave and Jonnie travel the globe in a purple transit bus to complete a list of 100 things to do before you die and to help and encourage others to go after their own lists. For every item they complete on their list, they help a stranger achieve one of their dreams. Everywhere they go they ask the question: What do you want to do before you die? Check out the skype conversation below, watch their crazy stories unfold on MTV and add your bucket list to their site: The Buried Life.

“Abner Meecham, an aging Tennessee farmer discarded to a nursing facility by his lawyer son, flees the old folks’ home and catches a ride back to his country farm to live out his days in peace. Upon his return, he discovers that his son has leased the farm to Abner’s old enemy and his white trash family. Not one to suffer fools or go down easy, Abner moves into the old tenant shack on the property and declares that he won’t leave until the farm is returned to his possession. But Lonzo Choat, the new tenant, has no intention to move out or give in to the old man’s demands.This sets up a ruthless grudge match between Abner and Choat, each man right in his own eyes, each too stubborn to give an inch. Angered by his son’s betrayal, and haunted by recurring dreams of his long‐dead wife, Abner sets about his own path toward reclaiming his life. Lines are drawn, threats are made, and the simmering tension under the Southern sun erupts, inevitably, into savagery.”

Jeff Shinabarger:  Throughout the story, there was a great glimpse into the mind of an 80 year old man, a first person account of how he feels and sees the world. What did you hope to communicate to the viewers through this lens?

Scott Teems: I suppose my simple hope was to convey that a person, no matter how old they may be, can still feel deep and intense feelings — feelings of anger and rage, feelings of guilt and the need for forgiveness, feelings of love and lust and longing. We all feel — it just takes some of us longer to let those feelings in. But they’re there all along. And they’re there for Abner, knocking on the door of his heart, until he simply cannot hold them at bay any longer.

Jeff:  I was compelled by the relationship between the father and son. As my parents are growing older, it made me wrestle with some tough relational tensions that may exist in the future. What advice would you have for the younger person as their parents are engaging into retirement and beyond?

Scott: I can offer no such advice, lest it actually be taken! I can only try to paint a portrait of both sides of the story. There are no easy answers in a situation like this. No right or wrong. What intrigued me about the story initially was that all three of the men at the heart of this conflict are “right” in their own eyes. Their point of view is correct. But the tragic flaw is that they are unable or unwilling to see anyone else’s point of view at all. All I can say is that we must listen to others; we must try to hear what they are really saying and see things from their perspective. That is the only way to have compassion.

Jeff:  The soundtrack was a seamless thread in the emotion of the film. Share with us how the music was created and chosen?

Scott: Music is deeply ingrained in the fabric of the film, and that comes from the original short story. The titles of both the story (“I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down”) and the film (THAT EVENING SUN) come from a lyric in a Jimmie Rodgers song, “Blue Yodel #3.” Music is the backbone for a lot of the thematic material in the story. But at the same time, I didn’t want a lot of actual music in the final film. I wanted to create the isolation and quiet of this rural setting. So the trick was in finding the right balance, so that when the music came in, it actually mattered. I was fortunate to work with two amazing artists, Michael Penn (who composed the score) and Patterson Hood (who performed the songs), to create that balance.

Jeff: As the boomer generation is reaching retirement, it seems like a timely story to share. What do you see in the future for this inspiring and hard working people group and how they desire to finish life?

Scott: I hope it gets them to think about how they are treating their own parents, as well as how they hope to be treated one day. And then I hope they talk about it with their family. Get everything in the open. Good communication solves so many of our problems.

Jeff:  As a young leader, I walked away from the film inspired to connect deeply into the life of an older person. Have you and your team dreamt of any practical ideas or ways to connect these generations for mentoring or conversations of wisdom?

Scott: I’m just a humble filmmaker, trying to craft a career for myself telling stories that matter. If people are touched by this story, then I am honored and humbled by that. If it can inspire them to think twice about how they treat other people, even better. But this is not an issue film or a soapbox upon which any of us wish to preach. We just want to tell good stories, because stories can penetrate hearts. They’re sneaky like that.