Time to stand up and be counted!
As you know, Knox is a founding member of the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good (formerly the Metro Alliance for the Common Good, MACG). We have been working in the background for over a year now, building the organization and developing relationships across the city, and doing research and action plans in our chosen issue areas of reconciliation and seniors' support. Now the research has borne some fruit, we have refined plans by talking with city councilors, staff, and nonprofits, and now we're ready for some action.
CACG's first action assembly will be October 16, 7-9 pm, at Temple B'nai Tikvah. City Councilors will be present, perhaps even the Mayor. We have a proposal for a city-wide program to help provide supports to enable seniors to stay in their homes and communities longer, a program that has been tested and proven. But in this time of budgetary restraint, it is difficult for city council to find even the modest funds for this program. That's where we come in.
We need our members to show up at this Assembly, to show city council that we represent a significant number of Calgarians. We need to show the councilors who are working with us that we can offer real support, and we need to show the councilors who are reluctant to fund this program that it is important. We are asking for at least 20 people from Knox to stand up and be counted. Do you care about helping seniors stay in their homes and communities? Do you want a system in Calgary where people and businesses can be co-ordinated to make communities more supportive to seniors? Come and show Calgary that this matters!
We'll also hear more about CACG and community organizing, we likely will hear from Chief Lee Crowchild about progress on building relationships and support towards better relations between indigenous and settler peoples, and we'll get a chance to meet some of the other religious, community and labour groups who are a part of this movement.
If you'd like to stand up and be counted, please sign up with Dave after worship, or call in to the church office (403) 269-8382. And if you'd like to know more, contact Dave (or Doreen Orman, Susan Wood, Ellen Lang, or Gillian Ranson).