On March 30, ICPJ members will have a chance to vote for five new members proposed for the ICPJ board of directors (which we also sometimes call our steering committee).

I’m excited by this slate of candidates. We have some excellent people who have agreed to serve.

La’Ron Williams has been a resident of Ann Arbor for the past 37 years. While living in the area, he has attended Washtenaw Community College, The University of Michigan, and Eastern Michigan University (where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree).

Over the course of his adult life, La’Ron has been, among other things: a natural foods short order cook, a preschool teacher, a security guard, a video special effects artist, a doughnut maker, a janitor, and a teenage work corps supervisor. He currently makes his living as a nationally acclaimed storyteller.

In his current job, La’Ron has toured extensively and has presented performances and workshops in schools, theaters, clubs, and religious institutions of all kinds. His stories are crafted to help improve literacy, promote peaceful conflict resolution, foster cooperation, encourage community, build self-esteem, and deepen our historical understanding of the American ideal of democratic inclusion.

La’Ron is also a self described “activist for peace” whose focus is on fostering in his audiences the attitude and set of skills necessary to take an assertive role toward consciously promoting peace — not merely as the absence of conflict — but as the everyday course of life.

Sylvia del Rosario Nolasco-Rivers was born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1973. For the first ten years of her life, Sylvia lived in war torn El Salvador. Then one fateful night in 1981, Salvadoran Government Soldiers came to her grandmother’s house and massacred part of Sylvia’s family and friends because of their connection to the Salvadoran Labor Movement. The crime committed by her Family was trying to make changes in El Salvador, changes that would be for the People of El Salvador. Shortly after that, in 1983, with the help of the Sanctuary Movement and the Quakers, Sylvia’s family began a long and dangerous move to the United States. With the love and help of a Quaker House in Oregon, Sylvia, along with her mother Lilian and her sister and brother began a new life in a new country. As the years went by, she grew to love her new home and friends. Sylvia and her Family eventually moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1992. Sylvia now lives in Ypsilanti with her North American husband, Joe, and her 3 beautiful children, Gabriel, Isaac, and Esperanza. Sylvia owns her own Catering Business (with the help of my mother Lilian), “Pilar’s Catering”, that specializes in Salvadoran cuisine, for almost 7 years. The citizens of Ann Arbor, Michigan are now enjoying Salvadoran Tamales, Pupusas, Curtido, Casamiento, and many other foods that never let Sylvia forget where she came from.

Though Sylvia’s Family, home and business are here in the US, she will never loose the love for her home of El Salvador. For many years Sylvia tried to find ways of connecting with her homeland to help others as she had been helped. Then in 2001, two deadly earthquakes devastated her birth home of El Salvador. Watching the images on TV, Sylvia knew she had to do something immediately. Sylvia, and her husband Joe, searched for a way that they could give assistance to people thousands of miles away and found the SHARE Foundation. Sylvia did her research and decided that she could do more good by forming a working partnership with the SHARE Foundation, and with the help of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, began to actively raise relief money for SHARE to use in its Earthquake Relief efforts. With Sylvia’s food background, she decided to have a Tamale Dinner Fundraiser that raised over $5000. Even after the earthquake efforts ended, Sylvia continued to support the works of SHARE. Sylvia is very thankful that she has been able to make changes for the people of El Salvador and is excited that she can continue her work through the ICPJ that her Family was unable to finish after that fateful night in 1981.

Vickie Wellman: I’ve been a life long activist.  I’m the 3rd generation of activists working for peace, justice, social change.  I grew up a ‘red diaper’ baby.  My kids continue this important work into the 4th generation in our family.

Many years ago I worked to end the Vietnam war and in the civil rights movement.  I was active in WAND here in Ann Arbor in the 80′s.  Ten years ago when the KKK came to town we became part of the Peace Team working and teaching non violent action.  I did some computer and reorganization work for ICPJ around that time.  2 years ago, Ian and I began to do some fund raising for ICPJ.

I retired from the UM a few years ago.  Ian is still an active therapist.

We have 2 daughters living here in A2, each a few blocks in either direction from our house.  We have 4 grandchildren here and spend a lot of time together with all of them.  we also have a son in CA with a new baby girl.

I’m a native and edible gardener.  We walk, bike, compost, and generally try to live simply and in harmony with the earth.

Veena K. Kulkarni:   A pianist and teacher, I came to Ann Arbor in 2001 to do my DMA in Piano Performance and Pedagogy and graduated in Dec. 2005.  I attend the Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church and enjoy the equal emphasis on faith and good works there.  I have long been interested in peace and justice in connection to Jesus’ life and teachings, and I hope to rise to his challenge to be a neighbor to those that are often overlooked or exploited in our world.  My main area of interest is the eradication of sweatshop labor in the clothing industry.

I am excited by the prospect of enabling people both within and without my congregation to become politically active in the name of compassion.  I am especially excited by the prospect of working with many faith communities on this endeavor.  Part of my interest is simply to give myself the skills and know-how to form a collective voice and to create political momentum.  As a musician, I would also like to put on concerts that weave, for example, stories about garment workers and music together so that the audience is moved in several different ways.

I love the mission of ICPJ to educate the public on all issues of peace and justice and engage them in meaningful action to make a difference.  So many of us are asleep to the consequences of the typical American lifestyle.  I hope to unify and empower those in my congregation who already work for a more just world and to engage those who don’t yet care.

Coming from an interfaith family, I am familiar with the tensions that can arise, and yet am thankful for the faith of each of my parents, Hinduism and Christianity.  In my own journey as a Christian, I have moved from an almost exclusive focus on ones professed beliefs to an intense desire to integrate my faith into every aspect of living and to live for others.  I hope that this desire will assist the Interfaith Center for Peace and Justice in its beautiful work. 

Jennifer Mills: Jennifer is a student at U of M, and after graduating in ’09 she hopes to continue her education in public health.  Jennifer’s passion for peace and justice was sparked after attending the SOA watch rally and vigil in 2005.  Since then, she has taken an interest in Latin American history and human rights. In 2006 and 2007, Jennifer organized the ICPJ busses to the School of the Americas Watch vigil in Ft. Benning, Georgia. Jennifer attends St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor.

Officers:

• President: Ruth Kraut,
• Vice President: Tim Ziegler,
• Treasurer: Lisa Dugdale,
• Secretary: Jan Wright

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