DONATION: Gaia House Interfaith Center

This week, I'm making a donation to the Gaia House Interfaith Center:

http://www.ucmsiuc.org/

The Gaia House Interfaith Center is a local community center with a 60-year tradition of serving the Southern Illinois community and SIUC campus with programs that address the burning issues of our times. They are a gathering place for community events and a focal point for social justice activity by people of all faiths and beliefs.

Over the years, this community center has played a pivotal role in my life and my community involvement. This is where I first went to a Student Environmental Center meeting, which was my first introduction to the environmental movement. It's where I had my first job after receiving my bachelor's degree. It's also directly or indirectly the way that I've met many of the people who make me feel at home here in Carbondale.

Nowadays, the Gaia House Interfaith Center serves the community through a variety of exciting programs:

* a spacious and charming building where people can host meetings, dinners, and other events;
* weekly dinners such as the InterVeg vegetarian potluck and Rice & Spice international slow foods dinner;
* annual events like the Vegetarian Thanksgiving Dinner;
* a lending library covering many spiritual, ecological, and political topics;
* a long-term home for numerous spiritual, social justice, interfaith, inter-religious, and multicultural organizations and events;
* weekly Theology on Tap discussion of religious and spiritual issues over the beverage of your choice at a local pub & grill;
* the Gaia House Development Group which is working on a project to rebuild the Gaia House as an ecological dorm and community center that will serve as a model of sustainability for our region;
* and other miscellaneous programs and resources too numerous to mention.

Maintaining physical meeting and office space for all of these groups, events, and resources takes a lot of work and a lot of money! Some of the center's support comes from local religious, spiritual, and social justice groups who use their facilities or support their work. But the rest of it comes from people like you and me who care about all of the exciting things that the Gaia House Interfaith Center brings to the community.

If you're fortunate enough to have money in your pocket after you've paid for food, shelter, utilities, and so on, I'd like you to consider making a donation to the Gaia House Interfaith Center. The diverse and progressive programs and activities that they support are a big part of what make Carbondale a great place to be.

If you don't have any spare cash, consider volunteering. They have a big work day coming up this Saturday from 9:30 am until lunchtime, with free Fair-Trade coffee for volunteers, and lunch if you stick around that long! They also have a variety of other ongoing volunteer opportunities.

If nothing else, you can always support the Gaia House Interfaith Center by showing up for one of their events or programs. They're always happy to see new (and returning) faces, and you'll be happy to receive some good food, or good conversation, or good food for thought -- or all of the above.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for any support that you can send their way!