Please feed children of military families receiving food stamps & help criminal nuns pay restitution

[Dystopian]

Catholic nuns Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson were arrested Oct. 6, 2002, after they broke into a Minuteman missile site in Weld County. There they sprayed small amounts of their own blood in the shapes of crosses on a missile silo, were arrested for the break-in and later convicted. All have since been released from federal prison, but have been ordered to pay restitution.

OPEN LETTER from SACRED EARTH AND SPACE PLOWSHARES II

November 14, 2006

Dear friends,

We need your help! Please join us in our response to the judge, prosecutor, and probation officers to complete our restitution issue.
Through prayer, discernment and an inspired action, we are conducting a canned food drive that will be donated to children of Air Force military families who receive food stamps and/or are on public assistance. We believe that we must collect at least 4,000 cans of food or more to fulfill the comparable amount for our restitution.

Please put a can or number of cans of healthy food in a padded envelope or box and send it now . (Important weeks are from Nov. 15 - 29 with Thanksgiving included. (Information below)

Attention:

We have printed a coupon for your use. Put it inside the package with the can(s). Then, please mail it.

Send no money, please!

We hope and pray that this will put to rest our restitution mandate and requirement .

BACKGROUND:

l. The judge denied our alternative restitution plan he requested in November, 2005.
2. The prosecutor rejected the plan unless the Air Force receives our response as victim.
3. The prosecutor knows that we are prohibited from going onto a military site for community service according to our supervised release prohibitions.
4. We sincerely have worked hard to do many services in lieu of restitution and trust this inspired idea to give canned food to the children of Air Force families who are in need will complete the requirement.

Children are the most vulnerable in war under the bombs and in military families as their parent(s) are separated from them.
We thank you in advance for your assistance! Let us continue our work together for disarmament and peace.

From: Jackie Hudson, O.P., Carol Gilbert, O.P. and Ardeth Platte, O.P.

coupon & more information:

http://www.jonahhouse.org/Nuns/requestcans.htm

http://www.jonahhouse.org/

***********************

DUers.....Thank you for whatever you can do to help...

note:

Nine cans of food can be shipped for $8.10 USPS Flat Rate
Priority Mail Box.

peace~

[NVMojo]

1. oh, shit, this made me remember when my ex was in the air force and

we were on food stamps with our young son while Jimmy Carter was Prez ...

[Dystopian]

2. My children and I were on food stamps also....

My two babies and I were on welfare/food stamps after I left my husband (escaped for survival) We get so many requests to help on DU...we can't donate to every cause....but would if we could.

The reason I'm sending cans of food today.....this hit too close to home:

I met Joe after his return. Joe was a Vietnam vet with PTSD, a heroin addict and abuser. I didn't know this when we met....I fell in love and married him....I was 19. The VA wouldn't admit him into the drug rehab program because he wouldn't cut his hair....The VA wouldn't help with anything.....We were destitute...and traumatized ...I remember when I was pregnant we went to Catholic Charities for help. The worker went into the back room and brought out an envelope with $25 dollars to buy food....I held the envelope so he couldn't buy drugs with it...$25 bought a lot of food back then. He spent 6 months in a state hospital drug rehab unit, which of course, didn't help. After I fled (he abused me, never our babies) I felt so 'rich' with subsidized housing, welfare checks and food stamps. Our children grew up without their father. When they would ask, "Do I have a daddy?.....Where is he?".....I would tell them, "Yes, you have a daddy...I'm sorry I don't know where he is...I do know he loves you very much.....but he's too sick to take care of himself, so he can't be here to take care of us either." They learned about their father when I felt they were old enough to understand ....the drugs, the abuse, the fact that he went to prison for armed robbery (he was in prison for two years shortly after our divorce...robbed a bank for drug money) I told them that his family said the war had turned him into someone they didn't even know anymore.....

Joe died 14 years ago. It was a year after our daughter finally went out in search of her father at the age of 20...he had been waiting all those years for his children to seek him out...He was too ashamed and guilt-ridden to make the first move... We all had one beautiful year together before he died.... He had established a new life. He had been off drugs for many years, remarried, and had two young sons... but was going through a divorce...Joe and I reconnected, reconciled, and rekindled. It was supposed to be a beautiful love story. After all those missed years...we were a family again.....Joe bought our daughter a Raggedy Ann doll for Christmas. "I bought this for you because I couldn't buy you a doll when you were a little girl."

Our son found him - but it was too late. He died at the hospital - heroin overdose. To this day we can't shake it.....we'll never know why he turned to the needle again after all those years.

We know what these returning vets will be going through....and sadly, many will continue to be on assistance when they return. This is a way to help them through these difficult times by also helping the peacemakers to make restitution. Please feed the children, they are going through so much now, and their parents can't possibly come back from this hellish war in the same frame of mind as when they left.....We read too many horror stories about the returning vets...Many more tragic stories to come.....so heart wrenching and unnecessary.

My family suffered the aftermath of the Vietnam war....These families are living the war, and there will be more stories like mine after their parents return.....The suffering goes on for generations.....My heart also bleeds for the families in Iraq....When will it end?

R.I.P Joe. You were a good man, a proud Marine. We still hold you dear in our hearts....your second grandchild is on the way...another child who will only be able to hold your picture.... Your daughter treasures her Raggedy Ann doll.... I still have the picture you gave me when we reconciled....the picture you drew of me so many years ago when you sat in that prison cell...Your were a talented artist...Our son is still haunted by the memory of finding you...He won't talk about it, but I know the guilt he carries for not calling 911 in time to save you....

I don't know why I wrote all of this...
My daughter and I are active in the peace movement...
a dam just burst....
This horrific war touches all of us in some way.....

Please kick ~ kick for cans for the children.
Thank you~