Do you ever find those kinds of messages on your answering
machine where you can tell the caller thinks they are calling
someone else?
Do you ever find those kinds of messages on your answering machine where you can tell the caller thinks they are calling someone else? I’d love to know the story behind this recent one:
“Hi, I want to find out about those chickens. I want to know about how many pounds they are; I’d like to pick one up tonight and to know if they’re Foster Farm or where you get your chickens. Okay, I’ll be waiting for an answer bye, bye.”
I’m afraid she’s still waiting for an answer about those chickens.
I’m going to be out of town for a few days as I wing my way to Oahu in our tropical state of Hawaii. I’m being sent by the United Methodist Women, a nonprofit benefiting women’s and children’s causes all over the world. They are holding an election of new women’s directors.
The United Methodist Women have led a struggle for human rights and social justice for more than a century. Women of all ethnicities have led the way as they incorporated the values of home and family into public life, addressing issues of poverty, child labor, immigration, migrant labor, family life, women’s rights, racial discrimination and many other social justice issues.
In my grandmother’s time, it used to be that every farm family and many city families had flocks of chickens. People ate the eggs, took some of the eggs to the market for “egg money,” and eventually ate the chickens. My grandmother cared for the chickens and the “egg money” was used for personal or household items.
The United Methodist Women’s organization began when a few women started setting aside their egg money, met together to strategize and eventually raised enough to send two women to India in 1869: Isabella Thoburn, who established a college for women, and Clara Swain, the world’s first qualified woman medical missionary; she founded the first hospital for women and children in Asia, which is still in operation.
Today, members raise close to $25 million a year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth. I am going as a delegate representing the women of northern California and Nevada, and I will be interviewing and learning about the candidates before we vote Saturday. The candidates hail from the 13 westernmost states, including places like Alaska to the Rocky Mountains; from Powell, Wyoming; Emmett, Idaho; Prosser, Washington; and Fresno, not to mention our very own backyard: Katherine Kim from Morgan Hill.
The theme of the conference is “Called By Name,” which is taken from a verse in the Old Testament book of Isaiah 43: “I have called you by name…” The idea is that each of us has our own unique combination of gifts and talents. Methodist Women believe that when we parlay our talents and skills into helping others, we can join together to make the world around us a better place and gain a greater sense of purpose to our lives.
Methodist women in Morgan Hill and Gilroy raise money for scholarships for young women; they spearhead toy drives for educational toys to be distributed to migrant children; they volunteer to tutor adults who can’t read; and like Connie Moore, they organize to feed the homeless at the Armory. I’m grateful to be a link in this chain of 139 years of women answering the call to charity and social justice.
