30071: Leiderman (info) re: 30065 -- where's the welcome wagon? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

leiderman@mindspring.com

22 February 2007

dear Readers:

thanks for the post of Tim Collie's Florida Sun Sentinel article about the interfaith delegation from Hollywood going to Haiti, March 5 to try to lend their hands to HIV/AIDS orphans.  that's a good one.  however, this is typical of many list members' continuing habit of just posting articles in a stand-offish way and not thinking at all constructively about what a well informed group like Corbett's could do to accelerate the pace of interest and good work in the country.

in the article, here is a delegation of American non-Haitians going to Haiti for the first time.  think about it: what do they need?  a welcome wagon, of course, as all first-time delegations deserve.  does the Minister of Strangers have a booth at the airport with an outstretched hand, lunch and a safeguarded bus waiting for hire?  does he even have someone clipping news articles to find out what delegations arrive in Haiti each day?  does anyone comprehend the variety and intensity of foreign interest and participation in the country?

it would only have taken the poster a few minutes to look up the contact information for Rabbi Tuffs and Rev. McGowan as I've done below, include it with the article and then urge Corbett readers in Haiti to call or welcome them, either by phone to Hollywood or at the airport or during their 4-day stay.  one poster's five-minute value-added effort would put list readers in the driver's seat, not keep them in the back of the bus.

thank you,

Stuart Leiderman

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Rabbi Allan C. Tuffs
Temple Beth El
1351 S 14th Ave, Hollywood, 33020
(954) 920-8225
www.templebethelhollywood.org

Rev. Kennedy McGowan
First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood
1600 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, FL 33020
(954) 923-8209
firstpresp@aol.com

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