Go Chisholms GO!: January 2009

Monday, January 26, 2009

CCOP Stands with Congressman Pallone for Children's Health

By JOSEPH GIDJUNIS Courier-Post Staff • January 26, 2009

CAMDEN - Seventh and eighth graders at St. Joseph's Pro-Cathedral Elementary School stood in frigid temperatures Monday morning holding signs asking Congress to pass legislation reauthorizing and expanding health care for low-income children.

Members of the Camden Churches Organized for People, spoke about the need to reauthorize and expand SCHIP, or the State Children's Health Insurance Program. This federal program is funded jointly by Washington and each state, to cover children in low-income families - but these families make too much money to qualify under Medicaid. The additional aid money would come from a increase in the national tobacco tax.

Two years ago the expansion of the program was vetoed by former President George W. Bush, arguing that children and their families had reasonable alternatives such as community health centers and emergency rooms to meet their needs, said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., NJ-R. Now with President Barack Obama in office, the legislation is expected to pass. The House passed the bill Jan. 14, 244-178, according to the Congressional Record.

"The biggest group of uninsured Americans is children," Pallone said on the steps of the Camden school. "Children should be able to go to a doctor on a regular basis."

Pallone said it's not only important to pass the legislation, but make efforts to register more children because many aren't receiving the aid their entitled to receive.

New Jersey Senator Frank Pallone Jr., answering an 8th-grader's question
at the press conference

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Beach Weekend

Since dogs cannot go on most of the beaches of the Jersey shore during the summer, we decided to take Simon this weekend so that we could all enjoy the ocean and get a blast of fresh air.

Needless to say, he loved it. Here's a photo of one of his fierce catches. He is fully and utterly fetch-obsessed these days.

Shanti decided to stay home to keep her winter-long vigil in front of the heater. It's is fun to catch her gently stroking the heater and singing to it softly. They are best friends during the winter.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Seeds of Hope

The abandoned police trailers before demolition

Today, on one of the coldest days of the year, Cramer Hill/Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP) clergy and lay leaders hosted an exciting Community Rally and Celebration with Police Chief Scott Thompson, Police Director Vega, and Public Works Director Pat Keating.

At 9:30 a.m. on the corner of River Road and 29th, a public works bulldozer rolled in and began the demolition of two police trailers that have for years been an eyesore, center for drugs, a hub of graffiti activity, vandalism, and a constant reminder of neglect. With the lot cleaned up CCOP and Church leaders are planning to turn the space into a community garden with the help the Camden Children’s Garden and local volunteers.

"Since I arrived here in 2005, these trailers have been abandoned. Instead of being signs of commitment to our community and inspiring confidence, they have become signs of despair and have encouraged delinquency," said Fr. Jud Weiksnar, pastor at St. Anthony's of Padua Church and member of CCOP. "We're grateful that our persistence has paid off, and that our most recent requests to do something about these trailers were responded to so quickly. We hope that's a sign of things to come."

"We are excited that the City is taking this step. Now everyone who walks or drives by this corner will see something growing, rather than something decaying. It shows what can happen when you tap into the talent, creativity and faith of local groups and institutions such as CCOP, the Camden Children's Garden, and St. Anthony's."

Chief and Director of Police speaking with St. Anthony students

A view of the trailers from St. Anthony's Church and School

Thursday, January 15, 2009

FAITH GROUPS APPLAUD HOUSE FOR STRONG SCHIP BILL

Rev Wiggins with Nancy Pelosi

"Today is a great day for America's children," said Rev. Heyward Wiggins, Camden’s own pastor of Camden Bible Tabernacle and Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP) clergy leader, after the House of Representatives voted 289-139 to pass SCHIP legislation that will cover a total of 10.6 million children.

The House's legislation will build on the successful SCHIP program by extending coverage to an additional four million uninsured children, over 80 percent of whom already qualify for SCHIP under current eligibility limits.

Today's vote for children comes at a time when unemployment is skyrocketing and more Americans are losing their employer-sponsored health insurance. Over the last year alone, over 1.2 million children have lost employer-based health insurance through their parents. One million children have enrolled in Medicaid or SCHIP after their parents lost their jobs.

"The House sent a clear message to struggling families that help is on the way," continued Rev. Wiggins, after attending the House's press conference soon after the vote. "Let's pray that we have more days like this to celebrate soon."

Reverend Wiggins stood with key leaders from the House of Representatives on behalf of the PICO National Network and all of PICO’s affiliate organizations, including CCOP. “The PICO National Network, CCOP and all our affiliates have worked so many years to get the SCHIP reauthorization to this point,” explained Reverend Wiggins. “I’m reminded of the words from the prophet Habakkuk, “For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.” There is work that still needs to be done on the federal and state levels, but it is a blessing to be at this point.”

PICO now looks to the Senate to move quickly to pass a strong SCHIP bill that includes long-term, stable funding for states and that eliminates the five-year waiting period for legally documented immigrant children. The Senate should work to put legislation on President-elect Obama's desk soon after Inauguration.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Lunar Eclipse, Javelinas, and Long Titles

Before I head into my last semester of grad school, I am attempting to take a restful winter break: a week of snowshoeing, two days of home repairs, a week in Tucson visiting my best friend and a week prepping for the upcoming semester.

After our snowshoeing trip, I decided to fix one of the kitchen walls (cigarette smoke from the neighbors has been seeping into our house - yuck!) and repaint the kitchen from yellow rain slicker (a little too bright) to lunar eclipse, a pale grey/silver color. It looks neat and makes everything else in the room pop; as opposed to the rest of the house, where the walls tend to pop with color and the decorations are merely a distraction. Once the kitchen is done, I will post photos.

My week in Tucson was great. Erica and Greg were exceedingly gracious hosts and excellent tour guides. From fabulous home-cooked meals, interesting conversations, trips to museums/zoos (javelinas!), and rock climbing, it was amazing. They set up the week so selflessly to show me a good time and I really cannot thank them enough for their time and energy. I cannot wait until they visit us in Philly.

To top it off, they have the best and cutest little girl on the planet. My photos do little to capture how incredible sweet Kira is so you will have to check out Erica and Greg's website for better photos.

Lastly, Erica's older sister, Juliet, who also lives in Tucson with her husband and almost-three-year old daughter, gave birth to twin girls while I was in town. Right before I left for Philadelphia, I got to see them and hold "Baby A". So wonderful!

Now I am prepping for my last semester. Most of my semester will be spent working on my thesis and looking for full-time employment that I can begin in May when I graduate. I'm also the teaching assistant for the digital mapping course. I was the TA for this course last semester so it will be nice to be familiar with the lab assignments I have to teach. Lastly, I am taking a spatial statistics course, which is very exciting to me.

My thesis title has become something of a joke in the family: Mapping Geographically Weighted Regression: Spatial Nonstationarity in Logistic Models of Drug-Crime Recidivating Juvenile Delinquency. If you want a translation of what that means, ask me in person. It takes a few minutes to explain. I'm still not sure if Joshua has fully grasped it yet. Luckily, I am excited about the topic, so that should count for something even if everyone else thinks it's just nutty ivory-tower babble (which it isn't!).