The 1231 Plan

The leadership of Cherry Street Mission Ministries is thinking ahead - in this case, we're thinking at least three years ahead and have developed The 1231 Plan. The 1231 focuses on a single day in our future; December 31, 2010.

We have asked, and are now answering through careful planning; What will Cherry Street Mission Ministries be doing on December 31, 2010?

Steven R. Covey says in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People; "Begin with the end in mind". If we know what we will be doing, then we can reverse engineer the steps necessary to reach the goals of that single day.

Here are some of the objectives we'll be working on and developing for 2008:

• Social Service Enterprises that will begin with schools for the culinary arts and construction.
• Serving the Church to be equipped and effective in reaching, training and supporting parents.
• After care programs that will support and connect our Ready For Life Graduates returning to the communities.
• Moving our Administrative Offices from the Monroe Street facility in an effort to provide improved living quarters for men in our program.
• Adopt A Block Programs that will reach into the systemic and rooted issues of neighborhoods.
• And much more ...
  

To receive additional information about The 1231 Plan, contact our office at 419-242-5141 or send me an email at danrogers@cherrystreetmission.org and we'll invite you to one of our quarterly community briefing sessions, held throughout the year.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, The Chairman of the Board Don Weiss, our Staff and our Guests ... Thank you for a wonderful year of service.

Dan

My Friend Ken

Each early November Cherry Street Mission Ministries participates, rather heavily, in Tent City. In November I blogged about 'An Evening with the Cougar' where I write about John 'Cougar' Mellencamp taking a moment from a busy schedule to visit with our homeless and impoverished fellow citizens.

Tent City is a Homeless Awareness Project where we ask our community ... the whole community to slow down for a moment and think about, and to experience, what CAN be done about homelessness and poverty causing homelessness.

Well ... that's Ken. Ken Leslie started Tent City several years ago, and only in the last two years has the project come back from a short hiatus. For the last several years, Ken has been actively engaged in a newly forming group called the Toledo Lucas County Homeless Board, or TLC for short. Since it's inception, going on five years now, the group has met to form a process to address homelessness. Now, it -like so many groups seems enamored with the mundane slowness of talking. This talking has led to more talking which has led to planning, and now there is talking about the planning.

Finally, Ken had enough and resigned from the Board last month. As a matter of fact if you go to You Tube and search for 'TLC' you'll see a five minute video of Ken talking about his experience. I like Ken, he's got a lot of passion for people and in his heart he wants nothing more than frankly .... the same thing I want; to end homelessness - period. You can also go to www.1matters.org to catch up on some recent events.

Tonight however, we will hold a rally at 7:00 in front of One Government Center to memorialize the men and women who have died this year - homeless. While these annual memorial events sadden me to the core, my hope is in Christ and with His hope we will continue to work and serve together for a better day for ALL people.

Merry Christmas everyone,

Dan

The Mayor's Response

Dear Dan:

Thank you for communicating your position on the Domestic Partners Registry ordinance.

The issue of a Toledo-sponsored DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP REGISTRY is controversial on the surface.

As some may know, I am a very strong Christian believer. Strong enough since an early age, that in my 20's I visited the Episcopal Seminary of Virginia seeking entrance. Though I eventually chose not to enter the seminary, my religious faith and practice is deep.

While I do not endorse alternative lifestyles, I believe in minority rights, and champion diversity. Most importantly, America is all about protecting the individual rights of each citizen.

While I champion the sanctity of the traditional American family of husband, wife and children, I also have seen the love and trust and nurturing of some non-traditional relationships. There is no magic guarantee of life-long happiness in either case.

The Domestic Partnership Registry is not about endorsing alternative lifestyles. It is about legal and insurance protection being extended to those considered the partners of any insurance covered employee. And, in this country of tolerance, progressive companies, universities, and cities are extending insurance coverage to such partners.

I respect human beings making free personal decisions regarding their friendships and relationships. That should be their call - not mine.

I believe God blesses all men and women who love Him, and seek to live a life of loving their fellow man - even when you may not agree with that fellow man.

City Council passed this legislation with a vote of 10-2, after hearing public comment on this proposal.

Calls and e-mails to my office have been evenly spilt for and against. I would encourage both sides to take a step back, take a deep breath and cherish the true meaning of Thanksgiving to all who came and come to this country seeking freedom.

Yours from Toledo - a City of the Future!

Carty Finkbeiner
Mayor

Mayor - you can't continue to have it both ways.

Dan Rogers

The Upside of Desperation

The other day I was driving to Columbus with four friends, Glen, Andy and Mary, to visit with Francis Strickland the First Lady of the State of Ohio. On the way we got to talking about why people today don't seem to care about what's going on around them whether locally, nationally or in the world.

My observation, for some time now, is that there is an upside to desperation. If necessity is the Mother of invention, then desperation is the father of necessity. Simply put; desperation creates necessity and necessity creates invention.

If we haven't come up with solutions, creative ideas or manufactured new inventive actions regarding broken families, poverty and homelessness its only because we're not discomforted or desperate enough about it. In fact I'm sure you'll agree that we as human beings don't like discomfort causing desperation, and so we avoid it at all costs - naturally. For example I don't like the discomfort of the cold and so I wear a coat ... and maybe even a sweater if I'm feeling even a little cold making it's way through the coat.

I'm not entirely sure however, in our driven state to eradicate all discomfort from our lives, we've thought much about the upside of discomfort causing desperation.

The men and women who graduate each year from our Ready For Life Program, did so because they embraced desperation and made it work through necessity and .... WOW, a new life was born. That's transformation.

Our city, and the things we don't like about it, will change just like the transformed lives of Cherry Street Mission Ministries when we as its citizens and particularly its churches, embrace just enough desperation to create something new.

Tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Dan Rogers

Letter to Mayor Carlton S. Finkbeiner

Dear Mr. Mayor,

Thank you for reading this letter, and also for absorbing its contents.

I know well, that you are concerned about the home. The death of Detective Keith Dressel by the hands of a boy has led you to conclude that something needs to be done. And so you are actively drafting legislation that makes parents more accountable.

This week you will ignore, sign or veto a city ordinance allowing for domestic partnerships to be registered legally in our city. Because you are concerned about the family, and because there is societal temptation to sign such an ordinance, at the end of the day Mr. Mayor, how will you reconcile the difference in opinion?

I implore you to take a moment and think about the obvious lost connection that Robert Jobe has to society. Young Mr. Jobe’s problems started in the home, with his parents.

The data that Cherry Street Mission Ministries has documented over the last several years make it clear that 80% of the hundreds of men and women, who arrive at our doors each day, grew up in a broken home. This must be a clarion call for a caring community to come to the aid of the broken family.

It’s clear to me, and to other community leaders, that approval of this ordinance pulls on the string of the already unraveling home and family environment. Will you be a part of that unraveling Mr. Mayor, or will you lead the community in an honest open discussion regarding the family?

Your veto this week Mayor Finkbeiner would at the very least, allow time for the community to convene meetings for the purpose of debate and discussion.

Along with many other community leaders, I urge you to strongly consider a veto regarding the domestic partnership ordinance.

Sincerely,

Daniel J. Rogers

If you've been following this story in the Toledo Blade and local news outlets, you already know that in the afternoon of Wednesday, November 22nd Mayor Finkbeiner signed into law the ordinance that allows for the legal registration of domestic partnerships.

I personally know several leaders of the faith community who wrote this kind of letter and either mailed it or hand delivered it to the Mayor's Office the week of the 20th. We were NOT HEARD - why?? The answer I believe is simple; because we haven't used our voice in the last several years, it seems to be unrecognizable to the Mayor.

It's time we find our voice once more - and perhaps the next time the faith community speaks we'll be heard.

Mayor Finkbeiner - I won't forget this.

Dan Rogers

Where are the parents?

Recently Robert Jobe, a 15 year old who shot and killed a Toledo Police Officer, was convicted of murder and will soon be sentenced to 18 years to life.

I'm not sure much more needs to be said, except to try and answer the prevailing question of our community since that fog filled early morning when Detective Dressel's life was swiftly taken from him.

Where were the parents?

Make no mistake, parents are the head waters of our society - what flows from these headwaters and how it flows through the tributaries of our communities determine whether we have a high productive community or a high risk community.

I think there's a bigger question; Who is out there for the parent?

Dan Rogers

A moment with the "Cougar"

For the last two years, Cherry Street Mission Ministries has been one of the driving supporters of the Homeless Awareness Project called Tent City. Tent City is held the first full weekend in November, beginning Friday and ending on Sunday.

Doni Miller who is the host of the weekly Bridges show on TV channel 13 asked Ken Leslie, Richard Langford and myself, as we were being interviewed in preparation for the event; "What are you hoping to fix with Tent City?" The short answer is 'Nothing'. For those of us who serve the community in need throughout the year, we know that a weekend of awareness won't solve or fix any problems the least, last and lost experience each day.

There is a problem though that can be fixed with such an awareness project - AWARENESS. In Toledo the problems of incarceration and poverty causing homelessness are mostly ignored by the key members of government and the media. There are far too many 'drive by conversations' about the systemic causing problems that are plaguing real people and fostering a generation of disenfranchised and disconnected citizenry.

So - the once a year Tent City is designed to put both the problem and the solution visibly in the public eye. We desire for all people to slow down for a moment and realize that with just a little more effort, we can actually change as a city. We can change from being 'sad' about the problems people are facing and actually join in on the solution.

With a few (hundred) phone calls, mostly driven by Ken Leslie, John 'Cougar' Mellencamp who was in town on Friday for a concert, took a moment before the concert and came down to Tent City with his wife and son. I was happily tagged as the one who would chauffeur them to and from Tent City. Upon arriving at Tent City John and his family spent several minutes of private time talking with a few folks who have been homeless and have been restored. He then accepted the key of the City from Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, made a few remarks to all who were in attendance and then to the surprise and delight of the crowd, invited them all to the concert as his guest.

Knowing I would maybe have a total of 15 - 20 minutes 'car' time with John Mellencamp, we talked openly about his own addictions earlier in life and how he overcame them. We talked about the systemic issues of incarceration, poverty and homelessness and how his own problems started very early in his life - it was a great conversation.

By understanding the deep rooted (systemic) dynamics of our community, we can plot a different course than we've been on as a community. I know a lot of people talk this way - especially today, because it's election day here in Toledo. HOWEVER, let's not relegate our responsibility to the politicians and levies.

We've had several decades of this approach and it's not working. Rather, let's rise up as citizens, as volunteers and convene our own meetings and think tanks and produce our own solutions that will solve these problems once and for all - for all!

What do you think?

Dan Rogers