SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
January 24, 2014
Sullivan’s
Salvos 1/28/14
In this edition:
*Humus For Haiti
*MLK Service
*Iowa City Charter Review
*Vonnegut and I
*Free Tax Help!
*Did You Know?
*Humus For Haiti
My
wife (Melissa Fath) and I are going to Haiti in March with Community Health
Initiative (CHI). CHI is a non-profit organization with the mission to provide
basic health care to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Fundraising
is an important part of the trip. In addition to paying for our flights, we
must personally purchase all the medicine we take in. The cost of medicine
alone will be well over $1000.
Our
friend Ehab Sarsour has generously offered to help us with the fundraising for
this trip. Ehab makes the most delicious, creamy humus known to man using fresh
lemons and imported chickpeas and olive oil and he is willing to make some for
you if you make a donation to CHI. So make a donation in
one of the two ways listed below by February 7th. Then e-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com and let me know that you have donated. We will
then deliver the Humus to your door sometime the weekend of February 15th.
Donations can be made:
1. On the website using
Paypal or a credit card at http://chihaiti.org/donate/how-donate/. On the page there is a “add special instructions
to the seller” box. Please indicate your preference that it goes to fund the
trip of Rod or Melissa’s March trip.
2. Write a check made out
to “Community Health Initiative, Haiti”. Please include a note with the check
to indicate that it goes to fund the trip of Rod or Melissa’s March trip. Per
IRS rules, please do not write our names anywhere on the check. Checks can be
mailed to:
Community Health
Initiative, Haiti, PO Box 5908, Coralville, Iowa 52241.
Thanks
very much for your help!
*MLK Service
Congratulations
to the Consultation of Religious Communities (CRC) for yet another outstanding
MLK service.
My
only issue with these services? We need to see some different faces in
attendance. Like many other issues, only the “usual suspects” show up.
Please
work with me to change that next year!
*Iowa City Charter Review
Have
you ever wondered why Iowa City government is organized the way it is? It is
because of the City Charter – the blueprint for City government.
Iowa City established a City Charter in 1976. Charter Review
Commissions were established in ’84, ’94, and ’04. A new 9-member commission
will start in ’14 and report to the Council by April 1, 2015.
I
recently made application for this commission. I feel I have a pretty good
resume for the job. I am a 30 year resident of Iowa City, and I have a deep
love of this city. I had plenty of opportunities to move over the years – I
never took them, because Iowa City is where I choose to be. I know the people
of Iowa City, and due to a 20-year career in human services, that includes
knowledge of groups that are often marginalized. I have spent a decade working
in local government, and have received the electoral support of the people of
the city three times. I am also a public policy geek. That geekiness includes
the structures and functions of local governments. My level of knowledge – both
locally and more broadly – would be a real benefit to the commission.
Despite
that resume, I am not certain I’ll get much consideration. I have been a
persistent critic of Iowa City, and my guess is that some will hold that
against me.
Meanwhile,
if you live in Iowa City, YOU should apply. They need a large and diverse group
of applicants. I realize I am recruiting the competition here, but I urge you
to throw your hat in the ring.
*Vonnegut and I
I
recently reread Slaughterhouse Five, the classic work that author Kurt Vonnegut
wrote while teaching at the UI Writer’s Workshop. I have also been thinking a
lot lately about the income inequality that is so pervasive in our country.
Suddenly,
the two came together. I had completely forgotten the following passage, but I
thought it was worth reprinting here:
“Americans,
like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue,
the monograph went on. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy
for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard
money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame
and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and
powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than
any other ruling class since say, Napoleonic times.”
“Many
novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent,
is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not
love themselves. Once this is understood, the disagreeable behavior of American
enlisted men in German prisons ceases to be a mystery.”
Vonnegut’s
writing may include too many space aliens for your liking, but he gets at some
very fundamental truths.
*Free Tax Help!
One
of my proudest accomplishments as a Supervisor has been instituting the Free
Tax Help clinics in Johnson County. These have been tremendously successful,
bringing over $1 million annually into the local economy.
This service is
available for free to taxpayers earning less than $50,000 a year. The IRS
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program trains University of Iowa
students and AARP volunteers to provide FREE Income Tax Preparation Services to
qualifying workers. Additionally, the University of Iowa student volunteers
have completed a semester long tax preparation course.
There
are six (6) locations throughout Johnson County that provide FREE Tax
Preparation Services – Garner Elementary in North Liberty, Northwest Junior
High in Coralville, Southeast Junior High in Iowa City, the Iowa City Public
Library, the Tippe College of Business, and the Iowa City/Johnson County Senior
Center. Schedules are available on the website. Spanish translators are
available at some locations by appointment.
Johnson
County is pleased to partner with the University of Iowa Tippie College of
Business, Johnson County AARP, Iowa City Public Library, Iowa City Community
School District, Iowa City Housing Authority, and United Way of Johnson County.
Financial support is provided by ISED Ventures, University of Iowa Community
Credit Union, United Way of Johnson County, and Veridian Credit Union.
For
much more information, please visit the County web page: http://www.johnson-county.com/dept_soc_ser.aspx?id=275
*DID YOU KNOW?
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), “the
best least-read novelist in America,” taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop from
1965 to 1967. He was then 43-years old, and married to Jane Marie Cox for 20
years; they had three children of their own and had adopted the three children of
Vonnegut’s deceased sister. The writer came to Iowa City with his two
daughters, Edith (Eddie) and Nannette (Nannie).
Anyone
interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the
County website-
"Sullivan’s
Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a
brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
These messages
come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the
whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise
mentioned.
If you do NOT
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As always,
feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to
serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 3:24 PM
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