Guests 

We were very happy Joyce Zwick joined us from her home in Canada.  Joyce traveled back home after spending significant time here supporting her parents.  We miss her father, John, and look forward to his rejoining us. We were also pleased that Carol Buuck joined us again.  We’ve enjoyed her thoughtful contributions to our meetings and hope to continue to see her.  We also welcomed Mike Lange, a retired Tucson native, U of A Law School grad, former Pima County prosecutor, and Laura’s bleacher-mate at the U of A basketball games.  For 6 years Mike has Chaired the Board of Interfaith Community Services.

 

 

 

Mike Lange was invited by Laura to provide a program for us today on Interfaith Community Services (ICS), their services, and how things have or have not changed in the pandemic. 

 

Interfaith Community Services is a multi-faith agency.  Temples, Mosques, and Christian Churches form an extensive network dedicated to serving their own members in need and the Tucson area community at large.  Additionally, ICS partners with other agencies, such as Catholic Charities and Mobile Meals, so the needs of the individual or family are met holistically.  The general mission of ICS is to help individuals and families stabilize and improve their lives.

 

ICS has a staff of 22 and over 1000 volunteers serving 30,000 to 40,000 people a year.  From its humble beginnings with a $3000 budget, 40 years later ICS runs approximately an $8,000,000 dollar budget.  As its budget increases ICS is afforded the ability to provide more and more robust services in the areas that it addresses.  It has chosen this strategic ‘deepening of services’ over expanding the types of programs it provides.

 

The pandemic has created unique conditions to ICS, some of them assets and some requiring creative problem solving.  A majority of the 1000 volunteers who were serving people in the community were traditionally elderly.  With the elderly being particularly vulnerable to Covid, much of this work force was forced to relinquish their service.  As the needs of the community have increased in the Covid and economic environments, ICS initially had concerns about being able to provide services uninterrupted to all who needed them.  As happens in communities, however, the need was filled.  Young people came out of the woodwork to step in and services didn’t skip a beat.  The ICS Food Bank is a service that required reworking with the pandemic.  For the safety of the volunteers and those they serve and to increase its ability to serve more, ICS shifted to a drive in and pick up service.  Previously folks were able to shop for their grocery selections, which may be more ideal, but will have to wait till safer times.  Other evidence of a community stepping up in times of need is in that ICS has received an increase in donations and grant monies.  Federal, state and city governments have contributed more monies to community serving agencies during the pandemic; grants and foundations have been generous; and private donations have increased.  Our club donated money to ICS in July, knowing it to be a good steward of the community and the monies it receives. 

 

The Core Services ICS provides are:

 

 

We are grateful that ICS is creating such meaningful opportunity and change in our community and thank Mike Lange for coming to talk with us. 

 

 

Submitted by Mary Straus,

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                            

 

 

 

                                                                            

:

 

• Pick up items on hold
• Copy/fax/print/scan
• Return items – use the book drop
• WiFi access – use in the parking lot (7 a.m. to 10 p.m.)
• Computer use
• Restrooms and drinking fountains
• Payphone

• Online content (databases, eMaterials, news, blogs, etc.)
• Foundation database – a place to find foundations who fund various grants, etc.
• Services such as, the Infoline (520-791-4010) and the “Ask a Librarian” email
  • Will research questions from patrons
• Get a library card

 

                                                                            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attendance: Richie, Laura, John, Harold, Don, Peter, Randy, Mary, Denise, Beckie, Lynne, Dave, Carl.

 

Announcements:

 

Happy Bucks for: Carl had a nice week with family in California.; Randy went to a granddaughter’s wedding in Nevada; Happy Father’s Day to all our dads; and Beckie and her husband celebrated 50 years of marriage.

 

Next week: Year-end wrap and installation of new Board for 2020-21.

 

Guest Speaker: Randy Young, who spent 3 ½ years as manager of a jaguar reserve 55,000 acres in northern Mexico, Sonora, has started “La Tierra del Jaguar” (Land of the Jaguar).

 

La Tierra Del Jaguar is 25 acres used as a demonstration site/conservation site to teach collectives about permaculture gardening because individual gardening helps reduce our carbon footprint. The goal is to create an opportunity to teach collectives to spread how create sustainable gardening. Plans include building a classroom and solar irrigation to teach classes and demonstrate how to it’s done.

 

The long-term benefit is to decrease depredation and create a healthy ecosystem so the jaguars don’t hunt cattle. Extreme over-grazing of ranchlands has stressed the habitat, creating predator conflicts. Straggler male jaguars come up from northern Mexico because of this. Jaguars have a wide territory. The way we grow food impacts the environment in a multiple ways, and results in scarcity.

 

Read more about La Tierra Del Jaguar here: https://latierradeljaguar.org/