Reminders of Upcoming Gatherings

Hello everyone! 

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer. It feels like it just arrived with the recent arrival of the heat. I have enjoyed seeing many of you around town, at the farmer's market etc.! I am pleased to report we have had many interested inquiries about our group and we should see some new faces at the next meeting!

REMINDERS:

• Valued Families Meeting- Sunday, July 6th 2:00-4:00 PM City Park
  

Plan on free play, bubbles and socializing. I will require 5 minutes of the parent's attention for some VF updates and announcements. Volunteers for helping with the kid activity and to bring snacks are appreciated.

• Harmony Cafe's FREE showings of "For the Bible Tells Me So" , Friday, July 11th at 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM. Please visit, www.forthebibletellsmeso.org for more information.

• Parents Night Out- Thursday July 24th. 6:30-? Location TBD
  

Enjoy a safe and happy  upcoming 4th of July!

Newsweek Column on Gay Marriage

Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Anna Quindlen, had a beautiful column in Newsweek last week about gay marriage. I just had to post the link in case you missed it. Just copy the web address below and paste into your browser.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/139423

Here, Here, Anna! May the rest of the nation open their minds and hearts as wide as yours.

Valued Families (VF) News and Updates

Wow! What a terrific turn out this afternoon. I appreciate everyone's flexibility with the last minute venue change. It was a pleasure to see so many of you today.

Some great news!

Valued Families is officially a Harmony Cafe program. For those of you not familiar with the mission and work of Harmony Cafe, I encourage you to visit their web site and learn more.

http://www.focol.org/harmonycafe/

Our group fits beautifully with their GLBT programs already in place and we now benefit even more from their marketing efforts, staff support, meeting spaces and experience. Nothing changes for Valued Families except that we have "official" support behind us.

Upcoming VF Events:

Parent's Night Out- All parents deserve a night free of sippy cups and Kid's menus every now and then. Join us for an evening of adult conversation and fun. Thursday, July 24th, 6:30 PM- ?

Location TBD. You can put in your vote on a few choices on a blog poll shortly but line your sitters up now!

Documentary Screening- October (tentative) community showing of the movie It's Elementary and/or It's  STILL Elementary. I am still researching the costs involved but we will figure out a way. This will be our first opportunity to introduce the community at large to our group and begin to gently nudge people towards greater acceptance and change. I will be looking for many volunteers to make this happen so stay tuned for more info. Please visit Ground Spark's web site for more information about the film.

http://www.groundspark.org/films/elementary/

In the GLBT Community:

BBQ Fundraiser- There will be a fundraiser for New Pride's Pride Alive '08 at Rascal’s Bar in Appleton June 22, 4-6:00 PM for 21 and older. 

Pride Alive! in Green Bay- 

Saturday, July 12^th

^{11:00-9:00 at Joanes Park}

^{Music, food, information and fun. For more information on the event and the fundraiser at Rascal's please visit:}

^{http://newpride.org/}

GLBT Partnership Community  Film Screening at Harmony Cafe-  

There will be a community screening of the movie For the Bible Tells Me So, July 11^th  at 7:00 and 9:00 PM at Harmony Café. The film web site says, "Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard's Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity. 

I will be volunteering at the 9:00 show for you night owls so please stop in and say hello.

A special thanks today to Heather and Holly for providing sugar-free jello jigglers, Kari for the cookies, Maddy for the attentive child care, the Harmony staff for opening the Multi-Cultural Center for us and to all of you mommies and daddies who made the drive.

Looking forward to seeing many of you  again on July 6th.

Happy Summer!

-Lee

RAIN LOCATION!!

JUNE 8th VALUED FAMILIES MEETING MOVED TO HARMONY CAFE

Please note that today's Valued Families Meeting will be moved to Harmony Cafe due to copious amounts of rain. The meeting will be from 2:00-4:00. The Cafe is open just for us but will not be selling counter drinks or food. Soft drinks available for a nominal donation.

The aforementioned  Children's "Bubble" activity will be too messy for indoors so I'll save that for our July meeting. I will, however, bring plenty of small child amusements.

See you at 2:00!

-Lee

Reminder! VF Meeting this Sunday, June 8th, 2:00PM

It looks like summer has (finally) arrived and just in time for our first outdoor Valued Families meeting this upcoming Sunday, June 8th.

I have had several  inquiries about our group since the last meeting so I am hoping for an even wider attendance.

I am planning a "bubble" activity for the little ones so moms and dads— prepare for some messiness! We are fortunate to have a lovely and responsible graduating senior helping us wrangle children and run the activity too so that parents can socialize.

I look forward to seeing and meeting all of you Sunday. I'll be the one in the Valued Families t-shirt so please, introduce yourself.

-Lee