A Call to Action

**Gannon** · February-22-12, 10:03 PM

My honey and I scrambled from her workplace downtown to Wayne State for the first meeting tonight of this volunteer motivation and organization effort which has been promoted heavily by WDET, especially Craig Fahle.

I feel this initiative will make a difference, if only to keep the needs of volunteer organizations in the front of folks' minds for the next thirty days...and perhaps help establish a healthy habit. It is way too easy to get caught up in the flow of time, unless one makes effort to specify and follow through with priorities...and, for most, volunteering is usually less demanding than the obligations of life.

So, for those who haven't heard Craig and the gang discuss this on WDET, they have established a website to easily search out organizations all around the city which might require your particular passion [[they actually used that favorite term of mine, although they could've said talent, ability, or even gifting)...along with a place where you can promise a number of hours this month to get out and lend a hand.

So...take a look, consider how you might join the party, and then do it. I was all set to pledge some time at Cub's Georgia Street Community Collective, but the site knocked me off because I explained my promised time duration as "until he kicks me out". Site said they want sensible values. Uh-huh.

Let's keep adding positive energy to force the tipping point for goodness in this town.

Kudos to Craig and that other guy who shared the stage...who claimed it wasn't about him...but there were only two pictures in the hand-outs, and you can guess whose they were. He does look like he's lost some weight, though.

Cheers and more,
John

**canuck** · February-22-12, 10:18 PM

That is a great initiative, and I guess a lot of folks feel isolated and this is a way to really solve the more pressing community problems.

**Gannon** · February-23-12, 07:56 AM

Yeah, good point. I see it as a way to help those with ideas meet those with muscle and money to start projects in areas long forgotten and ignored, too. Hopefully, some gifted in finishing projects show as well, because that is a very precious gift that is misunderstood as only a lack of discipline in others! Finishers inspire others to get past their and Murphy's obstructions...and help groups and projects past the frictions which kill momentum.

Has there ever been a clearinghouse of grassroots like this? I know United Way is designed to funnel donations to organizations which work with them...but their corporate style and size seems to miss those at the contact point of rubber and road. Plus, I simply cannot get past the abuses of overpaying their executives...and know many who feel the same.

Cheers!

**dmike76** · February-23-12, 08:03 AM

That was a really good meeting last night. I think that their website is going to be an excellent tool to unite volunteers. I really like the idea of implementing a text message network between neighbors that allows them to notify eachother if they see a crime. The rep from that neighborhood said that they already prevented a break-in with it. The turnout was very good, but I'm really wondering how the turnout in Birmingham is going to be.

**Gannon** · February-23-12, 08:29 AM

If that text message network doesn't include the patrolling officers of the law, it has the potential...the probability...of devolving into vigilanti gangs. I know the Detroit 300 says they aren't, but if conditions continue to degrade and desperation increases...human nature is predictable.

Bob said they prevented a HOME INVASION in progress over in the SW. Very different than merely a break-in. I'll ask him, next time we cross paths over at Jordi's Cafe on Vernor, if he was imprecise with his language. He usually isn't.

There was too great a throng to approach him or Craig in that corner after the meeting...but it is apparent this will be a great forum to turn ideas into reality. We've had good ideas for ages, but somehow they didn't dent the dirty reality we suffer daily. The combination brought together here seems designed to overcome whatever held us back in the past. We'll see...

Cheers!

**Gannon** · February-23-12, 08:38 AM

When I met that one really great cop who patrolled the Eastern Market, when I lived behind Sala Thai, he gave me his cell number for future troubles. He knew that 9-1-1 was fucked beyond belief.

I used it once, and he happened to be off-duty at the time. So that mini-solution had it's holes, too.

I don't know the solution, but surely it cannot mean we completely duplicate the city services which are proven failures. Perhaps Pugh can implement some feedback that will help eliminate the hurdles-to-success inherent in the current system. While there has to be some form of filter, so officers are not bombarded with texts they cannot keep up with...that filter cannot be assembled from burnt-out non-empathetic individuals. That is how I feel the worst of the 9-1-1 examples arrive...over-worked people who can't dig deep enough to find their humanity. I think it hits patrolling officers regularly, too. They get fed up dealing with trouble so often, another form of Traumatic Stress Disorder.

<sigh>

We'll get there. I just know it. The Spirit of Detroit is real. We won't be in this pile of ashes for much longer.

Sincerely,
John

**dmike76** · February-23-12, 09:46 AM

I fail to see the difference between a break-in and a home invasion. An unwanted individual is trying to enter a home. I like the communication level...it binds the neighborhood together and makes them a little more secure.