January, 2005
We are delighted that Americorps member, Colleen Kane, will be minding the peace center on Mondays. This month we received the proceeds of two benefits: a marimba concert and dance on Inaugural Day, and, for the second year in a row, the ticket proceeds from travel author, Rick Steves', visit to Bellingham (thanks to Village Books).

After meeting with the principal of Meridian High School, we can now say that all public high schools in Whatcom County are on board for our Alternatives to Military Service tabling. Hurray! Next stop: alternative schools and the community and tech colleges. We also had an orientation for new tabling volunteers and tabled at Mt. Baker high school this month. We also co-sponsored the festivities on Inauguration Day and had a presence at this year's Martin Luther King, Jr. Conference, sponsored by the Whatcom Human Rights Task Force. Finally, we attended to 108 visits to the center during the cold days of January.

February, 2005
This was a busy, short month! We did our Alternatives to Military Service tabling in five out of six county high schools as well as Bellingham High School, reaching a total of 152 students. We also helped nourish the organization of a new student club at Whatcom Community College, "Student Activists for Social Change," which will begin tabling in March. The peace center co-sponsored a workshop on Popular Education as a means for social change, hosted a speaker-phone interview with New York civil rights lawyer, Lynne Stewart, who is under arrest for helping detainees from the "War on Terrorism," and completed a Service Learning project with Western students. As part of their project, they organized a "Let's Talk" forum on the topic of mandatory service and the draft which was attended by 40 students. The center also helped support a four-week intensive training for nearly a dozen community members who will offer draft registration and conscientious objector counseling through the center. And finally, we attended to 124 drop-in visits in February.

March, 2004
This was a very busy month! Student volunteers did Alternatives to Military Service tabling for the first time at Whatcom Community College (WCC) and Western. At WCC it was the first activity of the new student club, Student Activists for Social Change, which we helped support. Other volunteers tabled at Squalicum and Mt. Baker high schools.

Also in March, we made our 2nd grant from the Small Projects Fund to help with the costs of making small prayer flags with the names of US and Iraqi dead. And we sponsored three of our own events: a letter-to-the-editor writing workshop, an event on the Nonviolent Peaceforce with Nick Mele, and a workshop entitled, "Dispelling Anger and Despair Workshop for Activists." We co-sponsored with Explorations Academy a presentation called "Beyond these Narrow Borders," about reconciliation among young people from warring sides in the former Yugoslavia. We also attended to 132 drop in visits to the center. Phew!