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Stop your complaining, get involved
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
"The fact that you can't solve every problem shouldn't stop you from working on some problems." That's something that Eddie Roth, an award-winning editorial columnist who left the Dayton Daily News recently, used to say.
Maybe the world would be a better place if all of us complained a little less and worked to improve things a little more. In the spirit of Eddie Roth, I'm highlighting a couple of the unlimited opportunities available to get involved, a little or a lot, in something you might find worthwhile.
Extras
• All Aboard Ohio is holding an annual membership meeting in Cincinnati on June 21. Registration for nonmembers is $50 and includes a breakfast, lunch and tour of the Cincinnati Museum Center and train station, according to Andrew Bremer, the group's executive director.
All Aboard Ohio promotes rail development in Ohio and is particularly interested in the Ohio Hub Plan, a proposal for a passenger and freight rail system connecting the major cities of Ohio to the rest of the country by rail.
Bremer said now that gasoline prices are approaching $4 a gallon he believes the political will to invest in rail development may grow in Ohio and across the country. "I think this spike is not going away, and we're going to be living with $4 a gallon and higher for a while," he said. "People are starting to ask questions about why there isn't passenger rail service across Ohio."
If you're not up for a trip to Cincinnati, Bremer suggests at least commenting on rail issues online at the Ohio Hub site at www.ohiohub.org.
• Grassroots Dayton started life as a citizen advocacy group interested in issues such as regional cooperation and combatting urban sprawl. Recently one of the group's founders, Mike Robinette, changed the focus to a more political orientation.
The motto of the organization's current executive director Mike Bock is sowing seeds of democracy. "Democracy is a means to meaningfully organize a group of people, a means to make group decisions," Bock wrote in a recent online column. "Democracy rests on faith in the belief that there is such a thing as group wisdom and that, given the opportunity, a group will make good decisions in choosing its leaders and in charting its course."
Bock invites interested area residents to come together in discussion groups to start the process of increasing the participation of average people in the political process. Details can be found at www.grassrootsdayton.org.
• Good Shepherd Ministries is holding its annual partnership banquet, a fundraising event, on June 19 at Fairhaven Church in Centerville. Good Shepherd Ministries is a small operation, essentially run by one man, Dale Nieberding.
Nieberding started working with released prisoners to help them reintegrate into society about seven years ago.
Good Shepherd Ministries now maintains a house on Linden Avenue in Dayton where recently released prisoners can live and receive counseling and support until they're able to make it on their own.
Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, is the keynote speaker for the banquet, and reservations are $20 until June 11 and $25 afterward. Details can be found at www.good
shepherdministries.net.
• Circle for Re-Entry Ohio is holding a community reentry job and health fair at One Elizabeth Place, formerly St. Elizabeth Hospital, on June 11. Like Good Shepherd Ministries, Circle for Re-Entry Ohio works with released prisoners.
For more information, contact Michael Mann at (937) 276-2176 ext. 13.
