1.   Upcoming Events:

a.   Saturday, October 11, 2008: National Coming Out Day

                               i.   Hope Note Party October 9, 2008

1.   Nadia emailed Leticia to advertise event 

2.   Student Lounge 12-1:30

3.   Sale of rainbow snacks*

4.   12-1 making of hope notes using craft supplies

5.   1-1:30 Distribution of Hope Notes

b.   Saturday, October 11, 2008: Teach In On Capital Punishment 10-3pm

                                          i.    The Teach In takes place at the Univ. of St. Thomas Sat. 10/11 from 10am-3pm in the Ahern Room in Crooker Hall.  There will be four wonderful speakers:

1.     Linda White-Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation

2.     Clarence Brandley-Exonerated death row prisoner

3.     Jared Tyler-Attorney with Texas Defender Service

4.     Les Breeding- Expert on the Texas Legislature

                                         ii.    You do not need to register for the event.  If you would like a vegetarian meal then call Nancy Bailey at 281-933-4925

c.   Saturday, October 25-26, 2008: National Steering Committee Meeting

                                          i.    Discussed option of someone going to NY and being reimbursed for trip to attend conference but unfortunately no members were able to attend due to busy schedules.

d.   Saturday, October 25: Annual March Against the Death Penalty

                                          i.    The March to Stop Executions has been held each October since 2000. It is sponsored by several Texas anti-death penalty organizations, including the Austin chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Texas Moratorium Network, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center, and Texas Students Against the Death Penalty. At the rally there will be talks by family members of those executed as well as local activists. The march will begin 2 p.m. at the SHAPE center at 3903 Almeda, then progress east on Alabama to the SHAPE Center on Live Oak. For more information, contact Gloria Rubac at 713/503-2633.

e.   Saturday, November 1, 2008: Out of Darkness Walk

Amy is signing up group to participate

Welcome back from the summer break!  We are excited to have another year of SWAA activities planned and underway.  Our next meeting date is slotted for Thursday, September at 12:30pm in the Student Lounge at the Graduate College of Social Work.  Soon after our Thursday meeting we will host speaker and death penalty activist, David Atwood on September 3oth.

On May 9, 2008, seven of us headed out on a road trip to New Orleans, Lousiana to help build a house with Habitat for Humanity.

When we got to New Orleans, we unpacked and rested for a bit and then headed to Deanie’s Seafood Restaurant for a delicious dinner. We headed back to the hotel right after dinner since we knew we had a long day ahead of us!

We were up bright and early on Saturday morning and arrived at the building site ready to be put to work. Here we are, fresh, energetic, and excited!

We worked very hard for hours in the blazing heat to build walls for the house! It was challenging and satisfying to pound those nails into the planks of wood!

It was also important to take water breaks so that we wouldn’t dehydrate.

Here we are with our team leader, Katie, who taught us how to do everything and one of our finished wall frames!

To see a slideshow of all of our photos (taken by Allison and Becky), click here.

I think we all had a lot of fun visiting the great city of New Orleans, doing our part to help in the manual labor that is going into rebuilding the city, learning more about ourselves and getting to know each other better.

Imagine sitting in a cozy coffeehouse/bar late on Saturday night, eating deliciously spicy fish tacos, drinking a bottle of Blue Moon, surrounded by wonderful company and listening to the blues.  That’s exactly how it went down at the Susan Martin Robbins concert.

Susan put on a great show and she brought several friends with her who also were a treat to listen to.

As you can see, there was a great turnout!

Thanks to everyone that came out and thanks to all the SWAA volunteers that worked hard to make the conference happen.

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Don’t forget to R.S.V.P. for the SWAA End of the Year Celebration!

Please email SWAA if you’d like to help out with our table during President Khator’s visit on April 17.

As you may know, one of topics at the National SWAA conference this year is Katrina recovery. The UH chapter of SWAA thought that it would be a relevant and meaningful way to tie in our knowledge with action by taking a weekend trip to New Orleans to help build a home with Habitat for Humanity. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Habitat for Humanity, here are some frequently asked questions and the relevant answers.

1. First of all, what is Habitat for Humanity (HFH)?

HFH NOLA’s mission statement is “to build houses in partnership with sponsors, volunteers, communities, and homeowner families, whereby families are empowered to transform their own lives and to eliminate poverty housing in the New Orleans area while serving as a catalyst to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.”

2. How many days does the project last?

Volunteers are asked to work for one full day (7:30AM to 3:00PM). Our project day will be a Saturday in May so most of us plan to leave Houston on Friday evening and come back Sunday morning. For those who would like to come back on Saturday evening, you are welcome to do so.

3. What does it cost?

It is free to volunteer with HFH NOLA if the group is less than 15. For this reason, we will limit the number of volunteer spots to 15. You are responsible for the cost of your own transportation, food and lodging.

4. Do you have to have any experience with construction?

Construction expertise is helpful but definitely not a requirement. HFH invites volunteers of all levels of experience.

5. How are we getting there? Where are we staying?

We will definitely be carpooling and we will caravan as much as our schedules possibly allow. Because everyone’s comfort requirements vary when it comes to hotels, we will leave it up to you as to where you’d like to stay. HFH does have several discounted options available.

6. Details, give me more details!

We can work out all the specific details but we need to decide on a date first.

Please only vote on a date if you are seriously considering going. I would hate to pick a date because a lot of people voted for it only to have a handful actually end up going and exclude those who really want to go.

The available dates are:

May 3

May 10

May 17

May 31

Vote by leaving a comment on this post. Please state your first and last name and your preferred dates. Yes, you can vote for more than one Saturday, just list them in order of preference.

We’ll close voting on March 7, 2008 so be sure to get in your vote before then!