Harwich Students Raise Over $2300 for Humanitarian Relief in Darfur, Burma

PRESS RELEASE: Thursday December 11, 2008

Harwich Students Raise Over $2300 for Humanitarian Relief in Darfur, Burma

Harwich STAND last week (December 1-5) completed is second annual fast for genocide victim relief. They have raised $1431 so far (some donations are still coming in) from participants and sponsors of the week-long fast, and $904 from the end-of-the-fast celebration at the Harwich Community Center last Friday (December 5), for a current total of $2335.

For the fast, members of STAND and other students gave up their lunches, snacks, coffees, and/or other items for either a day or a week. STAND members found sponsors for their fasts, and participants donated the money they saved by fasting.

This money will be sent to STAND, a division of the Genocide Intervention Network, where the money will be used to protect Darfuri refugees and villages in Eastern Burma.

Harwich STAND still has one more event for this fund drive – the Darfurpalooza concert being held at the Harwich Community center on Friday December 19 from 5:30-9:30. For a $5 donation, attendees will get to see some of the best local bands – Blind Drive, Chasing Suns, NokSide, The Handsome Pool Boyz, and Epilogue to Sleep. HHS graduate Brian Boyle will be presenting the light show. Food will be served. For more information call Sheila House at (508) 430-7836 or email shouse@town.harwich.ma.us

John Dickson
STAND Advisor
Harwich High School
jdickson@harwich.edu
508-274-7367

The Last Supper

Harwich STAND celebrated the end of STANDFast tonight with our Last Supper fundraiser at the Harwich Community Center. Approximately 50 people attend the dinner, organized by MacKenzie Hamilton and the rest of Harwich STAND. The event raised over $900. Special thanks to Devon Chiapetta (picture above) and her family, whose restaurant, Buca's, donated all the food for tonight. Please tell them you appreciate their generosity the next time you go to Buca's for dinnner. Thanks to our special guest, Emily Cunningham (picture above), the Northeast Regional Coordinator for STAND - who came all the way down from Boston and delivered a moving speech to remind us that all death is personal. Thanks also to Jeff Howell (pictured above), Taryn Williams, and all the D-Y STAND gang who came out. Thanks to all a congratulations on a great event!

Darfurpalooza is coming up on Friday 12/19 back at the Community Center, featuring the best live music (Blind Drive, Chasing Suns, The Handsome Pool Boyz, NokSide, Epilogue to Sleep) and the best light show (Brian Boyle) that you will see on Cape this year. See you there!

The Last Supper

From MacKenzie:

THE LAST SUPPER - December 5, 2008, Harwich Community Center, 5:30-8

The event is this upcoming Friday, the cost is $20. and will be from 5:30-8, so mark your calendars. It IS a semiformal event...this means NO JEANS PLEASE!

The Last Supper is an event to celebrate the end of STANDfast, We are advocating and raising money for Civilian Protection, not aid. Why? Laurent Nkunda says it in terms we can all understand, "We are hungry and thirsty, but we don't want any aid. We want security. We want this war to stop."

As the holidays approach, and we start out Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, etc. celebrations, we need to take the time to think about those in need--those who cannot see a sunrise without wondering "When will I be next?" Those who have lost their mothers, brothers, fathers, children.

$3. can allow a woman to safely collect firewood for a week.
$5. enables urgent warnings of attack to reach a village in Eastern Burma.

STANDfast is not about denying yourself food, but giving up ONE luxury item, either for the whole week, or on December 5th, and donating the money to civilian protection. Checks can be made out to Town of Harwich, but make sure to write in HHS STAND, and mail to:

Harwich High School Stand c/o John Dickson
75 Oak Street
Harwich, MA 02645

or if you're a student, you can make donations to any STAND member, or drop in your extra change in the lunch line.


Thanks for your time, and I hope to see you all there!
MacKenzie Hamilton
HHS STAND Co-President

STANDFast - December 1-5

PRESS RELEASE: Harwich High School Students Fast for Darfur and Burma

HARWICH – What are you willing to give up to save lives in Darfur and Burma?

Having recently returned from a national conference in Washington, DC, members of Harwich High School STAND are fasting for the week of December 1-5 to raise money for the Genocide Intervention Network. Members will forego their lunches, snacks, and/or other items for the week and donate the money they would have spent. They are also getting sponsors to pledge an amount for each day they fast. In addition they will be educating their fellow students all week about the conflicts and encouraging them to participate in a school-wide fast on Friday, December 5.

The money raised in this year’s STANDFast will pay for innovative civilian protection programs in Darfur, Sudan and Eastern Burma. The Genocide Intervention Network (of which STAND is a division) plans to fund programs that would protect women in Darfur as they gather firewood, and that would provide villages in Eastern Burma with satellite phones so they could be warned of impending attacks by government forces. STANDFast, with hundreds of groups participating across the nation, will provide the bulk of funds for these projects. More information on this plan is available at http://standnow.org/campaigns/standfast.

Harwich STAND is hosting an end of STANDFast celebration on Friday at the Harwich Community Center. The Last Supper is a $20 semi-formal dinner from 5:30-8 being hosted by STAND C0-President MacKenzie Hamilton. Food is being donated by Buca’s restaurant in Harwichport. Those interested in attending should contact Hamilton at macnham@comcast.net.

As a follow-up fundraiser, on Friday, December 19, Hariwch STAND will be hosting DarfurPalooza, a concert at the Harwich Community Center from 5:30-9:30 featuring some of the best young bands on the Lower Cape. Admission is $5. For more information contact Sheila House at shouse@town.harwich.ma.us.

The plans for this years STANDFast were developed on our recent road trip. Fifteen members of Harwich STAND (together with 10 members of Dennis-Yarmouth STAND), attended the STAND National Conference and the Tents of Hope National Rally in Washington, DC on November 5-9. For more details of our trip, check out our blog at http://hhsstand,blogspot,com.

Hamilton states, “As the holidays approach, and we start out Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, etc. celebrations, we need to take the time to think about those in need--those who cannot see a sunrise without wondering ‘When will I be next?’ Those who have lost their mothers, brothers, fathers, children.” STANDFast is one of the ways we’ll be truing to make a difference for others this holiday season.

For further information, contact Harwich STAND advisor John Dickson at jdickson@harwich.edu or 508-274-7367.

A Few Last Tents of Hope Pics

What a great trip we had! A bit tired in school today . . .

In looking through the pictures, I think I didn't give a full sense of the spectacle of the tents, so here's a few more, including one of us reassembling tents Sunday morning. It was really something to behold.

Final Day

Our final day:

A wind storm last night blew over our tent and about half of the others on the mall. So we started our day by bringing our team to help for an hour and a half putting them back up. I'm guessing we reset about 50 tents. It was nice to see the tent display restored - I suppose the tents should have all been staked (some were), but that part of the mall was like cement - very hard to get stakes in the ground.

From there, we returned to the STAND conference, and got to attend the last of the break out sessions on topics such as the use of media. We also were there for the regional breakouts (picture above of MacKenzie reporting to the Northeast group about our Massachusetts group ideas). Then when the next rotation came for optional programs, about half of us headed to the festivities on the mall and the other half stayed to the end of the conference, then joined us at the mall. We got to take a final stroll through the tents - many of them really are works of art. We also participated in a parade of the cities where the various groups strolled past the stage and were announced (Cape Cod!). We then got to hear the Voices of Mercy again as well as Sarah Lee and Johnny, and some compelling speakers.

At 2, we dragged ourselves away and loaded up on the bus for the long drive home. After a few hours of quiet home time while we still had light, we stopped for dinner, then got stuck in traffic getting to the GW bridge in NY. We passed this time with an extended sing-a-long, and some of us even got some sleep through Connecticut. We pulled in to Harwich HS at 1:30 in the morning. See you in school at 7:25!

A busy Saturday

I should break this down into separate posts - but it's late and I'm tired. We started this morning with a run to the Jefferson and FDR memorials (well, two of us did), then we headed to the L'Enfant Plaza at 7;30AM to sign in for the STAND conference. We listened to a number of panels tell us more about STAND and the state of various human rights crises. Sabina, one of the student leaders of STAND was most impressive, and we learned about the importance of connecting the Darfur issue to the larger problems in Sudan, especially in Southern Sudan. We also got ideas about how to be to take action on Burma. After Lunch, some of us stayed to listen to more panels and attend the first breakout sessions, while the rest of us headed to the mall for the Tents of Hope events. Our tent was set up in the AM by Mr. D, Mrs H and Ms. K. We got to see it surrounded by hundreds of others. On stage, they had a celebration of the cities open mike where each group could go up - we went up and sang the Preamble and If I Had a Hammer. After us they had a preview of the show tonight with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion (Arlo's daughter and son-in-law) - they borrowed my guitar! (I'll never wash it again . . .) After taking an hour to explore the tents, most of us went to the Museum of the American Indian, then back to the hotel. For dinner, we headed to the Tents of Hope Youth Dinner at Church of the Resurrection. This was a wonderful meal, and we were the only youth group to go- so they were real happy that someone could put a dent in the food they made - we did our best. After, most headed back to the hotel to catch up on homework (after an unsuccessful mission to find blue hair dye at Union Station). Some of us hung around for the benefit concert at the church, and were treated to an amazing concert featuring a vocal group from Berklee School of Music, Omar Ihsas - a Darfuri singer, and Sarah Lee and Johnny again. After helping out a bit after the show, we ended up giving the Berklee singers a ride on our bus to their hotel (with a bus sing-a-long), which put us near the White House for a brief evening visit. Finally we got home and are now in bed asleep!

Night Tour

After dinner at the food court at the Pentagon City Mall, we headed off to see some monuments. We went to the Iwo Jima/Marine Corps monument, which is particularly powerful at night overlooking the city. Then we went to the Lincoln Memorial, where we spent the rest of the evening. We also saw a very colorful artist, and a massive card/sign for President-elect Obama, which we signed. While Alyssa wanted to spend the night, we decided to head back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Chasing the Rally

We were a bit confused about the STAND rally - thinking it was on the Capitol and we were early - it turned out to be down by the White House, and we were late. After realizing that they had already started marching up toward the Sudan Embassy, some of us headed back to the hotel, and some of us tried to catch up with the rally. We all met up back in our rooms on the sixth floor of the Holiday Inn Capitol. Next, dinner and the Monuments at night!

The Capitol

After our meeting we got a tour of the Capitol arranged by Sen. Kennedy's office. The architecture, art and statues are breathtaking. Some seniors needed a photo with Sam Houston to send to his cousin Rich. We also took a picture on the steps outside after we finally got a bite to eat in the Russell building.

Sen. Kennedy's Office

After a long and purposeful walk, we got to the Russell Senate Office Building just in time for our noon appointment. Henry Sanford discussed Darfur policy with us for 40 minutes. This was very informative for us. Thanks Henry!

The Holocaust Museum

Next we visited the National Holocaust Museum. This was an extremely emotional, disturbing and important exercise for us - particularly given our purpose of raising awareness of the Darfur genocide. This took a long time, and we could have stayed hours longer. We left shaken, but with our eyes more open to the reality we are trying to confront.

Washington Monument

We walked form the Castle down to the Washington Monument, enjoying the views of the city on this beautiful and unseasonable warm day.

The Castle

We started our marathon this morning with a quick visit to the Smithsonian Castle. This gave us a good overview of the institution, and it has beautiful gardens.

We're Here!

Yes Brenna, we're finally here. After a 9 hour drive orchestrated by our drivers Al and Kurt (and watching Darfur Now and the Goofy Movie), we are here at the Holiday Inn Capitol. After some freshening up we will be heading to breakfast and then to the Holocaust Museum and possibly the Smithsonian Castle. Then we have a 12:00 appointment at Sen Kennedy's office, a Capitol tour, then a STAND rally on the Capitol steps before getting back to the hotel. I'll post more then.

Chasing Suns wins the All-Cape Battle of the Bands

Chasing Suns of Dennis-Yarmouth High School defended their crown last night as they took the Second Annual All-Cape Battle of the Bands at Harwich High School. About 150 people were entertained by eight different performances. The event raised $1200 to help the victims of genocide in Darfur, proceeds going to benefit the Genocide Intervention Network.

Highlighting the event, the crowd was addressed by Mr. Mangok Bol, a survivor of the civil war in Southern Sudan who came to the U.S. in the '90's in a group known as the "Lost Boys." Mr. Bol thanked the crowd for taking a stand for the people of Darfur, and for making a difference.

Synesthia, also from D-Y, came in second in the Battle, while Harwich's Blind Drive came in third. Special recognition was also given to Devon McFadden and Nicki Blodgett for their acoustic performance. The crowd was dazzled by a sound and light show coordinated by Harwich alum Brian Boyle. The show culminated in a performance by the legendary local band Roots Down Below, who also judged the event.

Harwich STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) who hosted the event would like to thank all the participants, volunteers, and attendees for a great evening of music and activism.

Pictures of the show can be viewed here.

Some Videos:

Mr. Mangok Bol:


Chasing Suns:


Synesthesia:


Blind Drive:


Devon McFadden:


Green for the Graft:


Handsome Pool Boyz:

All-Cape Battle of the Bands - May 2, 2008

Harwich STAND will be hosting the Second Annual All-Cape Battle of the Bands on May 2, 2008 at the Harwich High School Auditorium (75 Oak St, Harwich, MA). The show begins at 7 and will end by 9:30. Bands from various schools across the Cape will compete. The judges will rate each band's performance leading to the crowning of the All-Cape Champion. Local band extraordinaire Roots Down Below will help judge the event and will treat the crowd to a set at the end of the night.

Admission will be $8. The event is a fundraiser for Harwich STAND - Students Taking Action Now: Darfur - and the money will go to benefit the victims and refugees of the genocide in Darfur. All are welcome.

Also scheduled to speak at the event is Mr. Mangok Bol, a "Lost Boy" and survivor of the violence in Southern Sudan. We are thankful for his generosity - he will help us gain perspective on the importance of reaching out to help the victims of far away conflicts.

We're looking forward to a great event - Be there!

DarFUNdraiser

We had a great time last night at the DarFUNdraiser. Thanks to all the bands and especially to Brian Boyle for donating his time and equipment to provide a light show, and Mike Raneo for doing the same for the sound system. Thanks also to Sheila House for arranging the space at the Community Center and the volunteers, and providing the pizza! Our press release:

Press Release 2/9/08: Harwich Students Host Band Showcase to Benefit Darfur

Harwich STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) hosted a band showcase Friday night at the Harwich Community Center to raise money to aid the victims of genocide in Darfur. About 100 people attended and the event generated over $600 to benefit the Genocide Intervention Network. Bands from Harwich, Chatham, and Dennis-Yarmouth participated, including Corrupted Youth, Blind Drive, Synesthesia and the Handsome Pool Boys, and the event was headlined by Cape sensation Roots Down Below. Also at the event, the students painted a refugee tent that, when completed, will be displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. later this year, then sent to Darfur. For more information on the tent, visit http://www.tentsofhope.org/.

See an album of photos from the event on Flickr, click here.

For more info, photos and video from the event, check out our sister blog - STAND Now Cape Cod.

Some video clips from the bands:

Roots Down Below:


The Handsome Pool Boys:


Synesthesia:


Blind Drive:


Students painting a Tent of Hope: