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December 2009
a
monthly e-news publication
With your help, Koinonia will reach these goals.
Please donate today!
$180,000
for programs and operation
$150,000
for the new Meeting House
Donate
securely Online, but if you prefer, you may call us to make a donation
by phone at 877-738-1741 or by mail at Koinonia Farm, 1324 GA Hwy 49 S,
Americus, GA 31719
Happy Holidays from all of us at the farm!
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Did You Know?
This month, founding member Clarence Jordan was inducted to the local Walk of Fame in Americus, Ga.
We had a great ceremony, and two of the Jordan children and their
spouses were able to join us for the celebration! It was great to see
Jan and husband Ferrel and Lenny and wife Jean. Historian Alan Anderson
shared with the audience a little about Clarence’s place in local
history and national history, including the start of Habitat for
Humanity. We’re grateful to see his legacy honored in this way. Thanks
to all of our friends who were able to join us! Pictured are Jan Jordan
and long-time friend Alma Jackson just after the ceremony. Check out
Koinonia’s Facebook page for more photos of the event.
Reaching Out
Thousands gathered at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, this month for the annual prayer vigil hosted by the School of Americus Watch, calling for the closure of the School of Americus.
The SOA, renamed in 2001 the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation,” is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers,
located at Fort Benning. This year's vigil marked the 20th anniversary
of the Nov. 16 murder of six Jesuit priests, a mother, and her 15-year
old daughter by soldiers in El Salvador. Eighteen of the soldiers
involved in the slayings were graduates of the Fort Benning school. The
SOA watch began in response to these killings and several others just
like it linked to SOA graduates. Several Koinonians faithfully attend
the vigil each year, including Nashua Chantal, the Peace Clown. During
this year’s vigil, the American Friends Service Committee announced
that it has nominated founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois and the SOA Watch for
the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Please join with us as we continue to pray
for more grass-roots peace efforts across the globe.
Our Circle of Friends served over 30 Thanksgiving meals
to friends, neighbors, and home-bound seniors this holiday season.
We’re grateful that we’re able to help serve our neighbors in this way.
The Circle of Friends will hold their annual Christmas dinner this year
on Dec. 18 at Granny’s Kitchen in Plains, Ga. Come join us if you’re in
the area.
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 We’d
love to help you find the perfect gifts this holiday season. Our
Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Bark and the Pecan Sampler Tin are both
popular gift items, and for those hard-to-buy-for loved ones, you can
always give an honor donation in their name. Order through our Online
store, mail in your order using the forms found
in the catalog, or place your order by phone.
Call us toll-free at 877-738-1741 Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 10
p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1-5 p.m. EST. To make things
easier for everyone, please plan ahead: To guarantee that your packages
arrive by Christmas, place your order by December 10. Thanks for
partnering with us!
Join us in Decatur, Ga. on Sunday, December 13, 2009 for the first annual Mallternative—an ethical holiday shopping market hosted by the America Friends Service Committee.
It’s a perfect alternative to the traditional shopping mall! The event
will feature local businesses whose products are made with fair labor
and environmentally sustainable methods. We’ll be there with our
products and at 2:30 p.m., we’ll be showing the “Briars in the Cotton
Patch” documentary, the story of Koinonia. For more information, e-mail
Tim Franzen at tfranzen@afsc.org.
Give
Koinonia a Christmas present this year by doing your Online shopping
with IGive.com! As you shop Online, you can—at no extra cost to
you—donate a percentage of your dollars spent Online to Koinonia. Just
go to www.igive.com/koinonia, register or login (it’s a
free service), make your purchase from over 600 Online stores, and know
that you are also helping to support the Koinonia community and
ministries. Thanks for keeping us in mind as you do your Online holiday
shopping.
At the Farm
The love bug continues strong at Koinonia. We celebrated with Chuck and Faith Wilbanks as they joined in marriage this month.
The wedding was beautiful, full of sincerity, fellowship and good
dancing. Geneva Brown even created a five-tiered Cup Cake for the
celebration. Thanks, Chuck and Faith, for sharing this special ceremony
with us.
Let the sorting begin!
Our harvesting team is doing a good job at getting the pecans ready for
you. The rain has slowed us in the harvest, but with the Plants 1 and 2
being more efficient this year, they’re moving right along to our
excellent sorting crew, who hands them with great care to our bakery
team! Our happy shippers have been busily working around the clock to
get all the pecans shipped around the globe. Don’t forget to place your
Christmas orders before Dec. 10. Coming Soon
Yes,
the harvest, the bakery and the shipping are all at full tilt. We are
grateful for the many friends who choose to come visit this time of
year to help out. We’d love to have your help to ship boxes all over
the world during the holiday rush. It’s always a wonderful time to see
our Snow Birders, as we call them, and other friends who come to join
us for this special season. E-mail hospitality@koinoniapartners.org to schedule your visit.
 We are now taking registrations for our winter 2010 Permaculture Design Course.
This year's course was an amazing success, and we are looking forward
to welcoming another enthusiastic group of learners from February 8-19.
There are still a couple of work-trade slots open, and we're sure they
are going to fill up fast. For more information please contact sarah@koinoniapartners.org.
As
2009 comes to a close, thank you for considering an end of year gift to
Koinonia. Donations of any amount are very much needed and greatly
appreciated. You may donate Online, by phone, or by mail.
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