Don’t Poison Our Water! Water Is a Human Right!

Rally to demand #cleanh2o4all

RALLY: Don’t Poison Our Water! Water Is a Human Right!
WHEN: Monday, May 16, 2016, 12:45 p.m.
WHERE: Oregon Convention Center, 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon
WHO: Organizer: United Methodist Women           

United Methodist Women and a coalition of church and community partners will rally to demand clean water for all on May 16 at 12:45 p.m., during the quadrennial United Methodist Church General Conference at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon.

From a toxic Superfund site on the Willamette River in Portland, to struggles to protect indigenous water in Honduras and Mindanao, Philippines, to corporate pollution in Liberia, to corroded pipes in Flint, Michigan, the contamination of water sources is a crisis for communities of color around the globe. Water is a human right, as recognized by the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and partners will unite at this rally to tell complicit governments and corporations: Don’t poison our water!

Speakers include:

• Bishop Deborah Kiesey of the Michigan Episcopal Area
• Bishop Elias Galvan, retired, Honduras United Methodist Church
• Bishop Julius Trimble, Iowa Episcopal Area, United Methodist Immigration Task Force
• Harriett Jane Olson, General Secretary, United Methodist Women
• A representative from the Portland Harbor Community Coalition
• Norma Capuyan of KALUMARAN, Mindanao, Philippines
• Rose Farhat, Liberia United Methodist Church
• Nichea Ver Veer Guy, Director, United Methodist Women
• Oregon’s Raging Grannies

Speakers will address:

• Portland Harbor Superfund Site cleanup process, Portland, Oregon
• Lead in water crisis, Flint, Michigan
• United Methodist Women and United Methodist advocacy for clean water in the United States and globally
• Firestone rubber pollution of water in Liberia
• Impact of corporate pollution of water in the Philippines on Lumad peoples of Mindanao
• Remembrance: Berta Cáceres, Lenca leader of Honduras

Partners:

• Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR)
• Church Women United
• Davao Episcopal Area, Philippines Central Conference
• United Methodist Church, Discipleship Ministries
• Eco-Justice Team of Presbytery of the Cascades
• Ecumenical Ministries of Portland and its Interfaith Network for Earth Concerns
• General Board of Church and Society
• General Board of Global Ministries
• General Commission on Religion and Race,
• Greater Northwest Area of The United Methodist Church (Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and Pacific Northwest)
• Liberia Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church
• Methodist Federation for Social Action
• Metodistas Representando la Causa de los Hispano Americanos (MARCHA)
• National Association of Deaconesses and Home Missioners
• National Federation of Asian American United Methodists (NFAAUM)
• Native American International Caucus (NAIC)
• Pacific Islanders National Caucus of United Methodists (PINCUM)
• Portland Harbor Community Coalition
• United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
• United Methodist Immigration Task Force
• United Methodist Women of Oregon-Idaho

 Press Kit

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Contact: Yvette Moore, ymoore@unitedmethodistwomen.org