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MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER
Coming Events
June 1—Hurricane Season Begins
June 3—Highmark Walk For a Healthy Community at Presque Isle
June 4—Pentecost
June 5—World Environ-ment Day
June 8—Best Friends Day
June 14—Flag Day
June 15—Native American Citizenship Day
June 18—Father’s Day
June 19—Juneteenth (Emancipation Day or Freedom Day)
June 20 First Day of Sum-mer
June 26—LGBT Pride Day
o
Volume 7, Issue 5
May 2017
Multicultural Community
Resource Center of Erie
Michael Burns, Esq., Board President
Joanna R. Cherpak, Executive Director
MCRC Noticias Editorial Team:
Cathie Whitmire, ESL Instructor
Carol Brigham, Education Manager
Gregg Sikora, IT Specialist
Jordan Cherpak, Wellness Coordinator
554 East 10th St., Erie, PA 16503
Ph: 814.455.0212 FAX: 814.453.2363
Email: [email protected]
Furaha Ya Mama Siku ** Feliz Dia de las
Madres** Happy Mother’s Day
The expression “Hallmark Holiday” is often connected to Mother’s Day in the United States, implying that the
holiday is celebrated to boost the greeting card business. While there is a definite benefit for florists, choco-
latiers and card companies during this special holiday, its origins are far from the retail world.
Mother’s Day in the United States as we know it today began in 1908 with a memorial at St. Andrew’s Meth-
odist Church in Grafton, WV. A woman by the name of Anna Jarvis wanted to celebrate the peacekeeping
work her mother had done helping wounded soldiers during the Civil War and creating “Mother’s Day Work
Clubs” to address public health issues. Congress rejected a proposal to make Mother’s Day an official holiday
that year; however, Anna Jarvis was very persistent and worked to spread the celebration across the country.
By 1911 all US states observed the holiday and in 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating
the second Sunday in May as a national holiday to honor mothers. The intention was to always remember
mothers and honor them with sentiments of gratitude for all they had given to their children.
The commercialization of the holiday began in the early 1920s when companies started producing goods
designed especially for the occasion including specialized greeting cards and candy. This angered Jarvis,
who protested at candy conventions and social meetings where Mother’s Day goods were sold for profit.
Her intention was always that mothers be celebrated by hand written notes and homemade gifts that
showed love and gratitude.
While Mother’s Day is still a relatively new holiday for us in the United States, other countries have been cele-
brating women and mothers in many different ways for centuries. While much of the modern world cele-
brates along with us in the United States on the second Sunday in May, many countries have other tradi-
tions:
The United Kingdom celebrates Mothering Sunday – or the fourth Sunday in Lent. The tradition was that
children who had been farmed out to work for wealthy gentry would be allowed to come home to celebrate
Lent with their families. On their way home they would pick flowers for their mothers and some would even
bake special cakes.
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The Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community is an annual fundraising walk that benefits local health and human service agencies.
Highmark Inc. coordinates and underwrites the cost of the walk so that 100 percent of the money raised by walkers goes to the
participating nonprofits.
The primary goal of the walk is to help participating organizations raise money for their individual missions. The secondary goal of the
walk is to energize community members to have a greater hand in their health by becoming or staying physically active.
The inaugural Walk for a Healthy Community took place in Pittsburgh, in 2003, and raised more than $25,000 for eight nonprofit organi-zations. Additional walks have since been added in Lehigh Valley, Erie, Harrisburg and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and in Wilmington, Dela-
ware. Through 2016, the events have raised more than 10 million dollars for nearly 400 nonprofits across the states.
Con’t from Page 1...
Much of Europe celebrates International Women’s Day in March. This is a day to honor all women and is usually celebrated with the
exchanging of flowers and small gifts with the women in your life.
In Indonesia, Mother’s Day is celebrated in December, on the anniversary of the first Indonesian Women Congress, marking its original
goal of honoring the spirit of the Indonesian woman. Today the sentiments have changed to align more with the general celebration of
expressing love and gratitude to mothers.
In Mexico, various political parties and religious groups have tried to capitalize on celebrations based on the family- promoting healthy
families as a way to build a better society. It is believed that these efforts were abandoned in the mid-1940s. Today they celebrate “Dia
de las Madres” every year on May 10 to show affection and appreciation to mothers.
P A G E 3 V O L U M E 7 , I S S U E 5
MCRC’s 3rd Annual
Trivia Competition MCRC’s 3
nd annual “Who wants to be a U.S. Citizen” trivia compe-
tition was once again held on Friday, April 28th at the Prep & Villa
Event Center. The evening included dinner, a Chinese auction
and, of course, trivia! Jim Kurre served as emcee for the evening,
adding his comedic style to the 6 rounds of trivia. This year’s
event raised over $4,600.00! The money raised for this event will
be put toward a permanent outdoor shelter to be built in the
agencies back lot so there is a shaded area for Daycare kids and
other classes to utilize.
We’d like to thank all of the participants, community sponsors and
agency staff that helped to make this event a success. Plans have
already begun to make next year even more fun. Watch for a
Save The Date notice soon! A group of young men from ServErie helped
wash windows and paint the exterior steps
of the annex and main building on the MCRC
Campus this past month.
Pictured above, one of three bike racks in-stalled on Friday April 28th at MCRC. It was designed and installed by on the left by local metal artist Greg Gehner of Transit Forge and assisted by on the right Jim Dunn. The program in partnership with the Erie Art Museum, Erie County Department of Health, Bike Erie and Erie Yesterday and was funded by an Erie County Greenway Grant.
ServErie Makes A Difference
Bicyclists welcome!
P A G E 4 V O L U M E 7 , I S S U E 5
An Imperfect Fix
P A G E 5 V O L U M E 7 , I S S U E 5
Monarchies Still Exist Royalty is a term that defines a person in a high position or standing within society. Throughout much of history, royal members were the rulers of a kingdom or country. Today, most countries are democracies with elected officials. However, there are a few nations that still have a monarchy as their system of government. When discussing monarchs, the United Kingdom is probably the first country that comes to mind. Queen Elizabeth II has held the crown for 65 years and possible successors are always a favorite discussion topic. Like most monarchies, the United Kingdom relies on royal lineage; the crown is passed on to the next generation to rule. There are currently 16 realms that recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their Head of State. During her 65 year reign, she has overseen a total of 32 sovereign countries. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have been under the Queen’s rule for her entire tenure. These countries may celebrate royalty, but they are actually governed by a constitutional republic or parliament. This means that law is determined by a group of elected officials. The English Monarch may not make law, but they do host charitable events to help the people they “rule”. Before their defeat in World War II, Japan was an empire with an absolute ruler. In 1947, they drafted their constitution to become what is now modern Japan. There still exists a line of royalty from their emperors, and recently a princess made global news. Princess Mako of Japan has decided to marry a classmate of hers, and become a commoner. Not a typical fairytale of becoming a prince or princess as pop culture would portray. Europe used to be the continent that housed all the major kingdoms, such as France, Denmark, Norway, Prussia (Germanic), Russia, and Sweden. Most kingdoms were dissolved before the start of 1900’s. Even most of the African kingdoms disbanded post World War II and were gone by the 1970’s. There are only a handful of absolute monarchies left in the world: Brunei, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Swaziland. Only in these kingdoms, do Kings make the laws. A Constitutional Democracy is how the majority of governments in the world are described today, but without the monarchs to get countries started, the world would not be the same. Our forefathers chose having a president rather than another king, so we cannot forget our own roots.
Prince William and Duchess Kate
(England) King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
and Queen Jetsun (Bhutan)
King Felipe and Queen Letizia (Spain)
P A G E 6 V O L U M E 7 , I S S U E 5
554 East 10th Street Erie, PA 16503
Phone: 814-455-0212 Fax: 814-453-2363 Web: www.mcrcerie.org
MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER
Your Donation
is Appreciated
To make a financial gift to
MCRC, send it to Joanna
Cherpak, Executive Director,
554 East 10th St., Erie, PA
16503 or donate online at
www.mcrcerie.org.
MCRC is a 501 ( c)(3) charity
and all donations are tax de-
ductible.
MCRC volunteer opportunities exist
for one-time or continuing activities.
Please visit the
Volunteer tab at our Website at
www.mcrcerie.org
or look for us on the Get Connected
Erie website at
www.getconnectederie.org/agencies/mcrcerie
To inquire, send an email to
[email protected]. Be sure to
include your name and phone number
in your message.
Proudly serving the needs of the Hispanic and refugee communities since 1975.
Genuinely yours,
Joanna R. Cherpak
Executive Director
One Race...the Human Race Over the Memorial Day weekend, I saw a photo of a Muslim man praying with a Jewish woman for the victims of the Manchester, England terrorists attacks. It prompted me to write this on Facebook at 5:00 am in the morning:
My Mom was Catholic. So I was baptized in, raised in and follow the Catholic faith. My Dad was Methodist but never aspired to formal religion. My occupation has me surrounded by various religions - Hindu, Muslim, Buddhism, Orthodox, Baptist, etc. God has truly blessed me that I have been able to be educated about these different faiths. The ignorance in this world with regards to religion would be solved if people would just take time and learn about the others. It is truly that simple. My friend is Hindu. She has teased me that many things I do are "very Hindu". If a Catholic can be very Hindu, it means we are more alike than we realize...well we are one race, the human race.
I wrote from my heart but never anticipated the response I would receive from it. Many people liked the post and below are comments I received:
From Brian: A message most needed in our day and time. In my opinion what you have written is our only true path to peace. Peace between people and peace between nations.
From Matthew: I am glad you posted this, it seems like most are making nega-tive posts about others and their religions. We don't have to agree with them, but the best way to understand is to listen. And the best response is love. And like Brian said, this is the path to peace.
From James: It is all about acceptance and co-existing together as a world. Early on we are taught to be part of a team and to dislike the other teams. If this world fails, then we all fail.
With all the negativity that is being spun when people bring up diverse topics, it warmed my heart to receive such positive responses. My great Aunt Flor-ence once quoted to me “the pen is mightier than the sword.” She would have been happy to see how we “slayed” this topic.
Have a wonderful upcoming Summer!
