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Building community, sharing hope, and standing for justice since 2004

Upcoming Events

Please join us for any of these upcoming ESTHER and related events!

  • To learn more about a particular event, click on its title
  • To see the complete ESTHER calendar in a new tab, click here
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - 10:00am - 11:30am
ESTHER Finance Committee Meeting Zoom Meeting
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm
ESTHER Immigration Task Force Meeting Zoom Meeting
Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 9:00am - 1:00pm
Rising Together: Amplify Love! Fox Valley UU Fellowship, 2600 E Phillip Ln, Appleton
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 - 3:00pm - 4:30pm
ESTHER Communications Committee Meeting Zoom Meeting
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 - 7:00pm - 8:30pm
ESTHER Environmental Justice Task Force Meeting Zoom meeting

Join us for the Black Experience

Date: 
Saturday, March 16, 2024 - 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: 
201 E Birch St Black Creek, WI 54106

The Black Exerience FlierCome experience a preview of our African Immersion, planned and led by ESTHER’s new organizer, Miracle Wheeler.

A fun-filled educational day with authentic African American Food, African Drumming lessons, African dance tutorials, crafts for the kids, face painting, a powerful movie clip on Black History, Q&A session, hair-braiding experience and much more.

Register Here

Free Admission. Donations Accepted. Proceeds fund ESTHER’s African Immersion.

Rising Together: Amplify Love!

Date: 
Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 9:00am - 1:00pm
Location: 
Fox Valley UU Fellowship, 2600 E Phillip Ln, Appleton

Rising Together: Amplify Love!

Rising Together flierDo you want to become more connected to your community? Do you wish you could share your values with more clarity and impact? Do you want to create local impact to amplify the power of love in your community? Then join us for Rising Together: Amplify Love!

Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 9 am to 1 pm
Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
2600 E Phillip Lane,
Appleton, WI 54915

Breakout sessions include:

  • Getting Out of the Echo Chamber
  • Actually Working Across Difference: Strategies for Genuine Engagement
  • Entering the Fray of State Legislative Advocacy 
  • Local Engagement: How Working with County, City, and Town Entities Can Create Change
  • Telling Love's Story: Crafting Powerful Messages for Change

The event is free, open to the public (but  please register to help us plan!), and includes light breakfast, snacks, lunch, and childcare.

Click Here to register now!

2024 Bread for the World Offering of Letters—Call for Participation

2024 Offering of Letters

Bread for the World

ESTHER leaders Deb Martin, Nancy Jones, and Connie Kanitz bring the Bread for the World letter writing campaign to each of their faith communities every year. This year’s focus is the Farm Bill, which is the nation's most important national food system legislation.  It is critical to the work of ending hunger at home and abroad. The letter (sample attached) features provisions we wish to see included in the bill.

We invite ESTHER friends to join us in writing letters to your US legislators or share info with your church during the month of March. Please watch the short video (under 3 minutes) included in this story to find out more about how you can participate in this important letter-writing campaign. Check contact info in the short video for assistance. Additional information found at https://www.bread.org/offering-letters/.

Click on the image to the left or watch at this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKUp6_Pqq9o

Oh, No! Not Critical Race Theory!!

Watch Professor Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin-Madison, speak on the distortions and misinformation currently being spread about Critical Race Theory and how to challenge and undo these. See her presentation, available on YouTube here, or click on the image below.

Professor Ladson-Billings’ talk was hosted by The Creating Beloved Community team of Taking a Faithful Stand for Equity on November 14, 2023.

ESTHER’s 2023 Yearbook Available for Viewing/Download

ESTHER 2023 Yearbook CoverESTHER’s 2023-24 Yearbook is now available for online viewing or download, along with a limited number of printed copies. The book was produced under the editorial leadership of ESTHER member Jill Smith with significant contributions from other ESTHER volunteers and ESTHER communications coordinator Kayla Nessmann.

Inside you’ll find…

  • descriptions of ESTHER’s goals, values and accomplishments, including the work of each of its task forces and work groups
  • a tribute in memory of Jill Smith, for whom the yearbook was a labor of love
  • many photographs
  • profiles of our annual award winners
  • feature essays about ESTHER people making a difference in the Fox Valley and beyond.

The yearbook also contains notices and ads sponsored by many friends of ESTHER in business, non-profit, and government circles.

The 2023-24 yearbook is available online now for you to review, or to download and read at your leisure (PDF). Click on the cover image (to the left), or use the button below to check it out.

View ESTHER Yearbook

We are enormously grateful to our financial sponsors, who are listed in the book. Please show your appreciation for their support of ESTHER by patronizing them or participating in events they sponsor.

End the Lockdowns Community Forum - Green Bay

Date: 
Thursday, March 7, 2024 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Location: 
Mulva Library St. Norbert College 400 3rd Street De Pere WI 54115

WISDOM and Partners Host End the Lockdowns Community Forum in Green Bay

End the Lockdowns Community Forum flierWISDOM, ESTHER and JOSHUA host End The Lockdowns Community Forum on Thursday, February 22, 2024 from 6:00-8:00PM at St. Norbert College (Mulva Library) 400 3rd Street, De Pere, WI 54115.

Join us to meet Green Bay elected officials, learn about WISDOM’s End the Lockdowns Campaign and provide input on transformational justice priorities in Wisconsin. This event follows successful events in Milwaukee and Madison with elected officials.

WISDOM’s End the Lockdowns Campaign seeks to:

  • Raise awareness on the detrimental effects of lockdowns to people who are incarcerated in Wisconsin’s prisons and their loved ones.
  • Build build grassroots support urging Governor Tony Evers to use his authority to take action.
  • Close prisons, reduce the prison population, and reinvest spending into community resources that decrease crime and strengthen communities.

Register to attend the event in advance at https://bit.ly/greenbayendthelockdowns. If you would like to participate in car-pooling from the Fox Cities to attend this event, please leave a message at https://esther-foxvalley.org/tjtf.

Come for “Makin’ Cake,” Come Back for “Truth Evolution”

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Come for “Makin’ Cake,” Come Back for “Truth Evolution”

Dasha with cake onlyThrough a special partnership with the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, the LWV Appleton-FoxCities has two great opportunities for members and communities to delve into race, culture and bias issues in creative and engaging ways.

Both are the work of writer, performance artist, curator and facilitator Dasha Kelly Hamilton. She also is a former Artist of the Year and Wisconsin Poet Laureate, so she packs plenty of energy into the presentations — and brings the audience into the creative process along with her.

  • The first presentation, “Makin’ Cake” (February 27), is part of the PAC’s Spotlight Series and requires ticket purchases.
  • The second program, “Truth Evolution” (February 28) is made possible through a collaboration between the PAC and the League, with support from Community First Credit Union. While attendance at “Makin’ Cake” is not required to participate in “Truth Evolution” it is recommended. There is no cost to attend “Truth Evolution,” altthough registration is requested.
  • Both presentations will take place in the Kimberly-Clark Theater at the PAC.

More information, including links for ticket purchase and registration “below the fold.”

Taking a Faithful Stance on Equity: Part 2 of American Indian Studies

Date: 
Tuesday, January 9, 2024 - 6:30pm
Location: 
Zoom webinar

Tuesday, January 9, 6:30 pm Taking a Faithful Stance for Equity presents the second part of a two-part Zoom series:
Wisconsin’s curriculum requirement on American Indian studies. WISDOM is part of the coalition that presents this series. 

                                                         Register here

David O’Connor is the featured speaker.  O’Connor is from the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe) in northwestern Wisconsin. In January 2012, he became the American Indian Studies Consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). In David's role at DPI, he supports school districts’ efforts to provide instruction on the history, culture and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin's American Indian nations and tribal communities, often referenced as Wisconsin Act 31, and the education of Native American students.

ESTHER Welcomes Acienda Yang as Office Administrator

ESTHER is pleased to welcome Acienda Yang to ESTHER in her role as Office Administrator. A graduate of UW-Oshkosh with a Criminal Justice major, Acienda has strong experience as an administrator and coordinator in local and state government, and brings a bright spirit as well as amazing energy, focus and can-do spirit to her work. She is a certified Peer Support Specialist and is bilingual in Hmong and English.

Hello everyone!

My name is Acienda Yang and I am ESTHER’s new Office Administrator.

I love to hike, travel, cook, karaoke, and spend time with my family. In addition, I also have a pet turtle named Autumn whom I love very much. One of my goals is to travel out of the country once a year to learn different cultures and to try new things! If you have any recommendations for places to visit, let me know!

I am excited to be part of ESTHER and cannot wait to learn and be part of the change that is truly needed.

ESTHER’s office administrator role is part-time (about 12 hours per week) and conducted mostly remotely. To contact the ESTHER office, call +1 920-830-8083 or email office@esther-foxvalley.org