With help from ESTHER, a group of Latino soccer players is at last able to use public soccer fields and other facilities at Wittman Park in the Town of Menasha without being subjected to harrassment and racial slurs, and without indifference from Town officials. Gustavo Nunez, one of the players who took a lead role in seeking a resolution to the issue, stated, “We want to thank you and all of the people you worked to figure this situation out with us. After many years of playing with the fear of harassment and removal from the fields, we can finally say that we have been playing in peace this last month and since the beginning of your help.” ESTHER is proud to have worked with these courageous players to ensure that their voice was heard. Together we are encouraged by our collective action to make the community, particularly our public parks, more welcoming to all.
Give Voice to Your Values; Take the ESTHER Bus to Madison on April 29!
Come with us on the bus to Madison on April 29, 2015. We will join people of faith from all over Wisconsin to learn, be inspired, and advocate for justice. We will gather at Bethel Lutheran Church just off the Capitol Square, to hear stirring speeches by Hannah Rosenthal, president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and Rev. Everett Mitchell, pastor of Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church in Madison, and Community Relations Director for UW-Madison. After educational workshops and lunch, we will march to the Capitol to meet with our legislators and discuss prison reform, driver’s cards for immigrants, and public transit access and equity.
The Joint Finance Committee hearings have been announced. They receive testimony towards the pending State Budget. WISDOM and its affiliates (like ESTHER) always have a strong presence at such events. We’ll be lining up people to make statements as well as people to stand in support.
Please mark your calendar for the hearing near you! Talking points and more detail will follow.
These are the hearing dates and locations of Joint Finance Committee hearings:>
March 18 at Brillion High School. Brillion is between Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago in Calumet County
March 20 at Alverno College in Milwaukee
March 23 at the University of Wisconsin-Barron County. Located in Rice Lake, 60 miles north of Eau Claire
March 26 at Reedsburg High School. Reedsburg is just west of Baraboo
The hearings are scheduled to run from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. but could vary slightly according to each venue's availability.
Join WISDOM in our work for justice across Wisconsin!
We who seek to express our faith values in political action understand that the state budget is a moral document. It determines how our shared resources are used. Our state budget's priorities testify clearly to our collective commitment to our values.
Do we believe that we ought to provide every citizen with opportunities for a decent life?
Do we believe that our criminal justice system ought to be humane and try to rehabilitate?
Do we believe that our communities should not exclude people because they are poor or handicapped?
Disappointed ESTHER and Sikh leaders after an attempt to meet with Menasha Mayor Don Merkes
September 17, 2013
The City of Menasha has assessed property taxes on the Fox Cities Sikh Temple on Midway Road. As a community of faith, the Temple is exempt from property taxes.
ESTHER and leaders of the Sikh community have been working quietly together for more than a year to persuade the City of Menasha that the taxes were imposed in error, and to have them rolled back. So far, the city has not found a way to rectify its error. Just today, the mayor refused to attend a meeting on the matter that had been confirmed as recently as last Friday.
Property taxes were levied on the Sikh Temple in error, and the City of Menasha is responsible for the error. The city can take action to fix it.
Please call Menasha Mayor Don Merkes's office right away (920-967-3600) to ask that this issue be resolved promptly and fairly.
ESTHER’s immigration task force has been calling for several years for immigration policy that is consistent with our faith values, keeps families together, provides a pathway to citizenship for immigrants already here, and expands legal avenues for workers to enter the U.S. Now that an immigration reform bill has been introduced in the Senate, it’s time to get behind the effort to pass it and then to implement it in a humane way. Humane immigration reform has many enemies, and this is no time for us to be complacent.
Want to learn how to make a big difference in your community? Not sure where to start? Be part of this impactful and effective 2-day leadership training.
When: 5:00-9:00 PM on Friday, May 3rd and 8:30 AM-3:00 PM on Saturday, May 4th
Where: First Congregational UCC; 724 E South River St, Appleton
Cost: $25 (includes Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast and lunch)
More than 900 People of Faith United for Justice from all around Wisconsin – including 80 from the ESTHER – traveled to Madison on March 14 to bear witness to the importance of social justice and to ask our legislators to support 1) funding for treatment instead of prison (11x15); 2) public transit; and 3) accepting federal funds to expand Medicare.
The Wisconsin League of Women Voters has endorsed a central aim of WISDOM’s 11X15 campaign—increased use of alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders. In a memo sent to LWV leaders state-wide on March 8, Executive Director Andrea Kaminski asks League members to contact their state Senators and Assembly Representatives to urge expansion of Treatment Alternatives and Diversion funding, instead of increased funding for jails and prisons.
Increasing Access to Transportation: 
With help from ESTHER, a group of Latino soccer players is at last able to use public soccer fields and other facilities at Wittman Park in the Town of Menasha without being subjected to harrassment and racial slurs, and without indifference from Town officials. Gustavo Nunez, one of the players who took a lead role in seeking a resolution to the issue, stated, “We want to thank you and all of the people you worked to figure this situation out with us. After many years of playing with the fear of harassment and removal from the fields, we can finally say that we have been playing in peace this last month and since the beginning of your help.” ESTHER is proud to have worked with these courageous players to ensure that their voice was heard. Together we are encouraged by our collective action to make the community, particularly our public parks, more welcoming to all.
Come with us on the bus to Madison on April 29, 2015. We will join people of faith from all over Wisconsin to learn, be inspired, and advocate for justice. We will gather at Bethel Lutheran Church just off the Capitol Square, to hear stirring speeches by Hannah Rosenthal, president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and Rev. Everett Mitchell, pastor of Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church in Madison, and Community Relations Director for UW-Madison. After educational workshops and lunch, we will march to the Capitol to meet with our legislators and discuss prison reform, driver’s cards for immigrants, and public transit access and equity.
Disappointed ESTHER and Sikh leaders after an attempt to meet with Menasha Mayor Don Merkes
ESTHER’s immigration task force has been calling for several years for immigration policy that is consistent with our faith values, keeps families together, provides a pathway to citizenship for immigrants already here, and expands legal avenues for workers to enter the U.S. Now that an immigration reform bill has been introduced in the Senate, it’s time to get behind the effort to pass it and then to implement it in a humane way. Humane immigration reform has many enemies, and this is no time for us to be complacent.
More than 900 People of Faith United for Justice from all around Wisconsin – including 80 from the ESTHER – traveled to Madison on March 14 to bear witness to the importance of social justice and to ask our legislators to support 1) funding for treatment instead of prison (11x15); 2) public transit; and 3) accepting federal funds to expand Medicare.
