December 9, 2021
Today was a busy day which is good because it gives me something to write about! Let me first provide some background for two of my activities today. The Muncie community has established a committee to help Afghan refugees transition to the community. There are several components of the Muncie Afghan Refugee Resettlement Committee (MARRC) such as finance, housing, education, transportation, etc. I am part of the education committee. I volunteered to teach in the ESL program. We have been meeting online Zoom to plan the classes. My first time to meet the students will be tomorrow morning. I will be working with women who are preliterate in both English and their home language.
The other part of this diary concerns Vietnam veterans. In general, when the veterans returned to the United States, they received a very mixed reaction. About half of them have never contacted Veterans Affairs to collect benefits. At times, a group will attempt to reach out to the veterans and thank them for their service as well as to acknowledge the difficulties they had upon their return. The Indiana Daughters of the American Revolution has a book distribution project, funded by Lilly, titled A Time to Honor, whose audience is people who served between 1955 and 1975. Muncie’s DAR Chapter is involved in 2 book distributions. One occurred on December 7, in Yorktown at the American Legion post and one on December 9, at the Selma American Legion.
8:00 Woke up and got set for the day.
9:00 Started to write the diary because I knew it would be a busy day and I’d be tired later.
Between 9 and 11, I did some preparations for the afternoon because I was the person who organized our DAR book distributions.
At 11:00, I linked onto a Zoom meeting of the Advisory Board of the BSU Peace Center. We have had active discussions this fall as to how we can support our new Afghan community members. It has been interesting to see how quickly the community has organized to help the new families. This meeting spent quite a bit of time planning a spring conference for BSU students interested in peace studies.
At noon, I ate a quick lunch and then drove to the Albany Glass Museum for the monthly DAR meeting. The museum was interesting as an example of historical preservation from the gas boom in this area around 1900. The meeting lasted until 2:30. The part I like best about DAR is when we work with community events, such as the veterans.
Following this meeting, I drove to the Selma American Legion and helped set up for the Vietnam Veterans’ book presentation. A DAR member from the state committee was on site and conducted the individual book presentations. Twenty veterans received books and expressed thanks to the committee. Several said they had never had anyone tell them “Welcome Home” until today. This event was scheduled from 4-7PM.
By the time we packed up and I drove home, it was after 8:00. I ate some leftovers from the refrigerator and just relaxed in front of the tv. It was a good day and I felt like I had been involved in some meaningful activities.