The aim of the "Esperanza Fund" is to meet the significant needs of the families of Canada's secret trial detainees, four women and 11 children who, as a result of Canada's anti-democratic refugee, immigration, and "security" policies, face poverty and lack access to the kinds of summer camps, educational and cultural programs my mother enjoyed as a result of another generation's struggle. The fund is in honour of Deborah Cass Behrens, who recognized that we are not placed on this earth merely to survive; that life should be a celebration of laughter, of theatre and dance and song, of play, of freedom from fear.
To contribute, write a cheque to Homes not Bombs and mail it to PO Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto, ON M6C 1C0. (Note on your cheque in the memo space this is for the Esperanza Fund.)
We can issue charitable receipts for donations over $100, but to do so you MUST contact us first for details on how to make those arrangements (at tasc@web.ca OR AT (416) 651-5800).
"There
will come a time, I know
When
People will take delight in one another
When
each will be a star to the other
And
when each will listen to their neighbour as to
music.
The
free people will walk upon the earth
People
great in their freedom.
They
will walk with open hearts
And
the heart of each will be pure of envy and
greed
And
therefore all of humanity will be without
malice
And
there will be nothing to divorce the heart from
reason.
Then
life will be one great service to humanity!
Our
figure will be raised to lofty heights
For
to free people all things are attainable.
Then
we shall live in truth and freedom and beauty
And
those will be accounted the best who will the more widely embrace the
world with their hearts
And
whose love of it will be the profoundest;
Those
will be the best who will be the freest
For
in them is the greatest beauty
Then
life will be great
And
the people will be great who live that life."
From "Mother," by Maxim Gorky's Mother
For background on how and why the fund came together, click HERE