Dear Kathleen.

At the last meeting I submitted in fact Del Glover helped me to provide in
Written copies many resolutions, which I began to submit. Then Mr. Jones
Unethically stopped me from presenting each of them saying that they would
be presented to various boards in the church to consider.  I have heard
nothing of these issues since. Therefore it is obvious to me that

Mr. Jones was not sincere in his statement. This is why I say he unethically
used his position to prevent these matters from coming before the church
body to consider.



Now he may have had what were noble reasons in his mind for doing so or he
may be arrogant and ignorant.  I have found that ignorance added to
arrogance creates an assortment of evil results. Like prejudice, malice,
inhumanity, injustice.



Therefore, each of those, which I did present and which have been 'swept
under the rug', I resubmit, the church already having copies of them.



And to clarify I will add one's that I am preparing now. They are "The
maintenance of a members lounge which had existed at Riverside for ages and
which few members have used recently because they do not realize there is
one.  And the security being unfriendly and counter productive in the
purpose of fulfilling the mission of our church in the past has been a
barrier to persons who would have used it from using it.



*1. Member's lounge.* There is a member's lounge in our church, which few
members are aware of. The guards at the front door being ignorant of this
lounge would resist any person who might choose to use that lounge. They
always say to a person

Who shows up here "What are you here for?" This makes the person who comes
in the door with needs and who is humble feel threatened.  They suddenly
realize they have come into an office building instead of a church. The
ideas of inclusion and friendliness are lost and an unfeeling
Institutionalized feeling becomes predominant.  It may be lost through the
renting out of floors of Riverside space.  If they tell the guards of needs
they are sent to the phone to call such and such minister and in most cases
the person calls who they are told to and are told that this is the wrong
office for such and are referred to another office and after calling for or
five such offices hardly able to handle all that office work being in need
and forlorn they finally get to a minister's answering service and are left
dangling on an unjust social Catch 22.  They have in fact been forsaken. Be
it resolved that: There is a members lounge in this church. It needs to be
maintained.  The guards are to be made aware of it and welcome the idea

that any member who wishes to do so may frequent that lounge to repose,
fellowship with other member's invite friends to meet with them there for
social discourse.  That lounge is to be open all the hours that the building
is open. All are to be welcomed at that space both members, visitors and
prospective members. *Be it resolved* that that space be identified and
publicly spoken of and made available for the use of whosoever will.

*2. Bridge housing ministry*

*Be it resolved* that the Riverside Church provide $102,000 for each of the
next four years to do the following things.



As a four year pilot project we would seek two individuals, they could be
church members, laypersons or clerics, they could be recently graduated
seminary students or retired or semi retired clergy persons.   For the sum
of $50,000 payment these persons would spend 25 hours a week each as
ombudspersons physically located here at the church to meet and greet who so
ever comes into our doors. To learn their need and to meet it with Christian
charity.  Persons who are here for church business and other reasons may be
directed to the guards who can help them to their location but those who
have come to visit the church they will engage in polite Christian
conversation and share with those persons what ever those visitors are
interested in learning about our church its history and its religions and
social justice and other missions.  They might show tour groups and parties
the building and do other things to help them feel loved and welcomed here.
They might set up and hold small mini services through the day  sharing what
we believe how we are inclusive and open to all and helping each person who
comes here to feel the Love Of God expressed through followers of Jesus our
Lord.  They also will meet and greet and aid the needs of watch and every
person who is in need.  They could act as an ombudsperson to help address
the need to the extent we are able to do so.  No person shall be turned away
at our (Jesus') door.  Of course some will come with needs beyond our
ability to meet. These persons needs will be written down and the whole
church on Sunday will be made aware of those needs by a reading of them form
the front of the church or through a printing of them in the bulletin or in
some way that empowers the need of that person to be met.  They also shall
refer persons to help form the community that they would be aware of.  They
will not send these forlorn persons to those places but provide means by
which they can get there and these ministers of God's Love and Justice will
write down the need and have a way to follow up on it to be sure the persons
needs are met or at least a real effort has been made to meet their needs.

These same two persons (at first) would also as a part of the contract agree
to rent using part of the $50,000 they receive an apartment of house with at
least three bedrooms in the NY metropolitan area.  2 or more homeless
persons would be provided bridge housing in that house or apartment.

It is a fact that in this area any homeless person who can get a place to
live may be able to get welfare.  Part of that is a housing allowance of
about $200 a month.

*One of the reasons for chronic homelessness is that there is no place for a
homeless person to go to live*.   *We would provide through these ministers
such a place for persons who can certify to us that they are free of
substance use. Substance means tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and illegal
drugs.  *

We are making a statement as a church that it seams reasonable for us to
think that any person who is homeless and has one of those habits is going
to have a much harder time overcoming their homelessness than someone who
does not have a need to spend money on such addictive things.  We want this
pilot program to succeed and see it as a means to use a little bit of our
money as leverage to create a path or a bridge for homeless persons get off
of the streets and have a place to lay their heads.

The current system is a catch 22. The shelters are run it seems as a means
to prevent the homeless from getting housing in some cases rather than as a
way to help them out of the streets. We hope to do that.   The needs of the
homeless and poor are the responsibility of the Church more than the
Government.   Jesus our Lord commanded us to help the poor and needy.



As we fill our apartments with persons who are homeless and substance use
free we can working socially with these persons who are now sharing a
residence with others on a Christian Love basis we can help a group of four
or five or six of these individuals rent a house of apartment in the area.
If they each have about $200 housing allowance, which they can only get if
they have a place to live, that can pay the rent for the new apartment they
would rent together.  Then space would open up in the places our ministers
are renting to take in more persons.



We will create a path or bridge that takes persons from the streets where
they ended up because they could not afford rent and we can get them into a
place and give them real hope for improving their lot.



The persons we help will be required to sign an agreement not to use
substance and to work to improve their situation and to hold uour church and
those dealing with them here harmless form civil or other suit and to
indemnify the church, the members, clergy and staff against any expense from
any action they might have a right to bring against them for any reason.



We will start this as a pilot program.  The payment could be made to the
person acting as the minister ( it may be a lay person doing this) or it
could be made to any profit or not for profit company agency or entity in
exchange for that persons service it will be a two year contract which may
be renewed but the whole purpose of this is to allow some one to serve God
not for financial gain but because they want to do some good.  They would
have enough to rent a nicer apartment but what ever they do not spend on an
apartment would be theirs to spend as they wish.  They must be responsible
for any taxes or other employment expenses.  And there is no health care or
other fringe benefits.  The extra $2,000 a year is to cover any
overhead expenses in starting and continuing this ministry.

The rents monies that each homeless person provides will go to the person or
entity we have contracted with to provide this service.  They might use it
to help get their renters into their own apartments. This is a practical and
workable way to use our money to provide a means for homeless persons to get
off the street and to get services.



It would be a bridge off of the streets.  It would be available to any
homeless person both members and non-members.  It might be the idea to have
one be male and the other female. If the ministers do it right they might
find they have the means and funds to open a second such apartment or home.
On the outskirts of the city there are houses for rent cheap. and some for
sale. It might be that after a small success we might buy a few houses for
this purpose and be even more frugal.



Be it resolved that we go ahead and authorize this and start the search for
the persons who could and would do this.



3. Help for Godsway in Ghana.  Our beloved Senior Minister Dr Forbes
at a  Space
for Grace meeting held last year before he retired made a promise from  the
pulpit (While preaching) that Riverside Church would help a person
named  Godsway
Sackey who lives in Ghana and who is in school learning to be a health  care
worker.  The promise was to help him with at least two years of his
schooling expenses.   They total $750 and $550.  However in a very Riverside
like manner  that promise has been prevented because of 'red tape' from
being carried out.   The leaving of Dr. Forbes shortly after making the
pledge and promise that we  would meet that need.  Then the Social Justice
Minister having passed away and an interim one coming and now a new one has
left Godsway in a predicament and a failure of any follow through by the
church.  Godsway did not have the money

to pay for this year (his final year's) tuition and was almost prevented
from continuing. However a woman named Gisela Becker who is 78 and who by
her self alone out of her pension money pays for and maintains an orphanage
in Ghana has loaned him the money he needed to continue.  It was due Oct 10
th 2007 before he started his final year.  She wired it to him at the last

minute because our social justice ministry never responded to the promise we
made.  Now Gisela Becker who using $300 of her own money each month pays for
the upkeep of that orphanage needs that money she loaned to Godsway back. We
made a promise and pledge through DR. Forbes to help Godsway.  Godsway
depended on that promise as being true and reliable.  Yet to the knowledge
of Richard Hobbs a member who submitted this resolution the church has not
honored that pledge.  We have repeatedly emailed the Social Justice ministry
on this but had no response.

* *

*Therefore we resolve *that the church Administer be directed to provide
payment of $750 To Godsway Sackey of Ghana Africa and another check for $550
to Gisela Becker to repay the loan she made to Godsway because he needed the
money then or would not have been able to finish school.  It also has come
to our attention that Godsway needs a notebook computer.  When Godsway

finishes school he will be going to rural African villages that have not
seen a doctor for a hundred years and he will be making medical assessments
of them.  This will begin a process of providing them with basic health
care.  Godsway needs the notebook computer to be able to do this work. He is
an orphan and he is poor. Much poorer than the average student that gets to

go to this school. Their parents are government workers or established and
they can buy a notebook computer but Godsway has no one to do this for him.
We resolve that the church staff be directed to find out exactly what sort
of computer he needs and either have one purchased here in the US and sent
to him or else have one bought for him in Ghana and provided to him.

We further resolve that communications be had between our church and The
Kintampo Health Training Center, In Ghana which Godsway is attending, and
that we consider ongoing support of that training program that Godsway is in
be provided to help further its cause. Perhaps a scholarship or maybe
knowledge of other poor students with good grades like Godsway who may need
a notebook or other help and that we provide that help to further Gods work
of providing justice to those poor persons of Ghana through improved medical
care. We further resolve that the church staff learn more about Gisela
Becker who at age 78 with $300 a month of her own money supports and
maintains an entire orphanage in Ghana and see how we might help her.

Particularly we are interested in how she does this at a low cost and that
we consider the possibility that ministry can be done at a low cost and
bring that idea into our ideas about how to run The Riverside Church in New
York City.



4. *Be it resolved* that there is to be a clearing up of our budget, which
it seems, does not honestly and accurately reflect the costs of renting
Church space. The overhead is not counted and the opportunity costs are not
reflected.   We need a budget that shows the true cost of maintaining each
foot of space and then a true reflection of the cost of salaries and other
expenses to rent and provide use of space. The current budget and budget
presentation does not do that. It puts some costs in one place and other

costs in other places. It makes it seem that we make much more profit from
renting space than we actually do.  It turns out that we have little if any
profit from these rentals and that they tend to maintain an
institutionalization ( that means a continuing on of status quo ) of the
church that has no benefits.  We want to know what the true absolute cost of
renting the space is.

We were provided with a huge endowment to make it possible for this space to
be maintained and used fro worthy purposes.  We should run our church costs,
clergy salaries and other operating expenses from our EMC giving and an
amount equal to that form the endowment income.  We get to use the space
free.  If we cannot use it then we should offer it to others who need to use

it. They should get the same social justice we get. We can use it free if we
have need of it and why shouldn't others also get to do so. So therefore be
it resolved that a true accounting of the costs of the overhead of space at
this church building be established.  And that if it proves that renting the
space is unprofitable or only slightly profitable that we then do the
following instead.

Let the proceeds from the endowment pay for all upkeep of the facilities.
Have our ministry and activities limited to an amount equal to what we give
as members matched with an equal amount from the endowment interest and any
grants and other outside funding we can raise.  Then let any extra amounts
of income from the endowment be used for the next four years be used to try
to

rebuild the endowment principle and that: Space at this building should be
free for whoever has good reason to use it. Religious use, use of the chapel
for funerals, the use of meeting space for classes for the seminaries and
any others needing with good cause to use the space should be free. The
space has already been paid for by Mr. Rockefeller.   If we as a church want
to pay high salaries [perhaps salaries that would not be so high if we had
to pay them ourselves (as every other church in the world has to do)] for
clergy and other things we should pay for them out of the money we the
members contribute and not from any other

source.

5.*Be it resolved*. We need and want Ministers, or member greeters, not
guards, to meet and greet each person with Christian Charity who comes into
our church building doors at all times we are open.

6*.Be it resolved*:  The tower at Riverside is a world famous place.  We are
making a big mistake to rent the three top floors to Columbia.  Every
tourist book in the world recommends that visitors come to Riverside to go
to the tower. It is the best place in the city to see the city and take a
picture of it ( from the top of the 30th floor.  It is not dangerous.  It
has been used for 70 years with no incident.,  It can be fixed up and made
safe for far less cost than it is taking to change the top floors to suit
Columbia's needs. If it were a good idea to rent those floors then amore
than on e bidder would have bid for it. But since they were the only ones

they had the strong hand and this is not a sign from God that renting that
space is the best use of it. It is a fact that thousands of tourists come to
our church each year and Many of them are turned off by the rude and un
Christ like atmosphere they met. Especially guards to say I am sorry but the
church is closed or the tower is closed. We could get a million tourists a
year at this church to see our building to buy food form us and certainly
half a million to see the tower go into it and relish this prize we own as
stewards fro GOD. We should be meeting and greeting these persons at our
doors with ministers and with friendliness and with Christian charity.  IF
we truly believe in what we preach ( but do not practice here) then we could
use this as a means to educate each visitor about our social Justice
position and our inclusion ideas.  We could have small services and share
with them.  We could probably take in funds of eight to ten million dollars
a year from tourists.  In addition some who would value our message would
send checks in support of our efforts to us after they got home.  We
unfortunately do not have forward thinking in our leadership it seems.  It
is possibly because we have let this church become institutionalized and we
have the wrong focus. Jesus should be the focus.  We should serve with love
every need that comes through our door. In addition properly addressing this
tourism idea would create many new jobs here for low skilled workers.
Providing
entry-level jobs to the historically and chronically unemployed populations
of Harlem is supposed to be one of the reasons for the existence of this
church in this location.  It was a dream of Mr. Rockefeller and Dr. Fosdick.
It is a dream that has never materialized.  Mr. Rockefeller gave the money.
Why shouldn't we humbly and in respect to the dead honor those dreams?

7. *Be it resolved:* Rental of space to Columbia.  We need to not rent that
space to Columbia.  If it was a good idea to rent the space more than one
bidder would have bid for it.  Members have read the budget and looked
through the smoke and mirrors of the budget that does not reflect the true
costs of the space and the costs of renting it.  Once you rent space the
renters become

the masters of that space.  They own it for all in tents and purposes.  We
are about to rent that space for less than it costs us to own and maintain
it.  However because there is a popular desire to rent it we are not looking
at the facts clearly.  Attempts to discuss this with leaders have failed to
allow a debate on the facts.  So we ask for a moratorium on the rental of
that space until we can hold a public discussion of the true costs of the
space and if we want to lose ownership of it so that we can continue to pay

salaries to a staff and clergy that may be higher than we can afford.

*I have been greeted here with a great disrespect for my person because I
can think for myself and I do not blindly follow others.  I think about what
is really happening. *

*Ignorance + Arrogance = Injustice**, **hatred, inhumanity, cruelty, wrong
doing, evil, prejudice, selfishness greed, Self-Righteousness and Unbelief
in God's Truth.  The Children of Satan who is the enemy of God.** **
**Understanding + Humility = Justice**, **goodness, mercy, kindness, Truth.
*

*Dear Jesus.  I realize I am a sinner.  Thank you for dying on the cross for
me.  I accept you today as my savior.  Cone into my heart and be my Savior
and my friend today. Amen. *