In the Community from ACEH April 7

 

April 8 ACEH Program Will

Focus on "Hearts in Harmony:

Finding Friendships

Across Imagined Barriers"

 

When you think about the friendships you have, are they almost entirely among people "just like you"?  Are your friends all about the same age, or only from your ethnic or racial background, or in a similar kind of family situation?  If you are a person of faith, are your friends all members of the same religious organization? 

 

On Friday, April 8, the Alliance for Cultural and Ethnic Harmony (ACEH) will look at the dynamics of friendships, the barriers we imagine would keep us from making new friends, and what we miss out on by not knowing people who are different in some way from ourselves.

The meeting, "Hearts in Harmony: Making Friends Across Imagined Barriers," is open to the public and begins at 7 p.m. at Faith Christian Reformed Church, 85 West 26^th Street (across the street from Holland Hospital), Holland. 

 

 

Rev. Angela Taylor Perry, pastor of reconciling ministries at the church and vice president of ACEH, will lead the meeting. She has developed Hearts in Harmony to pair people of differing backgrounds. Over a year's time, they meet at least monthly and work with guidelines and questions to get to know each other. 

 

"Hearts in Harmony partners learn so much from one another," Rev. Taylor Perry said.  "They create real friendships that benefit them, their families, and the wider community. They may find many similarities but they also begin to understand another person's culture, life situation, and experiences in a world that's different from their own."

 

ACEH president Marvin Younger said, "We hope many people from the community will come on April 8 to learn more about Hearts in Harmony and consider being a part of it in the future."

 

For more information, call 392-5086. ACEH was founded in Holland in 1999 to work for cross-cultural understanding, appreciation for diversity, justice, and equal opportunity. The website is www.harmonyalliance.org

 

NOTE: The Center for Women in Transition needs personal care items and household cleaning products for the May baskets it assembles and gives to clients.  Please bring something to the April 8 ACEH meeting and we'll take everything to CWIT.