John Lennon Night to Support War Reparations in Iraq

Again this year, Veterans For Peace Chapter 104 is calling attention to those who suffer in the aftermath of war, people whose lives were caught in the crossfire and now endure a multitude of ills. We are especially mindful of our nation’s vile visitation on the people of Iraq, a war cooked up under pretenses (weapons of mass destruction, yellow cake uranium, etc.) that destroyed not only humans but human necessities, such as fresh water. So we will again dedicate John Lennon Night—the evening of December 8, the anniversary of peace activist John Lennon’s death—in support of the Iraqi Water Project. This humanitarian outreach is organized by our colleagues in the global network of Veterans For Peace.

Read the text of a message our chapter’s secretary, Lynn Kinkade, received this week from the IWP Committee:

Hello Lynn,

On behalf of the IWP Committee, I thank you for your inquiry. We have high hopes of reviving and continuing the project. We have appreciated your fundraising efforts for us over the years, and hope that it continues.

I am working with an Iraqi family here, emigrated to Lowell, MA over ten years ago. Thaer Alhumaiden, our associate here, has family in Iraq, to which he travels to see every year or so, even though covid has suspended a lot of activity and travel in the last few years.

Thaer located a girls' school in Karbala, to which we donated three water purification units, locally installed and sourced. They were grateful to receive them (this was two years ago) and are successfully using them. Although the units are small, producing only 8-10 gallons of purified water a day, they have installed storage tanks, which allow daily use of the water for drinking, and have installed a drinking fountain.

The project has another request in the works, a water purification station for four households, using filtered river water from a nearby source, in a remote village near the Tigris River.

We have close to $5000 available in our account to make an initial purchase, but need additional money for filter changes (every 3 months) and maintenance costs. And we are looking for additional "affordable" projects to continue our work.

The Iraq Water Project is over twenty years old, and is VFP's longest running project, to date. We hope that the project can stay funded and useful. Our compatriots in Iraq are extremely grateful and see our relationship as an enduring commitment to help restore the wounds of war, and as a testament to the members of Veterans For Peace who continue their generosity, in supporting this legacy project.

Many thanks for inquiring and helping.

--Lee Vander Laan, Project Chair, IWP
The Iraq Water Project Committee, VFP

CC: IWP Committee

John Lennon Night will take place at Bokeh Lounge in Evansville’s Arts District. Among the artists who will bring their voices to the event: Singer-songwriters Randy Pease, John Michael O’Leary, and Art Woodward; acoustic performers Thom and Devin Brown, John Wright, Gibson & Pirro, Jon Lutz & Steve Seitz; eclectic ensembles Bob’s Yer Uncle, Touch of Grey, Panacea; plus a porridge of poets—Jonathan Baker, Snow Matthews, Tim Herdink—and assorted soapbox luminaries, ranters, and recanters. Plus… a rumor of musical stylings by Larry Miller, founder of John Lennon Night.

Don’t be a nowhere man. We’ll see you at John Lennon Night.

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Download the 2022 JLN Poster.
(Design courtesy of Ed Scharf)