Tonight was a kickoff dinner and presentation for the 17th annual IFCO Pastors for Peace Caravan at Trinity United Methodist Church at the corner of 39th and SE Steele.
Fifty people attended a fabulous Cuban themed potluck and collected $737 for the trip in addition to supplies. Pastors for Peace has been collecting humanitarian supplies for the Cuban people for the past 17 years and delivering them to Cuba despite the US Government's embargo.
The caravan starts in 13 different US locations then winds it's way through the US gather support and supplies while educating the American people about the plight of Cuba, American policy and the Cuban Five prisoners.
Last year they took 125 tons of supplies to Cuba, however all electronics were seized by Homeland Security at the border. They have been fighting to get these computers back for the past year and just had them returned 1 month ago after threatening litigation. Many of the seized computers came from Portland's own Free Geek.
I believe the van/bus is leaving the church at 8am tomorrow making it's way to Mexico and ultimately on to Cuba.
You can get more general info by visiting this website:  http://www.ifconews.org/Cuba/caravan17/main.htm
If you'd like to help you can contact Mark, one of the local organizers, by writing him at
articleinsubversion at y a h o o dot com
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