Etta sent out this letter:

 

---

 

Hi dear friends who love the Thomas Merton Center,

 

This is a plea for money! The activist resource center that

you know and love in Pittsburgh is having severe financial crisis!

 

A lot of this has to do with the fact that the TMC had to replace the

fire escape that was deteriorating. This in itself was a pretty penny and

in the process it left holes in the back brick wall which lets the water in.

Yes all the water thats been falling falling falling

is falling through the center.

So water has been pouring in creating damage!! If you

have been at the center

lately you have seen the huge hole in the kitcen

ceiling and its getting worse!

Besides that there are numerous other building repairs that need done.

 

Is a group your involved in a project of the Merton

Center and you are not a member?

 

Have you ever had an event or meeting at the center?

Do you read the NewPeople on your lunch brake? Do you

support the work of the 30 projects that use the

resources of the merton center? The Africa Project-

addressing child soldiers in Uganda, Book 'EM - supplying

quality education material to prisoners, New Voices

Pittsburgh- women of color for reproductive justice, many

Anti-War groups and Demilitarization efforts, Haiti

Solidarity Committee, Save Our Transit,....the list goes

on and on!

 

The TMC is currently working on a few grants but if approved that money wont

come for a great while. In addition to seaking

individaul donations, we are imploring people to become

members. It costs 25 dollars for one year! That is so

cheap!

You can make your check out to Thomas Merton Center

and mail your check to the TMC 5125 Penn Ave Pittsburgh

PA 15224 or donate online

http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org

 

And seriously, if you got more money then you need

right now, please consider making

a big donation. You would be supporting many

different activist groups all over the city and

in doing out supporting all of thier causes.

 

Thanks and Love Love,

etta cetera

proud member of the TMC

 

 

---

 

I (Stuart) think Free Ride should try to help out, but I'd like to know more about the specifics of the problems they're having and how we can be most effective.

 

I (jessica) agree with Stuart. How do we find out what's going on? I don't know much about their finances. I'm curious whether this is a result of unexpected and urgent building expenses (what it sounds like) or some larger financial instability. I could walk down and talk to Edith to try and get a better picture of what's going on and what they need if that seems appropriate.

 

I (shaun!) asked Etta at the conference to give me some specific numbers about the TMC projects, so that we would potentially be able to look at a particular project and fund it. She got me these number this afternoon... and they aren't just asking for nickels and dimes, to say the least. This is kind of serious stuff. To answer Jessica's question - apparantly a lot of the problems have stemmed from some really major repairs they've had to do involving massive roof leaks. I don't know the details, but I do think that if they're looking for this kind of money they need to start putting the word out a lot stronger...

etta

 

I (jake) think it would be OK to finance the phone system. but perhaps we could also donate some effort from our end make this both cheaper for freeride (i'm not opposed to giving $2500, tho) AND deliver a better/easier to use phone system to the TMC. i'm thinking that we have contact within freeride and outside freeride with some pretty technically knowledgable folks who might know of/be able to research newer (perhaps computer/intranet based?) phone systems that are available for a place the size of TMC. maybe we could work with them on this? or perhaps it's just best for them to get the financial backup from us and simply go get what they need. either way, if the coffers still look like they did when i left for philly, the phones would be a dent but not an enormous one. also, i agree with shaun that they should yell loud about this if they need that kind of cash...

 

 

Stuart: More information from Kevin at the TMC:

 

 

Stuart.....sorry I missed your call today but now perhaps, I can answer your questions.

 

Etta, who is very dedicated to the Center like myself and others, thought it might be a good idea to contact Free Ride. I had tried to contact someone there about two weeks ago about a raffle prize for the annual dinner but somehow my message didn't get through.

 

We are in the process of contacting all of our supporters, our projects, general public and the press to make folks aware of this crisis situation. All this and getting ready for our annual dinner and thirty-fifth anniversary celebration is quite overwhelming as you can imagine, but I'm confident things will work out. Etta has made inroads to folks to let them know what's going on.

 

Anyhow....the Center is going through a financial crisis right now and we have immediate needs to repair our buildings, get a new or used phone system and fix our computer networking issues.

 

How we got into this situation is beyond me but now we have to act immediately to fix the problems. I have inherited this stuff so I'm being patient and not freaking out. In addition to my role as Communications Director, I'm responsible for a lot of the financial management for our projects and the Center..

 

Our most immediate need is to get our roofs repaired. Our estimate of costs for that come to about $6,000. When our fire escape got demolished we suffered masonry repairs and now have damage to the inside of the buildings. We need to get new gutters and downspouts that is included in that total. We already have a bid on doing the inside work but if we can get this done by some capable volunteers that would be very helpful.

Next we have to replace our current phone system. We have had estimates that come to $2,500 which include installation. The current phone not only do not work properly but cause conflict with our computer network..

 

The computer network we have needs some serious work. We constantly have problems which should not happen if we have a more secure server and better wiring / routing in the building.. I have gotten a bid for new equipment with installation for around $2000. I have in the meanwhile gotten a donation of a server, two computers and a printer so that will bring down those costs.

 

As you can see these are the top priorities as far as the physical plant goes. We are also facing making payroll twice a month and paying "normal" bills like electric and phone bills. Something fell through the cracks, plain and simple.

Our board has elected a new treasurer and our finance/development committee has been meeting constantly over the past few weeks to come up with some immediate solutions.

 

That's it in a nutshell and I'd welcome the chance to communicate what I've just told you in an open forum with your members. We can always use skilled or unskilled laborers. Carpenters, roofers, plumbers and electricians. As I said before the challenge is great but I am confident we can get through this in solidarity. It would be a shame to see this community institution go down the tubes from neglect.

 

Please feel free to contact me with any additional questions or comments.

 

Peace,

 

Kevin

 

Kevin Amos

Communications Director

Thomas Merton Center

5125 Penn Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15224

 

www.thomasmertoncenter.org

 

kevin@thomasmertoncenter.org

 

 

Notes From Our Meeting With Kevin Amos on 8-23-2007:

 

Much of what Kevin wrote in the above message and what Etta worte initially was related again during the meeting so there will be some repetition here, but I'm going to leave as much of that out as I can.  Please look above for background on events that led to the current situation.  Also, if I left anything important out, please any of the other 3 folks who were there, make some edits...

 

In attendance: Kevin Amos, Stuart, Jessica, Morgan, Jake

 

Current state of the Merton Center:

 

• the kitchen is pretty much fucked, needs new ceiling, wall(s)
• the bathroom is also fucked, according to Kevin
• some floor repairs need to be made around the place (we didn't really discuss exactly where or what)
• interior repairs will total $1000 or more
• the roof, gutters and downspouts of both the TMC and the Thrifty buildings (right next door) need at least some serious maintenence if not out and out replacement - they currently have an estimate of $6000 for this work
• the new fire escape was questionably installed, but seems to be ok now
• their cordless 4-line office phone system is problematic:
  • the hardware seems to be deteriorating, sticky keys on handsets, etc...
  • it's cordless and runs at the same frequency as their wireless network, causing interference
• at a glance, they seem to have some decent computers and other hardware, we don't know how it's all set up, tho...

 

Things they are still working on/looking in to/etc:

 

• they don't seem to be sure what their building/business/non-profit/ANY KIND OF insurance situation is.  we asked about this in regard to getting the fire escape contractor(s) shitty work and damages reimbursed/repaired/something so that potentially no one would have to pay big out of pocket for it.  edith said they'd look into it.
• Kevin is getting some computer hardware donations from UPMC and another source that i forgot to note the name of.  it's not clear what all he's getting, we heard printers for sure and he's asking for new server hardware
• they don't want to borrow $ from a bank for all the stuff that needs done...
• ...they have gotten some donations already, but it doesn't seem to me like it has been a substantial amount...
• ...Kevin mentioned a building equity-type credit line/refinance type of situation could be possible, but i sort of also doubt that the TMC board would go for that if they don't even want a loan

 

Things We Suggested:

 

• the TMC board meets this monday (aug 27th), the following are some possibilities that we asked Kevin to relay to the board so we can get some feedback from them before our next mtg on what they could most use from us:
  • the possibility of either a cash donation or a zero interest loan from Free Ride to the TMC, contingent on FR Collective Council approval, acceptable repayment terms (in the case of a loan), and other etc.'s and blahblahblah's
  • organizing a volunteer labor crew/day(s?) to help with roof/interior/whatever repairs when that time comes
  • Stuart, Morgan and Jake (and M.Toups by proxy) offered to assist/be involved with technical improvments such as phone system and computers

 

Summary:

 

    We talked and toured and got a picture of what's fixed already (some stuff) and what still needs to be fixed (it's a sort of a lot).  We made some suggestions of possibilities for ways Free Ride could help and Kevin will bring those things to the TMC board next week.  After that, we hope to hear back from Kevin before our next general mtg. about what they would like from us.