On our February 8 ONE WILPF Call, Ciara Taylor of the Poor People's Campaign will discuss how WILPF members and branches can connect with this ally organization and engage in meaningful contributions to their planned May Days of Action from Mother's Day through Summer Solstice-May 13-June 21.

On January 16, the Trump Administration announced that it was withholding $65 million from UNRWA, the agency established by the UN General Assembly to provide direct relief and works programs for the 750,000-800,000 Palestinian refugees expelled during the war to make Palestine the state of Israel. Please take action to reject these cuts to education, health, and food security!

WILPF members organized quickly after the January 11th ONE WILPF Call where it was decided that WILPF branches would have a WILPF US presence at the Second Annual Women's Marches on January 20th. Quick action and organizing brought 17 participating branches opportunities for outreach and recruiting, including signs and bookmarks available for your use.

For a world of peace and freedom, mark your calendars and plan for spring actions for people and the planet!

The Golden Rule peace boat will be in Japan during July and August 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Helen Jaccard reports on what she heard and learned during her tour of Japan in December 2017 in preparation for this historic occasion.

Activists in Burlington, VT, won the right to have their F-35 ballot item about the siting of the jet bomber at the airport put on the ballot in March, and the story made the cover of the Burlington Free Press!

Our national Program Committee's 2018 meeting series is on the first Sunday of each month. Meeting time is 4:30 pm pacific, 6:30 pm central and 7:30 pm eastern. These hour-long planning calls will move our program strategic plan and actions forward via our issues committees, branches, and at-large members to meet our plan goals with measurable results.

"In a thousand days Yemen has become a land of blood and bombs," Middle East Committee co-chair Odile Hugonot Haber reports. Call your representatives to protest arms deals and end the inhumane blockade!

New letter writing parties aim to involve local supporters and members in discussion on important and relevant issues, and to turn around public opinion when the local news is getting it wrong.

The Pittsburgh WILPF branch is working with Veterans for Peace of Western PA, the Thomas Merton Center, and other groups to stop PNC Bank, a regional bank, from financing the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Several additional organizations have endorsed our campaign.

Please mark your calendars for the fourth Thursdays. Thanks to everyone who participated enthusiastically in our umbrella human rights and our racial justice workshops at the Chicago Congress, and to every member who has been working on these issues so passionately for so long!

The Greater Philadelphia Branch joined with the Weaver's Way Environmental Committee for an informative and enjoyable information session.

To mark the recent Second Annual Women's Marches, Ellen Feldman has graciously extended the offer to donate $12 to WILPF US for any one of our members to purchase her beautiful photo book We Who March.

WILPF Fresno, in collaboration with other environmental groups in the San Joaquin Valley, will host its third water forum: "H2O III: Distilling Sustainable Solutions," to be held on Saturday, March 10, 2018, at Fresno City College.

Don't forget to apply by February 15, 2018. The WILPF US Mini-Grant Program nurtures the work being done by Issue Committees and Branches. See guidelines, applications and details here.