Annual Report 2007-2008(color).pub - Town of South Windsor

Human Relations Commission
Janice E. Favreau
Chairperson
The Human Relations Commission held
regularly scheduled meetings with the exception
of July and August 2008. A work session
meeting was held in the month of March 2008.
Meeting Dates: The meeting date continued to
be the second Wednesday of each month at
6:30 p.m. The Commission meets in the Caucus
Room of the Town Hall.
Membership: Currently, the Commission
consists of nine members. All four of the
Democratic slots are filled, two Republican slots
are filled with unaffiliated positions are filled and
one Republican position is filled. Two
Republican positions remain open.
October 2007
For the fourth year in a row, the Commission
participated in the annual Family Awareness
Day Event sponsored by South Windsor Family
Awareness Day Planning Committee at the
South Windsor Community Center.
The Commission wrote, acted and produced its
Second Annual Diversity Puppet Show entitled,
“THE UNIVERSITY OF DIVERSITY”. The
purpose of the puppet show is to bring the
message of diversity to the town’s youngest
citizens. The Commission employs the use of
puppets to capture the
attention of the children
and adults alike. This
year’s theme focused
on how diversity can
come in many forms.
We explained to the
Charles Margolis, Vice Chair, in the
role of Officer Goodman, Janice
Favreau, Chair, in the role of
Professor English and John Pelkey,
Council Liaison, in the role of Sean
children that some
people think that the
only way someone
can be diverse is
when they have a
different skin color. In order to illustrate that
even the same “color” can be different, we use
lollipops. We explained that even if you have
three red lollipops, each can be a different
flavor, for example, one can be strawberry, one
can be cherry, and one can be watermelon - all
red - yet each one unique in its flavor! The
children understood that it would be pretty
boring if everyone were the same “flavor”!
November 2007
The Commission sponsored an event
commemorating the Gettysburg address and our
16 th President, Abraham Lincoln, by bringing
internationally-known Lincoln artist, Wendy
Allen, to the Town Council Chambers where she
presented her program entitled, “In Search of
America’s Soul”. Ms. Allen spoke about
President Lincoln and his lasting influence on
America. She discussed the battle at
Gettysburg and Mr. Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg
address. Ms. Allen discussed how
understanding Lincoln and the catastrophic
tragedy and subsequent rebirth of Gettysburg is
key to discovering the soul of America. She
invited two children, Brooklyn and Jailyn, from
the audience to “assist” her in creating a new
portrait of Lincoln. The lucky artists were the
daughters of 8 th Grade Social Studies Teacher,
Rob Murphy, of Timothy Edwards Middle
School.
December 2007
Event at Timothy Edwards Middle School
with Wendy Allen
Lincoln artist Wendy Allen in the Town Council
Chambers with co-artists, Brooklyn and Jailyn
Our November presentation of Wendy Allen
sparked the interest of Rob Murphy, an 8 th
Grade Social Studies teacher at Timothy
Edwards Middle School, especially since both of
his daughters were chosen by Ms. Allen as coartists
in her presentation during the November
event. Mr. Murphy then invited Ms. Allen to give
her presentation to the 8th grade students who
at a time were currently learning about Lincoln in
their social studies classes. He said as follows,
Town of South Windsor: Annual Report 2007/2008 | 43