Local campaign goes national

'Dear Sudan' grassroots relief effort started in Petaluma last year

July 27, 2005

By EMILY BRADY
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

In this digital age, where most of us are inundated with images and information as we race about our daily lives, it's the rare story that slides through the filters and hits you straight in the heart.

For Tim Nonn, a Petaluma-based editor and father of a 5-year-old son, it was the tale of a woman continents away whose name he will never know that touched him deep down to his core and propelled him into action.

The woman whose experience so moved Nonn was from the Darfur region of the Sudan, where an estimated 400,000 people have died due to violence, starvation, and disease and where more than 2.5 million have been displaced since 2003 when the Sudanese government started sponsoring militia attacks in the region, according to the Save Darfur Coalition in New York.

Since the atrocities began, Nonn had been avoiding the images of the suffering Sudanese that occasionally appeared in the news because as he put it, as a father himself, "it's pretty hard to look at images of starving kids."

But one day while watching television, he heard a reporter tell the story of a Sudanese refugee who had trekked through the desert for three days carrying her child in her arms. There was something about this woman's tale that Nonn related to. He recalls thinking how hard it is to occasionally tote his own young son through the local grocery store, never mind miles of endless desert in life-threatening conditions.

So he talked to his minister at the Petaluma United Church of Christ and decided to give a sermon last September asking for others to join him in doing something to help the people of Darfur.

"The only way we're going to end genocide and help the refugees is if we come together and respond as communities," explained Nonn.

The community did respond and the idea of "Dear Sudan, Love Petaluma" was born with the goal of raising enough money to feed the equivalent of the population of Petaluma -- about 55,000 -- for a day.

The grassroots campaign surpassed its original goal by about $4,000 and the idea caught on. Church World Service -- a humanitarian organization operating in Sudanese refugee camps that received the money raised in Petaluma -- hired Nonn for six months to oversee the expansion of the project.

On July 18, the campaign went national with the launch of the Web Site dearsudan.org.

"I really feel in my heart we're going to be able to save thousands of lives," said Nonn, who is currently running the project out of office space donated by the Elim Lutheran Church on Baker Street.

So far, he says he has received calls from 12 cities eager to launch similar fund-raising campaigns, such as "Dear Sudan, Love Eugene" and "Dear Sudan, Love Washington D.C."

Most of the callers have been religious leaders, ministers or rabbis. Participation in the campaign is not limited to the religious community, but interfaith leaders do seem to be providing leadership in the campaign, he added. The hope is to have 5,000 communities participating by end of the year.

The goal for all is raise money for food, medicine and clothing for the refugees, as well as educate the public here about the situation in the Sudan and encourage people to write their representatives in Congress to take action to stop the government-led attacks.

Nonn recognizes that a situation like a genocide and a refugee crisis in another part of the world can seem overwhelming to confront on the individual level, which is why he is trying to provide another way.

"When people see a way to help, people are really compassionate," he said.

(Contact Emily Brady at ebrady@arguscourier.com)

A CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Dear Sudan is in need of volunteers to help out in their Petaluma office. To find out how you can help, call Tim Nonn at 775-3242.

HELPING DARFUR

To find out more about the local organization visit www.dearsudan.org. Donations can be made with a credit card by clicking on the Church World Service box on the Web Site. Donations to the Dear Sudan campaign can also be sent to the Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, Ind. 46515.