The event will feature a brief presentation on U.N. reforms by Dr. Sue Ellen Charlton of CSU’s Political Science Department, and small group discussions will follow. Participants will be able to cast opinion ballots, and tallies of ballots will be sent to national offices of League of Women Voters and of the United Nations Association of the USA and to our members of Congress. Participants are encouraged to read background material on which the discussion is based, available at: (www.stanleyfoundation.org/GD-discussion.html)
Further material is at: (www.un.org/secureworld/)

The event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Larimer County and by the Northern Colorado Chapter of the UNA-USA. For more information, call 493-3857.

UN KNOWLEDGE SURVEYS

Be sure to bring your completed UN Knowledge Surveys to the September 19th meeting!

FUNDRAISING VIA FILM/THEATRE-GOING

A pleasurable method of raising funds for our chapter is being developed. It works like this:

1. The film series at CSU shows several international films each semester. Tickets for this series are $4.50 for non-students. If a sufficient number of tickets are purchased, a discount of $1.00 per ticket is given. Our hope is to purchase a block of tickets for the reduced price, sell them to ourselves for the regular price, and raise chapter funds with the difference. Tickets will be on sale at each of our general meetings along with information about the films to be shown.

2. Similar arrangements can be made with Bas Bleu, OpenStage and CSU theatre offerings.

These opportunities will be handled case-by-case and will depend on the interest shown in any particular play. A minimum number of 10 tickets must be purchased to receive a discount.

WORLD POVERTY CLASS

Sidna Rachid and Don Parks will facilitate a Front Range Forum class titled, 'A Look at World Poverty'. The class runs Sept. 21st -Nov. 9th and meets on Wednesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. We will be using Jeffrey Sachs book,' The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our Time" as a base. World poverty is an important issue, which we hope to examine from several points of view. Among the topics to be covered are the following: 1) Are we morally obligated to help the poor? 2) Why do some countries fail to thrive? 3) Has aid helped or hindered poor countries? 4) What changes have occurred in the Bolivian, Polish, Chinese and Russian economies? 5) Large deposits of natural resources - are they a curse or a blessing? 6) What are the UN's millennium goals? 7) How have capitalism, communism and dictatorships fared in raising standards of living? 8) Are current ideas about tackling world poverty workable? Each participant will be expected to facilitate the discussion of one topic for an hour. Although we're using Sachs' book, we want to discuss the issues by examining other points of view.
- Sidna Rachid

AARP CONFERENCE on Frauds and Scams will be held Oct. 20th, 8 a.m.- 1:30 p.m. at the Fort Collins Senior Center. All are invited to the free conference, which includes a continental breakfast and light lunch, but reservations should be made with the Senior Center. UNA-USA will have an information table with membership applications. For more information, contact Ken Tharp at 970-484-7033 or via email at: (kentharp@hotmail.com).

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE is Sept. 21st. Observe it early by attending the Sept. 19th meeting on UN Reforms!

ADVOCACY ACTIVITIES

Fort Collins Coloradoan: Sam Rachid arranged a meeting with the Editorial Board on July 20th, and he and Margaret Smith were well received. The Board seemed interested especially in the survey of knowledge about the UN, and in the planned essay contest for UN Day. Maury Albertson and Valerie Baker-Easley helped prepare for this meeting.

Rep. Musgrave's Loveland office: On July 21st Jonathan Hotaling of Rep. Musgrave's staff met with Eleanor Dwight, Ken Tharp, Dick Rush, Sam Rachid, and Margaret Smith. He was attentive and knowledgeable. The visit was an interesting and informative conversation.

Sen. Allard's Loveland office: A meeting is scheduled with one of his staff for Tues., Sept. 6th at 2:00 p.m. A report will be included in the next issue of the newsletter.

Meeting with CSU’s Director of Administrative Communications (in the President's office), Cara Neth was arranged by Hugh Sanborn and attended by Hugh, Ken Tharp, Sam Rachid, Eleanor Dwight and Margaret Smith. Ways and means of working with the University to bring in high-level speakers related to the UN were discussed. Kofi Annan's name came up--but no promises! Good ideas were contributed from all around the table, and groundwork was laid for an ongoing relationship.

YOUR BOARD has been working hard over the summer. Help is now needed from the membership for both ongoing and one-time jobs. Examples: For the Sept. 19th meeting on UN Reforms at Plymouth Church, three or four more discussion leaders are needed (short training provided.) For that meeting, as well as others, hospitality help is needed - bringing and serving refreshments; set-up and cleanup help as well. The Membership Committee would like help with phone calls, etc. Call Margaret Smith at 493-3857 to help with Sept.19, or Eleanor Dwight at 377-0863 to help with Membership. Thank you!

WRITE A LETTER to your favorite newspaper(s), Senator(s) or Rep. Musgrave. The Interdependent magazine, which is published bimonthly by the UNA, provides good background information, and there's more at the websites listed in this newsletter. Eleanor Dwight, Ken Tharp, and Margaret Smith have been published in July and August. Anybody else? Let us know at:(http://us.f541.mail.yahoo.com/ym/)Or e-mail To (MacSmith36@aol.com)

UN DAY ACTIVITIES

To celebrate UN Day, which is the 24th of October, the Northern Colorado chapter of the UNA has decided to sponsor an essay contest for seventh to twelfth graders on the topic, 'How Does the UN Help Children?’ The winner of the contest will receive a cash prize and will read the winning essay at the October meeting.

The Northern Colorado UNA chapter is also working with the Fort Collins Interfaith Council to provide church bulletin inserts for local churches. These inserts will highlight global progress made by the UN and portray what the world would look like without the UN.

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