From the Board of Trustees
by Jeff Asher, Trustee

A Natural High!

These days with fake news aplenty, it is nice to get back to something that feels, well, “natural and real.”
As an antidote to the immigrant bashing that has been going on for years, I have organized the Pawling Rotary Club to host again the Naturalization Ceremonies at Pawling’s Lakeside Park. This Naturalization Ceremony, where new citizens take their Oath of Allegiance, is under the direction of NY’s Dutchess County Clerk, Brad Kendall. (Brad is also a member of the UU of Poughkeepsie where I met him.)

Our latest ceremony was held on April 4th when 50 new citizens from 28 countries were LEGALLY naturalized. This is truly the stuff of tears and tissues! Pawling Rotary welcomed over 300 attendees with refreshments, translators, a place for kids to play before the ceremony and a special area to take photos as mementoes. Representatives from the League of Women Voters and the Courts for Jury Duty were there to sign up the new citizens. There was also a special connection to our local youth. Forty students from the Pawling School District and Trinity-Pawling Prep School were there after studying about the path to citizenship in their Social Studies classes.

I have included two of the many photos taken. The first shows the new citizens raising their hands to take the Oath. Then, just afterwards students threw several vinyl globes into the air to celebrate. (I got the idea from our March, Multi-Gen Sunday Service.)

Becoming a US Citizen is expensive and time-consuming. Today, citizenship has a special value of safety since visa holders are under attack by our government.

It could not be more “natural and real” to remember our own roots since we are all immigrants who are quite fortunate to be citizens of this great nation.