Invitation from Pat Love/Funding/Wedding Show/Initiative-3/04

[Smart Marriages ®]

subject: Invitation from Pat Love/Funding/Wedding Show/Initiative-3/04

from: Smart Marriages®

- THE ESSENCE OF MARRIAGE: AN INVITATION FROM PAT LOVE
- NATIVE AMERICAN MARRIAGE: FUNDING STREAM
- LOCAL NBC AFFILIATES PLAN WEDDING SHOWS
- MORE ON PRESIDENT'S HEALTHY MARRIAGE INITIATIVE

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- THE ESSENCE OF MARRIAGE: AN INVITATION FROM PAT LOVE

This year's Smart Marriage Conference banquet theme is The Essence of
Marriage: A Celebration. I want to enlist your help in making it a very
special evening by inviting you to honor your husband or wife by sharing how
he or she has changed your life.  Ideally, this would be a surprise, sort of
like the old "This Is Your Life."  Your 3-5 minute tribute can be written,
spoken, sung, shown in video--be creative!  The presentation should address
"how your husband/wife has made you a better person" or "how marriage to
him/her has made you a better person."  Or "how he/she supported you through
a particularly hard time and what that has meant to you" or "how you have
faced hardship together and what that has meant to you" or "what the two of
you have learned together".  Of course it can include "I love you
because..." but the theme this year is that marriage as an institution not
only makes us healthy and wealthy--but wise!  We'll acknowledge the
challenges in marriage that make us better people, and how meaningful it is
to have a helpmate to go through life with. If you are single, your tribute
can be to a married couple that has inspired or helped you.   Please email
me at  pat at patlove.com with your ideas. - Pat Love

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- NATIVE AMERICAN MARRIAGE FUNDING

Here is a one-pager on ANA's Social and Economic Development grant
announcement.  Your chance to help strengthen marriage in the Native
American Community.
 
This year's SEDS announcement has refined healthy marriage language that
will provide a great opportunity for Tribes and Urban Indian centers to
strengthen their families and tribal communities.
 
If you have any questions with the link or the announcement itself, contact:
Jocelyn Rowe
Special Assistant to Chris Gersten
Administration for Children and Families
Ph.# 202-401-5467
 

> Administration for Native Americans
> Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS) for FY 04
> Cost Share:  20% match of the approved projects costs.
> 
> -  The Administration for Native Americans provides Social and Economic
> Development Strategies (SEDS) grants to further the goal of self-sufficiency
> for Native Americans.
> 
> _ Who May Apply:  Tribes, Urban Indian Centers, non-profit Native American
> organizations, consortia of Indian Tribes, etc.
> 
> -  The SEDS program announcement was published in the Federal Register on
> February 23, 2004.  The closing date is April 23, 2004.    Please see the
> following link to read the announcement:
> 
> http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a040223c.html  and then scroll down
> to "Children and Families Administration."
> 
> Or 
> 
> http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/  and then click on the link under "Open Funding
> Opportunities."
> 
> _ The SEDS announcement includes a priority for programs that promote healthy
> relationships to strengthen families.  Applicants may create projects that
> strengthen marriages through premarital counseling, mentoring activities, role
> model activities, relationships building skills, and conflict resolution
> activities.  
> 
> -  Up to $20 million is projected to be available for the SEDS grants in
> FY 04.  Each grant is expected to be between $25,000 and $500,000 over one to
> three years.  A non-federal 20% match for the approved project costs will be
> required.  Up to 140 grants will be awarded.
> 
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- LOCAL NBC AFFILIATES PLAN WEDDING SHOWS

> As we head into spring, many NBC affiliates are preparing their own versions
> of the Today Show's ³Plan the Wedding for a Lucky Couple², so we volunteered
> to help the couple on our local NBC affiliate prepare for their marriage as
> they plan their wedding. This week we began our on-air segments with the
> chosen couple on ³Getting Ready for Marriage.² Yesterday we talked about the
> importance of pre-marital education and marital inventories. Fortunately, they
> had already taken the PREPARE inventory. In the next few weeks during our
> segments with the couple, we will guide them through our book, 10 Great Dates
> Before You Say ³I Do.²  These dates are designed around the topics in the
> PREPARE and FOCCUS inventories.  Next week they will report back about their
> first date, ³Sharing Hopes, Dreams and Expectations², and we will give them
> their next dating assignment, ³Appreciating Your Differences.² We think it¹s a
> great way to get the word out that couples need to prepare for marriage ‹ not
> just the wedding!
> 
> David & Claudia Arp
> www.marriagealive.com

As we've said on this list, participating in one of these wedding shows is a
great way to create change in your community and get the message out that
marriage is not about luck, but about mastery.  The Arps followed the lead
on this set by Julie Baumgardner of First Things First.  I'm going to repeat
here the earlier posting to the list about the Today Show Weddings and about
approaching your local affiliate.  Do it NOW to get them ready for next
year. Takes a year for them to make the decision to do it and gear up.

David and Claudia Arp will present in Dallas on their many teach-out-of-the
box programs.  Stop at their exhibit - they're beyond generous and will
share al their secrets for getting programs up and running in your community
or congregation - or on TV.  Their book "10 Great Dates Before You Say 'I
Do'" makes a great engagement gift for all those couples getting married
this June.  It's got a 5-star rating on amazon where you can buy it for only
$10.39. Order at: 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310247322/smartmarriages
 - diane
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> 
> Date: Wed, 14 May 2003
> - TV WEDDING: CHATTANOOGA
> 
> As you may know, the national NBC Today Show runs an annual "wedding
> contest" that's always among their highest rated features which goes to show
> how nutsy-cukoo America is about romance and marriage.   Viewers participate
> by picking everything from the couples to the dress to the cake to the
> honeymoon.  All expenses paid for the winners. Message to the viewers: all
> this glamour and expense and fluff is what's exciting and important.
> 
> Julie Baumgardner, the wizard at FTF Chattanooga, approached her local NBC
> affiliate last year with a brainstorm to do a wedding show with a DIFFERENT
> slant.  She proposed a spin-off that keeps the romance and froth - the
> dress, flowers, cake, music, honeymoon - but adds the idea of preparing the
> couple for a lasting marriage, not JUST a wedding.  And she found a way to
> do that and keep all the pizzazz - it was the affiliates highest rated show
> - ever.  Viewers saw the couple not only get their dress, flowers and cake
> but also attend premarital marriage education skills classes.  We hope you
> can get affiliates in your area adopt this approach and get the message to
> viewers  that there are ways to prepare for a fabulous wedding AND, AT THE
> SAME TIME, prepare for a satisfying successful marriage -  that couples can
> do something to change their odds.
>  
> Here, to inspire you to call your NBC affiliate right now, is the report on
> the 2003 version of the Chattanooga Wedding show:
> 
>> For the second year in a row, First Things First, Proffitt's and Channel 3
>> are giving away a beautiful $30,000 wedding to one lucky couple through the
>> Forever Begins Today Dream Wedding Giveaway.
>> 
>> This Friday, May 16, Matt Moore and Carrie Duckett's wedding will be aired
>> live on Channel 3's morning show at 6:30 a.m.
>> 
>> "I feel blessed that Matt and I can share our love with the viewers," said
>> Carrie. 
>> 
>> The couple was selected by Channel 3's viewing audience as the winning couple
>> after hearing their love story. The Morning Show's audience has been actively
>> involved in selecting many of the items for their picture perfect wedding
>> over the last few weeks including Carrie's dress, the wedding attire, rings,
>> flowers, cake and much more. The couple will be married at the historic
>> Tivoli Theater in downtown Chattanooga.
>> 
>> "This is one lucky couple," said Julie Baumgardner, executive director of
>> FTF. "Matt and Carrie get to sit back and focus on strengthening their
>> relationship while the viewers do the planning. It is important for us to be
>> involved with this contest to be able to provide couples with information on
>> not only how to plan a memorable wedding, but how to build a foundation for a
>> long-lasting marriage. So many couples today spend a lot of money and time
>> obsessing over their wedding day. In the big scheme of things your wedding is
>> just one day and your marriage hopefully will total more than 18,000 days. We
>> are encouraging engaged couples to focus on those 50 plus years that will
>> follow their wedding day."
>> 
>> This beautiful wedding is made possible because of generous donations from
>> local wedding service providers including: Monica's, Webbco Graphics, The
>> Bridal House, Kennedy Jewelers, Joy's Flowers, The Walden Club, Jackson's
>> Bakery, LuLu's, I Do Bridal Magazine, Epiphany Salon and Day Spa, A&L
>> Rentals: Where Dreams Come True, Wedding Book Photography, and the Tivoli.
>> 
>> Be sure to tune in to Channel 3 on Friday, May 16 at 6:30 a.m. to watch
>> Carrie and Matt begin their life together.
> 
 
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- MORE ON PRESIDENT'S HEALTHY MARRIAGE INITIATIVE

Here is a letter written by Marline Pearson published in her local newspaper
further clarifying the article they published on her panel testimony in
Washington, DC in support of the President's Healthy Marriage Initiative. -
diane  

> To the Editor:
> 
> Thanks for the great article on Feb.20 about my views and those of others
> regarding the "Bush Marriage Plan." I would just like to make one correction
> and add some clarifications. The final sentence states that I teach a class
> called "Smart Dating and Easy Mating." In fact, there is no such course at
> MATC and I would never use that kind of phrase. However, my Couples
> Relationship class does contain a unit that discusses "smarter dating and
> wiser mating." Ironically, given the critical concerns of some worried about
> abusive relationships, one of the key aspects of classes like mine is to help
> prevent and recognize the danger signs of bad and abusive unions.
> 
> A few other key points about the marriage initiative:
> 1. It is not envisioned as an alternative to important "hard resources" like
> jobs, education, healthcare, housing, and childcare. It is simply seen as one
> missing piece in our efforts to help people succeed. I've seen all too often
> just how a rotten relationship, failed marriage, or unwed pregnancy can set
> someone back economically and emotionally. It represents about 1% of the TANF
> budget.
> 2. The push for this initiative began as a bipartisan effort before Bush
> became president.
> 3. The gay marriage rights issue is important, and my class includes and
> welcomes gays and lesbians.

> Above all, I feel it would be a mistake for liberals and progressives to allow
> the political right to dominate and define an issue that is important to all
> of us, gay or straight.
> 
> Marline Pearson
> Social Science Instructor - MATC

Marline Pearson will present at the Dallas Smart Marriages Conference.


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