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DIVERSITY DINNER OFFERS FOOD FOR THOUGHT
RICHARD DEGENER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6711

It began five years ago during a workshop on racism at the Marianist Family Retreat Center on Yale Avenue. Now, it has turned into the annual Cultural Diversity Gathering.

The fifth annual gathering was held Monday at the center with about 30 people in attendance. Invitees representing different cultures heard speeches, prayed, feasted on a potluck supper of diverse foods and sang songs, including the hymn "Diverse in Culture, Nation, Race."

The Rev. Ted Cassidy came up with the idea for an annual event celebrating diversity. "People come together and tell stories about their life and culture. When people tell stories, it's very interesting; their differences just disappear," said Cassidy.

Michele Brown, an Atlantic City AIDS worker, was impressed by the event.

"I love it. More churches should be in on it and community leaders as well. To get anything done we have to be unified," Brown said.

Monsignor Robert McDermott, pastor of St. Joseph's Pro-Cathedral in Camden, spoke on community-based organizing. An effort in Camden with 30 churches has been instrumental in getting the community to fight for itself. This has resulted in more state aid, getting rid of drug houses and tearing down dangerous abandoned buildings.

In one case, McDermott said, an abandoned mattress factory was dangerous, so they brought busloads of people to the owner's house in Cherry Hill and pressured him to tear it down. It was successful.

"People who are otherwise powerless due to poverty learn they have power. We do it by organizing the people themselves," McDermott said.

Cassidy said he invited McDermott here to "spark conversation and collaboration," with the goal of having people investigate having similar community-based groups in Cape May County.

To e-mail Richard Degener at The Press: RDegener@pressofac.com
Illustration: (1) 'People come together and tell stories about their life and culture. When
people tell stories, it's very interesting; their differences just disappear.'
The Rev. Ted Cassidy, founder of Diversity Night Color
(2) Joseph Fleming, of Pico National Network, a faith-based community
organization, was a guest speaker at Monday's gathering at the Marianist
Family Retreat Center in Cape May Point. Color
(3) Monsignor Robert McDermott has a meditative moment. Color
(4) Betty Walking Stick Theobald, a Cherokee from Cape May Point, and Amaleta
Moore, a black leader from West Cape May, talk during Monday's annual
gathering. Staff photos by Dale Gerhard