We Support Clean Water for the Woodlands

We, the below signed faith leaders and faith communities, support the Clean Water for the
Woodlands fundraiser.
Imagine being deprived of clean water. Imagine living in a house where drinking a glass of water
from the tap or taking a shower or even flushing a toilet are activities too risky to attempt. Now
imagine what it would be like to live that way for not days or weeks or even months, but years.
That is precisely the plight of families in towns and rural communities across the shale fields of
Pennsylvania where modern oil and gas drilling techniques have turned them into industrialized
wastelands. The problem is particularly acute in an area of Butler County, where fracking fouled
the well water of several dozen families in a community called the Woodlands six years ago. To
date, families in the Woodlands still rely on a weekly donation of 20 gallons of clean water for
drinking, cooking, and brushing their teeth, which they receive from volunteers operating a
water bank at the nearby White Oak Springs Presbyterian Church. This falls far short of what
the American Red Cross considers the minimum required for an emergency two gallons per
person per day.
The Woodlands community has gone far too long without the help they need from the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanias faith community is stepping in where Governor
Tom Wolf has not, and will be holding a fundraiser for the month of January with the goal of
raising $5,000 for the Woodlands community. This would provide five months of clean water
for the residents of the Woodlands.
We support this effort, and we call on Governor Wolf to take long overdue action. If Governor
Wolf wont hold the industry accountable for the contamination, then he must take the burden
off of volunteers and set aside funds in his proposed 2017 budget to provide ongoing help to
the Woodlands and communities like it that have been adversely impacted by fracking.
Signed,
Rev. Dai Morgan
United Methodist Advocacy in Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Rev. Sandra L. Strauss
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
Harrisburg, PA
Anita Mentzer, Director
Unitarian Universalist Pennsylvania Legislative Advocacy Network
Harrisburg, PA
Nora M. Nash, Director Corporate Social Responsibility

Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Aston, PA
Wanda Guthrie, Convener
EcoJustice Working Group, Thomas Merton Center
Pittsburgh, PA
Reverend Aija Simpson
Unitarian Universalists of the Cumberland Valley
Harrisburg, PA
Rev. Lyn Cox, Interim Minister
UU Congregation of York
York, PA
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Linda Holtzman
Reconstructionist Jewish
Philadelphia, PA
Janice Etchison, OSB Oblate
Benedictine Sister of Erie
Erie, PA
Rev. Jean Richardson, Executive Director
Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center
Bangor, PA
Anne Wambach, OSB
Benedictine Sisters of Erie
Erie, PA
The Rev. Elizabeth S Haynes
St. James' Episcopal Church,
Drifton, PA
Sam Miller
Erie Benedictines for Peace
Erie, PA
Rev. Charlotte Hull Whiting
Salem United Church of Christ of Rohrerstown

Lancaster, PA
Rabbi Phyllis Berman
Member of Pnai Or, Mishkan Shalom, and Dorshei Derech/GJC
Philadelphia
Rabbi Peg Kershenbaum
Congregation B'nai Harim
Pocono Pines, PA
Rabbi Meryl Crean
Reconstructionist Judaism
Glenside, PA
Marlene Trambley
Benedictine Sisters
Erie, PA
Rev. Mark Terwilliger
Countryside Community Church - a United Methodist Fellowship
Clarks Summit, PA
Rev. Darcey Laine
Unitarian Universalist
Athens, PA
Mirka Fatschel
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Seven Fields, PA
Miss Mary Stewart
P.E.A.C.E. Group/and First Baptist Church
Clarion, PA
Rev. Cynthia Crowner
Presbyterian minister
Stroudsburg, PA
Rev. Charlotte Whiting
Salem United Church of Christ of Rohrerstown
Lancaster, PA
Anne Searer
St Joan of Arc Catholic Church
Hershey, PA

Rabbi Yaacov Kravitz

Philadelphia Board of Rabbis
Philadelphia, PA
The Rev. Beth G. Lyon
Glenside United Church of Christ
Glenside, PA
Jo Green
Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration
Philadelphia, PA
Pat Lupo, OSB
Benedictine Sisters Erie PA
Erie, PA
Rev. Scott Rudolph
Unitarian Universalist Church of the North Hills
Pittsburgh, PA
Anne Wambach, OSB, Prioress
Benedictine Sisters of Erie
Erie, PA
Anne McCarthy, OSB
Benedictine Sisters of Erie
Erie, PA
Rev. Linda Theophilus
Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eastmont, ELCA
Pittsburgh, PA
Sister Maryann Golonka, HM
Sisters of the Humility of Mary
Villa Maria, PA
Rev. DMV McFarland
Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church
Pittsburgh, PA
Rev. Dr. Thomas J. Bodie
Ginger Hill Unitarian Universalist
Harrisville , PA

Rev. Joan M. Sabatino

First Unitarian Universalist Church
Indiana PA
Rev Charles Brock
Minister, Girard UU
Girard, PA
Rev. Sandra Fees
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berks County
Reading, PA
Marguerite Chandler, Quaker Leader
Newtown, PA
Tom Hocking
UCC Penn Central Conference Environmental Justice Ministry
Lebanon, PA
Rabbi Carl Choper
Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, PA
Reverend Jerry Lee Miller
Church of the Brethren
Lancaster, PA
Reverend Cheryl Pyrch
Summit Presbyterian Church
Philadelphia, PA
Reverend Dr. Richard S. Armstrong
Minister of Worship, Pennswood Village Interdenominational Congregation
Newtown, PA
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
The Shalom Center
Philadelphia, PA

Sister Mary E. Looby

Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart
Yardley, PA
Reverend Loretta Vasso

Circle of the Sacred Earth

Meadowbrook, PA
Reverend David Reppert
United Church of Christ
Philadelphia, PA
Eugene Mariani
Tree of Life Synagogue
Pittsburgh, PA
Rev. Kim D. Wilson
UU Fellowship of the Poconos
Stroudsburg, PA
Rabbi Lawrence Troster
Kesher Israel Congregation
West Chester, PA
Rabbi Phyllis Berman
Jewish Renewal
Melrose Park, PA
Rabbi Alanna Sklover
Germantown Jewish Center
Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Yael Levy
Mishkan Shalom
Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Julie Greenberg
Jewish
Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Doris Dyan
Kehillat Makon HaLev
Pittsburgh, PA
Rabbi David Mivisair
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Elyse Wechterman
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Ellen Stein Weaver
Pnei Or Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA
Rev. Patricia Pearce
PC (USA)
Philadelphia, PA
Father Bill Pickard
PAX Christian NEPA
Scranton, PA
Rev Paul E. Clark
United Church of Christ
Reading, PA
Sister Jean Murin
Sisters of Mercy
Pittsburgh, PA