* The following is information that was used in 2004 for Community Meetings throughout the world.  For a report of those meetings, click here.

An Invitation to Help

Dear Friends,

Many people do not understand the dangers that are facing the family worldwide. We are asking you to join us in an effort to inform and motivate to action the people in your community by doing the following:

• Hold a Save the Family Community Meeting this summer. Holding this one-time meeting will not take a lot of time, but can have a significant effect. We need people all around the world to hold a meeting in their community, neighborhood, or church, synagogue or mosque.

• We encourage you to invite friends, family members, neighbors, leaders of all faiths, and city officials to your meeting. A small meeting can be held in a home or a larger one in a church/synagogue/mosque or other location. At the meeting encourage those in attendance to hold their own meetings and gain the support of as many of their family, friends and colleagues as possible. A ripple effect can go out from your meeting and create a valuable response.

• To assist you in planning your community meeting we are including a suggested format below. It contains links where materials for discussion can be found.

• Send us a brief report of the meeting stating support of natural marriage, religious freedom, and family values. These reports will contribute to a family declaration prepared at the conclusion of The Doha International Conference for the Family to be held this November in Doha, Qatar.

Because music has power to motivate people to action, the song Save the Family has been written to inspire and rally people to protect marriage and the family. We suggest you:

• Use this song as a theme song for your community meeting. It has been recorded in English, Arabic, Spanish, and French. To hear and download the song and the sheet music free of charge click here. You can also download the orchestral music to use as accompaniment for your own singers at your meeting. (The song is copyrighted and may not be used for profit-making ventures without written permission, but may be used freely without royalty costs for radio and non-profit events.)

• Do your best to get the song played on your local radio stations and sung at civic, religious, and patriotic programs, and especially at your own community meeting.

We encourage you to forward this Web site link, with your own personal note, to family and friends out of your area so they, too, can hold a Save the Family Community Meeting. If you have contact with anyone in a another country, please enlist their help as well. We need as many meetings as possible throughout the world supporting this vitally important effort to protect marriage and family during this 2004 International Year of the Family.

As of October 1, 2004 we have 107 cities represented in 27 different countries, with some cities having more than one meeting, for a total of 122 individuals and organizations holding meetings to protect the family.* We are receiving reports of these meetings and will include them in a book that will be presented in celebration of the 2004 International Year of the Family at the Doha International Conference for the Family in Doha, Qatar November 29-30, 2004. A copy of this book will be presented to the United Nations to show the overwhelming support there is for the family throughout the world. To be impressive we need many, many more individuals and organizations holding a meeting and reporting their meeting to us. Reports are sent to lundberg@lawgate.byu.edu. The deadline for these reports is October 30, 2004.

Please contact us at lundberg@lawgate.byu.edu as soon as possible and let us know of your willingness to join us in this important work of helping protect families. We sincerely hope we can count on your support in this vitally important effort to protect the family.

Thank you for your help. With all of us working together, families worldwide will be blessed.

With kind regards,

Gary and Joy Lundberg
Community Meeting Coordinators
In Celebration of the 2004 International Year of the Family