Featured

How to contribute to the newly created Ben Alden Memorial Scholarship for Social Justice

Be sure to read the details for eligibility and application requirements on the RECENT POST titled “The Ben Alden Memorial Scholarship for Social Justice”, also listed on the General Categories page.  Contact information for questions is listed there also.

Many have asked, “How can I contribute to the Fund?” Contributions will be welcomed at any time since this is a multi-year enduring scholarship.  Kindly make checks out to Church of Christ the King and be sure to note in the MEMO line:  Ben Alden Scholarship Fund.  They can either be put in the Sunday collection or mailed to Church of Christ the King, Attn. Alden Scholarship Fund, 5029 Zenith Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410.

ABOUT BEN

Ben Alden died tragically at the age of 27 in March of 2008.  Ben had deep empathy for all who suffered.  He was a tireless volunteer for various charities such as Loaves and Fishes, Habitat for Humanity and Chris’s Corner.  But Ben’s great love and gift to us all was his devotion to Catholic social teaching and its call for long term social justice.  He truly understood the importance of changing the system.   When the Office for Social Justice (OSJ) started the Housing Action Team (HAT), Ben was one of the founding members and served on all subcommittees, participating in every way he could.  He also saw that his skills could be used in other areas of human need.  In 2007, he won an award from the American Planning Association for the “Best Paper on Information Technology in Disaster Mitigation and Recovery”.

Ben was a Ph.D. candidate in Cartography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). While Ben loved maps for their own sake, he quickly realized that maps and GIS could be used to further social justice causes. For example, Ben worked with a map that showed the factories and heavy industry in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.  A circle was drawn around each factory indicating where lethal exposure to toxins could occur. These areas were called the “death plumes.” Ben observed that by incorporating the income demographics for each neighborhood, it could be demonstrated that the poorest people were forced to live in the most environmentally hazardous areas. To Ben, this was concrete evidence of injustice and it motivated him to work for change.

When HAT sponsored housing forums at local parishes, Ben created maps specific to that parish to show income disparities within a few miles of the church.  Ben intensely believed that if he could only show people social problems graphically enough, they too would be motivated to work for change.  He planned his career around the goal of using his knowledge and gifts to improve the world.

Matt Rezac (a former OSJ organizer who worked with Ben on HAT) said of Ben: “When I let my intelligence be inspired by Ben and my heart be large and caring like his, when I am unafraid to risk my comfort for others and when I give my talents in every inch that I can figure out how, then Ben is here and the world sees him…May God be with all of us who walk with Ben into tomorrow.”

Ben was very creative.  He particularly loved language, and filled his notebooks with hundreds of poems over the years.  Below are three of his haiku poems:

Unfolding a map

You see one part at a time

Then see the whole thing

Ash Wednesday:

The acolyte says

“remember man you are dust”

but could you forget?

Washington Avenue Bridge:

Fishscale floating and

The cold river is steaming

Where ice sticks to ice