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Source: Tulsa World, Okla.儲存倉Sept. 30--When Nancy Day retires as executive director of the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice at the end of the year, she will count her part in the survival of the human relations organization as her greatest accomplishment -- and her greatest challenge.Nine years ago, the organization's future was in jeopardy.At that time, what is now OCCJ was a local chapter of NCCJ, an organization that began in 1927 as the National Conference of Christians and Jews, but most recently was called the National Conference for Community and Justice.Day had been at the helm of the local NCCJ chapter for more than 20 years when she got a crisis phone call in the fall of 2004 from the national headquarters in New York City.NCCJ was broke and was shutting down.Local chapters had the choice of closing their doors or trying to raise enough money to stay in existence as independent local organizations."We decided that NCCJ was too important to this community, and we would do all we could to keep an office here," said Day, who will be honored Oct. 10 for her 32 years of service."There was a tremendous outpouring," she said.A lead gift of $100,000 from the Williams Cos. jump-started a campaign that raised more than $600,000 in three months, enough to save the local organization.On May 1, 2005, NCCJ's Tulsa chapter emerged as a new independent organization, now called the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice."We came out on the other side stronger and better than ever. That's one of my greatest joys," Day said.Tulsa was one of about 25 chapters that survived, out of some 65 chapters in NCCJ's heyday, and one of about a dozen former chapters that have formed a loose federation.Ask her about other accomplishments over the years, and she talks about the myriad programs sponsored by OCCJ, reaching 16,000 people a year from grade school through high school and into adulthood.And she talks about the young people who came through those programs with a new appreciation for the value of getting along with other people across racial, religious, economic and cultural lines.She is especially proud that some of those young people, now adults, are on staff at OCCJ."There's an energy and freshness that comes with having these young people as program staffers ... an excitement and creativity," she said.Day said she was privileged to head OCCJ during a time when Tulsa has been a national leader in human relations and interfaith work.The national president of NCCJ visited Tulsa in the 1980s and reported that in all her national travels, she had never seen a city with Tulsa's level of cooperation between re迷你倉最平igious groups, Day said."We've always worked closely with the Jewish Federation and the Islamic Society."Day said she believes there are several reasons for Tulsa's strong interfaith community.In the mid-20th century, she said, Tulsa had strong interfaith leaders who saw the value and importance of bringing people together across religious and racial divides. One example from that era was the creation of "tolerance trios" -- a Jewish rabbi, Catholic priest and Protestant minister who traveled together to small communities in Oklahoma promoting tolerance."We are still building on that foundation," she said.Second, she said, Tulsa has long been a community in which religious faith plays a big part.And third, Tulsa has organizations whose core mission is to bring people together for interfaith, interracial dialogue, she said.While interfaith work in some parts of the nation is weakening, OCCJ is not."In recent years, we've more than doubled our staff, enabling us to target more age groups and demographics," she said.Day said the values that OCCJ has worked to instill over her career are needed now more than ever."I can think of no more urgent mission than that of helping people learn to live together with their deepest differences," she said."We don't have to agree, or even like the other person, but if you don't have some level of respect ... That's a compelling argument for the work we do in Tulsa, and that's being done around the world."It's my hope that the message and values that we have instilled in young people all over the state will stay with them for a lifetime and create future generations of respectful, compassionate, culturally competent leaders," she said."I like to think that in some small way, I've been able to make Oklahoma and Tulsa a better place to live."Day said she and her husband will stay in Tulsa in retirement. She wants to be able to help her "amazing parents," Bill and Clare Caldwell, ages 91 and 85. And she wants to spend more time with her son, Lance Day, and his wife and two children, in Colorado."We also want to travel while we still can, and do the myriad things I've put on hold over the past three decades," she said.A search is underway for her successor.OCCJ awards dinnerWhat: Executive Director Nancy Day will be honored for 32 years of serviceWhen: 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10Where: Cox Business Center, formerly known as the Tulsa Convention CenterFor information: .occjok.orgBill Sherman 918-581-8398bill.sherman@tulsaworld.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at .tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存