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Justice and Outreach Council
Monthly Digest
July 2022
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Welcome to the Justice and Outreach Council (JOC)'s monthly newsletter.
A place to find all the happenings of this active ministry at Trinity.
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Summer Speaker Series Concludes | |
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Message from JOC Council Chairs
Thanks to all who attended the four week Justice and Engagement Summer Speaker Series.
The Justice and Outreach Council (JOC) highlighted four organizations that received JOC Grants in 2021 through the allocation of 5% of the church's pledge income. JOC thanks the parish for this financial support and also thanks guest preachers, Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer, Reverend Scott Claassen, Pastor Thomas Voelp and Reverend Dr. David Moore. Attendance at the forums ranged from 40 to 70 people and JOC received some thought-provoking comments to steer the council in the years ahead. Special thanks to our forum guests: ILDC (Immigrant Legal Defense Center), CEC (Community Environmental Council), Foodbank of Santa Barbara County and CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy). JOC thanks all who made this series successful, including Trinity clergy and staff who supported the series with their time and efforts. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Anita Perez-Ferguson and Jeffrey Krutzsch
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News from our partners at the Environmental Defense Center
Green & Blue Fund Raising Event - Thank You!
Thank you so much to all of you who joined us at our annual event, June 5th, for an evening celebrating environmental protection and honoring our Environmental Hero, Violet Sage Walker and her late father, Fred Collins. It was a special treat to hear from former Executive Director, Owen Bailey, who spoke eloquently about the importance of EDC’s work and the incredible generosity of our supporters. It felt so good to be able to gather in person, and we are truly grateful to our incredible volunteers, in-kind donors, event sponsors, and to each of you who showed up to help make this event successful.
Goleta Sales Tax Revenue for Creek Protection
The City of Goleta recently placed a measure on the November 2022 ballot that would increase sales tax by 1%, of which EDC is advocating that 20% of the increased tax revenue (2 million dollars) be allocated to implement that City’s Creek and Watershed Management Plan. Goleta’s creeks and watersheds are critically important resources, recharging our aquifers, filtering storm water, nurturing fish and wildlife, minimizing fires and floods, and providing recreational opportunities for all. EDC worked very closely with the City in crafting this plan in 2020 which the Council unanimously supported, but unfortunately the City lacks implementation funding. If approved, this funding would protect and restore our treasured creeks, a model that the City of Santa Barbara effectively executes.
Welcoming Two EDC Law Clerks
The EDC recently added two summer law clerks, Cynthia Kane and Andrea White.
Learn more at: environmentaldefensecenter.org
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Santa Barbara Feeding Ministries
Transition House. The June 25 dinner was provided by Teresa Pietsch and four helpers. They prepared taco chicken salad, nachos, watermelon, and brownies. Thank you Teresa, for all of your important contributions to the families at Transition House. For those interested in helping with this ministry, please contact Teresa, teresapietsch@cox.net
The Dinner in Alameda Park Meal Ministry. June’s Dinner in the Park was canceled because of the Solstice Day celebration held in Alameda Park. Our next opportunity is on Thursday July 28. Please consider volunteering for this worthwhile ministry, here.
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Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
Kathryn Dean of the Justice and Outreach council recently attended the Criminal Justice Workgroup meeting led by Maurine Earls, a longtime, passionate worker for criminal justice and a leader of CLUE. The guest speaker was Eric Rodriquez, who was serving time in prison. The law changed, and he got his chance to earn his freedom in 2022. Freedom To Choose, FTC, was a program in his prison that changed his life. He is now an advocate for this program, free from prison, and working full-time as a Freedom To Choose Education Assistant with a counseling degree. This program uses volunteers as Readers who, online, read the stories of people impacted by incarceration and give compassionate feedback. This has been a powerful program greatly reducing recidivism. There is a proposal to have an FTC pilot program in the Santa Barbara County jail system.
Kathryn has enrolled to be a volunteer reader. Please consider joining her. For more information, email Kathryn: kcdean311@gmail.com
Find out more and apply for the next reader gathering on July 23.
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Episcopal Relief and Development
Humanitarian Response to the Crisis in Ukraine
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) has released results (through June 2022) of their campaign to support the humanitarian response in Ukraine:
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32,000 people reached with food, temporary housing and financial support
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772 metric tons of food distributed throughout Ukraine
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250 shelters created inside Ukraine
Donate today to continue ERD's effort.
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Openings on the Justice and Outreach Council
There are so many social justice issues to get involved with. Please consider joining our small team of committed volunteers, yearning to help make this a more loving, peaceful, and just world. Please email Jeffrey Krutzsch for more information.
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Opportunities for Involvement
in our local community, at Trinity, and in the world
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Appeal from our friends at SURJ
Take Action for Reproductive Justice
Join our mid-term elections program Block, Build, Grow to organize white people to shift power around sues like abortion and healthcare. Our first action is a text bank in support of Stacey Abrams for the Governor of Georgia on July 13th.
Donate to people-of-color led organizations that fund and organize for abortion access like SisterSong and the National Network of Abortion Funds.
Watch our webinar with long term reproductive justice activist Loretta Ross, to better understand why abortion is a racial justice issue and why white people have a key role in organizing to defend this right.
Learn more and visit Show up for Racial Justice-Santa Barbara
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Every month we publish a story of justice, ministry and volunteerism from a Trinity parishioner. This month we feature Georgia Noble, a longtime Trinity member. Here is her story of involvement and sharing of her many gifts.
I first arrived at Trinity 24 years ago with my 8-year-old (maybe queer?) son in the middle of a painful divorce and longing to fill the hole in my soul uncovered by my life crises. I needed a new center for my life. I needed God, church, and community. Church goers say, “Give a newcomer a friend and something to do and they will begin to feel belonging.” And that is what happened for me. I found wonderful caring people, and I found that being of service helped begin to fill in that hole.
I noticed right away that in this place, church was not about being an observer but about getting involved and being part of making it all happen. When I heard that liturgy meant “the work of the people” it made sense to me. It is what I saw.
Continue reading.
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Celebrate and Support Justice | |
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Look for the blue celebration envelopes in the pews!
CELEBRATE!...a birthday, an anniversary, a special event of any sort for which you are thankful.
Turn your “celebration” into a donation to the Justice and Outreach Council. We will use these funds to provide comfort and safety to those in need—food, education for children, assistance to immigrants—any of our neighbors needing support . . . so they can celebrate. Together, these gifts make possible our community of welcome, reconciliation and service.
For the month of May, JOC warmly thanks Sarah Fenstermaker, Jeannie Christensen, Irene Marsi, and Nollie Lei Dawson for their generous contributions for justice locally and globally.
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The Justice and Outreach Council (JOC) continues its important work in our community and beyond. Funding for the JOC comes from your pledges and Celebration offerings. The JOC’s funding is part of our annual operating budget where five percent (5%) of all pledges received during the year is put in the JOC account. As pledge income has remained steady this year, these funds continue to be set aside for justice work.
There are two ways you can continue to celebrate and support our justice work in addition to your pledges both now and in the future. You can send in a check made out to Trinity and simply note “Justice” in the memo line and provide the names of the persons or occasion you want to celebrate. You can also donate via Trinity’s PayPal account, select "Justice Fund" and under “special instructions” provide the names of the persons or occasion you want to celebrate.
Thank you for supporting our justice work through your pledges, donations, prayers, and most of all, the work you do in your lives to make this a more loving, peaceful, and just world.
Kathryn Dean, JOC
Michael Dean, Treasurer
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Land Acknowledgement
The JOC committee devised this Land Acknowledgment statement to be read before meetings at Trinity.
We honor and acknowledge the Chumash people, the traditional custodians of this land, and pay our respects to the Chumash elders, past, present, and future, who call this land on which we sit their home. We appreciate their wisdom, their culture, and their presence among us today as the host people of this land. We lament the injustices done to the original inhabitants and the injustices done to this land in the centuries since. We seek the courage and wisdom to heal the wounds of the past and build a better future together, in deep solidarity.
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