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Justice and Outreach Council
Monthly Digest
October 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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JOC Votes to Donate $200 to the Immigrant Legal Defense Center (ILDC)
In response to an emergency plea for help, JOC voted to support a client of ILDC who was attacked and battered after a brain operation. This, along with other funds raised by ILDC, will help the family manage through this tough time. Find out about the work that ILDC is doing on their website.
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Shawn Carey speaks at JOC Meeting
Shawn Carey, member of Trinity and long-term educator with Santa Barbara Unified School District, and now, new with Santa Barbara County Schools, filled us in on the values of justice and equity in our local schools. Thank you, Shawn, for your wise expertise. We all need to be vigilant and aware of our local school board elections coming up in November.
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Trinity's Ministry Fair: a Big Success
The fair was beautifully organized with bouquets of flowers at each table, colorful signs, and lots of motivated folks, eager for involvement. JOC had 11 interested people sign up, and we had lots of fun with a game we played asking parishioners to vote with colorful paper clips for our four main causes. We’re not able to attest to the accuracy of the vote, but the results were 18 for FoodBank, 13 for Immigration (ILDC), 9 for Cause (Sustainable Economy) and 8 for EDC (Environmental Defense Center).
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Border Project Update by Laurinda Marshall
Sr. Suzanne sends thanks to the Border Project, on behalf of all the La Cobina residents, for your past and ongoing support.! This summer with our donations, they were able to buy wading pools for the children and larger plastic pools for the parents. Squeals of delight! The shelter has no air conditioning, and Mexicali is quite hot in the summer. Many thanks!
The Border Project received a list of needs from Sr. Suzanne Jabro who is our liaison with La Cobina Posada shelter in Mexicali; a shelter for immigrant families seeking asylum in the US. The needs center around ESL classes for the shelter residents: school supplies, instructors' wages, and the cost of internet access. The residents are eager to learn English! The total cost of these requests is approximately $2,000.
A trip to the shelter is planned for January 2023. It will be a 3 or 4 day trip, and dates are to be firmed up with Sr. Suzanne. The hope is to spend 2 days in Mexicali. While we provide for many physical needs through food and shelter, some Border Project members plan to teach the residents Capacitar: a strategy to cope with trauma.
Action: If you wish to donate in support of our immigrant neighbors, please send donations to SB ACT and specify "Border Project."
Persons interested in crossing the border in January 2023 please contact Laurinda Marshall at laurindax@yahoo.com.
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Santa Barbara Feeding Ministries
Dinner in Alameda Park. This month on September 15, Kent Carlander helped by handing out eating utensils. He said that he enjoyed talking with some of the guests and especially sharing the time with the other Trinity volunteers. This month, dinner will be on Thursday, October 27. Check the online sign-up or email Sarah Thomas, sthomas@trinitysb.org.
Transition House. Steven Singleton and Christopher Teasley have been preparing/serving dinners at Transition House for 6+ years at 2-3 times a year. Two friends joined them at the TH kitchen in September to fix salads, bake chicken, set the tables, and serve buffet style. Christopher said: “It’s a nice way to interact with the residents.” Please contact Teresa Pietsch at teresapietsch4@gmail.com if you would like to get involved.
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Opportunities for Involvement
in our local community, at Trinity, and in the world
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Freedom to Choose, Volunteer with Us!
Kathryn Dean, JOC member, recently started as a reader for this wonderful project that teaches life skills to the incarcerated community to reduce recidivism. Freedom to Choose (FTC) is all about redemption and the power of second chances. We assist men and women in stepping free of past identifications as “criminals” and re-identifying themselves as valuable members of society. If you have questions, please contact Kathryn Dean at kcdean311@gmail.com or The Freedom to Choose Project. (Click the image to view the flyer.)
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PFLAG Connects: Virtual Support Meetings
PFLAG meets online every month, on the second Monday. Meetings are run by trusted PFLAG Santa Barbara leaders, exploring topics relevant to the LGBTQ+ community, followed by sharing and support. Visit the website for registration information.
Next Meeting: November 14 at 7pm on Zoom
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Volunteer Opportunities with CLUE
Learn more about the good work our friends at CLUE (Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice) are doing. Click the images below for informational flyers.
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Every month we publish a story of justice, ministry and volunteerism from a Trinity parishioner. This month we feature Youth Group member and sophomore at Dos Pueblos High School, Sky Beard-Armbruster. If you missed his pulpit testimony a couple of Sundays ago, here it is.
The first time that I read at the pulpit was when I was probably 11 years old. It's been so long that I can't exactly recall the date. But I was encouraged previously by Elizabeth Hess to become a lector who I think recognized my potential for speech from my time in church school. Now, on that day, I can remember a few distinct things. One, I was first up and two, my reading was from Exodus and I was quite nervous and uncertain. Until I started speaking aloud to you, in which I became much more comfortable as I realized my potential that I could do this previously overwhelming task. Read the testimonies of the Armbruster family.
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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.
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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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