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Justice and Outreach Council
Monthly Digest
January 2023
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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’s Annual Grant Gifting
Thank you for your generosity in pledges and celebration offerings, which enables our JOC grants to be possible. The following organizations received a grant award from Trinity for the 2022 calendar year:
Sarah House $2,000
Transition House $2,000
St. Michael's University Church, Isla Vista $2,000
Harding School Foundation $2,000
CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy) $5,000
ILDC (Immigrant Legal Defense Center) $5,000
Foodbank of Santa Barbara County $5,000
Mental Wellness Center $5,000
Showers of Blessings $2,500
SB Transgender Advocacy Network $2,500
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UPDATE on the Border Compassion Project
Border Crossing on January 18-21
JOC has raised $6,615.15 towards the goal of $11,000.
This amount covers the cost of an English teacher, school supplies, internet access, and one event per month. The English classes ensure greater success for the refugees
once they cross the border to the US. Please join us in supporting this important work as we are called to love our neighbors. Donations may be mailed to SB ACT and specify "Border Project", or donate online.
Update on the January Border Crossing:
- Three adults will visit the shelter on 1/18 and 1/19 to teach the residents Capacitor, body-based practices to cope with trauma. This is a follow-up to a Capacitor class held in December by the founder, Pat Cane.
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Five to six youth and five to six adults from the Unitarian Society and Trinity will visit the La Cobina shelter on Saturday 1/21 to lead games and activities for the youth there. On Sunday 1/22, they will cook and serve breakfast for the residents and then head home. Trinity’s Shawn Carey, Clare Carey-Pisani and Abby Selzler will be part of this effort, as will Laurinda Marshall.
Background: The Border Project, under the umbrella of Interfaith Sanctuary Alliance, is a group which gathers contributions for La Cobina Posada shelter in Mexicali, Mexico. The shelter houses approximately 400 immigrants awaiting asylum in the United States and protects them from living in tent cities which are rife with cartel activity, kidnapping, theft, and human trafficking. The residents are parents with children.
Please contact Laurinda Marshall at laurindax@yahoo.com for more information.
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Santa Barbara Feeding Ministries
Transition House (TH). For December, our regular fourth Saturday fell on the 24th, and TH had a special meal provided by others. However, Nancy Knight made individual treat bags with two kinds of homemade cookies, traditional Spritz cookies and beautiful tree cut-out sugar cookies, and a candy cane. Mary Gibson delivered them to TH several days before Christmas. Kathleen Baushke, the executive director of TH, will be speaking at both Sunday services on January 15. This conversation will replace the traditional Epistle reading. We hope to get more people participating in this foundational ministry at Trinity. Please contact Teresa Pietsch at teresapietsch4@gmail.com to get involved.
Dinner in Alameda Park. We will preparing dinner and serving in the park again on Thursday, January 26. Check the online sign-up for volunteer opportunities or email Sarah Thomas, sthomas@trinitysb.org. Trinity's next dinner will be on February 23.
Warming Center Casseroles Needed. Our next chance to be activated to serve dinner and host an overnight stay in the Parish Hall is the week of January 15. With rain in the forecast, we will likely be activated for 2-3 days. Thanks in advance to MK Micallef who will serve as kitchen boss this month. If you'd like to participate with the Warming Center volunteer team, please contact Mary Ann Paxton in the church office at 805-965-7419 or office@trinitysb.org.
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Visitors welcome at JOC Meetings
Come and visit a monthly meeting (the third Monday at 6pm) and consider joining the council. Meetings are held in the Guild Hall at Trinity. Contact Jeffrey Krutzsch at: jskrutsch@gmail.com for more information.
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Opportunities for Involvement
in our local community, at Trinity, and in the world
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Celebrate and Honor
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
Come celebrate the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Visit https://mlksb.org/ for the list of upcoming events.
Volunteer opportunities available. Click here for more information. Or email Volunteer Coordinator, Betsy Shelby, bshelby56@gmail.com.
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2023 Homeless Point-in Time Count
Wednesday, January 25, 5:30-8:30am
Volunteers needed to help obtain a snapshot census of people experiencing homelessness in Santa Barbara County on a single night. To volunteer, sign up by January 19. For more information visit this Noozhawk article.
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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: February 13 at 7pm on Zoom
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Every month we publish a story of justice, ministry and volunteerism from a Trinity parishioner. This month we feature Faye Cox. We hope you will be inspired by Faye’s sharing of her many gifts!
When Kathryn Dean asked me to write this month’s story about shared ministry and volunteering, my reflections deepened my seeing of Trinity as a Living Body with so many members playing so many roles to make it all happen, week after week, year after year. Keep reading Faye's reflection.
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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.
We thank Terre and Frank Sanitate, Jeannie Christensen, Julie Hayes-Nadler, and Sarah Fenstermaker for their kind generosity in December.
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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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