|
Justice and Outreach Council (JOC)
Monthly Digest
November 2023
| |
Justice and Outreach Council Newsletter—Share what you have been given. | |
Homelessness: Impact on the Santa Barbara Community | |
|
JOC Fall Speaker Series Forum
Sunday, November 19, 2023
We will present a forum on homelessness and its impact on the Santa Barbara community. Our special guest will be local advocate and professor, Jeff Shaffer, who will preach at both worship services. Following the 10am service, there will be a panel forum in the Parish Hall featuring Shaffer, Trinity's Parish Nurse Jan Fadden, parishioner Lucille Boss who is the Encampment Response Coordinator for the County of Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara City Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez.
Basic Needs Action Circle
(Housing, Food Insecurity, Homelessness, Mental Health)
Ralph Armbruster, ralpharm@hotmail.com, 805-722-4556
| |
|
Humanitarian Tragedy in Gaza and Israel
Message from Art Fisher, Trinity Parishioner
In the face of the humanitarian tragedy in Israel and Gaza, we urge parishioners to pray for an immediate cease fire and resolution of the issues facing both sides.
In addition, we encourage advocating for peace and resolution by making an appeal to our legislators to act quickly. Please consider sending this letter to President Biden, Senator Salud Carbajal, and Senator Laphonza Butler. Thanks for your consideration and action.
Art Fisher, afisher100@yahoo.com
For information and advocacy:
Churches for Middle East Peace, www.cmep.org
For support:
American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, www.afedj.org
Also see the Sojourners sample letter provided by Deacon John Draper:
Dear Christians, Cease-Fire Is Not Surrender | Sojourners
| |
|
Transition House Meal Preparation for November
You can experience a traditional Trinity volunteer activity and serve a meal at Transition House (425 E Cota St) for approximately 60 residents on the 4th Saturday of the month. Help is needed November (25th) and December (23rd). Contact Teresa Pietsch teresapietsch4@gmail.com for more details or check the online sign-up for how to get involved.
| |
|
Dinner in Alameda Park
Trinity will prepare dinner and serve it in the park again on December 28. Join us just once, with an indoor or outdoor task, for this community experience. Check the online sign-up for volunteer opportunities or email Sarah Thomas, sthomas@trinitysb.org.
| |
|
The Gun Violence Prevention Task Force
From the California DOJ Weekly Newsletter
<info@oag.ca.gov>
Weapons of war do not belong on our streets. We were once again reminded of this fact as we witnessed a mass shooter gun down dozens of people in Maine, killing 18 victims. We must protect our communities from these dangerous weapons. It is no accident that California’s gun death rate is 43% lower than the rest of the nation—it is because of our lifesaving gun safety laws, such as the assault weapons ban. This week, the Ninth Circuit granted an administrative stay of a misguided and dangerous district court decision invalidating the ban. The stay order by the Ninth Circuit means that it remains unlawful to purchase, transfer, or possess assault weapons in California.
Contact Person: Trinity JOC member Ken Johnson 41omaha73@gmail.com
ALSO: see this CA Legislative Update http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=e4ce77d5-b5c3-43ad-a45c-2b8d1d423e78
| |
Climate Resilience and Environmental Action | |
|
Circle to Meet
Trinity Justice and Outreach Council's Climate Resilience and Environmental Action Circle will hold its first get-together on Sunday, November 12, after the 10 am service in the library, from 11:30 until 1pm. A number of you signed up to participate at the Ministry Fair in September, and a diversity of interests and ideas were offered at that time.
This get-together will provide an opportunity to get to know one another and to begin brainstorming how we want to show up—individually and collectively—in service to a resilient and vibrant future for our community.
We are inviting any other parishioners with an interest in this area to join us at our get-together on November 12th. And if you are able to attend the get-together on the 12th, it is especially important to let us know, as we are planning to have a light lunch available.
Please email Jean Davis at jeanlangedavis@gmail.com
if you are interested in being part of this Environmental Action Circle.
| |
|
Freedom Warming Center Season Begins November 15
Casseroles and Volunteers Needed
If the weather is cold or rainy, Trinity will be activated to provide overnight shelter on November 15-18. To prepare for the season, Trinity has aluminum pans available. Please consider making a casserole for the freezer. Frozen purchased casseroles are also welcome. If you'd like to participate in this year's Warming Center volunteer team, please contact Mary Ann Paxton at 805-965-7419 or at office@trinitysb.org. For an explanation of this program, visit Trinity's outreach page.
| |
|
Care Bag assembly for unhoused neighbors
November 19 after both services
On November 19 we will once again assemble Care Bags to distribute to our neighbors in need. Please help in advance by donating the items that go into these bags. Stop by the table at coffee hour and grab a bag to keep in your car.
| |
|
Churchwide ethnic ministries missioners to join Diocesan Convention panel on best practices
[The Episcopal News – October 18, 2023] A panel focused on best practices for launching and advancing multicultural ministries in local congregations is set for Diocesan Convention, with speakers including denomination-wide leaders from The Episcopal Church’s Department of Ethnic Ministries joined by the convener of Chinese ministries in the Diocese of Los Angeles.
Set for the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 10, the panel will be moderated by Bishop John Harvey Taylor and include the Rev. Ronald Byrd Sr., missioner for African Descent Ministries across The Episcopal Church; the Rev. Fennie Hsin-Fen Chang, vicar of St. Thomas, Hacienda Heights, and convenor of the Chinese ministries in the Diocese of Los Angeles; the Rev. Bradley Hauff, The Episcopal Church’s missioner for Indigenous Ministries; and the Rev. Albert Rodriguez, consultant to The Episcopal Church’s Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministries.
The panel has been organized in consultation with the Rev. Canon Anthony Guillen, director of The Episcopal Church’s Department of Ethnic Ministries whose ministry has included serving as rector of All Saints, Oxnard.
| |
Celebrate and Support Justice | |
|
Look for the blue celebration envelopes in the pews and recognize a birthday, an anniversary, graduation, engagement, 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.
| |
|
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. 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. Or 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 to our celebration donors for October!
Jeannie Christensen, Jean Davis, Sarah Fenstermaker, Helene Gardner,
and Anna Kokotovic
| |
|
Land Acknowledgement
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.
| | | | |
