The “Safe Ground” movement strives to decriminalize camping/homlesness by allowing land to be set aside for “tent cities.” Documentary film-maker Costa Mantis moved into a tent city months ago and has been making short videos. He came to interview me recently. Here’s what he created for YouTube.- Dean Baker
more about "Safe Ground", posted with vodpod
Categories: Serving Those in Need
by Dean Brian Baker
Last week I was asked to join a group from Trinity Cathedral (our Local Organizing Committee) that was visiting the office of Congresswoman Matsui to invite her to a forum at Trinity on healthcare reform tentatively scheduled for August 26. They have also planned a vigil at the Matsui building on Tuesday, August 11. I was impressed by their passion and their organization. Yesterday, I was visited by Costa Mantis, the documentary filmmaker who has been living with the homeless in the various “tent cities” that keep being disrupted by the police. When he had heard of the tent cities, he left his home and without external funding, has been using short film segments to advocate for safe ground for the homeless. You can see some of his videos on YouTube. Shortly after his visit, a couple came to the church seeking help. They were hours away from being evicted from their home. As you can imagine, we get lots of requests at the church that are beyond our means. I invited them into my office with the intention of telling them that I wouldn’t be able to help them. After talking with them, I decided to give them a little financial assistance and I recommended they go to other Churches for assistance. I knew there was little hope they would get the money they needed in time. Many churches have locked doors that make it impossible for strangers to seek help. After I sent them on their way, I noticed their lease agreement on my desk. They had shown it to me along with other important documents and I failed to return it. I hopped on my motorcycle. I caught up to them just as they were arriving at the next church. As I suspected, it was locked. I returned their paperwork. As they were walking away from the locked church, I knew they would not get the help they needed. I thought about the circumstances of the day – Costa’s visit, the forgotten paperwork that took me back to them. I was sitting on my motorcycle watching this couple walk toward their eviction and I knew I had to help (I’m pretty slow when it comes to understanding God’s will.) I once again caught up to the couple. I asked them to go back to Trinity. I called the landlord to verify their situation. I realized that they had the financial means to pay the rent on a regular basis. They just got behind on one payment, late fees kicked-in and things snowballed. If they got evicted, they would loose access to all their belongings and their financial problems would multiply. Intervention on this one day could mean the difference between them getting back on their feet or becoming systemically homeless. I depleted my discretionary fund in order to give them the money they needed and worked out a plan for them to repay me over several months. While it is impossible for me to provide this kind of assistance on a large scale, I am glad I was able to help in this instance and I look forward to following up with this family. Today I went to a meeting of the Interfaith Service Bureau, which is an organization that seeks to bring people of different faiths together to build bridges of understanding and serve the needs of the community. They are reorganizing and they wanted input. I got excited by the possibilities of what could happen if the faith groups would together to help those in need. For me, what connects these three episodes is the opportunity to exercise our Spirit-infused humanity by serving others in our community. Each of us is called to some aspect of this ministry and it is the generosity of time, money, and compassion that allows Trinity Cathedral to transform lives. I encourage you to seek ways of being involved and if you need help finding a service opportunity, please contact me or Deacon Tina Campbell. Here are some opportunities I would like to feature: The Interfaith Service Bureau is looking for Board Members (responsible for governance, finance & vision), folks to work on interfaith programs and worship services as well as folks to help network the social programs being done by faith groups. Trinity Cathedral is looking for someone to be on our local neighborhood association board. If interested, please contact me.
Categories: Clergy · Serving Those in Need
By The Rev. Canon Kathleen Kelly
The Book of Common Prayer offers this passage as one way to conclude Morning Prayer: “May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing, through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (BCP, p. 102). Hope might be our most basic need. Without hope, other spiritual gifts can languish. All people need hope to energize both individual and communal efforts.
Tackling the issues that contribute to homelessness is a great example. I don’t know anyone who thinks it is a good thing that some people right here in Sacramento have no safe place to sleep at night. Everyone would like to see that change. Few of us are working as hard as we might to change that, however. Maybe we fear that we are up against intractable problems. Maybe we fear that we could exhaust ourselves without making a dent. The medicine needed to alleviate fear is hope. We proclaim every Sunday that Jesus reveals a God who works alongside us in all our human challenges; we proclaim a God of hope. We are called to be hope-bearers for the world.
The Family Promise Program gives us a wonderful way to be hope-bearers in combating homelessness. At a Day Center, homeless families receive the support they need to establish an income flow. Area congregations take turns giving the families a place to stay for one week at a time, so they can save up the money for first and last month’s rent and get into their own place. The next hosting week for Trinity begins August 9. There are lots and lots of ways that you can play a part:
¨ Dinner Cooks prepare a meal for about 14-20 people. You can rely on a planned menu or volunteer to prepare a favorite item. Lynn Clifford coordinates the cooking.
¨ Dinner Hosts help to serve and clean-up after the dinner, and eat along with our guests, getting to know them and assuring they feel welcome.
¨ Evening Hosts may also get to know the families at dinner. Their primary role is offering evening activities, especially for the children. Parishioners often volunteer to do this as a family, so that Trinity kids can interact with our guests.
¨ Overnight Hosts arrive by 8 p.m. and stay overnight, also putting out breakfast items. Trinity provides bedding, or you can bring a sleeping bag. The Great Hall is comfortable, and this is a great way for busy people to help. We all need to sleep, so why not do it in a way that makes this great program possible?
Family Promise volunteers get to know guests who are both inspirational and thankful. It gives them a deeper sense that the Christ we proclaim is alive in themselves and others. A big THANK YOU to all who have helped with Family Promise in the past, especially our current coordinators: Lynn Clifford (mentioned above), Bill Jaskoski, Elizabeth Kenealey, Mark Rasmussen, and Sally Smith. Visit the three-sided kiosk in the Great Hall to learn more, or to volunteer for a shift.
Categories: Clergy · Serving Those in Need
There were a good number of Trinity members at the Safe Ground rally. I only got pictures of a few of them. Safe Ground is a campaign working to de-criminalize homelessness and provide safe land for homeless folks.
more about "Safe Ground Rally 7/1/09", posted with vodpod
Categories: Serving Those in Need
Are you called to serve the next time Trinity hosts Family Promise Week? Between August 9 and 16, Trinity will host up to four homeless families in the Great Hall and adjacent rooms for one week. This collaboration with other area parishes allows homeless families to save up for more permanent housing. The program needs cooks, meal hosts, evening hosts and overnight hosts. Check the three-sided kiosk in the Great Hall for information and sign-ups.
Are you called to join the Rally and March for Safe Ground? On July 1 at 10:00 a.m., the Winter Overflow Shelters will close, and the last load of folks staying there will return to North 12th and Ahern Streets. Loaves and Fishes, Francis House and the Homeless Organizing Committee will lead a march to claim some safe ground where those with no place else to sleep may at least pitch a tent without being arrested, and receive needed services from the many who would be pleased to donate them. If you want to be a part of this effort, come to 12th and Ahern on July 1.
Are you called to express appreciation to the Board of Supervisors? Here is how you can contact them:
Roger Dickinson, dickinsonr@saccounty.net
Jimmie Yee, jyee@saccounty.net
Susan Peters, susanpeters@saccounty.net
Don Nottoli, nottolid@saccounty.net
Roberta MacGlashan, macglashanr@saccounty.net
Find the best way to make yours a voice of hope. Be a prophet!
Categories: Clergy · Serving Those in Need · Uncategorized
By Brian Baker
This Sunday’s Advent ingathering is supporting Jed Smith School. We need children’s white crew socks S/M/L and girls & boys underwear. These will be given to Jed Smith to be included in the children’s Christmas Bags that we will assemble on Sunday, December 14 in the Great Hall at 10:15am.
Also GROCERY BAGS will be distributed to you this Sunday to fill and return next Sunday for our Advent II ingathering for River City Community Services.
Trinity Cathedral will host an Alternative Christmas Fair offering parishioners the opportunity to purchase Christmas gifts and support the work of a social service agency at the same time. Jewelry, craft items, applesauce, jam, and coffee are just some of the things that will be available for purchase. A few of the vendors are: TREE, St. John’s Shelter, Interfaith Service Bureau.
Categories: Advent · Serving Those in Need
Tagged: Advent
As we edge toward the holidays, we need food. Each week we supply 20 families with Back Snacks for the weekend.
A BackSnack includes a loaf of bread or package of rice crackers, a jar of peanut butter, one package of oatmeal, a fruit cup, a granola bar per person in the family, a package or two of Raman soup, a box of macaroni and cheese and a can or two of chili, beans or spaghettios. Usually there are one or two pieces of fresh fruit also. We are in constant need of these items. If you know of any way to get quantities of these items it would be very helpful.
Watch for a sign-up for special needs families at Jed Smith. You can sign-up for a person in the family and buy gifts for them for Christmas.
We are still collecting children’s clothing. The Clothes Closet for the children of Jed Smith School is open one Friday a month from 3:00-4:00pm. We need gently used baby, children and teen clothes including underwear. We also need volunteers to help on Fridays to pack the BackSnacks and set-up the Clothes Closet from about 1pm to 4:00pm.
We offer each child a gently used book. If you can donate books, please bring them, as well as your food donations, to church and place in the Jed Smith Barrels under the stairs by the office. We will also need backpacks for the children and, as always, checks are greatly appreciated.
Nancy Tennyson,
Director of Family Ministries
Categories: Family and Youth Ministries · Serving Those in Need
From parishoner Virginia McNeely:
Did you know that with minimal effort you can help scores of individuals and numerous groups in our community?
We all belong to a number of formal and informal groups and clubs: gyms, book clubs, hiking groups, professional and social clubs, school groups, etc. Each of these groups has the potential to help others in the community, but they need someone to help them to see how. YOU can be that person!
For example, I am a member of Curves and of WeightWatchers, where I’ve shared news about the ministry of Trinity Cathedral with Jedediah Smith School’s BackSnack program. I had encouraged WeightWatchers members to give me their “target foods” (foods that are too tempting) when they cleaned their cupboards, so the leaders at Sierra 2 chose our BackSnack program to benefit from the drive where members gave one pound of food for each pound they lost. Having heard me talk about Jed Smith School, my Curves location owner has had peanut butter drives and has also donated backpacks and clothing for the program. With truly minimal effort on my part, more than 200 pounds of food has gone to help the kids at Jed Smith School. In addition, people have heard about what great work Trinity does and know that this is a caring congregation that they might consider joining.
Take a few minutes to brainstorm what activities and groups you’re involved with. Art? Bread of Life can use art supplies for their community program. Hiking, hunting, fishing? Collect jackets and sleeping bags for the homeless at Loaves and Fishes when your friends upgrade. Reading? The choir is having a book drive; the BackSnack project can use children’s books; the Friends of the Library are always collecting books to raise funds. Scouts or a social or work group? Collect food for River City Community Services by asking participants to bring canned goods to meetings or social events.
As baptized Christians we all show thanks for how good God has been to us by giving of our time, talent and treasure. Think of how you can help others to focus their giving and join you in your ministries. With a little effort you can make a big difference!
Categories: Serving Those in Need
Last Wednesday night I got to participate in a remarkable event. Our congregation partners with Jed Smith Elementary School, a school located in housing projects in which ever student is enrolled in the school lunch program. For quite some time we had been supporting classroom teachers by compiling student materials at the beginning of the year, adopting classroom teachers and giving them little gifts and encouragement, providing every child with small gifts at Christmas, etc. More recently we have established a program where we send children home on Fridays with backpacks of food for them and their families. We started this when we found out that children were being adequately fed at school during the week but were going hungry over the weekends. We also started a free clothes closet at the school.
Last Wednesday night we did something new, and equally exciting. The remarkable, high-energy principal, Fay Sharpe, has been working hard to connect the life of the school with the neighborhood. (Every student lives within a few blocks of the school.) One of the key opportunities to foster this connection is Back To School Night, which is an open house at the beginning of the year that usually runs from 5-6pm.. Last Thursday, for Back to School Night, members of Trinity cooked dinner for everybody who came. They made over 20 gallons of delicious, meaty spaghetti sauce to serve with the spaghetti as well as salad, garlic bread and ice cream. We also had the clothes closest open. Usually the children are the only ones who go to the clothes closet because we open it on Friday’s when school is letting out. But this time, entire families could go. We also had a health fair with lots of health information and nurses on site to answer questions, take blood pressure of offer other services. We had a sign up for a parent’s group.
It was a breathtaking success. Fay said attendance was more than double the attendance in previous years. As an example she said in a class of 20 students, 18 students had their parent(s) come. The energy at the school was lovely. The clothes closet was crazy – good crazy. Lots of health material got picket up and the nurses spoke with many young women about women’s health.
I remember my former bishop in Idaho, Bishop Bainbridge, challenging congregations to make such a difference in their communities that if the church would disappear, the community would lament. I feel like Trinity Cathedral is starting to make that kind of difference.
Six parents signed up for a new parent’s support group.
Categories: Family and Youth Ministries · Serving Those in Need
