Forum on Restorative Justice

by Nan Fitch

On February 11, special guest Director Vicki Asseguard will speak to us about the Santa Cruz Victim Offender Dialogue Program.  Juvenile offenders referred by the Probation department receive counseling and when they are ready, they meet with those they have hurt, to better understand how it feels to be victimized and to work out a plan for restitution.  The program works mainly with those who have committed nonviolent crimes--shoplifting, graffiti, bullying, and vandalism of various kinds.  I’m sure you’ll agree with those of us on the Outreach Committee that this program is very pertinent to our community.

NOTE.  The Helpful Shop Board and volunteers voted in December to fund a similar program in the Salinas area.  At that time we were unaware of this local effort.

Fall Travelers Will Share Guadalupe Experiences Feb. 11

by Stu Fitch

      How many of us have suffered through our neighbors’ and friends’ boring holiday slideshows?  Well, you can be sure this won’t be one of those occasions.  In October/

November last year eleven members from St. John's participated in the Guadalupe Experience in Mexico. A pot-luck slide show and sharing is planned for Sunday,

February 11, at 5:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Wonderful slides of our trip taken by ace photographers Eliza Linley and David  Richardson will be shown, and others of us who took part in this marvelous adventure will share our stories.   

The trip was a profound experience and one we feel committed to share with as many as possible in an effort to inspire others to make this pilgrimage in the future!  You may bring Mexican dishes to the pot luck if you choose, but whatever will be fine!!!!  Most important - bring yourself, your family, your friends. Mark you calendars.   We look forward to seeing you at this gathering/sharing time..

Hospitality Personified

Robin and Steve Ellis invited the entire parish family to their lovely home for a New Year’s Eve party, and what a party is was!  The food and drink were delicious, the games fun, and the hospitality of the hosts warm and attentive.

Steve and Robin do so much for the congregation on a regular basis that is seems as though WE should have hosted the party for THEM.

Thank you, Robin, for all of the hard work you went to, especially, when you had been so sick.  You did a great job, and your guests were most appreciative.  Thank you, Steve, for allowing us into your home to enjoy your company “away from the job”.  We felt very welcome.

Outreach Grants and Expenditures in 2006

by Nan Fitch

As I look at this list, it’s clear that we focus on food, housing and schooling for those in greatest need, both locally and inter-nationally. Our first commitment is to local programs that feed the homeless-- the Interfaith Satelite Shelter program (ISSP) serves dinners twice monthly and New Horizons School for homeless children, lunches every Monday. ($1200).   We have also given to the work of the Homeless Services Center; recently we (the congregation) raised $2000 to buy materials to build a sleeping loft at the Center.

We also collect food in the basket at the back of the church. Bob White takes it once a month to residents of the Page Smith House, which is a residential half-way house for homeless people recovering from drug/alcohol addiction. 

We have also undertaken to feed hungry children in Tijuana, Mexico through a program called Children of the Americas. Over the last six years four delegations of youth and adults have traveled to actively participate in this program.  ($3000 in 2005, plus fundraisers).   In 2006 we sent $500 to Vamos, a school for street children in Cuernavava, Mexico.  Here the children and their parents are also fed and given health care and literacy classes.  

Through a small non-profit group called IF, we are currently helping to fund a women’s cooperative feeding program for hundreds of people in the slums of Lima, Peru.  ($200)  Through IF we are also buying land in Guatemala on which Habitat for Humanity will build houses. ($250)

A contribution of $500 was made to an international program - FINCA – to provide specific micro-loans to poor women who want to start their own small business enterprises.  Earnings are typically spent on food and schooling for their children.

The Sisters of the Transfiguration (Episcopal) have a school and nutrition program for very poor children in San Pedro de Marcoris, in the Dominican Republic.  In 2006, (also in 2005 and 2004 ) we sent $1000 to support their work. 

Since 2003 we have been supporting local Sudanese refugees (“lost boys”) who are in school and working in San Jose.  We have also given grants to support the the Episcopal Church in Sudan, most recently money for medicines at a clinic in Bor, S. Sudan, and scholarships for children in the refugee camp in Kenya.  Education is the only hope for building leaders for the future of Sudan (over $1000 in 2006, plus special appeals which did not go through Outreach).

The Firelight Foundation is a local non-profit that makes small grants to communites in Sub-Sahara, Africa.  They focus on supporting families and communities that are caring for Aids orphans, often through micro-economic projects that will generate some money for the families.

$500 in 2006, also in 2005.

This year we voted to support Santa Maria Urban Ministries, a food bank and social service center founded by the Diocese of El Camino, serving hundreds in the San Jose area....$450

We support two organizations which are primarily involved in advocacy for the poor.  Jubilee Network, U.S.A. is a coalition of churches working to cancel the debts of the poorest countries in the world.  Bread for the World works mostly to promote federal legislation which eases the hunger of Americans: the school lunch programs, food stamps, WIC and others. In 2006 we gave $300 to each of these groups.  Both of these groups are now working to generate concrete support for the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.

Outreach also supports COPA, a local organizing project to which St. Johns belongs. Lately COPA has been working to get more affordable housing built in Santa Cruz County.  COPA is funded separately in the St. John’s budget.

Thanks to the Helpful Shop, over $12000 was allocated to local and overseas outreach projects, besides the ones I havementioned above.  The Helpful Shop is the largest source of funds for Outreach, and  members of the Outreach Committee are eternally grateful for the dedication and generosity of the volunteers who make these grants possible.  Recepients of these grants are listed in the Helpful Shop article.