Outreach Update
Love Through Justice Project Update
A few weeks ago, we launched this project to raise donations that will address specific social injustices in our city’s past. So far, church congregants have contributed over $15,000 to go with the church’s tithe of $80,000! Wow! Following is a powerful explanation of the what and why for the project from Race and Equity Team Member Erica Shutes-David:
We are a nation built by the work of self-made men, a nation where anyone can rise from poverty to riches with a bit of hardscrabble effort. This is the fairy tale sold to us by reality TV, the stock market, Calvinism, and for some lucky ducks, personal experience. However, the truth is that the system is rigged to benefit those who have taken their wealth by force or through other forms of power. In Seattle, we see that in our recent history of redlining or in a founding narrative that ignores the role of the Duwamish as the first settlers of the land. The truth is that the system is rigged to benefit the status quo. That can be discouraging to hear, but the system can be changed. The fairy tale can shift.
Money is power. And those of us who have benefited from white systems of privilege, including systems of inheritance and land management, often have more money and power. The Race and Equity team is thus calling on our congregation to consider how Christ would have us address these wrongs, to reflect on the idea of reparations, and to put the learning of anti-racism to tangible work. Join us as we tithe from the sale of the Phinney House to two local organizations who give back to communities of Black Seattlites who were red-lined out of home ownership and to the local Indigenous tribe who lived on this land before it was claimed by so-called self-made white men.
Check out the PRLC Race and Equity page (prlc.org/race-equity) for more information about the organizations chosen and then use the Online Giving platorm and choose the Love through Justice Project to make your contribution, or email Minister of Outreach Patrick Meagher. The campaign ends on November 30, so please don’t delay!
Food Bank Holiday Programs Proceed with Love, Dedication, and Caution
After careful planning and generous volunteer response, we look forward to serving families for Thanksgiving food box distribution on Sunday, November 22nd. We’ve developed a plan to keep a limited number of volunteer helpers distanced and safe while we serve one family at a time with all COVID protocols in place. We have all our volunteers scheduled for the day, but we will likely reprise this process to give away our Christmas food boxes and gifts and will be signing up volunteers through upcoming bulletins and electronic count me in forms. Watch for more information following Thanksgiving, and thanks for your support of the food bank!