Social Justice

Mission Statement - We are all continually challenged to respond to Micah 6, verse 8: And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?  Our ministry attempts to bring social justice issues to the attention of the congregation.  The goal of our projects is to give members the opportunity to serve those in need in a variety of ways.  We strive to proclaim the love of Christ in our activities for the people near and far.

 

ON-GOING PROJECTS:

FISH - We provide two bags of food for ten low-income families on a monthly basis.  This is done with donated food and designated funds from the congregation, and the help of the OFs for delivery to Transfiguration Catholic Church where the food is distributed. 

 

Survivor Bags—Each week people drop into the church office looking for food or groceries, for a hot meal, for money for  their needs.  We have  “Survivor” bags of food  to help them, but sometimes they need more than that.  Unfortunately, the need is great and Social Action really doesn’t have any income for this project.  Would you like to help?  Please place your check or cash in the offering plate, marked for Social Action gift certificates.  If you would rather purchase the certificates yourselves, please bring them to the office, along with the cash register receipt, which the people will need  when they cash in the certificate.  Certificates from fast food places are also welcome, as are monthly bus passes.  Your help would be appreciated.

 

Shelter Cooking - Our cooking teams cooks and serves one meal a month for Julian Street Shelter. We had a very successful fundraiser in July.  A typical meal for 60 costs $120 to $140.

 

Health Connection - The congregation regularly donates about 50 cans of ready to serve soup for their food basket program, which provides individualized monthly food baskets to low income persons with AIDS in our county.

 

Second Harvest Food Bank - We continue to collect seasonal non-perishable food and garden products for the food bank.

 

Bulletin Board - We have a bulletin board in the narthex with information about social justice issues and reading materials.

 

Fair Trade Coffee - We purchase Fair Trade Coffee for use at coffee hour and also have ground and whole bean coffee for sale.  This supports a fair wage for the workers, and a portion of the money we pay goes to Lutheran World Relief.

 

SPECIAL PROJECTS:

 

Second Mile Giving—One Sunday per month, we give an extra offering for a designated organization. Some of the organizations are: our sister synods in Rwanda and Taiwan, Lutheran Social Services, Health Trust, Help one Child, Mt. Cross, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, San Francisco Night Ministry, Lutheran Office of Public Policy, ELCA Disaster Relief, California Lutheran University, Pueblo de Dios, and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.

 

Summer of Comfort VIIII—Typically for the summer will collect layette items or backpacks and back to school items to give to families in need.  This summer we have an opportunity to be of help to one of our own.

Gabi is having a baby girl in September. Since her mom, Andrea, died she has been living with her grandmother Mary She is very excited about having this baby but could use some help. It occurred to us that as her church family we could provide for some of her needs. So in July we will collect baby gifts for her. She has registered for some of her needs at Target.

Gifts can be left in the basket as you enter the sanctuary. Please have them in bags and unwrapped. We will present them to her in early August after the service.