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.

One of our ongoing outreach programs is Shelter Cooking. We have three teams who rotate cooking for Julian Street Inn the third Saturday of each month. This is a program that has gone on for many years and all who have taken part have enjoyed it. We get together and make a menu, shop and cook at the church, then take the meal to Julian Street Inn and serve it. Those on the receiving end are always very appreciative. The food is paid for by designated giving. The past few years we have had four teams but now we are down to three and would like to recruit some more cooks. If you think you may be interested come and join us on one of these Saturdays. We usually start about 4pm. Contact Steve Weirauch, Jean Hope or Shirley Woods if you are interested in this program.

Our other ongoing programs are FISH and collecting ready to serve healthy soups for The Health Connection’s Food Basket Program for low income persons with AIDS in our county. You will find a basket to collect the soups near our bulletin board in the narthex. There is a list of foods needed for FISH on the kiosk door. We also use designated funds to purchase items for FISH and we provide two bags of groceries for ten families a month. After the bags are assembled they are taken to Transfiguration Catholic Church by the German women who meet at our church on Wednesday mornings, where they are distributed. We are thankful for their help in this program since the retirement of the OFs. Food for FISH can be left in the kiosk. Thank you for your support and donations to these programs.

The New York Times recently ran an article about Carlos, an undocumented migrant laborer and his problems with the healthcare system. This article really illustrated for me the dilemma regarding this population and getting proper care. Click here to read it.