May is Mental Health Awareness month. As a community of faith, we continue our commitment to eliminate the stigma of mental health challenges. Our worship on May 17 will focus on mental health and our call as people of faith to acknowledge the struggle these illnesses bring and to be a people of support, encouragement, and love.
We also continue our ministry of radical hospitality these days. While our building is closed for gatherings, it is providing safe shelter for individuals with no place to stay right now. One guest, a friend of a church member, has been with us since the just before the stay at home orders were made. Another guest had a brief stay of a week in March. This Saturday, we will partner with the Salvadoran Consulate to assist an individual stuck in the U.S. until El Salvador opens its airport. This is not exactly what this person envisioned when coming for a brief vacation! We have also received a request to help a college student (with Disciple connections) find a place to live after becoming homeless when the dorms closed.
Additionally, we are working to acquire food for about thirty immigrant families who have lost jobs and do not qualify for any other kind of assistance. We are doing this through a new connection with the Guatemala Acupuncture and Medical Aid Project (GUAMAP) (a non-profit based out of Tucson), which has transitioned their focus in this time to helping immigrant families in Tucson. The FCC Good Samaritan fund, from which we will give a donation, and our long-standing partnership with ICS will help provide food. ICS is offering food boxes for families in need, which we will receive and pass on to GUAMAP.
I am grateful that even though we remain unable to meet in person, we still participate in God’s movement of grace, love, and justice in our community.
Blessings,
