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Columbia Food Bank at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Columbia, PA Province III

Over 60 years ago, in the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Women served free, hot lunches to the community six days a week. It quickly became evident that many of the people who came in for lunch did not have food to start or end the day. Community members were living in hunger. The ECW started sending groceries home with them after each lunch. And the food bank was started.

The food bank was partially supported by state and federal programs, which provided free food and equipment. Additionally, food and monetary donations, and volunteers from the local area, helped the food bank meet the community’s people in need. In order to receive free food, people could sign up for a voucher at the local Community Action Program (CAP) office, present it to the food bank, and take their groceries home.

In 2006, St. Paul’s discovered that the voucher system was no longer including a screening process. After a number of meetings, the church elected to forego all government support and become self-sufficient even though it meant losing free food and government-provided refrigeration equipment. The food bank instituted a screening and qualification system that was still in force prior to the pandemic.

In 2013, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church decided it was in the best interest of the church, the food bank, and the community to have the food bank become a separate corporation with its own 501 (c) (3) designation. On September 18, 2014, The Columbia Food Bank received its nonprofit status as a charitable organization.

In 2020, the food bank served 1,043 households, or 2,053 individuals, which equates to 41,657 meals. From 2019 to 2020 there was not a dramatic change in the number of people they served but more the demographics. There was a shift of the 61 and older population that stayed home, and therefore those numbers dropped while the working force numbers rose.

Community giving of both money and food has skyrocketed. Financial organizations outside their normal territory are giving. A Chicago-based company sent them a donation because an owner who was originally from the Columbia area had decided that the Columbia Food Bank would be their charity of choice. In 2019 their food distributions were 66,000 pounds, and in 2020 distributions rose to 69,000 pounds.

The food bank staff feel fortunate as even in the midst of COVID, they continue to receive donations. At times they needed to go on scouting missions, like all of us, for certain items like jelly and hot dogs. The day we spoke they received 35 $25 gift cards to a local grocery store for perishables. They have never had to turn anyone away. “We adapt and persevere.”

Information provided by Danielle Peters and Sue Ollar and the Columbia Food Bank columbiafoodbank.org

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:45:30+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Desmond Tutu: Una Biografía Espiritual del Confesor de Sur África

Rev. Michael Battle, Ph.D.
Herbert Thompson: Líder de la Iglesia y Sociedad:
Director del Centro Desmond Tutu
Seminario Teológico General, New York

Seria hipócrita de mi parte si no ofrecería esta reflexión acera de la reconciliación racial si no promoviese a un agente anglicano de la reconciliación racial. Lo hago, no porque quiera ufanarme de vender libros; en cambio, como una manera de ofrecer un artículo introductorio acerca del tema de reconciliación racial. Muchos de nosotros hemos pasado por la era apocalíptica del virus COVID-19, agitación social, y la polarización política. Un prominente líder dentro entre las mujeres de la Iglesia episcopal me escribió que ella había trabajado como una guardiana designada por la corte de aquellos con discapacidades mentales y por consiguiente observo de primera mano situaciones graves sobre la humanidad en necesidad de sanación y reconciliación. A pesar de ello, para algunos de nosotros, debido a nuestro estatus socioeconómico, nos damos cuenta de que estamos “resguardados” de estas tormentas apocalípticas, pero queremos ser parte de la solución y no del problema. Bueno, el agente anglicano que mencione arriba es una guía maravillosa para educarnos en lo atinente a estos tópicos, especialmente sobre el ministerio de reconciliación.

El Agente Anglicano que describí es, de hecho, una santa bajo mi perspectiva. Él es arzobispo Desmond Tutu, reconocido por su ministerio de reconciliación en Sur África y el resto del mundo. Por mi parte yo voy un poco más allá y lo catalogo como místico cristiano en mi nuevo libro, Desmond Tutu: Biografía Espiritual del Confesor de Sur África (Westminster John Knox Press, publicación el día 16 de marzo de 2021). Por más de 25 años, yo he visto de cerca la espiritualidad profunda que ayudo a Tutu a desmantelar el “apartheid”, tras haber vivido con Tutu en los años 1993 y 1994. Su espiritualidad esta enraizada en la práctica Cristiana Antigua a la vez que el concepto africano de Ubuntu, interdependencia Humana. En este libro yo examino como el misticismo Cristiano de Tutu forma su compromiso para la justicia restauradora y conciliatoria.

“La vida de Tutu y su trabajo son cruciales tanto para el bienestar del mundo como para la supervivencia de la iglesia que parece estar parcializada hacia la crisis y las guerras culturales,” Escribo. La pelea de Tutu en contra del “Apartheid” es una batalla espiritual, la cual engloba lecciones de como resistir el auge del nacionalismo cristiano de hoy. “Sometiendo al opresor para vea a Dios en la cara del oprimido fue su contribución más grande.” Concluyo. Para que el opresor pueda confesar que su Dios fue ultimadamente disminuido en la religión del “Apartheid’ fue un milagro que debemos replicar.”

En cualquier ministerio de reconciliación, necesitamos entender la fuente de la que fluye dicha reconciliación. Aunque yo puedo argumentar que las mujeres son más una fuente de reconciliación que los hombres, la última fuente de reconciliación es Dios mismo. Entendiendo a Tutu como un místico cristiano es esencial para comprender la siguiente perspectiva: “El objetivo de la vida de un místico es alcanzar la unión con Dios,” Yo explico en mi biografía sobre Tutu. La manera en que Tutu trato de alcanzar su meta no solo esta animada a través de su liderazgo en la iglesia, pero a través de su liderazgo político también. Tutu ofrece a la Iglesia Episcopal de mujeres inspiración y a la misma vez estrategia para ser una fuera política y espiritual para ser conciliatoria en un mundo apocalíptico. Al cultivar tal fuerza del alma la Iglesia de Mujeres Episcopales contrarresta el sistema de racismo y de falta de humanidad y establece en un mundo que carece de autoestima la practicidad de construir comunidades y redes de contactos que apoyen a todos los marginados en el mundo.

Acerca del autor

Michael Battle es profesor de Herbert de la Sociedad e Iglesia y director del Centro General Teológico Desmond Tutu en Nueva York, y presidente y Jefe Estratégico del instituto PeaceBattle. El autor de 11 libros, incluyendo Reconciliación: La Teología Ubuntu de Desmond Tutu, el enfoca su ministerio en la no violencia, reconciliación cristiana, espiritualidad humana, y Ubuntu (La comunidad africana a nivel mundial) Battle vivió en residencia con el arzobispo Desmond Tutu en Sur África por dos años y fue ordenado sacerdote en Sur África por Tutu en 1993. En el 2010, le fue otorgado una de las condecoraciones más distinguidas en la Iglesia Anglicana como lo fue “Six Preacher.”

Para más información, visita su página web: michaelbattle.com

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:41:35+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor

Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor

The Rev. Michael Battle, Ph.D.
Herbert Thompson Chair of Church and Society
Also, Director of the Desmond Tutu Center
General Theological Seminary, New York

I would be remiss in offering this reflection on racial reconciliation if I did not promote a primary Anglican agent of racial reconciliation. I do so not out of the aggrandizement of selling a book; rather as a sort of introductory article to the subject of racial reconciliation. So many of us have waded through an apocalyptic era of COVID-19, racial unrest, and political polarity. One prominent leader among the Episcopal Church Women (ECW) wrote me that she worked as a court-appointed guardian for the mentally ill and therefore saw firsthand grave situations of inhumanity in need of healing and reconciliation. And yet, some of us, due to our socioeconomic status, are more “sheltered” from these apocalyptic storms but want to be part of the solution rather than the problems of our world. Well, the Anglican agent I mentioned above is a wonderful guide to educate us all about such topics, especially the ministry of reconciliation.

The Anglican agent whom I describe above is in fact a saint in my perspective. He is Archbishop Desmond Tutu, renowned for his ministry of reconciliation in South Africa and the rest of the world. I go further and describe him as a Christian mystic and saint in my new book, Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor (Westminster John Knox Press, launching on March 16, 2021). For more than 25 years, I have seen up close the deep spirituality that helped Tutu dismantle apartheid, having lived with Tutu in 1993 and 1994. His spirituality is rooted in ancient Christian practice as well as in the African concept of Ubuntu, human interdependence. In this book I examine how Tutu’s Christian mysticism shapes his commitment to restorative justice and reconciliation.

“Tutu’s life and work are crucial for both the wellbeing of the world and the survival of the church that seem equally bent toward crisis and culture wars,” I write. Tutu’s fight against apartheid is a spiritual battle, one with lessons for resisting the growth of Christian Nationalism today. “Getting the oppressor to see God in common with the oppressed was Tutu’s greatest contribution,” I conclude. “For the oppressor to confess that their god was ultimately diminished in the religion of apartheid is a miracle that we all need to replicate.”

In any ministry of reconciliation, we need to understand the source from which reconciliation flows. Even though I would argue that women are more of a source of reconciliation than men, the ultimate source is not from human beings but from God. Understanding Tutu as such a Christian mystic is essential to understanding this often-neglected perspective. “The aim of the mystic’s life is to achieve union with God,” I explain in Tutu’s biography. The way that Tutu tried to reach this goal is not only animated through his leadership in the church but through his political leadership as well. Tutu offers the ECW inspiration as well as strategy to be both a spiritual and political force for reconciliation in an apocalyptic world. By cultivating such a soul force the ECW counteracts systems of racism and inhumanity and establishes in a world that lacks self-esteem the practicality of building communities and networks that support so many who are marginalized in this world.

About the Author

Michael Battle is Herbert Thompson Professor of Church and Society and Director of the Desmond Tutu Center at General Theological Seminary in New York, and President and CEO of the PeaceBattle Institute. The author of 11 books, including Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu, he focuses his ministry on nonviolence, Christian reconciliation, human spirituality, and Ubuntu (the African worldview of community). Battle lived in residence with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa for two years and was ordained a priest in South Africa by Tutu in 1993. In 2010, he was given one of the highest Anglican Church distinctions as “Six Preacher.”

For more information, visit his website at michaelbattle.com

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:36:17+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Grace Episcopal Impacts City of Alvin: Province VII

by the Reverend Suzanne Smith

How one small church has made a big impact in her community by feeding souls and hungry bellies…

Grace Episcopal Food Drive It started with a little blessing box beside the church and has become a major ministry to the community, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The blessing box evolved into a weekly Houston Food Bank distribution site. Then, in the middle of the third month of operations, the pandemic hit. At this time, the organizers pivoted to a drive-through distribution, which at its peak has been visited by over 400 families a week. The parish hall, previously used for Christian formation and fellowship, became a food storage warehouse for pallets upon pallets of non-perishable food items.

The mobile food pantry has been providing food in Alvin on a weekly basis since December 6, 2019. We partnered with the Alvin/Manvel and Houston Food Bank in order to bring fresh food and produce to Alvin, an area that struggles with food insecurity. 51.7% of Alvin Independent School District (AISD) students qualify under Title 1 for Free or Reduced-Cost breakfast and lunch. The district has 18 Title 1 campuses.

Every Thursday morning, the Houston Food Bank brings a refrigerated truck containing 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of fresh food and vegetables. The truck is set up in the Grace Church parking lot. Before COVID, volunteers from Grace and other community organizations unloaded the food from the truck, bagged it, and then the guests would shop each fresh food station.

When COVID began, in one week, Grace seamlessly transitioned to a drive-thru mobile food pantry underneath the beautiful oak trees in front of our church. Our first attempt provided food for 281 families. The families were given 35-40 pounds of food, and we estimate around 1,000 people were fed in Alvin because of these efforts!

The drive-thru option allowed food to be given out in a safe way by the volunteers boxing up the food and then guests driving through the parking lot and the food delivered to their trunks. Some of these folks waited in the car line for up to two hours to get their food. It was calm and ordered, and all who received food were profoundly grateful.

Since the first mobile food pantry, the people of Grace, along with other churches and members of the community, have distributed nearly 500,000 pounds of food through the mobile food pantry to over 30,000 people in Alvin.

We have also expanded our Blessing Box ministry to include an outside Blessing Refrigerator. A team of parishioners keep the fridge stocked with cold items such as milk, juice, butter, cheese, and eggs. Combined, the Blessing Box and Fridge see between 65 and 100 visitors a day.

Grace has long been a beacon in the Alvin community, and over the last year it has become a vital component to the well-being of her citizens through our food initiatives. We said “YES” to God in one way, and the doors kept opening, so we have continued to walk through them. This ministry is more than a blessing to Grace. It is a blessing and gift to the Alvin community.

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:27:24+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Serving the Community with Love as Christ Teaches Us

Mónica Elías Orellana My name is Monica Elias-Orellana. I was born in California and moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts, when I was 11 years old. It was then that I was introduced to the Episcopal Church, where I found myself embraced by God’s call to “serve thy neighbor.” I was taught early in life that I must help others even if I possess little.

As a teenager I volunteered at the soup kitchen and pantry at St. Luke’s-San Lucas. I also got involved with the youth group at what I began to call my church. The Rev. Edgar Gutiérrez -Duarte, who is the priest there, encouraged my sisters and me to reactivate the youth group, and with his support we were incredibly happy to lead it.

After I graduated from high school, I attended the University of Massachusetts in Boston, where I graduated with a degree in Biology and a minor in Asian American Studies.

I thought I wanted to be a physician, but my call and my passion has always been serving the community. While in college, I volunteered at a local nonprofit, The Neighborhood Developers, where soon after I was hired, I became the Chelsea Community building manager, a position I still hold. My role is to organize the Chelsea residents who have been most impacted by the housing crisis. Together, we work to create systemic change. Other areas of my work include relationship building, leadership development, and creating opportunities for empowering residents to participate in municipal decision making.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, we have seen a high rate of infection and sadly many deaths in Chelsea. Families are forced to live in a single apartment because rents are awfully expensive in the city. Chelsea has a housing crisis, and the community has an ever bigger and immediate need for food and other urgent necessities.

When I found out that my church was the center of food distribution for the city of Chelsea, I offered to help. Soon after, I started volunteering my time at St. Luke’s-San Lucas. The Neighborhood Developers saw value in the service I was offering the Chelsea community. So, since March 2020, they have allocated some of my hours to St. Luke’s-San Lucas as their volunteer coordinator.

In my work as community organizer, I am fortunate to work with a strong base of community members. I am able to constantly recruit volunteers to help run the operation of St. Luke’s, where every week we receive more than 19,000 pounds of food, serving more than 500 families.

Mónica Elías Orellana at the pantry For me it is an honor to work with community members who, with love and dedication, serve families in need. My heart is full of joy and my eyes rejoice at seeing the beauty of local community members coming together to help one another. I have met incredible people who have worked many hours unloading boxes of food into the church, unpacking them, and distributing the food and other necessities given to the community. I admire that labor of love despite fears of exposure to the deadly virus. I am moved as I watch families come to the pantry for food and sometimes see tears and expressions of gratitude as they receive what they need to survive these difficult times.

It has been a blessing to work in my childhood church along with amazing individuals like Rev. Edgar Gutiérrez-Duarte. I am filled with joy now as an adult working with my childhood leaders! Now, I lead with them and call them my peers. Although sometimes it has not been an easy journey, I have met amazing people along the way. My hope is to be able to similarly inspire others to serve the community and to serve as mentors to young women of color.

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:17:08+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Subvención Universal otorgada por El Salón de Clase Espiritual y la Búsqueda de lo Salvaje

Escrito por Lisa Bortner

Es obvio que Dios ha promovido la vida de la Rev. Dorothy Gremillion en varias formas. Ordenada sacerdote en la iglesia Episcopal en el año 2000, ella ha servido diversas Iglesias a lo largo de cuatro diocesis. Ella piensa que Dios ha creado a cada ser humano -en este caso, cada mujer- a ser no solo totalmente única, pero a tener un camino único hacia la santidad de acuerdo a los dones y circunstancias de la vida de cada persona. En su blog SpiritualityClassroom.com, ella llama a ese camino único hacia la santidad su “Creatividad potenciada en Cristo.” Su creatividad potenciada en Cristo sale a relucir cuando tú has descubierto tu camino único hacia la santidad.

El Salón de la Espiritualidad tiene esta misión especifica: “Empoderar a las mujeres que han sido abusadas espiritualmente por alguien en sus Iglesias para descubrir su camino a través de la sanación y así poder desatar su “Máxima creatividad potenciada en Cristo.”

La Rev. Gremillion ha experimentado abuso espiritual personalmente, lo cual es definido como “un evento(s) de cuando una persona con autoridad utiliza la misma para maltratar a un miembro de la iglesia.” La Rev. Gremillion es una sobreviviente de abuso espiritual. A través de mucho sufrimiento, ensayo y error, terapia, dirección espiritual y la oración, ella ha encontrado la sanación. Ella ha tenido atisbos de lo que es vivir una vida de “Máxima creatividad potenciada en Cristo.” Ella ahora esta apasionada en su cruzada por ayudar a otras mujeres a encontrar su sanación, mujeres que han sufrido a manos de miembros de la iglesia. Por ello creo su blog spiritualityclassroom.com. Pero la Rev. Gremillion tiene una visión más grande que un blog para desarrollar la espiritualidad de estas mujeres que han sido abusadas espiritualmente.

Su visión ahora incluye La búsqueda de lo Salvaje, lo cual será un área de membresía pagada, segura, privada dentro de su Salón de Clase Espiritual. Toda vez que te unes a La Búsqueda de la Espiritualidad, serás impulsado a descubrir y profundizar tu sanación espiritual y a encontrar tu propia historia en Cristo, tras interactuar comunitariamente con los demás, participando juntos en cursos en línea, y recibiendo dirección espiritual de la Rev. Gremillion.

Lo “salvaje” es una metáfora para que la vida sea más llevadera, con sus altas y bajas, deseos, éxitos, retos, y obstáculos. Planes actuales para La Búsqueda de lo Salvaje son siete cursos a través de los cuales los miembros pueden aprender herramientas específicas para crecer espiritualmente de los clásicos cristianos espirituales, sagrada escritura, himnodia, e investigación.

Las areas de lo salvaje incluye:

Epicentros de Cabeceras
Un modelo de oracion
Salon de Spa Espiritual
Ejercicios para el Alma
Lanza tu bienestar
Caverna de la intriga interna
Caidas de peldanos
Punto de Alegria

Cada una de estas áreas de La búsqueda de lo Salvaje tendrán su propio contenido que es diferente a los demás. Las Herramientas de crecimiento espiritual son extraídas del contenido original, de investigaciones, de las sagradas escrituras, y de otros elementos de textos clásicos de espiritualidad cristiana.

Por ejemplo, un Modelo de Oración, tiene la Espiritualidad del desierto entretejida en derredor, aunque no es el principal tópico de sus 6 módulos. La oración lo es. Este curso incluye videos introductorios por escrito para cada lección, el contenido de la lección, 13 maneras para orar, meditaciones de audio sobre textos de himnos, ejercicios para aprender cómo llevar un diario espiritual, y una página privada en facebook – Todo con la finalidad de engendrar sanación de abuso espiritual y dar herramientas espirituales para ayudar a lo largo del camino.

Las otras áreas de la Búsqueda de lo salvaje incluirán herramientas espirituales de la espiritualidad benedictina, espiritualidad celtica, espiritualidad ignaciana, espiritualidad Carmelita, y la espiritualidad Franciscana, mientras extrae creativamente de otras fuentes como la Psicología, Sagradas escrituras, investigación, y experiencia personal.

Visita spiritualityclassroom.com y suscríbete al blog gratis, el cual te capacitará para recibir blogs gratis de manera semanal; También recibirás notificaciones sobre cuando la búsqueda de lo Salvaje estará disponible.

El Grupo de Mujeres de la Iglesia Episcopal a nivel nacional, se complace en anunciar que le han otorgado el premio de la Subvención Universal a la Rev. Gremillion para ver el Proyecto de la Búsqueda de los Salvaje manifestarse en la realidad. La Rev. Gremillion espera tener su primera clase en línea disponible empezando en marzo de 2021. La junta directiva del Grupo de Mujeres de la Iglesia Episcopal estaba ansiosa de aprobar la subvención ya que había cumplido con todos los requerimientos que la junta directiva patrocinaba. La subvención Universal es un mecanismo Amplio que permite establecer organizaciones que promueven el mensaje de Cristo a lo largo del mundo. Cada aplicación es revisada para asegurar que puedan empoderar a las mujeres de la Iglesia Episcopal y proveer servicios que el Grupo de mujeres de la Iglesia Episcopal encuentra importantes.

El Grupo de Mujeres de la Iglesia Episcopal a nivel nacional tiene programas de subvenciones, la Subvención Universal y la subvención de mujer a mujer. Para más información sobre ambas subvenciones se puede encontrar en la página web ecwnational.org/resources/donations-grants/

Le deseamos a la Rev. Grimillion mucho éxito con su Clase de Espiritualidad y la Búsqueda de lo Salvaje, y nosotros le pedimos a Dios que bendiga todos sus proyectos dirigidos a ayudar a los demás.

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:12:05+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Universal Grant Awarded for Spirituality Classroom and Wilderness Quest

By Lisa Bortner

It is obvious that God has moved in Rev. Dorothy Gremillion’s life in many ways. Ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 2000, she has served churches across four dioceses. She believes that God has created each human being—in this case, each woman—to be not only totally unique, but to have a unique path to holiness according to the gifts and circumstances of each person’s life. In her blog at SpiritualityClassroom.com, she calls that unique path to holiness your “Ultimate Creative Potential in Christ.” Your Ultimate Creative Potential in Christ comes alive when you have discovered and are living into your unique path to holiness.

Spirituality Classroom empowering women who have been spiritually abused by someone in their church to discover their path through healing toward unleashing their Ultimate Creative Potential in Christ.”

Rev. Gremillion has personally experienced spiritual abuse, defined as “an event(s) when a person in authority uses that authority to maltreat a member of the church.” Rev. Gremillion is a spiritual abuse survivor. Through much struggle, trial and error, counseling, spiritual direction, and heart-felt prayer, she has found healing. She has begun to catch glimpses of what it would be like to live life from within her Ultimate Creative Potential in Christ. She’s now passionate about helping other women find their healing, women who have suffered the same fate by someone in their church. That’s why she created a free blog at spiritualityclassroom.com. But Rev. Gremillion has a bigger vision than only a blog to further help spiritually abused women.

Her vision now includes Wilderness Quest, which will be a paid, private, and secure online membership area inside her Spirituality Classroom. Once you join the Wilderness Quest, you will be launched into discovering and deepening your spiritual healing and to finding your most life-giving story in Christ, by building community with each other, participating together in online courses, and receiving spiritual direction from Rev. Gremillion.

The areas of the wilderness include

Headwaters Epicenter
Spirit Spa
A Prayer Sampler
Inner Intrigue Cavern
Soul Crunch
Launch Your Well-being
Joy Point
Stepping Stone Falls

This “wilderness” is a metaphor for wending your way through life, with its ups and downs, desires, successes, challenges, and roadblocks. Current plans are for the Wilderness Quest to contain seven courses in which members can learn specific spiritual growth tools gleaned from Classical Christian Spirituality, Holy Scripture, hymnody, and research.

Each of these areas of the Wilderness Quest will have its own content that is different from that of any of the others. Spiritual growth tools are gleaned from the original content, from research, from Scripture, and from different eras of Classical Christian Spirituality.

For example, the course A Prayer Sampler has Desert Spirituality interwoven throughout, even though it is not the main topic of the 6 Modules. Prayer is. This course includes written introductory videos to each lesson, the lesson content, 13 ways to pray, audio meditations on hymn texts, journaling exercises, and a private Facebook Page—all geared to engender healing from spiritual abuse and to give prayer tools to help along the way.

The other areas of the Wilderness Quest will include spiritual tools from Benedictine Spirituality, Celtic Spirituality, Ignatian Spirituality, Carmelite Spirituality, and Franciscan Spirituality, while creatively weaving insights from psychology, Holy Scripture, research, and personal experience.

Visit spiritualityclassroom.com to subscribe to the free blog, which will enable you to receive weekly blogs, as well as news as to when the Wilderness Quest becomes available.

The National ECW is pleased to announce that they have awarded a Universal Grant to Rev. Gremillion to see her Wilderness Quest project through to fruition. Rev. Gremillion hopes to have the first of the online classes available starting in March 2021. The National ECW board was eager to approve the grant as it met all of the criteria that the board endorses. The Universal Grant is a broad-spectrum grant that enables organizations to foster Christ’s message throughout the world. Each application is reviewed to ensure that it empowers the women of The Episcopal Church and provides support services the ECW finds important.

The National ECW has two grant programs, the Universal Grant and the Women to Women Grant. More information on both grants can be found on our webpage at: ecwnational.org/resources/donations-grants/

We wish Rev. Gremillion much success with her Spirituality Classroom and Wilderness Quest, and we ask God to bless her endeavors to help others.

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:06:21+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Feeding The Hungry in Rural Colorado: Province VI

Salida Colorado Soup Kitchen by Samar Fay

Hungry people may not be visible in a rural mountain town where cold, snowy winters drive most of the homeless to more gentle climates. But there is a chronic need for food assistance, which has only increased since COVID-19 threw so many people out of work.

Chaffee County is in central Colorado, 1,000 square miles traversed by the Arkansas River, inhabited by 20,000 people, with one city of 6,000 people, Salida, and two smaller towns. According to the US Census Bureau, the median household income in 2019 was $46,875, with 13 percent of the people living in poverty.

There is a patchwork of programs that address the problem of hunger in Chaffee County. Several of them are aimed at the senior population. Meals on Wheels, not income-based but free to people 60 and older who are housebound and can’t cook, uses the kitchen at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension to prepare hot food delivered three days a week to about 100 people, and grab and go meals are available at the church for 10 to 15 people. They used to come into the church undercroft for congregate meals and social time, but this has been suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Salida Community Center is an outlet for two USDA commodity food programs, providing monthly assistance for seniors and low-income residents who meet program income limits. Before COVID, they helped 200 to 300 people a month, but since the pandemic, they find more than 800 people lining up to receive boxes of food.

Caring and Sharing, a local center for selling donated goods, an elderly daycare, and a wintertime homeless shelter, also hosts an emergency assistance food bank that can give one or two days’ worth of food donated by a local supermarket and community members. About 25 people a day request this assistance. They also operate a soup kitchen five days a week that serves about 30 people. About half the people in the day care are elderly and half are homeless people.

First Presbyterian Church operates the Stone Soup Café, which provides soups to anyone in the community every Monday at noon. In place of the former gatherings around tables, people are admitted one at a time to receive to-go containers. Their Food Pantry is open Thursday afternoons for drive-up service. Volunteers prepare boxes of staples intended for two people and add more boxes if the household is bigger.

School children have a special benefit generated by the pandemic. All students who have chosen to attend in-person classes receive free breakfast and lunch, since the USDA extended the Summer Food Service Program through the rest of the school year. About 550 students currently eat at school (although this may change if in-person classes are closed again). The 160 or so who chose remote learning are on their own at home.

Finally, Chaffee County has a nonprofit, non-denominational food bank, The Grainery Ministries. For about 25 years The Grainery has been distributing food, no questions asked, as well as referrals to other services, listening support, and prayer as requested. It is open Mondays and Fridays for clients to fill their box with their choice of the groceries on the shelves. Compared to handing out pre-filled boxes, they believe this is more dignified for the clients and results in less food wasted. Clients can visit The Grainery as often as every two weeks.

All the funding is from donations and grants. The work is done by about 10 volunteers.

Since COVID showed up, there have been changes at The Grainery. To protect the volunteers as much as the clients, masks are required for everyone, clients come in one at a time, and surfaces are sanitized between clients. The volunteers are trained to maintain safe distances and are no longer allowed to linger and chat with each client.

“Our volunteers are all seniors,” said co-manager Sharon Surdez. “We’re really cautious with them. We’re not taking any new ones just now.”

The number of boxes being given out at The Grainery has dropped somewhat in the last year, although the food supply has actually increased. According to Surdez, they used to average more than 500 boxes a month, but weren’t up to that number in January. They gave 335 families holiday meals at Thanksgiving.

“Personally, I think people are a little afraid,” Surdez said. She regrets not being able to talk with clients as much as she used to, and not getting as acquainted with new people.

She said churches have been wonderful, helping financially and supplying faithful volunteers.

“We really want to stay open. We try to meet individual needs. We don’t ask questions,” Surdez said.

The Grainery Food Bank is open Mondays and Fridays in Salida, Colorado, serving about 500 boxes of food each month.

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-25T16:34:56+00:00March 25th, 2021|

Ministerio en contra del Tráfico Humano

Un Solución local para un problema global

Escrito por: Unidad (Ning) Bonoan

Se Jovial en la esperanza, paciente cuando estés afligido, fiel en la oración. (Romanos 12:12)

Mientras escribo este artículo, la jovial temporada de navidad de 2020 ha llegado en el medio de esta situación de la pandemia. En la iglesia, Sheila Mae y John hicieron una maravillosa narración del nacimiento de Jesús durante el servicio de la víspera navideña en la iglesia del Espíritu Santo en la ciudad de Safety Harbor, Florida. Solo el domingo pasado, yo presencié y rápidamente me uní a una oración de celebración (siguiendo los protocolos del distanciamiento social) que estaba siendo ofrecida por el párroco, Padre Ray Bonoan, en la sala de eventos de la parroquia convertida en una extensión de nuestra sala de ahorros. El servicio fue para Sheila Mae, quien había recibido su título de enfermería de la Universidad de St. Petersburg unos días atrás. ¿Entonces, quienes son Sheila Mae y John? ¿Qué tienen en común?

La edad de Sheila Mae y John ronda en la veintena. Ellos salen a pasear con un grupo de jóvenes quienes, al igual que ellos, son motivados por la consecución de metas en lo atinente a sus carreras profesionales y títulos universitarios mientras mantienen sus trabajos actuales para apoyarse económicamente a ellos mismos y proveer asistencia a las necesidades de las familias migratorias. La similitud más demarcada, sin embargo, es que los padres de ambos fueron víctimas y sobrevivientes del tráfico humano. Sin tener que hurgar de manera profunda, el descriptor apuntando a hombres maduros transformándose en víctimas de tráfico humano no parecía compaginar con la percepción publica de lo que es el tráfico humano. Esa era la mentalidad antes de BOCA 39 y antes de enfrentarme cara a cara con las trece (13) de las cincuenta (50) victimas, y los otros grupos de víctimas después de ellas.

Nuestra iglesia vino a conocer sobre el caso de BOCA 39 cuando el Padre Bonoan recibió una llamada en el año 2007 de un miembro del Grupo de Mujeres de la Iglesia Episcopal quien había retornado de haber asistido a una comisión de las Naciones Unidas sobre el estatus de la conferencia de las mujeres en Nueva York, para informarle sobre las víctimas del tráfico humano rescatadas en la parte sureña de nuestra diocesis. Las víctimas eran de descendencia asiática; por ende, la llamada se hizo al padre Bonoan, misionero de la diocesis asiático-americana. Por el año 2008 y más allá, la iglesia del Espíritu Santo (En Clearwater Deanery), en comunidad con la coalición de la Florida en contra del tráfico humano (sus siglas en ingles siendo FCAHT), coordinaba para el transporte de 13 de las 50 víctimas al área de Clearwater y luego movilizar a varias agencias de apoyo a las víctimas para darles: Asistencia directa a las víctimas, entrenamiento de concientización, y educación pública.

BOCA 39 es el caso de los Estados Unidos V. Sophia Manuel, de 41 años, y Alfonso Baldonado Jr., de 46 años, los dueños casados de los servicios de Quality Staffing, corporación ubicada en Boca Ratón, Florida, quienes fueron encontrados culpables del crimen de tráfico humano y enviados a prisión en el 2010. La pareja convicta trajo 50 trabajadores filipinos con visas del tipo H-2B a Boca Ratón, Florida, sobre un tiempo intercalado antes y hasta el año 2008. Les hicieron falsas promesas e incitaron a los trabajadores a pagar por adelantado los cargos de reclutamiento. Tras su arribo en los Estados Unidos, entre Julio 2006 y junio de 2008, los trabajadores fueron hacinados en una deplorable casa en Boca Ratón.

La pareja confisco los pasaportes de los trabajadores, y ellos controlaron y restringieron sus libertades para movilizarse libremente y comunicarse con extraños. Ellos fueron incomunicados de toda comunicación foránea y obligados a creer que no había ninguna manera de zafarse de esta situación sino a través del trabajo por un salario misero, si es que cobraban del todo, en vez de la gran paga que fueron prometidos. La pareja amenazo con el arresto de los trabajadores y su deportación, sabiendo que los trabajadores enfrentarían serias consecuencias económicas al igual que su posible encarcelamiento por la falta de pago en Filipinas. Además de las amenazas con arresto y la deportación si intentaban irse, no eran provistos de suficiente comida y agua.

Los Trabajadores eran alimentados solo una vez al día, ergo, cuando la oportunidad fuera propicia, los trabajadores que eran enviados a trabajar ciertos días se veían en la necesidad de robar comida para traer de vuelta a los demás. Cuando un trabajador se quejaba que la comida y agua estaban en malas condiciones, la pareja los amenazaba con ofrecerles acido, de acuerdo con la querella interpuesta. La querella legal también hacía mención de que los trabajadores eran negados el respectivo cuidado médico. Un trabajador rompió su muñeca y no fue atendido por un doctor sino hasta 10 días después. Otro trabajador sufrió de dolores estomacales, y le fue prohibido ver a un doctor. (Historia extraída del periódico Sun Sentinel, por Jerome Burdi y Erika Pesantes.)

Todos los 50 trabajadores fueron categorizados como víctimas de tráfico humano, o esclavitud moderna, lo cual está definido como el reclutamiento, transporte, provisión, y obtención de una persona para ponerla a trabajar por medio del uso de la fuerza, fraude, y coerción con el propósito de volverla servil, y esclava. Traficar personas es la adquisición de personas a través de medios impropios tales como el fraude, o el engaño, con la finalidad de explotarlas (Oficina de las Naciones Unidas sobre las Drogas y crímenes.) Dichos crímenes debían haber sido incluidas en las estadísticas de estimados global de la esclavitud moderna por la Organización Internacional del Trabajo, la cual estableció que, en el 2016, un estimado de 40.3 millones de personas fueron víctimas de esclavitud moderna y que el trabajo forzado genera $150 billones de dólares anuales. El Tráfico humano es un fenómeno global y ninguna nación es inmune a ello. Las víctimas de ello son explotadas en cada región del mundo, obligadas a la esclavitud con propósitos comerciales y sexuales en el mundo real y también en la internet.

Las formas del tráfico humano pueden verse en el Reporte de la Oficina de las Naciones Unidas sobre Drogas y Crímenes en el 2012, “lo cual menciona que el tráfico humano es más común en Europa, Asia central y las Américas; los tipos del tráfico de labor son más comunes en África, el Medio Oriente, el sur de Asia, el este de Asia, y el pacífico; y otras formas de tráfico tales como la extracción de órganos, rogar, y matrimonio forzoso fueron detectados de igual forma en otros países.

Información adicional en el mismo reporte aludía a hallazgos importantes que arrojaban que aproximadamente el 60% de las víctimas son mujeres (75% son niñas); 27% son niños (dos de cada tres son niñas); y que los traficantes son generalmente hombres que provienen del mismo país que las víctimas. En suma, más mujeres y nacionales de otros países están más involucrados en tráfico humano que en otros crímenes per se. Entre en 2007 y el 2010, 50% fueron traficados a través de las fronteras, 24% fueron transferidas dentro de las regiones, y el 27% fueron casos de tráfico domésticos

El “reporte del 2020 sobre el tráfico: Estados Unidos” por el Departamento de estado de los Estados Unidos documenta que: “Casos de tráfico Humano han sido reportados en todo los 50 estados y el distrito de Columbia. Traficantes obligan a las víctimas a entrar en el sexo comercial y a trabajar tanto de maneras licitas como ilícitas en diversas industrias y sectores, incluyendo la hotelería, ventas de viajes, agricultura, servicios de conserjería, construcción, paisajismo, restaurantes, fabricas, el cuidado de personas con discapacidades, servicios de salones de fiestas, lugares para masajes, establecimientos comerciales, ferias y carnavales, ventas ambulantes, tráfico de Drogas y su distribución, instituciones religiosas, jardines de niños, y trabajo doméstico. Individuos de los Estados Unidos vulnerables al tráfico humano incluyen: Niños en el sistema juvenil de justicia y bienestar; incluye también padres putativos , chicos o chicas que huyen del hogar, niños foráneos que carecen del debido cuidado y de estatus inmigratorio; individuos buscando asilo; Indios Americanos y los nativos de Alaska, particularmente mujeres y niñas; individuos con problemas de Drogas; trabajadores migrantes, incluyendo a trabajadores indocumentados en casas diplomáticas; personas con limitaciones para el habla del idioma inglés; personas con discapacidades; individuos de la comunidad LGBTI, y personas víctimas de violencia doméstica. Cabe destacar de igual manera que, algunos ciudadanos americanos incurren en el sexo infantil de manera turística en países extranjeros.

¿Entonces, como estas estadísticas de tráfico humano se desarrollan en este de ambiente de “barbijos” que caracteriza a la pandemia? El COVID-19 ha devastado vidas humanas, la economía global, y el sistema educacional. Al mismo tiempo, las empresas criminales han evolucionado debido a los confinamientos y restricciones de viajes, y la Oficina de las Naciones Unidas sobre Drogas y Crímenes advierte que criminales utilizaran la pandemia como una oportunidad para explotar a aquellos que sufren económicamente. Como “emprendedores” criminales, las redes de crímenes buscan explotar y sacar redito económico de los más vulnerables, hacienda aún mucho más hincapié en su creatividad macabra para tales fines.

La Organización de la Labor Internacional estima que los confinamientos de la pandemia del año 2020 han afectado a 2.7 billones de trabajadores y un 81% de la fuerza laboral a nivel global. En el punto más álgido de los confinamientos de abril de 2020, de acuerdo con la Organización Cultural, Científica, y Educacional de las Naciones Unidas, los cierres de las escuelas en 195 países afectaron al 90% de los estudiantes a nivel mundial en los niveles de primaria, secundaria, y terciaria. Dadas las enormes dificultades económicas en las familias, el movimiento masivo de personas, y el cierre de escuelas (a través de muchas intervenciones sociales son entregadas a aquellos que están en mayor riesgo), el tráfico humano puede florecer en este ambiente actual. (Extraído del Libro, La Evolución del Tráfico Humano durante la pandemia del COVID-19, por Christina Bain, y Louis Shelley)

Ergo, el tráfico humano es una aflicción a nivel global, pero puede ser erradicado a través de la misericordia y la gracia de Dios, una víctima a la vez; un perpetrador redimiéndose; una comunidad orando intensamente y mostrando compasión. Dios ya tiene provisiones para cubrir nuestras necesidades para combatir la oscuridad malévola en la humanidad. Él ha compelido a nuestra iglesia en Safety Harbor para responder el llamado a asistir en la restauración de aquellas víctimas de tráfico humano que son rescatadas, lo cual incluye: Refugio seguro, necesidades básicas de comida y vestimenta, educación, cuidado de salud y referidos médicos, consejo legal, integración de la sociedad, y el cuidado pastoral y espiritual.

También se puede decir que fue un acto providencial que justamente antes de responder al llamado de este ministerio, nuestra iglesia fuera la receptora de un nuevo pasajero transportador otorgado por la organización de la Iglesia Episcopal llamada Thank Offering. Ciertamente fue colocado para un buen uso de manera inmediata. Además, Dios continúa dándonos lugares tales como esta plataforma para compartir y esparcir la buena nueva.

A través del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, nuestro Señor otorgo a los testigos federales protección llamada el Acto de Protección para las Victimas de 2000 (el cual más tarde fue reautorizado como el TVPA Wilberforce, por el parlamentario Británico William Wilberforce (1759-1833), quien trabajo de manera incansable para la abolición de la esclavitud, al igual que lo hizo Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) en los Estados Unidos. Bajo el TVPA, las víctimas fueron capaces de aplicar por una visa del tipo T, la cual les permitió aplicar por la residencia permanente y hacer la solicitud de la ciudadanía americana para con familiares.

Aunque el resto de la historia es ahora pasado, Sheila Mae, John, y el resto de los sobrevivientes y sus familiares, junto a la congregación de nuestra Iglesia local, continuara orando de manera incansable y escuchara el llamado de Dios hacia el ministerio en contra del tráfico humano: La provisión de ayuda directa a las víctimas; concientización publica, educación, y entrenamiento.

Enero de 2021 es proclamado como el mes de la prevención del Tráfico Humano.

¿Como estas siendo llamado?

Línea directa en contra el Tráfico Humano:
1-888-373-7888

ENVIA EL TEXTO “BEFREE” (233733)

humantraffickinghotline.org

Otras lecturas importantes

Polaris Human Trafficking: polarisproject.org

Alliance 8.7 Partnership: Alliance87.org

United Nations: unodc.org

Thistle Farms: thistlefarms.org

Ma’am Anna: The Remarkable Story of a Human Trafficking Rescuer by Bunko, Anthony, Rodriguez, Anna (2013)

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-25T16:23:34+00:00March 25th, 2021|

Ministry Against Human Trafficking

A Local Solution for a Global Affliction

by: Unidad (Ning) Bonoan

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

As I start to pen this article, the joyous season of Christmas 2020 has arrived in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus tide. At church, Sheila Mae and John did a wonderful narration of the birth of Jesus during our Christmas Eve service at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Safety Harbor, Florida. Just the Sunday before, I witnessed and quickly joined a socially distanced, impromptu thanksgiving celebratory prayer being offered by our parish priest, Fr. Ray Bonoan, at our social hall turned thrift shop extension. The service was for Sheila Mae, who had received her nursing degree from St. Petersburg College a few days prior. So, who are Sheila Mae and John? What do they have in common?

Sheila Mae and John are both in their 20s. They hang out with a group of youth who, like them, are very much goal-oriented in pursuing their career paths and higher education while maintaining current jobs to support themselves and provide assistance to meet their recently immigrated families’ needs. The most noteworthy similarity, however, is that both their dads were victims and are survivors of human trafficking. Without digging deeper, the descriptor pointing toward mature males becoming human trafficking victims didn’t seem to match the general public’s perception of what human trafficking is. That was my mindset before BOCA 39 and before coming face to face with the 13 out of the 50 victims, and the other groups of victims thereafter.

Our church came to know about the Boca 39 case when Fr. Bonoan received a phone call in late 2007 from a member of the ECW (Episcopal Church Women) who had just returned from having attended a United Nations Commission on the Status of Women conference in New York, to inform him of human trafficking victims rescued in the southern part of our diocese. The victims happened to be of Asian descent; hence, the call made to Fr. Bonoan, the Diocesan Episcopal Asiamerican missioner. By 2008 and beyond, the Church of the Holy Spirit (Clearwater Deanery), in partnership with the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT), coordinated the transport of 13 of the 50 victims to the Clearwater area and mobilized a multi-agency victim support for: direct victim assistance, awareness training, and public education and advocacy.

BOCA 39 is the case of the United States versus Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldonado, Jr., 46, the married owners of Quality Staffing Services Corporation in Boca Raton, Florida, who were found guilty of the crime of human trafficking and were sent to prison in 2010.

The indicted couple brought 50 Filipino workers with H-2B visas to Boca Raton, Florida, over a staggered time frame before and up to 2008. They made false promises and enticed workers to incur debts to pay for up-front recruitment fees. Upon arrival in the United States, between July 2006 and June 2008, the workers were crammed into a deplorable single-family house in Boca Raton.

The couple confiscated the workers’ passports, and they controlled and restricted their freedom of movement and communications with outsiders. They were kept from any outside communication and coaxed into believing there was no way out except working for measly wages, if any at all, as opposed to the lucrative wages they were promised. They threatened to have workers arrested and deported, knowing workers faced serious economic harm from debt bondage as well as possible incarceration for nonpayment of debts in the Philippines. In addition to threats with arrest and deportation should they try to leave, they were not given enough food or water.

Workers were only fed once a day, so when given the opportunity, workers who were lucky to be sent for work at certain days were forced to steal food from work to bring back to the others who were fighting hunger pangs. When one worker complained that the drinking water was bad, the couple threatened to offer them acid instead, according to the indictment. The indictment also said that the workers were denied adequate medical care. One worker broke his wrist and didn’t see a doctor for 10 days. Another worker, suffering from stomach pain, spat up, blood but was kept from seeing a doctor. (Jerome Burdi and Erika Pesantes, Sun Sentinel)

All 50 workers did fit the bill as victims of human trafficking, or modern-day slavery, which is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. Trafficking in persons is the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud, or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes.) They must have been included as well in the cumulative statistics of the 2017 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery by the International Labor Organization, which states that on any given day in 2016, an estimated 40.3 million people were victims of modern slavery and that forced labor generates $150 billion US in annual profits. Human trafficking is a global phenomenon to which no country is immune. Victims of modern slavery are exploited in every region of the world, compelled into service for labor or commercial sex in the real world of industry and on the pages of the internet.

The forms of human trafficking can be glimpsed at the “United Nations Office of Drug and Crimes 2012 Report,” which mentions that sex trafficking is more common in Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas; labor trafficking types are more common in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific; and that other forms of trafficking such as begging, removal of organs, and forced marriage were also detected in some countries.

Additional information in the same report alludes to key findings that approximately 60% of victims are women (75% if including girls); 27% are children (two out of three are girls); and that traffickers are generally males of the victim’s native country. Overall, more women and foreign nationals are involved in human trafficking than other crimes. Between 2007 and 2010, 50% were trafficked across borders, 24% were transferred inter-region, and 27% were domestic trafficking cases.

The “2020 Trafficking in Persons Report: United States” by the US Department of State documents that “Human trafficking cases have been reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Traffickers compel victims to engage in commercial sex and to work in both legal and illicit industries and sectors, including in hospitality, traveling sales crews, agriculture, janitorial services, construction, landscaping, restaurants, factories, care for persons with disabilities, salon services, massage parlors, retail, fairs and carnivals, peddling and begging, drug smuggling and distribution, religious institutions, childcare, and domestic work. Individuals in the United States vulnerable to human trafficking include: children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, including foster care; runaway and homeless youth; unaccompanied foreign national children without lawful immigration status; individuals seeking asylum; American Indians and Alaska Natives, particularly women and girls; individuals with substance use issues; migrant laborers, including undocumented workers and participants in visa programs for temporary workers; foreign national domestic workers in diplomatic households; persons with limited English proficiency; persons with disabilities; LGBTI individuals, and victims of intimate partner violence or domestic violence. Some U.S. citizens engage in child sex tourism in foreign countries.”

So, how do these human trafficking “guestimates” and statistics play out in our current “masked” COVID-19 environment? The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated human lives, the global economy, and educational systems. At the same time, criminal enterprises have evolved in the face of stay-at-home lockdowns and travel bans, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime warns that criminals will use the pandemic as an opportunity to exploit those economically disaffected. As criminal “entrepreneurs,” crime networks are looking to further exploit and profit off of the most vulnerable, becoming ever more creative in their illicit endeavors.

The International Labor Organization estimates that the lockdowns of the 2020 pandemic have affected a staggering 2.7 billion workers or 81 percent of the world’s workforce. At the peak of the lockdowns in April 2020, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, school closures in 194 countries affected 90 percent of the world’s students at the pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary education levels. Given the enormous financial hardship on families, the mass movement of people, and the closing of schools (through which many social interventions are delivered to those most at risk), human trafficking can flourish in this current environment. (Christina Bain, Louise Shelley, The Evolution of Human Trafficking During the COVID-19 Pandemic)

So, truth be told that human trafficking is a global human affliction but can and only be eradicated through the mercy and grace of God, one victim at a time; one perpetrator turning himself or herself around at a time; one individual, one community praying intently and showing compassionate action at a time. God already has provisions for our needs to combat this evil darkness in humanity. He has ushered our church in Safety Harbor to answer the call to assist in the restoration of the rescued human trafficking victims, encompassing a multi-faceted response which included: safe housing, meeting basic needs of food and clothing, education, health care and medical referrals, legal counsel, societal integration, and pastoral and spiritual care.

It is also a God’s incidence (not coincidence) that shortly before answering the call to this ministry, our church became the recipient of a new passenger transport van granted by the United Thank Offering of the Episcopal Church. It certainly was put to good use right away! In addition, God continues to provide forums such as this as a platform for sharing ministry and spreading the Good News.

Through the US government, our Lord provided the federal witness protection program as well as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (which later on was reauthorized as the Wilberforce TVPA, named after William Wilberforce (1759-1833), a British parliamentarian who untiringly worked towards the abolition slavery, like Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) in the United States). Under the TVPA, the victims were able to apply for a T-visa, which later on allowed them to apply for permanent resident status and petition for their families to join them in the United States.

Even though the rest of the story is now history, Sheila Mae, John, and the rest of the survivors and their families, together with our local church congregation, continue to pray unceasingly and listen to God’s calling toward the ministry against human trafficking: the provision of direct victim assistance; public awareness, education, and training; and/or victim advocacy.

January 2021 was proclaimed as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

How are you being called?

TRAFFICKING HOTLINE: 1-888-373-7888

TEXT “BEFREE” (233733)

humantraffickinghotline.org