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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

Elizabethtown Community Housing & Outreach Services: Province III

ECHOS, Elizabethtown Community Housing & Outreach Services, started with the realization in December 2015 of the need of a winter shelter when a father and son were discovered living in a shed. The community responded to this need by starting a winter shelter at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. They were then serving approximately 13 individuals at the shelter. Within the first month, there was a realization that the shelter was only helping with one need of these individuals and they needed help with so much more; emotional, health, and financial issues were among the needs.

In the spring of 2016, a grant request was made to start a local social services agency, and in July 2016 ECHOS began. The service began with one employee, and 4 ½ years later they have 15 staff and 18 programs. Programs and services include eviction prevention, job readiness, emergency shelter programs, youth crisis counseling and intervention, community education, and so much more! They work along with the food pantry and clothing bank in Elizabethtown to meet the needs of individuals.

The needs of individuals are more complex as they deal with possible eviction, loss of job, and financial troubles, compounded by the worry of the pandemic along with isolation. Support is provided to these individuals to help them with their own unique needs by licensed social workers.

The homeless shelter is open to those needing a place to sleep. They check in around 6:00 p.m. each evening. They are given a warm meal and have the opportunity to take a shower. In the morning they are served breakfast. Before they leave for the day they are given water, a protein, and two or three snacks for the day. They recently moved the emergency winter shelter back to St. Paul’s United Methodist Church to meet CDC regulations on social distancing, etc. Their other space has been made into a quarantine area to meet the needs of those who may come in sick.

Currently, ECHOS financial support comes from grants and community donations. They rely heavily on the support of local churches, businesses, and community members to continue their programs and serve their vulnerable neighbors. Over the past 4 to 5 years, the community has responded to this incredible need, increasing their donations to this organization. Still, due to the volatility of grants, ECHOS seeks to transition to being fully community funded. That’s why they started ECHOS’ Circle of Giving! This recurring giving platform makes it easy for the community to partner with ECHOS and sustain the programs that help their neighbors through crises. With a one-time sign-up, many supporters are committing to ECHOS and giving monthly. They currently have 24 members of the Circle of Giving, compared to roughly five members when it was first started.

Information provided by Katlyn Leid, Development Coordinator and the ECHOS website. echoslancaster.org

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-25T15:51:36+00:00March 25th, 2021|

Riverside Food Pantry: Province 2

A little village called Cape Vincent, New York, with a population of just under 1,800 residents, is located along the banks of the St. Lawrence River, where it meets the shores of Lake Ontario. Situated within its borders is a small, one-story red building that houses the Cape Vincent Community Food Pantry, a site that was purchased, refurbished, and generously donated to the pantry and which opened its doors in December 2018. Originally established and organized during the Ice Storm of 1998 to feed those without power or means of getting supplies themselves, the food pantry has also had homes in both the Methodist and Roman Catholic churches in the village. St. John’s Episcopal Church has always been and continues to be deeply supportive of the pantry in monetary donations, goods, and manpower.

The food pantry owns the building, and its only expenses are for operating costs. Inside there are shelves of groceries in a large storage area in the back, which also sports a raised loading dock—a wonderful plus for deliveries. Supplied for the most part by the Food Bank of Central New York, the pantry also receives weekly frozen donations from nearby supermarkets of items that have “dated out” for fresh sale and have been frozen—meat, poultry, fish, fruits, and vegetables. There are coolers for produce, dairy, and bread products. A separate small cooler holds fresh eggs. Bins hold donations of socks and sometimes seasonal items, such as decorations for give-away.

During the summer and fall, fresh produce is supplied by local farmers. A grant from the United Way helps to purchase personal hygiene items and cleaning supplies. A recent supply of cookie mixes will go to the nearby elementary school, which is still in session. Occasional requests are sent to the area churches when specific items are low, and they are always ready to receive empty egg cartons! And of course monetary donations are always needed and appreciated.

Anyone on any kind of government assistance is eligible to visit the food pantry, and distribution is decided by family size and income. A first-time visitor is never turned away, regardless of where they live or their financial situation. Seekers come from several villages around the area. The pantry staff is not allowed to ask for proof of anything.

During this pandemic, donations have diminished some—mostly out of fear of spreading COVID germs around. What is most surprising to Rebecca Dowling, who manages the pantry, is that, rather than larger numbers of families seeking help, it has been the single elderly residents of the area who have needed the assistance. Government food allotments generally have continued to those already on some kind of federal assistance, while single older adults have had trouble making ends meet and probably have had difficulty getting where they need to go for food and other supplies.

Cape Vincent is a small but mighty village with a large and giving heart. In 2020 the Cape Vincent Community Food Pantry supplied over 11,000 meals to those in need—quite an accomplishment for that little red house. May God continue to bless all who give and all who receive with abundant life and love.

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-25T15:44:32+00:00March 25th, 2021|

Heaven’s a bit closer in Big Bear

Province VIII

by Deacon Jane Jones

Big Bear Deacon Jane Jones St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Big Bear City, California, looks unassuming right now. It is quietly nestled into the mountainside, just off the road on the far side of Big Bear Lake. The parking lot behind and uphill from the church often sees critters skitter across…but, at an altitude of 6,500 feet, Heaven is just a bit closer than to the metropolis down the mountain.

The few major roads serve the seasonal visitors who come to ski, hike, bike, boat, and fish—hence the many rental opportunities, eateries, and shops. There is a seasonal ebb and flow to this idyllic place. But that ebb can also apply to the job market, and that can create hard times for some citizens.

Locals abide in surrounding areas, hobbits that are mostly quiet and woodsy. There are few traffic signals, and a single bridge dissects the lake. But at its core, Big Bear has a typical “small town heart” centered on its children, schools, churches, and neighbors. “Good neighbors and great heart” is the perfect formula for knowing the needs of fellow residents—especially concerning food, and especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas!

A Christian conscience cannot help but “share our bread with the hungry,” so years ago the local Society of Mary formed the Bear Valley Holiday Giving Collaborative, which was soon joined by other local churches, businesses, and organizations to create a single, incredibly efficient holiday service network.

St. Columba’s, now in the final stages of a major building program as well as COVID-19 restrictions that severely limited worship and attendance this past year, held nothing back in program participation. Linda Gilliam coordinated operations from the shell of a church office. Meanwhile, local businessman Jaymes Nordine did major shopping and legwork. Many others gladly assisted as needed.

This is how the local program works

Early autumn: Start thinking about what needs to be done.
The Collaborative sends notices of the coming holiday food program to the community via flyers, newspapers, shopping news, online, radio, fraternal organizations, and churches.
Sign-up begins in early November at the Elks Lodge. Potential “clients” for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas must show proof of residency (a license or housing receipt). When accepted they are assigned a specific pickup locale (such as St. Columba’s), which allows each locale to know exactly who and how much to collect for and hand out. It is a more personal and orderly atmosphere than nameless walk-ins and prevents duplications. (Note: Homeless are eligible for other local assistance.)

Big Bear Prov 7 Last year (2020) 190 family units were served in Big Bear Valley, 40 of them at St. Columba’s.

Collection: During the sign-up period, the collection of foodstuffs, gift certificates, and gifts begins at the church. Boxes, cans, and other things are neatly stacked wherever there is a place in all the construction.

The local Electric Company donated gift cards for meat, the Collaborative gave money to put in the food boxes, the Rotary gave gifts, and other locals contributed where needed. With all that was going on in the world, this was a warm, busy, heartwarming project to have. Special needs were handled in the community: The Jah Healing Church took care of its own, the American Legion cared for veterans, the Soroptimists took care of single mothers and children, and St. Joseph’s Catholic, the Lions Club, and Lutheran Social Services pitched in according to need. There was a determination that no one be overlooked.

It is a busy, happy time—church members coming and going, packing boxes, counting out supplies, wrapping gifts, laughing. Doing God’s work together. One of the rewards of participating is the recipients. They arrive with shy greetings and hesitant observations.

After checking in, each receives a food box: vegetables, gravy, yams, candy, potatoes, stuffing, various canned vegetables, pies, bread and rolls, butter…and a turkey. This food for some is more than a luxury.

Christmas sees the same people, now familiar, receive a bag of food and gifts. It is a cheery place with decorations and music. Maybe some will even return one day to worship with us.

St. Columba’s is part of a finely tuned community—business, church, neighbor—doing what needs to be done, year after year. St. Columba’s exemplifies the kind of giving that altitude, construction, pandemic, and blizzard will never impede…when you see a mother cry after receiving food for her family…or a small child’s delight at receiving a gift.

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-25T15:31:42+00:00March 25th, 2021|

UNCSW 65 – Taking It Back Home: Report Back from the Presiding Bishop’s Delegation

National ECW President, Karen Patterson, will attend and speak at the UNCSW 65 – Taking It Back Home: Report Back from the Presiding Bishop’s Delegation”

The virtual meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 25^th, 5 – 6:30 pm EDT,“UNCSW 65 – Taking It Back Home: Report Back from the Presiding Bishop’s Delegation”. Featuring reports from our Presiding Bishop’s delegates on their experiences at UNCSW 65, highlights and lessons learned, and plans for “taking it back home” to their churches and communities.

Ms. Patterson’s invitation is as as follows…

We are envisioning a section, “Next steps: Avenues for Taking It Back Home”, where we would love to invite you to participate in your capacity as the President of National ECW, if you are interested. The idea is to explain how our delegates and Episcopalians might connect to the wider work of women’s and girls’ empowerment and gender justice through National ECW.

If so, would you be interested in speaking for 3 minutes?

Lynnaia Main | OFFICER, EPISCOPAL CHURCH REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-24T20:18:14+00:00March 24th, 2021|

Episcopal Church Women in the News 03-20-21

Summary

WKRG5-CBS – Faith Time: The challenges of new leadership and firsts – what are the challenges a new reverend or pastor has when coming to a new church?

Episcopal News Service – Episcopal delegation advocates gender justice at 65th UN conference on women’s rights – UNCSW, marked the start of the conference on March 15 with a virtual prayer service…

KNWA-FOX24 – Local churches & organizations help relieve medical debt for Arkansans – A national movement is being localized and it is all to hep families struggling with medical debt. RIP Medical Debt is a national movement to help people pay off their medical bills. A northwest Arkansas church and non-profit are part of a larger group trying to help families in our community.

————–

Faith Time: The challenges of new leadership and firsts

WKRG5-CBS – Mobile, AL

Joining us this morning is the Reverend Dr. Mary Jayne Ledgerwood, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Mobile. She’s the new Rector of Trinity Church and also the first woman ever in their 175-year history to serve in this role. Let’s talk in general first –what are the challenges a new reverend or pastor has when coming to a new church?

Guest: I was called to Trinity in October of last year, which means my discernment began many months before. As we all know a year ago we were at the beginning of the pandemic, at a time truly of the unknown. Crazy enough, it was in the midst of all this that I began deeply and prayerfully to discern what ultimately became for me God’s call to Trinity. Entering into a relationship with the good people of any parish is a time of listening and sharing, and, of course, worshiping together, which, certainly was made more challenging in the time of corona! One of the first things the vestry and I decided together was to offer in-person worship again. They had not been together in worship for seven months. Through the now five months since we’ve been together, we’ve also been able to add one more in-person service and upgrade our media ministry to broadcast live through Facebook and soon YouTube. We are safely adding Christian Formation for all ages, including our nursery, so we can begin to share the love of community and our life and ministry together again. […]

Episcopal delegation advocates gender justice at 65th UN conference on women’s rights

Episcopal News Service

Members of the Episcopal delegation to the 65th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, or UNCSW, marked the start of the conference on March 15 with a virtual prayer service, affirming their commitment to the advocacy work they will be doing for the next two weeks on behalf of women and girls around the world.

The U.N. conference, dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, has taken place every year since 1946, though last year’s was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Episcopal and Anglican delegates have participated in UNCSW since at least 2000, advocating for the priorities identified by the presiding bishop and the Anglican Communion.

For 2021, there are six Episcopal Church delegates named by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and eight Anglican Communion delegates – each representing a different Anglican province. There is also a small delegation representing Episcopal Relief & Development this year. The Episcopal delegates observe the official meetings, represent the presiding bishop and the church, meet with U.N. officials and representatives of member states, and collaborate with interfaith and ecumenical partners. They also take what they’ve learned back to their own communities and pass it along to other women, said Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church’s representative to the U.N. […]

Local churches & organizations help relieve medical debt for Arkansans

KNWA-FOX24 – Fayetteville, AR

A national movement is being localized and it is all to hep families struggling with medical debt.

RIP Medical Debt is a national movement to help people pay off their medical bills. A northwest Arkanssas church and non-profit are part of a larger group trying to help families in our community.

Sara Milford is the Reverend at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Bentonville.

“If there’s a chance we could alleviate however we could do it just gotta follow where I’m led,” she said.

She has joined forces with founder of Beer and Hymns, Ken Weatherford to raise money for Community Arkansas Debt Relief.

“There are so many- especially women who are affected by medical debt,” Weatherford said. “Medical debt contributes to 60% of all bankruptcies.”

There are ways to qualify to get this help: being two times federal poverty line, having more debt than assets and/or having debt that is greater than 5% of annual income. […]

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-17T13:30:47+00:00March 20th, 2021|

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