Like the prophet Nehemiah’s efforts to rally the people to work together to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, the nonprofit multi-ethnic, multi-faith justice organization Lee Interfaith For Empowerment (LIFE) has worked for the past decade to mobilize efforts of the faithful to address important justice issues in Fort Myers, Florida.
It’s been only a few months since Covenant Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers, Florida, worked with a professional beekeeper to relocate a couple of well-established bee colonies from an old rotten tree on the property. The bees were successfully moved to side-by-side hives in the church’s Together We Grow Mission Garden.
On World Communion Sunday (Oct. 6), members of Temple Terrace Presbyterian Church (TTPC) in Florida will lift a loaf of bread from a country where they have lived and recite the words of institution in the language of that country — Arabic, German, Spanish, Greek, Tamil and others.
As news comes in of the devastating effects of Hurricane Michael, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is organizing a response that will help sustain life and restore hope in the coming days. “Our hearts break and rise up in prayer for the people of northern Florida, Georgia and southeast Alabama,” says Laurie Kraus, PDA director. “Right now, we need the church’s prayers and financial assistance.”
It’s been a year since a trio of hurricanes wreaked havoc on Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, leaving a path of destruction, major power outages and many people without homes. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in quick succession, pummeled their targets over several days late last summer.
A call to action was extended to members of First Presbyterian Church in Sarasota, Florida, in early 2017. Following the encouragement of the 221st General Assembly (2014) “to continue the long history of support in public education,” the church took steps to partner with a local elementary school.
While Hurricane Harvey was still on the ground in Texas, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance was preparing for the next big storm, Hurricane Irma. PDA has been busy with back-to-back catastrophic storms in the past two weeks.
The Rev. Michael Livingston, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) minister and director of the National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative, called on churches to express their disapproval of Publix’s policies by joining farm workers and the Presbyterian Hunger Program in a public fast beginning March 5 to urge the company to change its ways.
On February 9, 2012 Trader Joe’s signed a Fair Food Agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. In doing so, the Monrovia, CA-based supermarket chain added its purchasing power to undergirding the Fair Food Program that is delivering improved wages and new rights to farmworkers harvesting tomatoes in Florida.