from Rev. Cindy Parker, Church of the Red Rocks UCC:

Our plans are to purchase about 1/4 acre in Sedona and install a triplex consisting of three factory-built two-bedroom two-bath homes, each of which will be used by one family.  The families will share the kitchen and living room.  We will be able to serve six families at any given time, and estimate that we will serve 50-100 people per year. 

We have filed our formal application with HUD and, if all goes according to plan, will receive the grant money by the end of the year.  We intend to be open for business by the start of the 2020-21 school year. 

Now my request for help.  Are you aware of anyone else who has provided transitional housing primarily for families?

Lights for Liberty vigils to end human concentration camps are planned across the nation on July 12, 7 – 9 pm local time. In the SWC:

AZ locations include Eloy, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Sedona, and Tucson.

In NM vigils are planned in Taos and Estancia.

In El Paso the vigil will happen at Cleveland Square Park.

from Barbara Ammirati | Save the Children | Border Project, Team Lead
U.S. Emergencies, US Programs & Advocacy

Save the Children is seeking to fill two short term- approximately 30 day, temporary positions to support children’s programming in Deming and Las Cruces shelters, as we transition to local partner management.

Sanctuary guest at First Congregational UCC Albuquerque, Kadhim Al-Bumohammed, 66, is allowed to leave the church without fear of deportation, after his case was reopened on June 26.

After coming to the U.S. from Iraq in 1994 he was granted refugee status, but when he accidentally missed a deportation hearing in 2017, ICE instructed him to turn himself in for deportation. But he went to FCC Albuquerque for sanctuary, instead, where he's lived ever since.

After the Board of Immigration Appeals reviewed his case, his deportation order was removed.

Current needs:

The kitchen needs eggs, fresh fruit, fresh veggies (yellow summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onions) and frozen mixed veggies.

The bodega needs summer clothes, especially for kids (shorts, tank tops, sandals), bras (sizes 32-38), and bottled water.

Want to give but aren't sure how? They have an Amazon Wish List!

Please ask your member of Congress, as they work on appropriations legislation, to not invest any more money in policies that fuel and feed the administration’s efforts to increase border militarization and continue terrorizing immigrants. How we invest our money reflects our values as a nation, and right now those values are corrosive and harmful. This has got to stop. Congress should instead invest in policies that uplift family unity, address the root causes of forced migration, and prioritize human needs by respecting the rights and dignity of every person.

As a justice-seeking people, we cannot remain silent while state laws transform us into a map of “haves and have-nots” with regard to access to reproductive health services. Protecting access to the full range of reproductive health care for all – including safe, legal abortion – is an imperative rooted in our deeply-held faith beliefs in social justice, moral agency, and religious liberty for all.

Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to cosponsor and support the Women’s Health Protection Act.

Lutheran Social Services is in desperate need of more churches to host groups of 30-100 migrants on a regularly scheduled basis. Congregations do not need to provide a physical location.  A space in Glendale for hosting migrants Sunday through Thursday is available. But it is sitting empty many days due to a lack of groups to serve as hosts.  

Read on to see the ways you can help.

On Saturday, June 29, Ktizo United Church of Christ, in partnership with Shadow Rock UCC, Pinnacle Presbyterian and Brophy Prep communities, will welcome an estimated 35 refugees from Central America seeking asylum in the United States.

There are many ways to serve from helping to translate if you speak Spanish, to driving them to the bus station or Sky Harbor International Airport, serving meals, cleaning cots, laundering blankets and towels, bringing clothes, shoes, diapers, food, toys and games to emptying trash and washing dishes.

Kitchen volunteers, current needs list, and a need for an entertainment coordinator / event planner - from shelter manager, Sarah.

The children who come to our border are often fleeing violence and poverty and have endured a long and dangerous journey. They should be met with care and kindness. Once here, every measure should be made that they be placed with family and community sponsors. Instead, as of now, more than 2,500 children are being held in a “child detention facility” in Homestead, Florida.

Contact your members of Congress to let them know this is no way to treat anyone, especially the most vulnerable among us, children. We need to invest in ways to unite families and ensure the best continuum of care for children. Please urge your member of Congress to support the “Shut Down Prison Camps Act” and the “Families Not Facilities Act.” These legislative measures make sure that the government can’t house children in substandard “emergency influx shelters.”

from their newsletter: volunteer opportunities and current needs list

The Islamic Speakers Bureau of Arizona & AFN TDC Next Steps Committee, in partnership with Kindness Films, invite you to a ONE DAY ONLY screening of "Free Trip to Egypt," a documentary film following one man's search for random Americans concerned about an Islamic threat and offering them a free trip to Egypt. In addition to the screening, there will also be a live panel discussion on bringing more listening and kindness to the world.

There will be a large shipment (2,200 lbs) of medicine and medical supplies delivered to the Office of Emergency Management. We need help unloading it! These supplies will be shared with all shelter sites. Please come if you can help, or send anyone that is able to help.

The shipment will be here Monday, June 10, at 2:00 PM, at 1170 N Solano Dr. Please drive around to the back of the building, or, enter on the south side and go up to the OEM to ask for instructions. You can ask for Cullen Combs.

The Rev. David Zerby, disaster response coordinator for the Ohio Conference UCC, teamed up with the Rev. Carl Robinson from the Southwest Ohio Northern Kentucky Association (SONKA) and Jay McMillen, senior pastor of Shiloh Church UCC, to coordinate initial assistance in Southern Ohio. On May 24, a string of 13 tornadoes ripped through Dayton and several burgs. Shiloh Church sits right in the middle of the devastated area and quickly became a distribution point.

The Reverend Joyce Blair Buekers received the prestigious Guardian of Peace Award from the International Confederation for Peace in Assisi, Italy on April 27th, 2019.

On April 12, around 100 gathered including the mayor, head of the state NAACP, and members of The Arizona Commission on African American Affairs.

TiLT (Taos Initiative for Life Together) will be hosting a Watershed Way Summer Institute of community events starting June 3.

12:00 PM – 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 23, 2019 at First Church UCC Phoenix

Join Phoenix PD Officer Chance to discuss the characteristics and behaviors of traffickers commonly known as pimps, and the people who are purchasing sex from sex trafficking victims. We’ll explore the recruiting techniques pimps use to locate victims to work for them as prostitutes, and the factors causing these victims to be exploited in the prostitution lifestyle. Finally, we’ll end with tips and resources for reporting possible sex trafficking situations.

A light lunch is provided from 12:00 to 12:30.

The current US approach toward Iran has brought us to the brink of war. Another way is possible. Peace is possible! As a Just Peace Church, the United Church of Christ has advocated in support of the Iran deal, against nuclear weapons, and our General Synod has called for engagement and friendship with the people and nation of Iran, rather than war, saying, “Our sacred scriptures all point to our calling as disciples and peacemakers, to do what we can to bring healing into the world, not hurt, to end bloodshed, not to initiate it, to stop the killing and terrorizing of children and adults, and to make all of God’s Creation a safe place in which to live.”