Justice Advocacy

Social Justice Issues 

The Ministry of Justice Advocacy provides a means for enacting our commitment to  diversity and social justice. Addressing social justice issues is a vital part of our values and the fabric of our congregational life.  Our diversity and social justice include:

• Amnesty International
• Bread for the World
• CCIH (Contra Costa Interfaith Housing)
• Danville Rehabilitation (Nursing Home Ministry)
• Earth, Faith, Food CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)
• Global Partnerships:  Lwamondo Parish, Venda, South Africa; Laurel Galan, Nicaragua (Entre Culturas / Between Cultures)
• Green Committee/Eco-Justice Advocacy
• Indigenous tribes of the Ecuadorian Amazon
• Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County
• I-SRV (Interfaith-San Ramon Valley)
• Lutheran World Relief
• Prison Ministry
• RIC: Reconciled in Christ (gay friendly)
• Senior Center Ministry
• Shelter, Inc. / CCIH (Contra Costa Interfaith Housing)
• Solar Energy
• Sunrise Sing Along
• USAID—building resilience
• We Are All Connected. This ministry works with ill and disabled children in Ethiopia who are receiving medical treatment through Dr. Rick Hodes.
• Human Trafficking
• Inequality and Faith Workshop San Damiano Retreat
  

See our Resources page for links to many of these external organizations.

Interfaith San Ramon Valley, Welcome the Stranger 

Can you help Saam get to his English classes?
Saam is a refugee staying at San Damiano’s retreat. He is attending English classes at the Acalanes Community Center located at 1963 Tice Valley Road in Walnut Creek. The ISRV community are looking for volunteers to either take Saam to his class in the morning and/or give him a lift back to San Domino afterwards.
The Welcome the Stranger Phase 2 Sign Up Genius is now available at: signupgenius.com.  To sign up click on “Find a Sign Up”.  Enter the email address [email protected] to access the Welcome the Stranger Phase 2.  Once accessed, you can select the date and time that you would like to provide a ride to or from school as we help Saam learn English.
The original Signup Genius schedule that provided rides for Kamal and Jalal was very successful, Both Kamal and Jalal expressed on several occasions that they had never experienced the welcome and assistance they received from the ISRV Community.  Phase two is created to allow Saam a refugee now staying at San Domiano to attend the same English Second Language classes at the Acalanes Adult school located at 1963 Tice Valley Road in Walnut Creek that Kamal and Jalal did.

Link here for Thoughts on the Election, Ron Elsdon

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me. —Martin Niemoller who spent seven years in concentration camps

The way of Jesus is not to be religious in a particular way, to make something of oneself on the basis of some method or other, but to be truly human. It is not the religious act that makes the Christian but participation in the sufferings of God in the secular life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

DIetrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and martyr, executed for attempting to assassinate Hitler)

Food Bank Barrel

Did you know that there are people who are hungry right on our doorstep? Over 100,000 people in Contra Costa County are eligible for food and nutritional assistance because of low income.  Want to help?

Pinch of Salt

Learn more about social justice issues through the Justice Advocacy team members’ talks, the first of which is written by Deacon Linda Elsdon:
Welcome to Pinch of Salt

Refugee Help Volunteers

Peace as a Sanctuary

Peace is exploring becoming part of the Sanctuary movement.  Sanctuary is a place of safety and protection, of refuge.  It is a sacred or holy place.  Sanctuary extends from the physical to the protection of ideas, ideals and values.  It is in protecting ideals of inclusion, equality and community that we create places that provide both physical safety and enduring ideas that strengthen and ennoble us.