Hi, friends, and Happy New Year!
I hope your holidays have been joy-filled and refreshing. As I write this post, I'm in the Philadelphia airport watching the news while awaiting my flight to Boston and then to LA. It's overwhelming how much is going on in the world, and, if you're anything like me, it can be hard to know how to stand and respond in the face of overwhelming events. What comes to mind is something I took from my viewing of the movie Frozen II (I'm a Disney-fan at heart). In Frozen II, Anna is faced with being alone and unsure of what to do after being confronted with a past she's tasked to make right. She recalls something she learned earlier in the movie, that the best move is to do the next right thing.
That's the thought that comes to mind as we enter 2020. We want to do big and small things that will make the wrongs we see around us right, but it's hard to know what exactly that means or what that looks like. Often there's a next right thing that we can do that will lead to the next thing and the thing after that, and soon we're walking a path that brings healing and righteousness and life into places where those things didn't exist. The 2020 Pasadena Homeless Count is like that. It's not something that will immediately resolve homelessness, but it is an action that will bring deeper understanding of the needs around us, and a way for us to enter into a pervasive issue that needs hearts, heads and hands all engaged across the city so that everyone has the resources and the connections they need to thrive. Please consider joining in this year. Registration for volunteers is necessary, and the deadline is this Tuesday. Go here to register and for more information. A short blurb is at the end of the post for a brief recap of what you need to know for now. Do let me know if you plan to volunteer as well. Hope to see you there!
-Pastor Gretchen
Volunteers are needed to go together on January 21st and to assigned zones to administer a survey for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Training and orientation will occur Monday, January 13th, and Tuesday, January 14th from 6:30pm-8:30pm. This is a "point in time count" to gain a better understanding of who our homeless neighbors are. Volunteers will be sent in teams of 2-3 to an assigned zone on the night of January 21 (8:30-10:30 p.m.) and the morning of January 22 (6:00-8:00 a.m.) to help count and administer a survey to our neighbors experiencing homelessness. The same teams go out together in the evening and the morning. Volunteers should be 18+ and are asked to attend an orientation to prepare for the Count on either January 13 or 14, 2020. The volunteer registration deadline is January 7, 2020.
