Peace and Justice for Synod of the Sun

1. Peace and Justice for Synod of the Sun PWSCT March 2-4, 2012

2. Projects/Activities • Carpathian Basin-Ukraine Solar/Water Project; • Living Waters of the World; • Human Trafficking; • Norma's House( A Regional Child Advocacy Program for abused children); • The Bethany House (Womens' Job Corp Project);

3. Projects/Activities • Gonzales Youth Center; • Fair Trade Exchange of Goods( particularly coffee and hot chocolate); • Local Food Pantry; • Heifer International; • Used school supplies gathered in the spring each year from local schools to be used by disadvantaged children through the CUPS ministry on the Border of Texas;

4. Projects/Activities • Human trafficking of children and women, hunger issues, clean and safe water to drink, ministering to the homeless, peace in our congregations and throughout the denomination, peace in our world; • “Fair and inclusive Treatment of People” ;

5. Projects/Activities • Director of Hope House, a home for homeless women (many with children) was the guest speaker; • Fair Trade store entitled “Fair Trade on Brookside”; • Oklahoma director of OATH (Oklahomans Against Trafficking of Humans) speak and collected $675 for their work;

6. Projects/Activities • The Urban Mission, OKC, to assist in their mission to our local homeless; • CASA, Pan American School in Kingsville, Su Casa de Esperanza, the Austin Food Bank, Salvation Army and Christian Cupboard;

7. Projects/Activities • Collected personal care items such as hand lotion, shampoo, etc. and donated these to the Bastrop County Family Crisis Center; • His Kids - The Nehemiah Center of Navasota, an afterschool program for disadvantaged children (right here in our own presbytery!); and 2) on the international level, The Women’s Program of CEDEPCA. This is a Guatemalan charitable organization that operates educational & training programs throughout Central America (www.cedepca.org).

8. Projects/Activities • The WAR project in Thailand was read to the women in their monthly meeting. This was from the missionary in Thailand about her experiences going into bars and talking to the women in the sex traffic trade. This invoked a good discussion and thirst for more knowledge about this issue. As a result, our minister, Rev Amy Meyer, based her sermon on Sunday on this subject. She talked to the head detective in Austin about how each of us could help stop this in our own communities.

9. Projects/Activities • Collect the Least Coin all year and donate that Money to Church Women United; • Participate in the CROP Walk of Church World Service; • Solar Under the Sun and Displays on Peace and Justice Issues, Fair Trade Chocolate and Coffee.

10. Projects/Activities • The Circle sponsored a foster child in India; • Adult education class,  "Strangers in the Land," to  look at immigration issues from a Christian perspective; • Community garden project, making plots available to neighborhood gardeners. A percentage of the produce was donated to the Faith Food Pantry.

11. Projects/Activities • Student Appreciation Days for the students at Travis high school, providing hot dogs, drinks, and chips, and a judgment-free gathering space on the church lawn. This project was begun after we became aware of the large numbers of Travis High students dealing with homelessness, poverty, and community violence associated with gangs and drugs. Travis High School is across the street from our church and each Student Appreciation Day was attended by more than 300 students.

12. Programs/Activities • Interfaith Environmental Network and Participate in its Programs and Activities, including Advocacy for Fairness in City Electricity Rates; • Care packages to service members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. As peacemakers, we pray and show concern for everyone dealing with the realities of war - soldiers, civilians, and victims on all sides of any conflict.

13. Projects/Activities • 10-year remembrance service on September 11: The Path Not Taken”: • acts of remembrance in our worship service • Christian Education hour focusing  on Christian ideas about war, particularly our denomination’’sResolution on Violence, Religion and Terrorism; • Lunch Speakers from “Under the Hood”, a GI rights group based near Ft. Hood, offered  their perspective on the costs of 10 years of War on Terror; • Finally we gathered in the sanctuary for a multi-faith time of remembrance and a rally for peace, remembering not just those who died on 9/11, but also the thousands of US and coalition forces dead and injured and the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans who also lost their lives; • At the conclusion of this service we planted an olive tree to symbolize our hope for a peaceful future.

14. Projects/Activities • World Communion Sunday by collecting the Peacemaking Offering. Our portion of the offering was donated to the new Filipino-American Presbyterian Fellowship of Austin, an outreach to immigrant neighbors. The Rev. Mike Manor was our guest preacher. He works with Building Bridges, a program to promote racial harmony. During the Christian Education hour we learned more about his program as well as hearing speakers from two other  local peacemaking projects:  Inside Books, which sends books to prisoners and Charity: Water, which helps build clean water wells in Africa.

15. Projects/Activities • Our session sent an overture to Mission Presbytery on peacemaking in Israel/Palestine; and • Alternative Gift Market so that we can make Christmas contributions to fund Hunger Relief, World Peace, saving the Environment and other Important Causes.