the REFUGE

REFUGE NEWSLETTER FOR NOVEMBER 2009

Dear Friends and Supporters,

As we approach the holiday season this year, it is with the backdrop of 2 wars, the highest unemployment rate since the 60′s (almost 13% in the Tampa Bay Area), more people that are homeless than ever (6200 in Pinellas County), Millions have lost their homes due to foreclosure (Tampa Bay Area in the top 5), and 50 million people without Healthcare, it would seem difficult for many reading this newsletter to consider what they may do to help those that are struggling to make it. I know some who read this newsletter are barely making it. But, we are in need of your help.
The situation has gotten to the point where it is even difficult to get bread to serve the homeless community and needy families. Sources that we normally go to for that simple item are having a difficulty getting bread. It should not be that way. But, unfortunately it is. Currently, our food pantry is empty, our bank account is empty, and our resources are exhausted. We urgently need you help! It is our believe that God will provide, but that God will do it through people of Faith and people of good will. We are literally turning people away that need financial help or food. This is very difficult to do.
We have been blessed in the past by many of you. But, now your help is urgently needed. We are trying to build up our food pantry again. We are trying to build up our benevolence fund again. At this point, we are in need of several items. These items include gift cards (gas cards, dept store cards, mall cards, grocery store cards), canned goods, blankets, jackets, sleeping bags, a lap top, and financial support. We are trying to increase our financial support by $1800 per month. Gifts of any size would help. Please consider giving monthly.
Fortunately, some resources are coming through. It appears that we will be getting 200 “ditty” bags with basic survival items for people on the street, including hygiene items. Additionally, it appears that we will be getting enough Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, as well as toys for 30 families. But, we have several more families that need help.
In closing, let me share one positive story with you. For several months, a single mom who is part of our ministry and on government assistance, has been looking for a job. Well, yesterday, while we were helping her look for a job, she was offered a job at no less than 3 eating establishments. Thanks be to God! This one small thing that we do helped someone get out of depression.
So, please consider helping the Refuge. You can go to www.refugestpete.org to our pay pal site to support us financially. You can also send checks to the Refuge at 1818 29th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33713. If you have any questions, please call me at 727 278 1547 or email me at bgcwright@aol.com. Thank you.

Sincerely, Rev. Bruce Wright

PS. We are in desperately in need of a minivan to pick up donated items and transport people to appointments. We are also looking for volunteers. For more info. about issues of poverty go to www.economichumanrights.org

Dear Friends, Supporters, and the Curious,

Wow, has it been a busy time both for the Refuge and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, and for Social Justice issues. Many of you have been reading about our updates during the G20, some of you have been following the whole Civil Liberties and Free Speech issues at Baywalk, and of course some have followed the issues around the attempt to get a tent city, run by Catholic Charities and the Local Government, started in Tampa.
All of this, which we have had some involvement in, is happening while we continue to serve the poor, the addicted, the homeless, and troubled youth through our programs and outreaches. And, with the backdrop of many families and individuals coming to us for financial help to avoid utility shut off or evictions. Things do seem out of control at times. But, I also believe that we, potentially, live in very revolutionary times and have some important opportunities. So, my hope is that you consider the times we live in and also look at these opportunities and consider some of thoughts that I will share.
First of all, let me say that the potential for the expansion of the “Police State” is of grave concern. What we saw at the G20 was horrendous and over the top. The Militarized Police and the National Guard were out of control. Unprovoked attacks by the Authorities on Students, Neighborhoods, Journalists, by-standers and nonviolent protesters was uncalled for and over the top. They used teargas, rubber bullets, sound disrupters, shields, and batons. They had armored vehicles and helicopters and high tech surveillance and weaponry. All this for peaceful protesters. For more info. go to www.resistg20.org, www.economichumanrights.org, and www.bailoutpeople.org. You can also go to utube to see the many videos. During this time the Poor People’s Campaign continued it’s mantra of Housing for All, Jobs for All, and Healthcare For All.
Not only has there been a battle against the Corporate Greed Monster at the G20, but locally there has been some very important battles against the Rich and Powerful. Case in point, is of course Baywalk and CW Capital, an 11 billion dollar Corporation, with ties to the multi-billion dollar bailed out Wells Fargo. The Fact, that the City would consider giving away public space to a multi-billion dollar corporation is bad enough. But, to blame the failed business, due to a bad economy and poor management, on protesters, black youth, and the homeless is unbelievable! But, to make matters worse, after voting to not give away public space, it appears that city council may give way to greedy corporate interests and re-vote to give away public space. So much for democracy and the people! Needless to say, if it is given away, we and others will be out there demonstrating, letting our voice be heard, in non-violent civil disobedience, as well as a law suit being filed. Let’s hope and pray that the council comes to it’s senses and doesn’t vacate the sidewalk. Kudos to the Council members that have stuck to their call to uphold the constitution and not giving up public space.
Another controversial issue is the whole city/Catholic Charities sponsored bureaucratic mess called tent city or Pinellas Hope. So many in the community have been duped by this very expensive ( more then 2.1 to 3 million dollars) venture. Why is it that the City and our Mayor push the homeless out of our city? Why is it that ordinances have been passed that criminalize the homeless? Why does it cost so much to put people in tents on donated land with donated food? Where is all the money going? Why can’t the homeless community run it? Why are Police there and allowed to question anyone? Why is it near the county jail and a graveyard? Could this be part of the reason why many did not want it in Tampa? Why is there no real investigation into the lack of success of Pinellas Hope? Why hasn’t there been shelter’s put in St. Pete? What about all the vacant land and property in St. Pete? Could someone answer these questions? This is very important to the Refuge and The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.
All of the above mentioned things are interconnected. Cause harm to one, cause harm to all. Dr. King said, “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to Justice Everywhere”. Isaiah the Prophet warned, “Woe to You who make unjust laws to deprive the Poor of their Rights…..” (Isaiah 10: 1-4). It is time to Rise Up and Fight, to be counted! Not only with protest, but with financial support, especially to those who are hurting, homeless, foreclosed on or about to be. This month is “Zero Evictions” month and it is time for people to stay in their homes and not be foreclosed on, to take over abandoned homes and homestead. It is time to take to the streets and highways and byways!!
Please consider joining us in this struggle and helping us, work alongside and support the hurting. They are us, we are them. If you can help us in this struggle, please consider supporting the Refuge and send checks to help the hurting or go on line to support us. Our address is the Refuge 1818 29th AVe. North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33713 or go online to www.refugestpete.org. You can also support the Poor People’s campaign by going to www.economichumanrights.org. Please help us we are $3200 short this month. Thanks for your thoughts, gifts, and prayers. God Bless!!! Rev. Bruce

Published on Sarasota Indymedia (http://sarasota.indymedia.org)
Free Speech Activists Battle Baywalk
By
Created 10/10/2009 – 10:02pm
[0]The line has been drawn in St. Petersburg between free speech activists and corporate interests [1]. At issue is a sidewalk in front of baywalk [2], a downtown entertainment complex. Baywalk’s owners, CW Capital [3], have lobbied the city of St. Petersburg to privatize the sidewalk for the expressed purpose of stopping protests. Protesters [4] have traditionally used the sidewalk as a gathering place for demonstrations against international [5] as well as domestic [6] imperialism. It’s been argued that protesters constitute a perceived security risk and are bad for business.

Baywalk’s owners have bribed the city to privatize the sidewalk in front of baywalk, saying it is a “deal-breaker,” meaning that without it the owners will not go through with plans of spending up to $6 million revitalizing the property. On Oct. 1st, despite st. pete mayor Rick Baker’s [7] backroom dealing [8], the city council voted down [9] the proposal: 4-4. Following the victory for free speech, St Pete For Peace [10], one of the protest groups, announced that they would not hold protests at baywalk [11] for at least a year as long as the city didn’t again move forward to stop protests.

But the city undermined the peace group’s good faith effort after a St. Petersburg Times editorial [12] convinced one council member, Herb Polson hepolson@stpete.org [13], who previously voted to protect free speech, to call for a revote [14].

Activists have used a variety of tactics to convey their opposition to the city’s plan including protests, letter writing, power point presentations [15], a free speech flash mob [16], and radical cheerleading [17].

The city is scheduled to take their final vote on the sidewalk privatization, around 3pm on Oct. 15th at St. Petersburg City Hall (175 Fifth St. N.) The vote will be made without an opportunity for public comment. Activists have responded by writing on one website [18], “there are ways to speak without words. And they will have a tougher time silencing our actions.”

read more: 1 [19], 2 [20], 3 [21], 4 [22]

listen: 1 [23], 2, [24] 3, [25]

watch: 1, [26] 2, [27] 3, [28] 4 [29], 5 [30],

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Source URL:

http://sarasota.indymedia.org/local/free-speech-activists-battle-baywalk

Dear Friends and Supporters of the Refuge and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign,

Hello Everyone. It is now Monday, September 28th, 2009. It is 3 days after the last day of the G20 demonstrations and actions. Our contingent from Florida arrived back in Florida on Saturday night. We were tired, but encouraged and excited about what happened there. For more than 5 days and encampment of the poor, the homeless, the unemployed and their supporters camped out at Monumental Baptist Church, on their grounds in of the poorest, historical African American Districts called the Hill District in Pittsburgh, PA. We participated in the March for Jobs on the 20th with more than 1000 people,including PPEHRC, the Refuge, Bail Out the People, several Unions and others. We had to opportunity to speak at this event and talk about how movements to end poverty must be informed and led by those effected by it. We had workshops on endin poverty, worker rights, unions, and global issues. We viewed several films, including “Explicit ILLs”, which talked about healthcare and poverty with PPEHRC and a protest as the back drop. We did a speak out on ending Police Repression, and one about Healthcare. We had a March on Mellon Bank in the middle of the day on Wednesday and managed to get serious attention and disrupt traffice. At this March, we spoke of Predatory lending, foreclosures, and the housing crisis.
We also participated in several large Marches, including a large March on Thursday that was unpermitted. The authorities claim we had only 500 people, but it was more like 3000 to 4000. It was at this event, the Police Repression was the greatest, though throughout the week the Police harassed by Flying helicopters overhead at all hours, sending Police by in their Patrol cars, randomly stopping people and asking for ID’s for no apparent reason, in one case we were visited by Secret Service. At first, we thought they were there for a funeral the Church was having, but when I discovered they were Secret Service, I went up and talked with them and took a picture of them. I got more than 80 pictures at this event this week. So, we have lots of footage. During the unpermitted march on Thursday, the Police used Tear gas in a residential neighborhood effecting both protesters and residents, including children. They used tear gas on the University of Pittsburgh campus, and got both protesters and students, who were looking from their dorms. The Police used high intensity sound machines, which gave me at headache, and they used rubber bullets and concusion grenades. I, as well as the group with me, were victims of tear gas. Several news reporters were hit with batons, tear gased and hit with Police fists, including a New York Times Reporter and a CNN reporter.
At the permitted march, several thousand (at least 15,000) marched. Cheri Honkala, National Organizer with PPEHRC, spoke as did Union Organizers, Cindy Sheehan, and many others. Our march was blocked several times by a massive Police Presence and Military presence. They had helicopters, including Chenok troop carriers, Blackhawk helicopters, and Apache Attack helicopters, as well as armoured vehicles and humvees. So, the Militarized presence was enormous. But, we were undaunted and got our messaged out of justice and peace and economic human rights. Several news organizations from the International community covered the event, including Al Jazerra, the BBC, German Television, Australian Television, and Japanese Television among others.
In closing, we believe it was a very worthwhile demonstration. We were especially pleased that the message of the poor, oppressed, unemployed and homeless were heard by those who were effected by the current economic crisis. Without your help and support, we could not have done this trip. We thank you. However, the work locally, must continue. Our struggle for economic human rights for the poor and oppressed continues. We continue to serve and work alongside the homeless, the poor, and the unemployed. So, we need your continued support, help, and prayers. The Refuge, as well as the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, needs your financial help. We still have expenses from our trip and need to raise $700 for that, as well as regular support. If you can help in any way, please call me at 727 278 1547. Gifts can also be sent to the Refuge at 1818 29th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33713. You can also go online to paypal at www.refugestpete.org. For more info. about what happened on this trip you can go to www.economichumanrights.org or www.bailoutpeople.org. Thank you again. Rev. Bruce Wright

In the story of the judgement of the sheep and the goats in the Gospel of Matthew we are taken a further step in our meditations. Both groups are told that their response to the suffering of the hungry, the homeless, the imprisoned and others among the forgotten and the injured is their response to Christ. When,in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul is knocked off his high horse by the Light that shines more brightly than the Noonday Sun, he is told by the one that he rightly addresses as ‘Lord” that he is persecuting Christ in persecuting the church.

Christ has taken upon himself all of human suffering. Whenever you see human suffering you see Christ’s continuing suffering. Pascal said “Christ is on the cross until the end of the world.” What we do to the insulted and the injured of the world we do to Christ.In the end we are either on the cross with Christ or we are among his crucifiers.This is why, in Dostoyevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”, when the holy staretz, Father Zosima, enters the room and perceives the great sufferings ahead for Dimitri Karamazov, he falls on the ground and reveres those sufferings. He reveres them because they are the wounds of Christ.

James rebukes the Christians of his day for prefering the rich to the poor. Unfortunately this distortion of Christian praxis has not disappeared. The mainstream churches of the modern West are generally churches of the professional middle class.The poor and other sufferers are not treated as icons of Christ but as defective people who need to be straightened out by professionals or as objects of cheap and uninvolved ‘charitable’ acts that are nothing more than contemporary analogues of Lady Bountiful wrapping Christmas packages for the faithful poor. There’s no extension of friendship and solidarity.And what we do to such is what we do to Christ.

May God bring us all to see that our only hope of salvation lies in our recognition that we too are the poor and the needy. That we must deliberately enter into solidarity with them because we in fact are one with them. And since all suffering is the suffering of Christ it is there where we can find our Lord and worship him.

-Frank Valdez