What is the Lee County Interfaith Sponsoring Committee? December 9, 2009

And what is CBCO- Congregation-Based Community Organizing?

According to the Unitarian Universalist Association,

Congregation-Based Community Organizing (CBCO, also called Faith-Based, Broad-Based, or sometimes Institution-Based) is a movement that seeks to establish inter-faith, cross-class, multi-ethnic and multi-racial grassroots organizations for purposes of increasing social integration and power in civil society and for making civic, regional and state-wide changes for social improvement.

So what is the Lee County Interfaith Sponsoring Committee?  At this point it is s group of clergy (or senior congregation leaders) who are planting seeds for a congregation-based community organization in Lee County.  We are working and receiving support from DART.

DART stands for Direct Action Research and Training Center.  On the organization’s website they say the following about themselves:

The Direct Action and Research Training (DART) Center is committed to building powerful, diverse, congregation-based and democratically-run organizations capable of winning justice on issues facing the community. Since 1982, DART has built and strengthened over twenty locally affiliated organizations in six states and trained over 10,000 community leaders and 150 professional Community Organizers.

How Unitarian Universalist is this?  Justice work? Democratic organizing? Community caring?  Building relationships- yes!  This is a place to work in solidarity with a diverse group of people and get the change to see  each other as fellow human beings who care about Lee County.  What better movers and shakers than people of faith?  Check out this video and get ready to be excited about this organization taking off!  Hopefully many congregations will make financial commitments to this organizing coalition so that great work can be done in our larger community.  More importantly is the investment of belief and energy that we can come together, in spite of theological and political differences, and work for common goals of justice in Lee County.

Publix Profits from Pickers’ Poverty December 5, 2009

Friends,

Momentum is gaining as we gear up for the biggest rally yet in Lakeland, FLorida, to ask Publix to come to the table of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to talk about the tomatoes they buy.  Op-eds are flowing and folks are making signs getting ready for tomorrow.  Sure, from Fort Myers it is a hike.  But what about folks in Immokalee?  Do you really think they would like to be traipsing all over the sunshine state campaigning like this?  I know if I had my way, Publix would have humanized this tomato-purchasing situation a long time ago. .. So disappointing for a company that says it s where Shopping is a Pleasure!

Instead, when I shop, all I see is a harvest of shame in the tomatoes section…and I just want to be a good girl and buy tomatoes that I can be assured have not been picked by people beaten and enslaved.  Is this gal asking too much?  I think not..nor are those whose lives are most directly affected- the pickers.  Our brethren.  So, it’s time to walk and roll tomorrow, friends, in Lakeland.  It will be peaceful and joyous and strong…a sign to Publix that the pickers are not alone.   Many allies are in the wings…and in this time of Advent, of expectation, I am going to do all I can while I wait for justice and peace and hope and mercy to be made real in this world.