Thanks and appreciation are extended to all attendees, participants, and organizers of the Passover & Easter Interfaith Teach-In On Housing & Homelessness held at the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe (JCOGS) on March 30th.
Thank you to Rabbi David Fainsilber of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Stowe and his congregation for graciously hosting this event and for warmly welcoming more than 50-plus event attendees to their community.
Thank you to Will Eberle, Lamoille Community House Executive Director Kim Anetsberger, Wendy, June Mendel, and Representative Lucy Rogers for their powerful stories, sharing their first-hand experiences dealing with homelessness and lack of housing, and advocating for housing solutions at work in our communities now.
Thank you to Capstone Community Action Executive Director Sue Minter and Lamoille Housing Partnership Executive Director Jim Lovinksy for sharing what their organizations are doing to address our communities’ housing and homelessness challenges, and for offering hope that one day, everyone will have a safe, stable home and future.
Thank you to the JCOGS Olam Chesed students and the Mount Mansfield Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Last Minute Choir musicians Lynne Robbins, and Beth and Scott Esmond for their inspiring music! And to all who made delicious desserts to help us end the night on a sweet note.
Thank you to Patti Rubin, James Glazier, Carol Marshall, Kerrie Lohr and Emily Rosenbaum for their help planning, organizing and promoting the event.
Thank you to the Stowe Reporter for covering this important event.
Thank you to Father Rick Swanson of St. John’s in the Mountains Episcopal Church in Stowe, Reverend Devon Thomas of the 2nd Congregational Churches of Hyde Park and Jeffersonville, and the United Church of Bakersfield and Fairfield, and Reverend Becca Girrell of the United Community Church of Morrisville for speaking to the way in which God has been at work in this world for thousands of years bringing justice and love to the people of this world. From leading the Hebrew people from the unjust rule of the Egyptian Pharaoh into the Promised Land in the Passover tradition, to overcoming the unjust death of Jesus by the Romans by raising him from the dead and proving that love is stronger than even death in the Easter tradition. These stories and messages resonate in our communities today, and give us a moral imperative to continue to care for all of God’s people by assuring that they have the basic necessities needed to survive in this world – starting with the need for shelter and a place to call home.
AND MOST OF ALL, THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED; for your interest in this most important issue facing our area, your sense of solidarity with those who are in need of housing and those who are trying to meet this need, and for your experiences, hopes and dreams for the future. We are grateful to have you with us in this important work.
We look forward to continuing this work together with our communities, making shelter and home a reality for more of our neighbors, and invite anyone interested in getting involved to reach out and learn more.
Want to take action on these important issues but don’t know where to start? Read this resource.
Sincerely,
Working Communities Challenge, Lamoille Housing Partnership, Lamoille Community House, Jewish Community of Greater Stowe, St. John’s in the Mountains Episcopal Church, Stowe Community Church, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stowe, and Bahá'ís of Stowe, Lamoille Area Interfaith Clergy Group, Greater Stowe Interfaith Coalition.
