CIW’s Lupe Gonzalo named as one of top “25 leaders, innovators and agents of change across the fresh produce supply chain.”
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The Packer: “Drawing on her experience with the Fair Food Program, Gonzalo has helped to train, mentor and educate workers from other regions and industries on the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility model.”
“Gonzalo also was a member of the CIW team working with Futures Without Violence, which collaborated with CIW and other Fair Food Program partners on the first sexual harassment training curriculum for the agricultural sector in the U.S.”
As 2023 draws to a close, farmworkers with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are celebrating the organization’s 30th anniversary. In the last 30 years, the CIW — which began as a loose gathering of farmworkers meeting weekly in a borrowed church hall in the small, crossroads town of Immokalee — has grown in size and success to become the founder of the Presidential Medal-winning Fair Food Program, the leading social responsibility program in the US agricultural industry today, and of the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model, the new paradigm for human rights protection in global supply chains to which the FFP gave rise. And along the way on this remarkable journey, many of the CIW’s longtime farmworker-leaders have emerged as key agents of change in the trillion-dollar food industry.
With the tireless leadership of farmworkers themselves, the CIW forged the Fair Food Program from the ground up – an unprecedented partnership among workers, buyers, growers, and consumers to monitor and enforce the basic human rights of farmworkers by harnessing the purchasing power of some of the world’s larges food corporations. Lupe Gonzalo, an indigenous Guatemalan farmworker who worked for years in Immokalee’s tomato fields before joining the CIW staff, knows all too well the life of a farmworker outside the protections of the FFP.
Raised in a rural village in Guatemala, Lupe journeyed to the United States in hope of finding a better life — but was instead met with the kind of outrageous exploitation that remains all-too-common in agriculture and low-wage work beyond the protections of the Fair Food Program. Once she found out about the Fair Food Program, however — which happened during a visit by the CIW’s Worker-to-Worker Education Team to the farm where she was picking tomatoes in the early days of the FFP — she immediately saw an opportunity to right the historic wrongs the plagued US fields, and has never looked back since.
Through her more than a decade of work with the CIW, Lupe has become a prominent leader in a global human rights movement centered around the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model, which ensures humane working and living standards for low-wage workers, and which was born in the same Immokalee, FL, fields in which Lupe toiled when she first arrived to the U.S.
This is a season of watching and waiting and wonder. Given the stresses of our days, what does the it look like to be given peace – in our lives and in the world? Join your faith community in seeking peace this holy season, the Deep Peace of the Shining Stars.
In addition to the activities listed below:
There is an Advent Calendar for daily devotions available at church. This was prepared by a cousin of Jeff Wells, Merry Watters. She is a retired Methodist minister. If you would like one emailed or sent to you, please contact the Church Office.
Advent devotions will be emailed during the season to inspire your journey to the Deep Peace of the Shining Stars. If you would like to consider writing a devotion this month, please contact Tina Allen at tinaallengifted@gmail.com
Please consult the Weekly Update sent by email each week and posted on the website for changes and additions to the information below.
This Advent/Christmas season may we experience the Deep Peace of the Shining Stars!
December 1
World AIDS Day. Say a prayer for those living with HIV/AIDS. Get tested. HIV/AIDS is on the rise in St. Petersburg.
December 2
10:30 a.m. Join in decorating the sanctuary at Lakewood for the Advent/Christmas season. The stunning Christmas Tree from Trinity will be decorated. Join in the festivities!
December 3
10:15 a.m. Singing of favorite carols before worship
10:30 a.m. First Sunday of Advent
Lighting the advent wreath
A reflective service with time to center on the gift of Deep Peace we are given through Jesus. Communion will be served. Childcare is provided.
11:30 a.m. Star ornament making with Morgan Wright! Help to make star ornaments to decorate the branch in middle of the sanctuary. Deep Peace of the Shining Stars! ALL WELCOME!
Poinsettia order forms available. Financial donations received for Christmas hams for the Good Samaritan Food Pantry. Communion offering received. Cards available to fill out for area nursing home delivery.
Donations welcome for the Maximo Elementary Holiday Gift Shop:
Poinsettia order forms available.
Financial donations received for Christmas hams for the Good Samaritan
FoodPantry.
Communion offering received.
Cards available to fill out for area nursing home delivery.
Donations welcome for the Maximo Elementary Holiday Gift Shop:
Toys for All Ages
Jewelry: Popular for moms, grandmothers, and big sisters.
Stickers: Affordable and perfect for siblings.
Mugs: Everybody can use one more, right?
Coloring Books
Bicycles
Notepads: Especially in fun shapes like dogs, cats, hearts, or flowers.
Family I — Mikailah: Suitcase for kids, Baby Alive doll, food for doll, Doll stroller; Kayleigh: Baby Alive doll, baby diaper bag, baby changing table and babybottles.
Family ll — Nasir: (4yr old boy) 4T-5T clothes, 9c shoes, likes Ninja Turtles, Spiderman, trucks, dinosaurs and bike with helmet; Kamilah: (3yr old girl) 3T clothes, 6c shoes, likes Doc McStuffins, MinnieMouse, princess and bike with helmet.
Family III — Sha’nya: L.O.L Doll, L.O.L Doll House, slime, perfume, play make-up, pailpolish, scrunchies (for hair) and bracelets.
For details about Maximo, please contact Emily Bell — Maximo donations will be collected through December 17.
December 5
9:30 a.m. Weekly faith discussion group on Zoom. To participate, please email Diane Bullock at dibull321@gmail.com
December 6
10:00 a.m. Weekly guided labyrinth walk at Lakewood.
7:00 p.m. Planetarium presentation at St. Petersburg College Gibbs Campus (5th Ave. N. and 66th St., St. Pete).
For December, Dr. Craig Joseph will be presenting Yuletide Skies, based upon what the sky would have looked like 2000 years ago during the birth of Christ. Seating (46 total) is first-come first-served. Parking is free on campus and located next to the Natural Sciences building. Each show starts at 7 p.m. and lasts for about 45 minutes. After the show, attendees are welcome to view the night’s sky from the rooftop observatory, weather permitting.
Join folks from Lakewood and Trinity for this illuminating opportunity to view the Deep Peace of the Shining Stars!
December 8
7:00 p.m. Join in ‘No Room at the Inn.’ This is a Christmas caroling event sponsored by Celebrate Outreach that ministers to the houseless in St. Petersburg. Visits include Cara House and St. Petersburg Free Clinic Baldwin Women’s Residence. Celebrate Outreach distributes the toiletries that are collected at church. Meet at the Mirror Lake Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg (100 Mirror Lake Dr. N.).
December 10
10:15 a.m. Singing of favorite carols before worship
10:30 a.m. Second Sunday of Advent
Lighting the advent wreath
The service will provide a time of comfort in this busy season and these troubling days.
Childcare provided.
11:30 a.m. There will be a cookie event following worship! Watch the Weekly Update for details.
There will be cards available to sign for the home bound of the church families.
Poinsettia order forms available.
Financial donations received for Christmas hams for the Good Samaritan Food Pantry.
Maximo donations welcome. See Dec. 3.
December 12
9:30 a.m. Weekly faith discussion group on Zoom. To participate, please email Diane Bullock at dibull321@gmail.com
December 13
10:00 a.m. Weekly guided labyrinth walk at Lakewood.
6:00 p.m. Blue Christmas Service at Trinity UCC (1150 49th St. N.). For many the holiday season includes feelings of grief and loss. This service is a time to honor those feelings and appreciate the healing love of the Christmas season.
Today is the deadline for poinsettia orders.
December 14
6:30 p.m. Monthly Book Talk discussion will be held on Zoom. Watch the Weekly Update for the link.
December 17
10:15 a.m. Singing of favorite carols before worship
10:30 a.m. Third Sunday of Advent
Lighting the advent wreath
The service will provide a time to remember Mary and her commitment to justice. There will also be recognition of the founding of Trinity UCC on Dec. 21 in 1952.
Childcare provided.
This is the last opportunity to make financial donations for Christmas hams for the Good Samaritan Food Pantry.
Cards must be returned for area nursing home delivery.
Last day for contributions to the Maximo Elementary. Please see list on December 3.
Noon Light lunch will be provided for those who will go Christmas caroling to the homebound from the church families.
12:30 p.m. Christmas Caroling! Leaving from Lakewood. Car pooling will be arranged.
December 19
9:30 a.m. Weekly faith discussion group on Zoom. To participate, please email Diane Bullock at dibull321@gmail.com
December 20
7:00 p.m. Nighttime guided labyrinth walk. This will be a time to remember the solstice and prepare for Christmas. The evening will include a fire circle and s’mores.
December 21
The anniversary of the founding of Trinity Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1952, later Trinity United Church of Christ.
December 24
10:15 a.m. Singing of favorite carols before worship
10:30 a.m. Fourth Sunday of Advent
Lighting the advent wreath
The service will provide a time to re-create the Christmas Tableau. Come as a shepherd, an angel, a wise one, whoever you envision at the manger. There will be some costuming available at church.
The service will also include the ritual of lining the manger in preparation for the birth of Jesus.
Childcare provided but children are welcome to participate in the interactive service.
6:30 p.m. Christmas Concert of piano music offered by Hilton Jones preceding the Christmas Eve service.
7:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Service of lessons and carols with candlelight and communion. Celebrate the Deep Peace of the Shining Stars that comes to us through the birth of Jesus.
The Christmas Eve offering will be dedicated to helping the children of Gaza and Palestine. The money will be given to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund which is supported by the United Church of Christ.
December 26
9:30 a.m. Weekly faith discussion group on Zoom. To participate, please email Diane Bullock at dibull321@gmail.com
December 27
10:00 a.m. Weekly guided labyrinth walk at Lakewood.
December 31
10:30 a.m. Morning Worship with a focus on spiritually preparing for the New Year. Perhaps there is something you need to leave behind? Maybe there is something calling out to you in the New Year. This is a time to listen and discern. And to commit: Before I die, I’m going to. . .
January 2
9:30 a.m. Weekly faith discussion group on Zoom. To participate, please email Diane Bullock at dibull321@gmail.com
January 3
10:00 a.m. Weekly guided labyrinth walk at Lakewood.
January 6
Epiphany! There will be a celebration of the coming of the light with a fire circle at night. Watch the Weekly Update and the bulletin for details about time and place.
On Christmas Eve, at Lakewood United Church of Christ, I’ll be doing the above selections at 6:30pm as a musical prelude to the 7pm service of candlelight and communion. These selections are all arrangements of mine. The sheet music for them is available as a collections at Sheet Music Direct and Sheet Music Plus. The individual movements are also available. See the end of this post for their links.
These are not highfalutin recordings, all slickly mastered and recorded with expensive microphones. They are just spur of the moment recordings on my cellphone! My emphasis these days, at may age, is solely upon writing the sheet music and rhw live performance of that music. Anything else–recordings, videos, internet posts–is just in support of that effort using whatever means I have at hand.
Hope to see you on Christmas Eve if you can make it.
Here’s the links for the sheet music individual pieces, but I highly recommend the collection. It is a considerable savings over the individual pieces.
IMA is offering free flu vaccines to adults in our community. We are focusing on anyone 60 and older, however, any adult that attends the clinic can get a free flu vaccine. This is important for the health and wellness of our community.
We need your assistance, please read the attached flyer and share it within your circle of influence as you deem necessary. Share it with your colleagues, family members, churches, schools, friends, community organizations, etc.
There will be an in person congregational meeting on Sunday Oct. 22, 2023 following worship to take action on proposed revisions to the church Constitution and By Laws. The changes being proposed reflect the way the congregation is actually functioning and bring consistency to what is in the official documents and what is being done in actual practice. The changes have been carefully reviewed by the Advisors as well as other church members who have assisted with the process including Sally Purvis, Patti Cooksey, Mark Gibson, and Bill Parsons.
At the meeting, all members of Lakewood United Church of Christ are entitled to vote. Friends of the church and the congregation of Trinity United Church of Christ are welcome to attend and to make comments on the proposed documents but will not be eligible to officially vote.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 