Through interest from many parishioners, St. James’ has formed a Racial Justice & Reconciliation Commission to do our part in the community. This group of active volunteers meets regularly and is committed to sharing important information to St. James’ Family regarding Racial Justice. This Commission will share resource material here and within the weekly newsletter. Be sure to check out the “Did you know?” articles in the weekly helping to share facts and insights. And monthly, there are events and programs sponsored to help educate and open our minds!

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing,
whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and
if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Peace. Humility. Open Mind. Eyes that See. Ears that Listen. Heart of Love.

Spread the love this summer through twisted yarn

This summer, members of St. James’ (youth and adults) who can knit or crochet and those who want to learn to twist yarn are invited to participate in “My Hands Warm Your Heart,” a collaboration between the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission and Melody Smith Johnson, Founder & Owner | Melody’s Coworking & Event Space, Inc., Auburn.

Over the summer, the RJRC will be collecting hand-knitted or hand-crocheted hats and scarves created by the congregation. The hats and scarves will then be “blinged” in the fall by children and adults living in the Rescue Mission’s Merriman Circle supportive housing and by unhoused children and adults residing at the Auburn Inn. The bling classes will be led by Ms. Johnson, founder of the “My Hands Warm Your Heart” program. Bling class participants will keep their decorated scarves and hats.

In an effort to include the entire congregation, the RJRC has scheduled three knitting classes for those who want to learn to knit a simple scarf for the project. The classes will be held in the St. James’ Parish Hall from 5 to 7 p.m. on July 13, July 27 and Aug. 10. Pizza will be served. Youth and adults are welcome to attend. Participants may attend one or more classes. All knitting supplies will be provided.

The deadline for donating your handiwork is Sept. 30, but items may be dropped off at anytime. A basket will be available in the Nave for the items. We ask that all items be handmade: My Hands Warm Your Heart. The project offers an opportunity for our congregation to model agape love for others through twisted yarn.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40.

Home-grown veggies yield the best salsa

The Hillbrook Garden Project, a collaboration between St. James’ Episcopal Church and the Onondaga County Hillbrook Juvenile Detention Center is moving into its fourth spring/summer season. We are again planting a variety of vegetables in four raised-bed gardens located on the property.

As in past seasons, each raised-bed will be planted with a theme: the salsa garden, the salad garden, the squash garden and the green veggie garden. Last summer, we harvested bushels of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, Swiss chard, squash and pumpkins.

The produce was used in the Hillbrook kitchens and in the classroom where residents created salads, salsa, or simply ate the veggies fresh from the garden. Excess produce was offered to families of Hillbrook residents as well as staff members. Residents also used peppers and tomatoes from the salsa garden to compete in Hillbrook’s 7th Annual Hot Salsa Challenge! A “hot” time was had by all.

The garden project is a ministry of the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission and was funded by a 2023 Ministry Grant from the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. Funding from that grant is still being used for maintaining the soil and purchasing seedlings and seeds.

The RJRC is looking for volunteers to join the Hillbrook Garden Team. Volunteers work with the residents and staff to plant, weed, water and harvest the vegetables. The work is done on Wednesdays from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m. over the summer. The schedule is very flexible; work only those weeks when you are available. Volunteers must undergo a background check by filling out a form from the facility.

Questions: Email Judy Holmes (judyholmes76@gmail.com)

Staying Informed

“One thousand cuts won’t stop us:” Turning towards neighbors in need in Syracuse.–Beth Broadway is President and CEO at InterFaith Works of Central New York (IFW)

Come make 150 PBJ Sandwiches for Local Homeless Neighbors EVERY Friday at 1:15 pm in St. James' Parish Hall.

YOU CAN HELP

Donate nonperishable food items (bread, creamy peanut butter, jelly, wrapped snacks)
Help make bag lunches at St. James’
Become trained to staff the Safe and Warm physical site in Auburn
Help deliver lunches to people living in motels in Auburn

Monetary donations can be made to the “Harriet Tubman Liberation Foundation”
with Safe and Warm in the comment section of the check
This is a tax deductible gift as the Foundation is a Section 501(c) 3 charity.

For more information, contact Meg Osborne at mhosborne7@gmail.com
or call the Parish Office at 315-685-7600.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat . . . “ Matthew 25: 35

More than 242 children in Cayuga County were without permanent shelter during the 2022-23 school year, the most recent statistics available from the New York State Department of Education. The numbers reflect only the children whose families self-reported their living situations to the public schools, allowing their children to receive educational services under the federal McKinney-Vento Act.

During the annual count of unsheltered people in January, the Housing and Homeless Coalition of CNY found a 75 percent jump in people sleeping outside in Cayuga and Onondaga counties and a 400 percent jump in the number of people living on the streets in Oswego County. Moreover, hundreds of families and individuals are living in shelters and/or in motels across Central New York due to an acute shortage of affordable, permanent housing.

The St. James’ Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission (RJRC) has joined the efforts of the United Ministry of Aurora, The Quaker Meeting of Poplar Ridge and the Harriet Tubman AME Zion Church of Auburn to offer respite care to people who are homeless in Cayuga County. It’s called Safe and Warm. The project offers safe space every Friday afternoon from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Harriet Tubman Church where people can grab a hot beverage, snacks or simply hang out.

Safe and Warm also includes an outreach component in which some 100 bag lunches are prepared and delivered to families and individuals living in motels in the Auburn area. The lunches are prepared at St. James. Ten people from St. James church underwent training and are volunteering regularly for this program.

“On a personal level, Safe and Warm has touched me to my core,” says Molly Spalding, a member of St. James’ RJRC. “I have a brother who is homeless and with whom I have no contact, so I can’t help him. This program is enabling me to touch others who are in a similar or worse situation.”

Food for the program has been obtained through donations from Wegmans and Apple Acres in Lafayette as well as through monetary donations, including a donation from the St. James Thrift Shop.

“Participating in the Safe and Warm initiative has had a monumental effect on me,” says Kathy Ploufe, a member of St. James’ RJRC. “My Spiritual growth has intensified. It has aided my understanding of the reasons behind homelessness. At first I was afraid to engage in this program because of my incorrect impressions of people in our community who are homeless and poverty-stricken. Helping the homeless is not only a compassionate act but also one that can have a profound impact on society. By providing support to those in need, we foster a sense of community and social responsibility.”

Building Bridges and Creating Community-This is a national church program offered in the Diocese. Dialogue sessions have been offered at St. James’. For more information, contact the Parish Office or the CNY Diocese Office.

The free-speech firestorm unleashed when Jimmy Kimmel Live was briefly suspended in September resulted in a fierce national debate over different understandings of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, instead of unifying the country, divisions deepened as outrage eclipsed listening and soundbites overpowered understanding.

A new initiative, “Undivide Us: An Invitation to Dialogue across Difference,” is an effort by the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission (RJRC) at St. James’ Episcopal Church, Skaneateles, to bridge the gap in listening and understanding among people from across the political spectrum.

The program involves a series of facilitated conversations among diverse groups of people about difficult topics facing our nation. The workshops are designed to teach communication and listening skills that will enable participants to cut through inflammatory and toxic rhetoric that stoke division in our local, state and national communities and communicate in ways that lead to understanding and mutual respect.

Led by trained facilitators, dialogue-group participants will learn to approach difficult conversations with an attitude of curiosity, authenticity, and respect for other viewpoints, skills that are fundamental to building bridges and promoting reconciliation.

The model for the Undivide Us dialogue groups was developed by the Pluralist Lab at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.