USC College of social work & safe space dinners
Professor Candice Turkaly’s Advanced Social Work Practice with Organizations and Communities class enjoyed a guest speaker Bryan Burgin, representing Safe Space Dinners, a ministry for LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness. Safe Space Dinners offers a safe space to gather, homecooked meals and a backpack of items people will find helpful in their day-to-day lives. The group hosts dinners at 6 PM on the second Thursday of each month. facebook.com/safespacedinners .
The class is learning various models to address systems-level change in communities and organizations through local non-profits discussing their community change projects. Bryan presented information on how the project started, planning and implementation, challenges, successes and funding and sustainability.
Students are not required to work with Safe Space Dinners, but several students are preparing a homecooked meal for dinner attendees.
To learn more about Safe Space Dinners, click here.
Servants Committee Update
A HUGE THANK YOU!!!
The coats, scarves, hats and gloves were provided to a non-profit organization, Food Not Bombs, who provide meals to the homeless every Sunday afternoon at Finlay Park. Due to the extreme cold, individuals were asking for such items and our congregation was able to come through and provide these much-needed items. There were 30 coats collected, a number of scarves, along with hats and gloves.
This is a link to Food Not Bombs Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/colafnb/)
Check them out.
The cleaning supplies, disinfectant spray, antibacterial soap, diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, and Clorox wipes were provided to Homeless No More who provide emergency family shelter, transitional housing and more permanent placement in affordable housing. Again, with your generosity, much needed items were provided to families when times are even more difficult than usual.
Souper Bowl of Caring
Our preliminary accounting shows we (RLC) collected $245.61 in offerings on Feb 7th for the Souper Bowl of Caring. Thanks to everyone for your generosity with this great need and annual tradition. The actual amount may be higher once we include the online giving (which will be reported near the end of the month.) We'll provide a final amount when that information is made available. Again - thank you so much for your help with this community's food bank needs.