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199 Brandon Road
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
USA
tel: 925-682-2486

 
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Christ the King Church
Social Justice Subcommittees


 

ADVOCACY SUBCOMMITTEEMark Gotvald – 671-2105
The primary tasks of this subcommittee are to build awareness of legislative issues among parishioners and to urge them to advocate for these causes.  The subcommittee meets every other month to study and analyze current legislative issues for the next two months.  The two issues chosen are distributed to the Social Justice Committee and inserted in the parish bulletin for education and action.  Depending on the advocacy issue, parishioners are asked to contact the President, U.S. or State legislators, or county supervisors.  This subcommittee addresses the core issues causing the symptoms of poverty, homelessness and violence in our society.  Issues have ranged from advocating for affordable housing, an increase in the minimum wage, a fair State budget, the Patriot Act and Medicare prescription drug legislation.


STEERING SUBCOMMITTEE
Mary Silva – 689-6563
The Steering subcommittee meets monthly to:

  • Prepare the agenda for the Social Justice Committee Meeting.
  • Plan and coordinate speakers for the monthly SJ meetings. The primary goal of the presentations is to educate the SJ Committee and parishioners about issues of concern, available services and, in some cases, elicit direct involvement from the SJ Committee and Parish.
  • Promote communications both within the SJ Committee and with parishioners as a whole.  In addition, subcommittee members telephone  SJ members when a need arises to recruit participants to man tables or booths, write letters of advocacy, or attend local governing boards to underscore socially-just stands regarding issues.

In addition, the subcommittee is responsible for welcoming newcomers to the SJ   Committee as well as inviting neighboring churches of five other denominations and fourteen Catholic Churches in central East County.

  • Plan and prepare the quarterly SJ Newsletter “Just Us Parishioners”.  This newsletter contains articles on SJ activities as well as social justice issues of the broadest possible nature.
  • Plan and coordinate fund raising activities.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL SUBCOMMITTEE Kathy Richardson935-1831
This subcommittee is dedicated to raising awareness of Environmental Concerns.  We are about exploring ways to repair our environment and to learn to live in harmony with the Earth that has given us so much.  We want to bring our Church Community together in the effort.  We want to:

  • Invite all Ministries to join our effort
  • Study our responsibilities as Christians to be stewards of the Earth
  • Reach out through Education and hands on projects

 

SISTERING COMMUNITIES SUBCOMMITTEE
This subcommittee works toward helping communities better themselves.  The communities can be local or in other parts of the country or world.  We look for ways that we can best help the communities we work with.  We welcome the addition of new communities.  This subcommittee meets as needed. Currently, our sistering communities are:

Haiti:  (contact Pat Stevens 945-1623) - The subcommittee seeks ways to help the people of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.  In January 2006, the parish provided financial support to the What If? Foundation which provides food and educational assistance to Haitian children.  The Committee hopes to strengthen its involvement with the What If? Foundation and to explore other avenues for providing assistance to the Haitian people.

Monument Crisis Center: (contact Pat Kramer 439-2481) The Monument Crisis Center is a non-profit community based organization that provides assistance to at-risk families, children, seniors, and individuals in Central Contra Costa County. The mission of the center is to provide food, offer help and referrals in crisis situations, and promote community awareness of needs and available resources.  Christ the King is one of the major supporters of the Center.  Its monthly food collection is donated to MCC.  The 2005 Social Justice Mother’s Day Collection provided over 7000 diapers.  The parish participated in the 2005 Adopt a Family Program by providing gifts on the wish list of 120 families.  Besides these activities many parishioners volunteer at the Center on a weekly, monthly, or as- needed basis.

El Salvador: (contact Mary Silva 689-6563) The subcommittee supports the parish’s sistering relationship with San Vicente a community in El Salvador.  Under the auspices of the Share Foundation we work with three other faith communities of the East Bay to support our Salvadoran friends in prayer, financially and through advocacy.  This subcommittee continues to study globalization and its negative impact on the livelihood and culture of the Salvadorans.

 

HOMELESSNESS AND HUNGER SUBCOMMITTEESteve Paris 825-3687
This subcommittee meets as needed to implement various programs and projects to benefit the poor and hungry of Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

  • The Sunday food collection currently benefits the Monument Crisis Center in Concord.
  • Residents at the Concord Adult Shelter are served a pizza dinner on the 3rd Monday of each month. Pizza is purchased with funds from the Social Justice budget. The parish’s Helping Hands group prepares salads, and Safeway donates the soft drinks.
  • The subcommittee coordinates one or two weeks of meals prepared and served at the two area family homeless shelters.
  • The subcommittee helps with volunteer opportunities at Garden Park Apartments on Lisa Lane in Pleasant Hill.  A member of the subcommittee sits on the Volunteer Council of the CCIH Board of Directors.  A CTK parishioner is a member of the Board of Directors of CCIH. 
  • Members of the subcommittee also assist with planning and staffing the Winter Nights program when it visits CTK in the spring.
  • The subcommittee supports other convent relationships with Bread for the World and Habitat for Humanity

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