Friends,
With all that has been going on relative to the election, Thanksgiving, and the start of Advent, it turns out that I never wrote, in a formal way, to update the congregation on the cleaning service we have engaged to keep our facilities tidy.
A couple of years ago, our congregation entered into a covenant with a family of Honduran asylum-seekers. The Ordoñez family moved to Oakland after escaping extreme violence in their homeland. Not having anywhere else to go, they sought help from Primera Iglesia Presbyteriana Hispaña, the Spanish language Presbyterian Church on High Street in Oakland. Our congregation, in partnership with Primera Iglesia, agreed to help them out, and we have been faithful to that promise.
We helped the family find and pay for housing, and we helped them with legal advice as they sought legal status as asylum seekers. One of our members donated a car. We have found temporary work for various members of the family, and now we have engaged them to work as our janitorial service.
This is not charity. The family already was running a cleaning service, and their bid for the work was competitive. We are happy to be transitioning our relationship with them from one of benefactor/charity-case to one of contractor/client. It feels as if our new relationship infuses the space between us with dignity.
We still will be helping to cover some of the Ordoñez family’s rent for a little while longer, but once that commitment is finished, our relationship will go on. That feels good to me.
It is important to note that because they do not live next door to the church, the Ordoñez family’s work scope won’t be exactly the same as what Gil and Maria did for many years. The Ordoñez family will be around on Sundays to help us set up and take down our various chairs and tables, but midweek we will be needing to take care of our own set up and take down. We will be needing to lock our own doors and we’ll have to get creative during emergencies. But we’ll get used to it.
At any rate, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
God’s Peace,
Ben