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| Pastor Kerwin Manning |
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| Carolyn Williams with Jill |
When I got to the car to head towards the next African
American church, all I could do was sing praise to God. I felt lifted up in a
powerful way. At each church just the
right person came to greet me and wholeheartedly said they would make the
announcement about showing up at the City Council to support Inclusionary
housing tomorrow. Some asked permission to put my name on their prayer list,
trusting that this cancer would be healed.
When I got to New Guiding Light I joined them in song, and
felt so deeply moved with the loving embrace of Pastor John Steward, who is
also asking for God’s healing from his cancer.
At the last church, they had taken down the sign and my
heart dropped, thinking they have closed their doors as many African American
churches have done, in part because the rising cost of housing has driven their
congregants from the town where they grew up. At one church I know, the Pastor
documented 17 members leaving his church in the past year because they could no
longer afford to live in Pasadena. But as I opened the door of this struggling
church, two brothers, Sam and George, greeted me wholeheartedly and thanked me for
bringing the announcement. George told me he was in the midst of reading my
book and knew all about me. I felt so vulnerable in that moment, and also
deeply privileged to be loved and received by so many of Pasadena’s African
American Churches. This gift I don’t take lightly. And the gift of your
friendship, support and love I don’t take for granted.
Some of you may be not be aware that I have been diagnosed
with a type of slow-growing, “indolent” cancer called follicular lymphoma. The
tumor is almost 1.6 by 1 inch in my armpit and tiny bits have spread to my gut
and to my clavicle. Because there is pain and it has spread, the doctors at
City of Hope want to me start six months of treatment as soon as possible.
Since this diagnosis, I have become aware of how prevalent cancer is—everyone
has either had cancer or know someone who has been cured, or didn’t make it,
like Anthony’s wife of blessed memory, a Methodist pastor who died of an
aggressive form of lymphoma ten years ago.
I have an excellent prognosis, with 94% survival rate with treatment.
I am concerned not only about cancer in our bodies, but also
in our society. My dear husband Anthony who has been a tremendous support since
he has gone through this before, knows a lot about cancer cells and how they
operate. Cancer cells can be described as greedy, selfish cells that want to
take from the body without giving anything back in return. They are unlike the
rest of our cells that God has designed to cooperate and work together for the
good of the body. Anthony tells me that even the non-human “foreign” cells in
our body are mostly beneficial. Some of these “flora” live in our gut and help
digest food. The parallels are obvious.
In all my work as a housing justice advocate, to make
affordable housing happen, it’s all about cooperation, and seeing the value of
all, especially the “least of these.” Here are some of the ways that we are
working together with the churches of Pasadena, to put a check on the greed and
take some units off the speculative market:
· We have started a new nonprofit called Making
Housing and Community Happen so we can pass on and multiply the housing justice
work that we have done over the past twenty years. The launch of MHCH is
Saturday evening, Oct 27. We hope you can take part in this gala event. Even if
you aren’t in the area, please make a contribution so we can make our goal of
$10,000. See: https://makinghousinghappen.wedid.it/campaigns/5309
· In January, we will launch a One-Year Housing
Justice Cohort for those who want to learn how to do this work in their own
communities. So far, we have students from Texas and Colorado. Link here to
learn more: https://goo.gl/forms/LGr4TW75VASCmP1e2
·
Our local advocacy has done excellent research
and organizing around inclusionary housing, permanent supportive housing and
accessory dwelling units. All this will be discussed in public meetings this
week where our members will show up and testify. We had one-on-one meetings with our Mayor and
most of our City Council members this past week. Our Mayor said, “I want you to
know how much I appreciate your efforts. It’s obvious you’ve done your
homework.” He even said that some of our ideas were “very clever.”
·
An ordinance allowing “derelict” hotels to be
converted into homeless housing will probably be passed tomorrow. Due in part
to the strong support of the faith community, Council members are so eager to
make this happen that a public hearing about the first motel to be converted
will take place this Wednesday.
·
Over the summer, our
intern Sarah from Azusa Pacific University did research on “safe parking,” a
program whereby those living in their vehicles stay in church’s parking lot at
night. They are provided with security and case management to help them to get
housed. Tom, one of our team members, met with a large nonprofit, Foothill
Unity, on Friday and they agreed to write a grant to host this program in the 11
Gabriel Valley cities that they serve. Please pray that this grant is funded
and that all aspects of the program come together. Typically, those who have
experienced homelessness have burned their bridges and by connecting with a
church, they can begin to reweave those relationships needed to rebuild their
lives.
If you haven’t yet supported me as a missionary here is the
link to do so: https://www.missionsdoor.org/missionary/shook-jill/
If you wish to support Making Housing and Community happen,
follow this link: https://makinghousinghappen.wedid.it/
Thank you for supporting this work, for your prayers in our
efforts and healing for my cancer and the cancer in society.
With love, Jill Shook
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