Guardian Angel: A Place for Everyone
We are honored to have the Rev. Steve Holt, Rector of the Church of the Guardian Angel, Baltimore City with us today. Steve speaks about the many ministries this church offers to the community and how it has responded to the needs of the Spanish-speaking residents of the neighborhood. Steve also speaks about his new role in the Diocese of Maryland as the Associate for MIssion.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Steve's email address: rectoratguardianangelremington. org
@guardianangelremington on Instagram
Highlights
00:00 Guardian Angel: A Place for Everyone
00:18 Introduction
01:36 What's Going on at Guardian Angel?
03:47 The Remington Neighborhood and its People
07:03 Spanish Speakers a Surprise
11:51 The Food Pantry MInistry
15:03 The Thrift Shop Ministry
16:02 Guardian Angel & Steve's Faith Journey
19:06 Diocesan Associate for Mission
20:09 Sutton Scholars High School Enrichment Program
22:40 How to Contact Steve
23:52 Final Words
24:47 Thanks
Fr. Steve Holt is currently the Rector of Church of the Guardian Angel in Baltimore City, where he serves a community-focused parish that is very active in their Remington neighborhood. He is also the Associate for Mission for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, helping churches across the diocese to become more involved in sharing the love of Jesus in public. His prior experience includes community organizing in Los Angeles, regional planning in greater Baltimore, and homelessness services for the state of Maryland. He lives in the Ednor Gardens-Lakeside neighborhood with his wife, Heather, and their three children, where he enjoys running and tabletop gaming.
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Music
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:Jon: Welcome to Good News, brought
to you by Listening for Clues.
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:Lauren: We are Lauren Welch and
Jon Shematek, deacons in the
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:Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
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:Jon: We sure are, and today we have a
very special guest, Father Steve Holt.
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:Steve is currently Rector of the Church
of the Guardian Angel in Baltimore
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:City, where he serves a community
focused parish that is very active
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:in their Remington neighborhood.
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:He is also the Associate for Mission
for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland,
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:helping churches across the diocese.
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:to become more involved in sharing
the love of Jesus in public.
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:His prior experience includes
community organizing in Los
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:Angeles, regional planning in
greater Baltimore, and homelessness
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:services for the state of Maryland.
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:He lives in the Ednor Gardens Lakeside
neighborhood with his wife, Heather,
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:and their three children, where he
enjoys running and tabletop gaming.
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:Welcome, Steve.
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:It's so good to have you with us today.
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:Steve: Great to be with you all.
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:Lauren: We're really happy to
have you with us today, Steve.
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:So, Guardian Angel has always
been a community based parish.
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:With your community organizing,
I'm excited to hear what
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:you all are doing now.
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:So tell us a little bit.
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:Steve: Sure.
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:Yeah.
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:For those who aren't familiar with
Guardian Angel, it has been active in
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:the Remington neighborhood for decades.
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:That goes back to George Kromer
who helped build what's now called
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:Kromer Hall a hundred years ago where
we host a lot of our ministries.
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:And of course my predecessor,
Pastor Alice incredibly involved
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:in the Remington community.
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:And yeah, so when the opportunity came
to be able to to be a part of this
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:parish and to become the new rector.
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:In 2020 I already knew the neighborhood
already loved Remington already
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:knew about the parish and the work
that it had done in the community.
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:And it was in talking with the vestry
and, you know thinking about what Guardian
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:Angel would do next it was such an
amazing space to be in to see that they
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:had already Done a lot of the things
that I was passionate and interested in.
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:So yeah It's and of course it would
it would have to be a great fit to be
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:able to jump in in June 2020 30 months
into a pandemic It was quite the time
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:to be making a career change and to be
jumping into a new situation I don't
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:have any regrets about that at all, but
it was definitely Yeah, quite, quite a
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:moment in time to be, to be doing that.
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:Jon: So Steve you were a newly ordained
Episcopal priest at that point.
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:Is that so?
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:Steve: Yes.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah I was ordained into the
Episcopal church in April,:
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:So as a, priest.
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:So I had about two months to be an
Episcopal priest before I was, You
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:know, called called right into ministry.
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:And of course yeah, April, 2020,
that was, that was, I think the
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:first post pandemic ordination.
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:So we had to keep it to under
10 people in the cathedral.
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:Very very interesting service, you
know, trying to figure out how to
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:do live streaming and all of that.
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:Jon: Yeah, that was brand new then, so I
think there were probably a glitch or two.
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:Let me ask you this though, Steve.
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:A lot of our viewers are clearly Baltimore
based folks, but we have actually a
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:fairly broad audience throughout the
country and even internationally.
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:Can you talk a little
bit more about the...
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:Remington neighborhood that you
serve in and about your parish,
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:kind of the makeup, what, what
kind of folk are we talking about?
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:Steve: Sure.
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:So Remington is a neighborhood in
Baltimore city that historically has
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:been a white working class community.
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:So it is where a lot of, going back
to the days of mills along the Jones
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:falls, you know, it's a lot of.
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:A lot of mill workers, for a long time.
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:It's, you know, you can still see lots
of the, the auto body repair shops
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:and kind of the light industrial.
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:And it's a neighborhood that has
in the last 10 years changed a lot.
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:wHere there are still a lot of the
legacy residents, people who have been
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:there because their, their parents
and their grandparents, and in some
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:cases, even their great grandparents
grew up in that neighborhood.
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:And then we've also seen a lot of
new people move in because it's also
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:located right next to Johns Hopkins
University, which is a world class
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:institution of higher education.
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:And so what's attracted a lot of
people young professionals, people
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:who are involved in the non profit
sector people who are involved in
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:government and higher education roles
in the, you know, in the eds and meds.
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:The Baltimore City you
know, major growth sectors.
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:So we have a lot of those people who
have moved into the neighborhood too.
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:And so it's what makes it an interesting
place though is where we've seen a
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:lot of that happen in Baltimore city
in white working class neighborhoods.
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:But I think there's really been
a commitment by the community
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:to not just make this about
displacement, that it's not just.
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:Here's the new people we're taking
over from the legacy residents.
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:We've been able to work really closely
with the Greater Remington Improvement
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:Association, which is a lot of the
leadership or newer people, people that
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:are, connected with these nonprofits
and with these These universities
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:but they have really been focused
on not just pushing out people, but
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:really thinking about what does it
mean to be a neighborhood where we are
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:coexisting where we are figuring out
ways to maintain community services
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:like the ones that Guardian Angel
offers, where we're figuring out
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:how to keep housing affordable even
as new development is coming in.
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:And and I think that that's been
One of the things that's great
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:about the community as a whole, and
a place where Guardian Angel has
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:had a specific role, of being the
place where everyone feels welcome.
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:It's a place where a lot of the legacy
residents are ones who are coming, to us
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:for the food pantry, but also just using
the space for events and for birthdays
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:and for for funerals and things like that.
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:And the community association meets there,
and we've brought in yoga classes, we've
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:brought in like kickboxing classes and
things like that, we've partnered with a
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:local synagogue so we've found ways to be
the connecting place that as the community
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:has changed, that Guardian Angel is
still a place that is there for everyone.
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:Lauren: Steve, what has surprised you
as in your, I mean, I know it's been
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:a short time really, but what has
surprised you about the people and about
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:the ministry that's happening there?
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:Steve: The question I never got
asked before I started at Guardian
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:Angel was, do you speak Spanish?
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:Okay.
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:Nobody I talked to knew
that that was important.
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:I didn't know it was important.
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:I had worked in that
neighborhood in the past.
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:I had been involved there in a lot of
different ways and it just never came up.
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:And the first few times that I was
at the food pantry, I noticed that
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:we had a few Spanish speakers and
I haven't used it, hadn't at that
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:point used it extensively since
moving to Baltimore from Los Angeles.
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:Which is now, you know, over 10 years
ago and but I just started having some
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:conversations and kind of like, okay, like
getting to know people a little bit and
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:what's happened, what's developed over
the last three years is that we actually
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:have a lot of Central American immigrants
that have moved into the neighborhood as
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:well, that within the last three to five
years, there's been a lot of people who
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:have come that as, As new development
has happened in Remington, there's a lot
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:of construction jobs and a lot of food
service jobs at the restaurants and people
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:have come into the neighborhood because
some of it has retained affordability,
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:and because it's convenient to where
they're trying to go so they've come
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:into the neighborhood and they're part
of the Remington community now too,
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:and I had to Spent a lot of time just
getting back up to speed with, okay,
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:we've, we've got Spanish speakers here.
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:There were a few people always
coming in with the food pantry.
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:It really hit me about a year
into it when we were doing
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:one of our backpack giveaways.
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:Every year we, we help, we work with St.
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:Mark's and St.
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:Andrew's two churches in Howard County.
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:We put together school supplies
for children to help them get
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:ready for the school year.
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:Backpacks loaded with calculators
and paper and pencils.
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:And I noticed, Most of the families
that were coming were Spanish speaking.
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:And you know, kind of that community
organizer, regional planner background,
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:I wanted to dig a little deeper
because it was like, okay, this is
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:anecdotally, I see a lot of families
with children speaking Spanish.
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:And then I looked more closely
at the demographics for the local
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:elementary school and realized
that it was 25 percent Latino.
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:And it was like this is something
that has truly changed in this
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:community where there are in fact, a
lot of immigrant families and a lot
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:of the people with young children
in this community, I'll say like the
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:parents usually do not speak English.
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:The children are bilingual.
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:So it's kind of an interesting mix there.
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:bUt
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:of, that is something that has
shaped a lot of our efforts
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:over the last few years.
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:As we've shifted to.
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:We're now a bilingual food pantry.
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:We now think about how are we offering
everything in Spanish and English.
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:Most of the families for the
back to school giveaway and for
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:the Christmas toy drive that are
coming primarily Spanish speaking.
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:And we've kind of become a liaison
with the community association as
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:they have also tried to figure out
how to welcome in Spanish speakers.
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:They, they decided in part because
of the conversations we had with
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:them to, when they hired a part time
volunteer coordinator, they made sure
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:to get somebody who was bilingual.
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:And I think, I think one of the things
that's exciting for us too as a church
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:is we've had the ability to partner
with Reverend Margarita Santana.
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:Who is the you know, the canon for
Latino mission for the diocese.
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:And she has helped us.
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:Leading a second service.
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:So we do now have a Spanish
Mass at Guardian Angel.
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:And there's a lot of young families
from the neighborhood who are
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:now participating in that Mass.
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:I I led it myself for a little while,
but quickly ran into the I, I can
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:preach and I can celebrate a Mass,
but when you're having pastoral
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:conversations with people, they really
want to know that you are fluent.
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:And Reverend Margarita has been
just fantastic to work with
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:and has done such a great job.
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:And we've, we've been so blessed
to have that partnership as we've
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:been doing this work to welcome
in the immigrant community within
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:Remington to be a part of la Iglesia.
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:Jon: Yeah, you're right.
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:Reverend Margarita is an amazing
an amazing person for sure.
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:When you think about I think you point
out something really important too,
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:is being fluent in language doesn't
necessarily mean you're fluent culturally
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:with folks that they can, you know,
at that level, the deep level of the
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:heart the communication is, it's.
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:Completely you know,
just a different level.
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:No question about it.
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:So Steve it sounds like just you've
ticked off a number of important
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:kinds of ministries that you and,
and Guardian Angel have done.
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:I mean, you talked about the food pantry,
which I understand is just, that's, that's
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:a huge operation if I'm not mistaken.
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:Steve: Yeah, so prior to the
pandemic, the Food Pantry was
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:serving about 70 households a week.
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:During the pandemic, we got up
to around 100 households a week.
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:Right now we're actually serving pretty
close to double that 70 households number.
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:We're right around, we're right
around 130 households every week.
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:There's a couple of things
that have happened there.
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:One is one is just the increase in demand.
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:Which I think everyone realizes,
you know, the pandemic, of
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:course, increased the demands.
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:A lot of people were out of work,
did not have access to food in
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:the same way that they had before.
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:And that absolutely contributed.
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:bUt I think there might still be a
misperception that the pandemic's over.
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:And so the demand went down.
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:The demand went up because what
happened was post pandemic as of this
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:March, all of the additional food
assistance that was being provided as
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:part of that emergency authorization,
they cut that and we immediately saw.
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:Our numbers go like from 100
up to 120 and slowly rising.
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:So there's been an increased demand which
has led to us getting more households.
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:I will say though, it's also partly
been, we have had an increased capacity.
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:We were able through a through a
Community Development Blocks grant,
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:we've been able to have a food pantry
director so we have a part time
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:staff person, Michael Brown who's
responsible for helping manage things.
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:One of the services that started as a
result of the pandemic was delivery,
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:so we do, we deliver our food.
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:to about 30 households each week.
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:It wasn't something that, that had
been done prior to the pandemic.
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:It became a necessity for people
who are medically vulnerable.
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:But what we realized that even
as the pandemic ended, that there
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:are a lot of people who need food
that because of disabilities or
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:other things that are ongoing the
delivery distribution couldn't stop.
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:That there were people that
still were not going to be able
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:to make it to the food pantry.
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:So there's that increase in our capacity
and then of course you know, really
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:becoming a bilingual food pantry has
led to more people from the neighborhood
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:coming in, realizing that this is a place
where they can get food, not be judged.
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:We're not gonna, we're not
here to ask a lot of questions.
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:We're not here to sort of you
know, make your life hard.
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:We're here to.
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:give you food if you need food
and work with you on anything
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:else that you might need to.
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:And I think having, having that
relationships, having people know,
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:I, little things just like our signs
are in English and Spanish now.
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:So they know that if there's an
expectation and it's a, and we meet
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:the expectation that if they show
up and they speak Spanish, we're
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:going to be able to serve them.
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:And they don't have to worry about
whether or not they can actually
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:talk to anybody at the church.
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:Lauren: So Steve, along with
the food pantry, Guardian
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:Angel has the thrift shop.
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:And it's still serving the community?
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:Steve: Yeah, it's open on the first
and second Saturday of each month.
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:It is run entirely by
a team of volunteers.
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:They have kept that going.
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:They figured out ways to make it work
in the pandemic, which was hard for
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:everybody, but they, they did it.
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:And that continues to be
available and that's a service.
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:And it's also, it's something that is
making items available at low cost.
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:Makes a huge difference
from the community.
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:And it's also something that
we use as a church resource for
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:people who can't afford anything.
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:We're still able to kind of help them
out I've gone down there to help people
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:get clothes for job interviews, for
example, that they needed something to
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:look professional in order to get hired.
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:And we were, you know, able to help
out with those kinds of things.
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:So it's.
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:Yeah, that continues to be a resource
that we have for the neighborhood.
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:Jon: Oh, that's, that's great.
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:At the beginning you said this has
been, this call to serve in this
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:particular place, in this particular
time, it's is a perfect fit for you.
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:And it really sounds like that's true.
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:Can, can you talk a little bit about
how this has changed you in any way?
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:informed your faith
journey in any way at all?
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:Steve: Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out
if there's a short version of this, but I
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:don't think there is I was ordained as a
iest the first time around in:
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:in the Anglican church in North America.
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:tHat's all, that's a whole
long story in and of itself
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:I spent the first five years that I
was here in Baltimore in bi vocational
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:ministry, really working on regional
planning, you know, helping do homeless
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:services for the state of Maryland
and those kinds of things, and kind of
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:being a priest on the side and And I,
I know coming into it three years ago
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:that was one of my own apprehensions
was that it was like, you know, I, sure
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:I had trained for this, but seminary
had been eight years at that point.
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:You know, it's, I had, I had graduated
from Fuller in LA back in:
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:had been, there was an eight year gap.
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:And I had really come to
think of myself as sort of.
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:Like, like being a priest
was a hobby that I had
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:so kind of, coming into a space
where it was, you know, I was the
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:rector of a congregation and it
was, this was what I was doing.
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:I was, I was nervous.
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:Like I was not sure how I
was going to feel about that,
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:how that fit was going to be.
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:So having a church where
kind of all of the.
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:All the prior experience was
relevant, you know having done a
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:lot of community organizing and
things like that was a big part of
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:what Guardian Angel was looking for.
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:I think maybe the, the biggest blessing
I've received in my faith journey over
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:the last three years is it, as it turns
out, I really like being a priest.
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:I, I enjoy.
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:doing the work and ministering alongside
a congregation and really being a part
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:of what they are doing and participating
in the liturgy every week and welcoming
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:people, uh, welcoming people both to the
meal table of the food pantry But also
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:the, the Eucharistic table on Sunday
mornings and making the connections
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:between those two things and, and really
helping that be a reality and helping
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:people make those connections and
understand, understand themselves as a
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:as a meal community, a group of people
that eat with one another because we
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:have been brought together by Christ.
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:And I think that's, yeah, I really
like being a priest and I don't
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:know that I could have said that.
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:prior to coming to Guardian Angel.
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:Jon: Your your joy as you say
that is palpable, not only
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:visible, but that's that's great.
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:It's good to hear that.
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:Thank you.
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:Lauren: Being the priest at Guardian
Angel, you, in addition, have another,
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:job that you have just begun with
the diocese as a priest, which is
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:bringing congregations, together.
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:So tell us, tell us a little bit about
being the associate, for mission.
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:Is it?
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:Steve: Yes.
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:Yeah.
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:It's it's interesting.
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:I am, I, I think I'm still figuring
out what my job is just because.
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:You know, mission includes so much.
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:I mean, really, it kind of includes
everything the church does, really.
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:But it's so far I've enjoyed
being able to help make connections
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:between congregations, especially
here in Baltimore City and what's
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:happening in the community.
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:And some of that's happened in sort of
some surprising and unexpected ways and,
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:and really started to just get a feel
for sort of how do we get more involved.
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:And a lot of the things that I've had
prior experience in and kind of thinking
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:about public policy around things like
affordable housing public transportation.
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:And then sometimes it's just
things that just sort of come up.
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:You know, I think you all are
familiar with the Sutton Scholars.
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:It's a high school enrichment program for
Baltimore city students that, you know,
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:covers a lot of things over the summer.
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:bUt one of the things that they
were trying to think about was
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:how to, you know, how do we
teach kids about Legislative
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:advocacy and how to have a voice.
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:And I was able to work with Ken and Chris
McCloud and set up a visit to city hall.
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:We brought these high school
students into city hall.
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:They were able to meet the appointee for
the city solicitor role who talked to
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:them about what it hurt to be the first
woman to be appointed to that role.
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:And to hear the kids clap, you know,
realizing how important that actually
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:was in the rotunda of the city
hall where it echoes was amazing.
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:And then met a few other people
and just, I think, kind of got the
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:sense of like, oh, my city officials
are approachable, real people.
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:Councilman John Bullock from the 9th
District here in West Baltimore was
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:the one who was leading this tour,
but he had a conversation with them
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:in the city council chambers where he
was explaining to them that these were
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:the same city council chambers that
had passed the nation's first racially
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:restrictive zoning ordinance in 1911,
and that for him as a Black man who grew
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:up in West Philadelphia, representing
neighborhoods in West Baltimore that
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:have experienced so much disinvestment
because of racism and segregation.
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:For, for him to be in the same room where
his voice would not have been allowed,
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:his voice was absolutely excluded.
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:But to be there as a city councilman,
representing his district, representing
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:people who were not included in
those conversations, for sure.
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:Just the, the, how meaningful that
was, and to see these high school
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:students realize like, oh, this is...
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:This is actually important like this
matters and the lights going on With kind
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:of like being in that space and realizing
like oh, yeah, this is This is important.
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:So that's, you know, that's, I think
that's probably been the most fun I've
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:had so far in the, in the new role.
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:Jon: Yeah, and it is, uh, the Sutton
Scholars clearly is one of the key
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:important programs that are making a
difference in the city here and that
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:the diocese provides and supports.
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:So Steve if any of our viewers or
listeners would like to get in contact
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:with you to find more about your
ministry or the work that Guardian
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:Angel is doing and any of these amazing
things that are happening in Remington.
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:How can they reach you?
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:Steve: So the best way to reach me
is my email address which is the it's
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:the rectoratguardianangelremington.
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:org.
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:That is the thing that I most
consistently am able to respond to.
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:My kids are six, four
and almost a year old.
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:So in the course of a day, anything
could be happening at any moment.
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:But I am, I'm pretty consistent
about getting to my email
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:and trying to respond to.
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:You know, to people who are interested in
what we're doing, who want to volunteer
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:with the food pantry, who want to be
involved in our other ministries that's
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:a fantastic way to get in touch with me.
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:Jon: Perfect.
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:So contacting you directly through
your emails is the best way.
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:Sounds great.
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:Steve, this has been a pleasure having
you today and just a real inspiration
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:and a wonderful, wonderful story.
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:And I can't tell you how much I personally
have learned and how much I appreciate
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:your spending time with us today.
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:Lauren: But before we go is there
anything else you'd like to share
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:any words of wisdom that you want to leave
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:with us?
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:Steve: I think, you know, just
kind of like coming, coming back
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:to the Spanish speaking ministry.
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:But there's, there's been a whole lot
of other things that have happened
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:in my time at Guardian Angel.
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:And I feel like the one thing
that has mattered the most has
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:just been a willingness to...
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:Listen to what is happening in the
neighborhood to partner with what is
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:going on and just see what happens God
is Already at work in our neighborhoods
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:in our communities and as often just
waiting for us to wait Listen find
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:out what's happening and join in in
with it and then see where that leads
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:because it it's not usually where
we expect but it is a Always good.
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:Jon: That's great.
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:Yeah.
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:Thanks, Steve.
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:Thanks.
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:Thanks for being here.
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:Steve: My pleasure.
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:Lauren: And Jon and I want to
thank everyone who is viewing
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:this or listening to it.
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:We cannot do this without
your participation.
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:So please take a moment to
comment, like, or share on all
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:your social media platforms.
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:And again, thank you for the
gift of your time with us today.
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:Until next time, peace and blessings.
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:Jon: Good news is being brought
to you by Listening for Clues.
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:You can find us on our
website, listeningforclues.
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:com, our YouTube channel, our
Vimeo channel, and just about every
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:podcast platform that there is.
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:Hope to see you soon.