This Wednesday, at 9:05 after a brief news update, our guest was Erin Minor, Executive Director of Harvest House. Read more about Harvest House below.
On the second half of the show we were joined by Allan Mestel. He’s a Bradenton photographer and film maker who recently spent five days photographing a migrant camp in Northern Mexico to document the lives of refugees and asylum seekers. That’s one of his photographs above.
As always, if you missed our show, just go to archive.wslr.org and search for Peace & Justice.
By the way, Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) has announced that fares for both fixed routes and SCAT Plus are suspended through April 12. For more information, click HERE.
Also, this Wednesday, April 1 is Census Day. Census Day is observed nationwide and by this date, every home will have received an invitation to participate in the 2020 Census. Once the invitation arrives, you should respond for your home in one of three ways: online, by phone, or by mail. When you respond to the census, you’ll tell the Census Bureau where you live as of April 1, 2020. For more information, click HERE for English, AQUI para Español.
Why is the Census so important? The state of Florida could miss out on a lot of important resources if everyone isn’t counted in the Census. Florida could lose out on the political representation it deserves. An accurate count could result in 3 additional congressional seats; people and communities could be denied money that they need for schools, community health care, jobs, and transportation. In 2016, Florida received more than $44 billion from federal spending programs guided by data derived from the 2010 Census. Florida can not afford to miss out!
The U.S. Census Bureau is bound by law to protect your answers and keep them strictly confidential. The law ensures that your private information is never published and that your answers cannot be used against you by any government agency or court.
The 2020 Census does not ask whether you or anyone in your home is a U.S. citizen.
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Harvest House is one of the few nonprofit organizations in Sarasota to work towards the development, preservation, and management of affordable, service-enriched housing. Harvest House serves homeless families, veterans, youth ages 16 to 24, and adults with a history of incarceration and substance abuse. Their model “is becoming the standard for serving members of our community who are working to rebuild their lives. We believe that affordable and supportive housing programs improve economic status, revitalize neighborhoods, and stabilize lives.”
“In 1992, Pastors Jim and Peggy Minor founded Harvest House with just 6 beds for men in recovery from substance abuse. Today, Harvest House has nine supportive housing campuses and 30 affordable rentals encompassing 400+ beds and serves more than 900 individuals annually. Harvest House is dedicated to the premise that all people deserve safe, stable housing, and the opportunity to renew their hope again.”
Like last week’s guests All Faiths Food Bank and Streets of Paradise, Harvest House also distributes food. “We are still operating our Harvest Food Pantry which distributes 16,000+ lbs of food to the community weekly. Our distribution is every Thursday from 10 am to noon at 3650 17th Street, Sarasota, FL 34235 unless other recommendations come from the CDC. Food distribution will be executed drive-thru style to limit person-to-person contact. We will also have extra hand-sanitizer readily available.”