Press Release: Fresno

A Lutheran Day of Service Comes to Fresno

Justice project celebrate the 500^th Anniversary of the Reformation

Fresno, May 1, 2017 – 100 Lutherans in red shirts will be volunteering throughout Fresno on May 3^rd in celebration of the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation.    Activities include: handing out free “Lutheran coffee” at the corner of Shaw and Fresno, a food pantry at Our Saviour’s Lutheran, sandwich making and distribution to local homeless individuals and a free performance and talk by Agustin Lira at Hope Lutheran Church.

"Feeding the hungry and advocating for our neighbors is how Lutherans make our faith visible in the world.” said the Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, Executive Director of the Welcome Ministry. "Lutherans throughout Fresno will also be visible in their red shirts that celebrate the 500^th Anniversary of the Reformation,"

The Reformation, which began with Martian Luther’s nailing of the 95 theses on October 31, 1517, inspires Lutherans to support their neighbors and care in gratitude of God’s love for them.  This year, Lutheran’s throughout the world will be celebrating the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation. 

The Lutheran Day of Service in Fresno, was made possible by a grant from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to promote a wider understanding of the Reformation message and its significance for faith and life in the 21st century.

"Far too often the only Christians who are visible are the ones who are angry, Lutherans want to be known for their service, justice and celebrations," said Pastor Rohrer.  "The Reformation reminds us that God loves all people in this beautifully diverse world, regardless of politics, immigration or economic status.”

Schedule of Events:

May 3^rd Lutheran Day of Service:

            6-8am   -  Free Lutheran Coffee Giveaway - @ Shaw and Fresno intersection

            9:30   -  Coffee Reception and Registration – Hope Lutheran Church

            10am – 10:30 am  - Blessing of Hands with Bishop Mark Holmerud

12:30-4 PM – Lutheran Hunger Network Food Distribution – Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

3:30-4 PM – Visit to Rep. Devin Nunes’ Office

5 PM Community Dinner - @ Hope Lutheran Church

6:15 PM  6:15 PM  Musical Keynote - Agustin Lira  (@Hope Lutheran)

May 4^th – 6^th: SPS Synod Assembly at the Convention Center

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The Welcome Ministry seeks to provide a faithful response to poverty and to improve the quality of life for individuals in our community through hospitality; the arts; education; food; and referrals.  Their health and vision projects have provided over 4,000 pairs of prescription eye glasses to homeless individuals in San Francisco and Kailua-Kona.     Learn more at: www.sfwelcome.org

More information about the 500^th Anniversary of the Reformation: https://www.elca500.org/about/

More information about the Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly in Fresno:

http://spselca.org/index.php/2017-synod-assembly-tabs-2/

Press Contact:
Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer: streetvicar@gmail.com, 415-827-2587

February Newsletter

Singers of the Street Debut CD Wins Awards

 

The Singers of the Street

, Welcome's homeless choir (made up of homeless, formerly homeless and homeless advocates), has won two awards for its debut CD.  Winner of Best Americana Album with Akademia and a Bronze Medial in the Global Music Awards.  Sales from the CD help to cover the lunches provided after each weeks rehearsal.
You can find the CD here: iTunes     Amazon

During the holiday season, our choir literally took to the streets to spread cheer.  You can read about our adventures here. 

SFPD Community Chaplaincy

a new project to enable a faithful response to be dispatched by 911, to  respond to the vulnerable, provide support during death notifications and to help decrease tensions between the police department and the community

Welcome's Executive Director, the Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, was recently sworn in as a voluntary chaplain to the San Francisco Police Department.  The first LGBTQ individual to serve in this role, Pastor Megan is working with the SFPD to create a new community chaplaincy program that will provide free training for faith leaders. 

Welcome is currently working to raise the funds needed to create a new non-profit called "Friends of the SFPD Chaplaincy," because we believe that volunteer faith leaders can help support officers who are often being called to police quality of life issues. 

You can learn more about this project at: www.sfpdchaplaincy.com
To learn more about the in-kind and financial donations Welcome is collecting, click here.

 

Homeless Vision Project
free eye glasses for individuals in need

Welcome continues to partner with SF CARES and Project Homeless Connect to provide free prescription glasses for San Francisco's homeless.  In addition to providing about 1,000 pairs of glasses to individuals between large Project Homeless Connect events, Welcome has pledged to raise $30,000 to provide all the glasses given away at their large events at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.  This will result in an additional 3,000 pairs of prescription eye glasses being provided to individuals in need.   

The first $10,000 has already been sent to Project Homeless Connect thanks to matching funds from the Google Foundation through HandUp.  Your support will help us raise the additional $20,000 needed to reach our goal. 

You can learn more about the vision events here:

Providing free presciption eye glasses to the homeless in San Francisco.

With your help no homeless San Franciscans will hear the word "no" when they seek prescription glasses.

Thank you for your Support! 

Your continued support helps Welcome serve the homeless in San Francisco and beyond.  If you are able to support our work, please consider making a donation online through Network for Good.  Or by sending a check to Welcome, 3201 Ulloa St, San Francisco, CA 94116.

Celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation with Monthly Justice Projects

Welcome, (through our Just Lutheran project) will be celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation with monthly justice projects.  We will be working with non-profits and congregations around the Sierra Pacific Synod and doing good things at least once a month until October 2017.

Want to partner with us to do a service project between October 2016 and October 2017?  Contact our Executive Director, Pastor Megan Rohrer (pastor@gracesf.com).

Confirmed Events:

Kick Off Celebration: 
San Francisco
10am - 3pm  Volunteer Day at congregations and non-profits throughout San Francisco

3pm  - Jonathon Rundman Concert @ Grace Lutheran (3201 Ulloa St @ 33rd Ave)




May 2017: 
Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly
The day before the 2017 Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly gather, we will be hosting justice events around the city.

In the News: SFist

State Senator Mark Leno honors composer Kathleen McGuire, one of the composers of Street Requiem, and singer Frederica con Stade, one of the performers, prior to the SF premiere of the work. Photo credit: SFist 

Street Requiem: Despite being nominally retired, Alameda resident and famed diva Frederica von Stade, aka Flicka, still shares her big talent and bigger heart for worthy causes. Last week, she brought her voice to a choir of singers recruited from the homeless ranks of San Francisco for the West Coast premiere of Street Requiem, an oratorio celebrating people who lived and died on the streets. The evening supported Singers of the Street, an organization funded in 2010 by Kathleen McGuire, who with her fellow Australian Andy Payne and Jonathon Welch, also composed the music for the requiem. Singers of the Street is a choir for homeless people, who get a sense of purpose and achievement from participating in the choir, a community to be part of, and provide a positive and human experience of homelessness to audiences. They accept donations.

We thought we should check in our cynicism at the door for a concert where the betterment of humankind is achieved by singing together. Heart-warming stories don't necessarily make great art. This was reinforced by a little welcome pitch from Rev. Megan Rohrer, whose congregation hosts the rehearsals and who asked for our leniency for the singers, and extolled their "courage to sing the wrong note." And it turns out that these guys are pretty darn good and would match any amateur choir in the city. No need for indulgence on the audience's part.

The concert was set in two halves, the first devoted to covers by Singers of the Street, and the second to the Street Requiem, with Flicka and a bunch of experienced singers. The acronym for the organization is SOS, and the first song was appropriately the Beatles' "Help"; it was followed by calls for solidarity and songs of positive affirmation, and they all took a pretty emotional color from the context. The performers of SOS literally sang their hearts out: you could hardly imagine performers giving more into a performance.

As for the Street Requiem, it is composed of ten sections, each with a different color, re-interpreting the typical Requiem format with Kyrie, Gloria, Dies Irae, Agnus Dei, etc, but updated with current texts in different languages. The opener gets Middle Eastern scales, an Irish folk song is appropriated for the ninth movement, percussive South African beats in the eighth. It is meant to be inclusive of all cultures. Some movements are of more indeterminate origins, but were always rooted in tonal harmonies. Flicka gets the most beautiful melody in the Pie Jesu. The orchestration sometimes feels a bit studious, it could be a bit more free and unpredictable; but there is a lot of generosity in the writing of the score and the energy of the Gloria is contagious. The Street Requiem has been performed in Australia, Dallas, and will be sung in Seattle, and we hope the composers keep staging it and tweaking it, it is a piece of great emotional power. And a testament that you can better the lives of people through singing.

In the News: San Mateo Daily Journal

‘Street Requiem’

September 02, 2015, 05:00 AM

Tom Jung/Daily Journal Opera superstar Frederica von Stade (third from left) takes a bow with her fellow performers at the conclusion of ‘Street Requiem,’ a multicultural, multi-faith work mourning those who have died innocent on the street as a result of poverty, war, illness, violence, hate crimes or homelessness. ‘Street Requiem’ was performed at the Congregational Church in San Mateo on Sunday, Aug. 30. From left to right are tenors Blake Quin and Mark Jackson, mezzo-soprano von Stade, didgeridoo player Stephan Davies, tenor Ilyas Iliya, and 'Street Requiem' co-composers Kathleen McGuire and Andy Payne. All proceeds from the performance benefit Singers of the Street, a San Francisco choir of singers at risk of homelessness.

In the News: SF Bay Times

Opera Superstar Frederica Von Stade to Sing Street Requiem in Support of Homeless Choir 

reposted from:  http://sfbaytimes.com/opera-superstar-frederica-von-stade-to-sing-street-requiem-in-support-of-homeless-choir/

Famed mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade will join with a mass chorus of singers and chamber orchestra in two California premiere performances of Street Requiem by Australian composers Dr. Kathleen McGuire, Andy Payne, and Dr. Jonathon Welch AM. Other vocal soloists include Blake Quin, Ilyas Iliya and Mark Jackson.

This week, it was also announced that Street Requiem has been selected as a semi-finalist in the professional choral composition division of The American Prize national non-profit competitions in the performing arts. (For more information, see http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/composer-semi-finalists-2015-choral.html)

McGuire, who is well known to Bay Area audiences having led the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and others from 2000 to 2013, will return from Melbourne, Australia, to conduct Street Requiem on Saturday, August 29, at 7:00pm at Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, and on Sunday, August 30, at 2:00pm at the Congregational Church of San Mateo, 225 Tilton
Avenue in San Mateo.

The concert is a benefit for Singers of the Street (SOS), which McGuire founded in 2010. Now led by Ashley Moore and a project of Welcome, SOS is a choir of San Franciscans who have experienced, or are at risk of, homelessness. Its mission is to raise their voices for justice, healing and joy. SOS will open the concert and will also sing with the mass choir in Street Requiem.

“Street Requiem provides a musical opportunity for us to mourn not only the homeless who have passed away, but also our own frustration that there are still so many homeless individuals living in streets and shelters,” said the Rev. Megan Rohrer, Executive Director of Welcome. “Beyond a one of a kind concert experience, audience members can also celebrate that the price of admission enables homeless individuals to heal and express themselves for years to come.”

Composed in 2014, Street Requiem has already received international acclaim. Music critic Wayne Lee Gay (Dallas Magazine) said: “A remarkable, unique and beautiful work…an unfailingly engaging cantata. The religious texts were constantly questioned, but with an effect that produces transformation rather than blasphemy. The audience is never let off the hook: in the final movement, the chorus intones, as if to remind those who observe suffering are as much in need of divine intervention and guidance as those who suffer directly: ‘Given them peace. Give us peace.’”

Street Requiem is a 40-minute multi-movement cantata scored for choirs, soloists, and chamber orchestras. It aims to bring a sense of peace, remembrance, and hope to communities struggling with homelessness, poverty, war, hate-crime and street violence. The work is neither secular nor religious, but is intended to be spiritual and includes English and African lyrics, as well as traditional Latin texts. While at times deeply moving, the work is optimistic and uplifting, and employs Gospel, Celtic, neo-Romantic, neo-Baroque, and contemporary compositional styles and instrumentation to reflect the multicultural and multi-faith traditions of modern city living.

McGuire said, “Street Requiem provides an opportunity to mourn those we’ve lost—often ‘nameless’ on our streets—and to protest the tragic injustices we witness every day. These are global issues, but we can each make a difference, one by one. Ms. von Stade’s generous participation is a testament to the importance of this project and the wider cause.”

Ms. von Stade will be joined on stage by a mass choir including singers from The Choral Project (San Jose), the Chancel Choir of the Congregational Church of San Mateo, singers from CREDO (Dallas, Texas, who performed the U.S. premiere in January), and Singers of the Street (San Francisco). Accompaniment will be provided by members of the Community Women’s Orchestra, and Carl Pantle will play piano.

Rehearsals led by Stephanie Lynne Smith, Grace Renaud, Daniel Hughes, Dana Sadava, Dr. Jonathan Palant and Carl Pantle are currently underway in San Francisco and San Mateo; singers wishing to participate should visit: trybooking.com/IEJK

Tickets for Street Requiem range from $15–$50 and are available online at http://streetrequiem.blogspot.com/p/tickets.html or by calling (415) 731-1305. All proceeds benefit Singers of the Street.

Press Release: Celebrating the Release of Meagan Taylor

Meagan Taylor, a black transgender woman who was arrested in Iowa when a hotel worker called the police due to her gender identity, was released from the Polk County Jail earlier today.  Welcome, led by our Executive Director, Pastor Megan Rohrer raised over $5,500 to pay for Meagan's bond in Iowa and outstanding fees from a 2010 case in Illinois.  Additional funds will be used to safely transport Meagan home to Illinois and to pay for her name change and an ID that matches her preferred name and gender.

"My tears of sorrow turned to tears of joy when I learned that Meagan was going to be released from jail," said Pastor Rohrer.  "I want to thank the 133 people who donated funds to help us remove the financial barriers and the Transgender Law Center who expedited the legal barriers that were keeping Meagan in jail."

Pastor Rohrer has been in regular contact with Meagan and her family, offering support and pastoral care.  Welcome, whose main work is with LGBT homeless individuals in San Francisco, became involved in this case in order to lift up the issues that disproportionately affect transgender women of color and to raise awareness to the ways that compounding fees can impact vulnerable individuals.

Over the years, Welcome has taken on special projects to support to LGBTQ individuals around the country, because we believe it will help prevent homelessness in San Francisco.

"I have heard too many stories from homeless LGBT individuals who moved to San Francisco in hopes of finding safety from discrimination, only to find some of the country's highest housing costs," said Pastor Rohrer.  "I hope the overwhelming support that Meagan has received, will help other transgender people feel less alone and lead to diversity training for individuals working in hospitality, criminal justice and police departments across the country.

Contact Information:
Pastor Megan Rohrer: streetvicar@gmail.com, 415-827-2587
PGPs: They/Their

Link to the fundraising page to see funds raised and spent to date: http://sfwelcomeministry.blogspot.com/2015/07/arrested-for-being-transgender-meagan.html

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