Update, April 12, 2021

Family,

In recent weeks the attention of the nation has been riveted on the Minneapolis, MN courtroom where officer Derek Chauvin is being tried for the murder of George Floyd. In the linked essay friend and colleague Wendell Griffin puts that trial in a larger historical and theological context.

LABC worship participant Beverly Bitagon forwards this word about the difficulties facing Community Foods Market in West Oakland.

It took Brahm Amadi 16 years to build  Community Food Market in Oakland in an area where corporate groceries refused to build. The community really pulled together to get this up and I remember on groundbreaking day everyone was hopeful about bringing sustenance
to an under resourced community. Now it is threatened with closing by summer if customer traffic does not improve. They serve our low income community by giving 50% discounts to people paying with DBT cards. Sales have dropped since November 2020, and he has
had to lay off workers. If more traffic does not start moving through the store, they could close by summer.

If you live in Oakland or have friends that live in Oakland, please consider shopping here at the independent grocery once a month and get your Oakland friends to do it too. Help this community keep its store on the San Pablo corridor and let’s all thrive as a city.

Prayers as we seek the peace of the cities in which we live.

Pastor Jim

The LABC Youth group meets on LABC Zoom tonight at 7:00.

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