The Palo Alto City Council has established a Safe Parking Program (SPP) to assist individuals who are unhoused and sleeping in their cars on city streets with a safe place to spend the night and support for finding permanent housing. Safe Parking provides a safe place to sleep for individuals living in their cars and helps connect them to more permanent housing options.  The Safe Parking Program is set up in a way to protect the safety of all nearby residents while at the same time respecting the privacy and dignity of the people it will help.  Through SPP local congregations can provide safe parking for individuals who have been sleeping in their cars on city streets.  

The First Congregational Church of Palo Alto (FCCPA) has submitted an application to the City which has been approved by City Staff and is on the Consent Agenda for the Council’s August 22nd meeting. However, a neighbor of the church, acting on behalf of a group of Palo Alto residents has filed an appeal, objecting to FCCPA’s plans for SPP because they feel the program will jeopardize community safety.   Two other Palo Alto congregations (The Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto and the Highway Church) are currently participating in SPP.  Neither program has received complaints from neighbors or community members nor have there been any incidents jeopardizing community safety.

Please consider writing to the Palo Alto City Council to support FCCPA's Safe Parking Program application.

See below for more information about the application process, as well as contact information for City Council Members.

Nuclear Prayer Day
August 6, 2022

On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Since then, the potential for nuclear catastrophe has grown to an unimaginable scale. This August 6th, on the 77th anniversary of that horrific tragedy, people around the world will be joining in prayer for a future free from the threat of nuclear weapons. You and/or your faith community are encouraged to join this global community of prayer! Prayers and prayer gatherings are invited throughout the weekend of August 5-7. Click here for more information, to add your pin to the interactive global map, event updates, and more!  #NuclearPrayerDay2022 #prayforpeace #nonukes #savetomorrows

One possible prayer for a world free of nuclear weapons is offered by the sponsoring organization VOICES, part of the United Religions Initiative. Click here to download. This prayer is also available in many different languages here on the URI website. (Use the "Select a Language" option in the top right side of the webpage.) Feel free to use another such prayer, perhaps one of your or your group's own designs, and share this prayer when you drop your pin on this interactive map. (If you plan to pray alone and do not know what to put for the required "Name of Organization," feel free to say "Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice"!)

You may also join with others in this first Nuclear Prayer Day at 8:15am PDT via a Facebook Live Event! Click here for more information. (This is open to everyone, whether or not you are on Facebook.)

9/11 Multifaith Peace Picnic & Prayers
Sunday, Sept. 11, 6:15pm-8:15pm
King Plaza, 250 Hamilton
Palo Alto

We came together to get to know one another and move from fear to friendship!

WATCH PROGRAM ON YOUTUBE HERE.

PERUSE PHOTOS FROM PROBONO HERE.

Hosted by American Muslim Voice in partnership with MVPJ. 

Together we honored the victims and first responders,
as we strive to transform this day into one of peace and community building.

The ability to make our country safe, secure, peaceful and harmonious lies in our hands.

We are excited to partner again with YOUTH COMMUNITY SERVICE and the
9/11 NATIONAL DAY OF SERVICE!

We joined hundreds of volunteers on Sunday, Sept 11 for the National Day of Service!

Sponsored by Youth Community Service (YCS).

Read more about each service site and project and register online here.

Join SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) at Sacred Heart in its CARE FIRST campaign to advocate for alternatives to incarceration and improving access to behavioral health in our county!

The current budget does NOT address community based, non-carceral alternatives. The budget funds, to the tune of $689,000,000, a new jail, but no non-carceral behavioral health facility!

ASK: We need people power. Justice needs you. Our affected brothers and sisters need those who live in Santa Clara County to call and email the Supervisors.

Emails: Click here for SURJ's page with contact information, sample text and guidelines for emailing county supervisors in support of CARE FIRST JAILS LAST in the budget.

Calls: Make this ask: We urge the Board literally to put "Care First" by prioritizing the approved noncarceral Behavioral Health Facility in the FY2022-2023 Capital Improvement Budget, authorizing a bond to fully fund it, and deferring the line item for the new jail from the FY2022-2023 budget.

Our SURJ faith group is recommending that you add that you are praying daily that they will make the right decision.

March for Our Lives
Saturday, June 11
Across the nation and around the bay area!

Click here for updated list of events and times on the March for Our Lives website.

Redwood City 9-11am
1044 Middlefield Road
Front Plaza of Redwood City Library

Mountain View 5-7pm
Gateway Park
790 W. El Camino Real

SPEAK - PRAY - ACT to End Gun Violence
Sunday, June 5, 3-4:15pm
Lytton Plaza (University & Emerson), Palo Alto
*WEAR ORANGE*

Join Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Friends Meeting of Palo Alto to hear from local faith leaders and a gun violence survivor, share in a Quaker led Public Worship (see below), and participate in actions to end gun violence.

While June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month, the multiple staggering events of the past several weeks would compel us to speak and act no matter what. We gather particularly in light of the racist mass murder in the Buffalo supermarket, the hateful shooting at a Presbyterian Church in Laguna Hills, the horrifying massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and the tragic killing of four people at the hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We gather to grieve the senseless and unspeakable loss and ACT to end gun violence NOW.

A Quaker Called Meeting for Public Worship is a time to wait in silence as an opportunity to listen deeply to each other and to the Spirit which guides human affairs. Everyone is welcome to participate.

*Why Orange? On January 21, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others.

Help spread the word!
Link, like and share on
Facebook
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Celebrating Eid and Community!
Sunday, May 22, 2022 - 5PM
First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto
625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto

Join this annual Eid Festival (celebration of Muslim holidays) sponsored by American Muslim Voice Foundation.

Highlights include a multifaith panel sharing religious holidays and favorite memories, cultural performances and Mehndi Tattoos (Henna). 

Appetizers will be served outdoors at 5pm. Complimentary boxed gourmet Pakistani dinner will be provided upon departure, with vegetarian options. 

All faiths encourage their followers to love their neighbors.
To love our neighbors, “WE MUST KNOW OUR NEIGHBORS”

“National Know Your Neighbors” is AMV Foundation’s campaign to build a culture of hope, inclusion and peace. We are encouraging all Americans to move “From Fear to Friendship.

CLICK HERE to register.

COVID SAFETY PROTOCOL: Masks are required indoors at all times. Church capacity is close to 1050. To assure everyone's safety we will limit our guests at 300 max in order to maintain social distance.

Freedom from Pharaohs:
Faith-based Elders Organizing Against Fossil Fuel Financing
Monday, March 28, 4:30pm PDT (virtual)
Featuring Bill McKibben, Joanna Macy and Rabbi Arthur Waskow

The conversation will be moderated by a younger climate leader -- bringing the hearts of elders and youth  to turn to each other.  This discussion will center the deep wisdom and prophetic perspectives of these generational leaders, as they share about past, present, and future of the climate movement and the world of justice and compassion they’ve dedicated their lives to growing.

Click here to register.