Sarasota-area clergy respond
Bill Arbuckle of First Presbyterian Church, Sarasota
On Sunday, September 30th, clergy and 200 people of faith prayed and then peacefully processed to a Publix store in Sarasota, holding aloft a banner inscribed with Micah 6:8. They called on Publix to join the Fair Food Program and to stop treating farmworkers and fair food supporters with aggressive disrespect. See the report on www.ciw-online.org
It all began on Labor Day weekend, when Publix corporate called the police to escort a Peace River Presbytery pastor, the Rev. Clay Thomas, Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian of Sarasota, out of a local Publix as he ordered a sandwich because of his support for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, General Presbyter Graham Hart and area clergy saw this as an opportunity for the church to live its faith in action.
Read Christian author Brian McLaren’s article and the Op-ed by local Sarasota clergy who gathered in prayer and then processed with 200 people of faith, to that Publix store on Sunday, September 30, 2012.
Since 2009 Presbyterians have been engaging Florida-based Publix Supermarket urging them join the Fair Food Program. You can help. Learn more and take action.
