Join us May 27th
Tuesday, May 27th - Martes, 27 de mayo
5:30 - 7:30 pm MDT
On-Site/Presencial: St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 1 Del Mar Circle, Aurora, CO
Online/En Línea: Zoom
Spanish interpretation is available on site and on Zoom.
Childcare is available on site.
Please register whether you plan to attend on-site or online to help us with hospitality planning. Thank you!
Faith leaders, clergy, congregational decision makers; and nonprofit and community leaders are invited to come together to (Se invita a líderes de fe, clérigos/as, tomadores/as de decisiones congregacionales, y líderes comunitarios y de organizaciones sin fines de lucro a reunirse para):
Vision Casting: Learn about the vision for the Mutual Aid Sanctuary as an initial framework
Compartir la Visión: Conocer la visión del Santuario de Ayuda Mutua como un marco inicial.
Storytelling: Be inspired by leaders sharing examples of current congregational and community mutual aid efforts
Narración de Historias: Inspirarse con líderes que compartirán ejemplos de esfuerzos actuales de ayuda mutua en congregaciones y comunidades.Dreaming: Cocreating what the Mutual Aid Sanctuary is; how it works; identifying what relationships, skills, trainings, and resources we already have and what we need.
Soñando: Cocrear lo que es el Santuario de Ayuda Mutua; cómo funciona; e identificar qué relaciones, habilidades, capacitaciones y recursos ya tenemos y cuáles necesitamos.
Organizers/Organizadores
Juniper Formation United Church of Christ, Montview Presbyterian Church, Mountain View United Church, St Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Aurora, Highlands United Methodist Church, and the Interfaith Immigration Network
Sponsors/Patrocinadores
Please let us know if you would like to sponsor this event, which is cost $1,500 to put on. Por favor avísenos si desea patrocinar este evento, cuyo costo es de $1,500.
What is the Mutual Aid Sanctuary?
We are building a Mutual Aid Sanctuary, a network of interfaith and ecumenical congregations in Metro Denver to support and provide safe, temporary crisis sheltering and care for targeted populations including immigrants, LGBTQ+, those seeking reproductive healthcare, and other populations who become vulnerable.
These are the people who we know are in imminent need of mutual aid. We don’t know what is coming, but we need to prepare by building and strengthening relationships of trust, mutual aid, and diverse action.
We will identify and share our gifts and talents, partner with one another, skill up, act boldly, learn from our mistakes, pivot and adjust, and have each other’s back.
In order to provide mutual protection and care we will develop geographic localized teams of faith communities to respond to localized crises alongside the wider community. When one team is activated in response to a crisis, surrounding teams offer support to build a deep and robust response that cares for everyone involved.
We have a vision, and also, the Mutual Aid Sanctuary will evolve based on its members and partners.
None of us have all the answers. We are here to cocreate and adapt together.
Together we can build a congregational mutual aid network in partnership with nonprofits and community groups already doing mutual aid and advocacy.
We hope this congregational network model can be replicated in other communities.
How did this all start?
It started with a small group of churches who responded immediately to a sheltering crisis in Aurora.
In the months preceding the City of Aurora's closure of the Edge of Lowry apartment complex, families, including young children, living there experienced multiple instances of trauma from criminal activity, ICE raids, inhumane living conditions, impending forced relocation, and national negative media exposure creating an unsafe environment and an immediate need for crisis sheltering.
This small group of churches organized to provide temporary shelter, safe sanctuary, and care while more permanent housing solutions were already in progress.
While largely successful in protecting 40 families and individuals, there were lessons learned. Church leaders wished they had been better prepared, had existing mutual aid relationships, more training, and better ways to reach out for support from other congregations and community volunteers.
If they had the Mutual Aid Sanctuary beforehand, maybe they wouldn’t have burned out in crisis mode, stressed relationships because there wasn’t a common approach to the work, and maybe they would have the support and care they needed to lessen their own trauma of leading a crisis response.
We are building this Mutual Aid Sanctuary because we know we have the people, gifts, talents, resources, agency, and power to cocreate a new way of living out our faith together in the face of violence, fascism, and white supremacy.
What is
Mutual Aid?
Mutual aid cocreates cultures of collective care in relationship with one another. It is a creative rejection of structures of systemic oppression and inequality, paternalism, and supremacy.
Mutual aid is about:
solidarity, not charity
surviving and thriving in community, not struggling alone
meeting basic needs, while also engaging collective analysis, movement building, and liberation.
being responsive in care, not stipulating or conditional
collaborative and consensus-driven, not hierarchical in decision-making
What is Sanctuary?
Sanctuary is a sacred place of refuge, safety, protection, and care open to all.
Sanctuary is:
needed both by those receiving and giving care
as much a spiritual space as a physcial space
a call to people of faith to live out our shared values of love, solidarity, empathy and compassion, hospitality, truth seeking, justice, peacemaking, and more
a call to every person to recognize the holiness of each others being—our intrinsic value as a human. None of us are disposable. None of us without rights. All of us in need of love, care, and liberation.
Inclusive, and also, committed to shared liberation. "We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist." - James Baldwin
Contact Us
Interested in learning more or want to join the Mutual Aid Sanctuary?