Welcoming New Fellows and New Colleagues
Dear Invested Faith Family,
This month I am sending you aloha from my beautiful islands of Hawaii. As many of you know, I am spending this year in the islands where I grew up, serving as interim pastor at Community Church of Honolulu and spending some extra time near my parents who live here.
As I navigate these first few weeks adjusting to a new year, new church, new living situation, my life seems filled with the growing pains of the new. I also feel so strongly the potential and hope that comes with change.
In that spirit of hope and possibility, it’s my delight to share news of two new and wonderful areas of growth for Invested Faith!
First, please meet CLASS SIX of Invested Faith Fellows. You will be encouraged by the hope that their work and their passion will stir in you. As you read about this inspiring group below, I hope you will consider what new possibilities for partnership might be being born in you or in your church.
Second, as Invested Faith continues to grow we’ve expanded our staff team to include two part-time colleagues who will focus on building relationships with those supporting this work and connecting and collaborating with all of our Fellows to offer much needed support. Our titles reflect our areas of responsibility, but we work as a team! Learn more about our staff team and covenant that guides our work here.
With the new comes a sense of stretching and some discomfort—fear, even. But the possibility and hope and calling and change we see everyday at Invested Faith is worth the risk of stepping into the new, don’t you think? We welcome your partnership in this work!
Wishing you God’s peace as you step into all the potential and promise of the new.
Meet our Fellows: Class Six!
Alexander Clemetson
Together We Compost
Columbus, Ohio
Together We Compost is a Black-owned compost collection and creation service that works to ensure that members of the BIPOC community are offered equal access to composting collection.TWC offers compost services for residences and businesses along with education and consulting around composting, the climate crisis, and food accessibility.
Johnetta Roberts
Blak Koffee
Louisville, Kentucky
Located in a newly renovated building in the West End of Louisville, a red-lined, low-income area, Blak Koffee was born when Roberts recognized the neighborhood lacked food service and community gathering spaces. Currently, Blak Koffee is run as a coffee cart “under the stairwell,” but will open in their own space in early 2023
Robert Rueda
Global Blends Coffee Shop and Deli
Edinburg, Texas
Global Blends Coffee Shop and Deli is a “pay what you can” coffee shop and deli located on the campus of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, on the Texas-Mexico border. After a study found that 40% of students at the university experienced hunger on an ongoing basis, Rueda opened the coffee shop, which offers affordable or no-cost food, along with leadership training and job skills for the students employed there.
Sanctified Art Creative Team
Sanctified Art
Black Mountain, North Carolina
Sanctified Art is an artist collective that provides progressive visual art, poetry, and other creative resources for liturgical worship. Sanctified Art helps worshiping communities integrate art and creativity into their spiritual practice using resources with inclusive and affirming theology and an expanded imagination around the divine image. Creative team members include Rev. Lauren Wright Pittman, Rev. Anna Strickland, Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity, Hannah Garrity, and Rev. Sarah A. Speed.
Chelsea Spyres
Wilmington Kitchen Collective
Wilmington, Delaware
The Wilmington Kitchen Collective utilizes church kitchens, which sit empty and unused most of the week, to offer culinary entrepreneurs an affordable option for high-quality commercial kitchen facilities. The kitchens are used by caterers, food truck owners, bakers and other start-ups, helping entrepreneurs overcome a major obstacle in starting their business. Through the Kitchen Collective, Spyres offers advocacy, community, and pastoral care for the entrepreneurs.
Welcome our New Colleagues!
Anna Meyer: Generosity
Anna Meyer oversees fundraising and donor relations at Invested Faith. She believes that every gift we make is an active choice to help grow the world we want to live in. Anna is an experienced fundraiser who has helped a variety of nonprofit organizations in the arts, education, and legal services spheres raise tens of millions of dollars.
Alisha Gordon: Connection
Rev. Alisha Gordon is the Founder and Executive Director of The Current Project, a nonprofit organization committed to the social, economic, and emotional well-being of Black single mothers. As a 2021 Invested Faith fellow, Alisha brings her rich experiences as a social entrepreneur, teacher, and community leader to help other fellows foster deeper connection with one another and the world.
Get Involved
Request a phone call. Sometimes the old fashioned way is the best way. We'll be happy to schedule a phone or video call with you to answer any questions you might have about invested Faith and give you some ideas about how you can be involved.
Introduce us! Maybe you know someone who fits our criteria for an Invested Faith Fellow: rooted in faith, working for justice and addressing systemic problems in their community while building a sustainable financial model? At Invested Faith, we don't do typical grant applications. Read more about our criteria and how to apply here.
Match a grant. If your organization would like to partner with us to support an Invested Faith Fellow and build the work of Invested Faith, please reach out. We would love to talk!
Spread the word! Be sure to follow us on social media so you don't miss out on any of the news and fun! You can find us on Facebook at Invested Faith, on Twitter as @InvestedFaith, on Instagram as invested_faith_ and on LInkedIn as Invested Faith.
Give a generous donation to continue to build the work of Invested Faith: Create a legacy and send your witness forward in perpetuity. Give a generous tax-deductible gift to Invested Faith here.
