What is a household? Close your eyes and consider the word “household.” What comes to mind? Caring people? A table with food, shared with family and friends? Shelter? Warmth? Friendly voices? Love? I imagine we all think of many of these same things when we think about a household. Yet there are many in this… Read more »
April 1, 2020
OGHS: Building a Household with the Suffering and Vulnerable
What is a household? Close your eyes and consider the word “household.” What comes to mind? Caring people? A table with food, shared with family and friends? Shelter? Warmth? Friendly voices? Love? I imagine we all think of many of these same things when we think about a household. Yet there are many in this… Read more »
Without power Who could forget the devastation after Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico in 2017? Certainly not Mimita Nieves. Eighteen months later she was still living without electricity. Mimita did the best she could. She got along on canned food and powdered milk, and fresh vegetables when she could get them. She cooked on… 
Facing Financial Hardship Grocery shopping had become an anxiety-filled experience for the Rev. Gloria Casasus-Urrutia. Ten years after her 2006 retirement as organist at her church, Porta Coeli in San German, Puerto Rico, she found herself thrust into severe financial hardship. “I had to write down the price of each item and add everything up… 
A Community Facing Displacement Even before Hurricane Maria ravaged communities along the Martín Peña Channel in Puerto Rico last year, residents were facing another threat that could have completely disrupted their way of life. Plans to dredge the polluted channel and improve the waterway promised to dramatically increase property values in this section of San… 
Disaster Strikes After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico last year, Presbyterian pastor Manuel D. Silva bore the dual burden of caring for his family and his congregation. The property damage wrought by the storm was in the billions, and many on the island were without electricity for months. When the storm hit, Manuel’s wife, Sylvette,…