After spending several months organizing in Carroll County we were able to host our first Justice Jam in Westminster. Several United Workers leaders from Baltimore joined together with some of our Westminster leaders to welcome other residents of the county to talk about the issues of poverty they see in their community and may be experiencing themselves. Discussions center around readings from Kairos Center’s We Cry Justice book. People began to relate to each other on shared trauma around housing and homelessness, food insecurity, and access to health care. The group recognized how we live in the land of plenty and despite that, there are so many people with nothing or very little.
Here are pictures from the day and a quote from United Workers’ leader, Sidney Bond.
" I did not think there was an issue with homelessness in that part Maryland. I was shocked to see the homeless encampment out there and it reminded me a lot of many parts of Baltimore, like where the homeless community would sleep under Rt 83. It showed me that homelessness and poverty is not just in the city but a problem across the state." - Sidney Bond (pictured in the middle)