Large Bethany group descends on Olympia
Hello everyone,
The largest group from Bethany in recent memory attended Interfaith Advocacy Day in Olympia yesterday. With our friends from Eagle Harbor Congregational Church and other island and North Kitsap churches, we numbered almost 30.
Pastor Paul drove many of us in a van, leaving Bethany at 7 a.m. Once there, we congregated with 260 other faith advocates from across the state at a large church near the capitol campus. There, we worshiped and received instructions for the day from our host, Faith Action Network of Washington.
We learned that the effort to increase public-school funding is the major topic of the legislature this session. Outside of that, faith issues that our group was to advocate for when we met with our representatives included:
- Adequate funding for affordable housing
- Adequate funding for the homeless
- Adequate funding for low-income families
Other issues important to some members of our group included:
- Furthering work on gun control
- Abolishing the death penalty
- Instituting a capital-gains tax
- Instituting an income tax
We headed from the church to the legislative building, where we visited with 23rd District lawmakers including Sen. Christine Rolfes, Rep. Sherry Appleton and Rep. Drew Hansen.
I've included some photos here. Look for more on the Bethany Facebook page, accessed at the footer of this site.
It was a wonderful day.
- Rachel Pritchett