Pasadena civic, business, education, nonprofit and religious leaders reflected on the theme of “Together We Thrive, Pasadena,” at the 50th annual Mayor’s Interfaith Prayers Breakfast Thursday morning, May 4.
The event, coinciding with National Day of Prayer events across the country, was hosted by Friends in Deed at the Pasadena Convention Center and drew hundreds to benefit the interfaith organization’s supportive service programs — The Women’s Room, Food Pantry, Bad Weather Supplies, Street Outreach and Housing, and Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance.
“We try to see ourselves as a ladder and we are either being the bottom rung to prevent people from becoming homeless or being the first rung that’s lifting you up if you’ve arrived on the streets,” said Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater, Friends in Deed executive director.
In his address, Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo pointed to the diversity in the room — which featured organizations ranging from the Pasadena Rotary Club, to Union Station Homeless Services to Planned Parenthood Pasadena — as an example of what it means when the city “thrives together.”
“How many generations of people have been in this world praying, asking that we arrive at this moment; praying and asking that there’d be a seat at every table for everyone from every walk of life, regardless of their belief, regardless of where they come from,” Gordo said.
“As we seek to thrive together, let’s keep in mind to embrace, to accept, and to agree to work together as we reach for a common goal of a better and greater Pasadena.”
The event featured music from the Urban Voices Project, a Skid Row community choir led by Artistic Director Leeav Sofer and Pasadena “artivist” Lorinda Hawkins Smith, which aims to “humanize the face of homelessness and demonstrate the healing powers of the arts.”
Rabbi John Carrier and Cantor Ruth Berman Harris of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center gave the opening…
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