Community Connect
Community Connect is a monthly outreach initiative that invites our congregation to focus on one local need at a time, building meaningful partnerships and responding in tangible ways.
Each month, we partner with a local organization already doing vital work in our community. Together, we support their mission through prayer, financial gifts, donated items, and opportunities to serve.
By focusing on one issue each month, Community Connect helps us live our faith beyond our walls; with intention, compassion, and lasting impact.
June - Guns To Gardens
This month, Community Connect turns its focus towards Gun Violence Awareness, focusing on prevention, peacebuilding, and community transformation through support of the Guns to Gardens movement.
Inspired by the words of Isaiah, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4), Guns to Gardens brings together people of faith and conscience to transform instruments of harm into symbols of healing, hope, and new life.
Through community firearm surrender events, unwanted firearms are voluntarily surrendered and permanently dismantled, ensuring they can never be used to cause harm again. The metal from these firearms is then reshaped through the work of blacksmiths and artists into garden tools, artwork, and other creations that nurture life rather than take it away. What begins as an act of prevention becomes an act of transformation—both practical and symbolic.
At its heart, Guns to Gardens is about more than metal and tools. It is about communities coming together to imagine a different future—one rooted in peace, healing, justice, and collective responsibility. Across the country, congregations and community organizations are discovering meaningful ways to address gun violence while creating spaces for conversation, reflection, and action.
As part of this month’s focus, we are honored to welcome Rev. Jenn Soule-Hill, Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, elementary school counselor, community organizer, and one of Tucson’s Guns to Gardens volunteer leaders. Jenn brings together a passion for peacebuilding, community engagement, and transformative art practices, helping communities explore how ordinary people can participate in meaningful efforts to reduce gun violence and cultivate hope.
We also invite you to join us in observing National Gun Violence Awareness Day on June 7 by wearing orange. This annual movement began in memory of Hadiya Pendleton, a 17-year-old student whose life was tragically cut short by gun violence. Today, orange serves as a symbol of remembrance, awareness, and commitment to creating safer communities. At St. Francis, we wear orange to honor victims, survivors, and all those impacted by gun violence, including those affected by Tucson’s January 8, 2011 tragedy.
What's Next?
Community Connect continues throughout the year, with a new local partner and focus each month. As we move into July, we’ll shift our attention to the next organization and opportunity to serve.
Check back here or join us on Sundays to learn more about what’s coming next.