Podcast episode 33: Misael Fajardo-Perez and cultural bridge building

by Rufus Woods · Published December 14, 2017 · Updated December 14, 2017

My guest this week is Misael Fajardo-Perez of the Wenatchee Valley Lutheran Latino Ministry. Fajardo-Perez is doing some amazing community building work in the valley by bringing people together and finding common ground. He sees a growing movement in North Central Washington to build meaningful relationships among neighbors.

He’s been deeply involved with various successful community and relationship building projects, including the effort to upgrade Kiwanis Methow Park to more effectively serve the south Wenatchee neighbors and he also helped launch the Dia de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead celebration that is held every November at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center and attracts hundreds of community members.

The soft-spoken Fajardo-Perez is passionate about social justice issues and caring for the environment in our communities. We spoke about how deeply national efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program and the rise of anti-immigrant attitudes are impacting members of our community.

Those realities add increased importance to an event Fajardo-Perez and the Lutheran Latino Ministry are sponsoring this Sunday, Dec. 17. The Posada, a Mexican Christmas tradition of re-enacting the Biblical journey of Mary and Joseph as they sought shelter in Bethlehem, will be held at the Wenatchee Community Center beginning at 6 p.m. There will be a reading of the story, and then a walk through the neighborhood where they will ask for refuge and be refused, followed by finding shelter and food at the community center.

This is a wonderful opportunity for the Latino and Anglo community to come together and celebrate what it means to be a community where everyone is welcome and we look out for one another.