Throughout our yearly meeting, individual Friends and Monthly and Quarterly Meetings are diligently working to make our communities more accessible for any and all who are impacted by disability. We are overjoyed to share that the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting will be offering two different support groups: a Disability Support Group for Friends with disabilities and a Caregiver Support Group for Friends who are caregivers of those with disabilities. These support groups are open to members and attenders of PYM who self-identify as having and/or supporting individuals with any kind of disability, physical or mental, visible or invisible.
[Read more…] about Creating Community: PYM to Offer Disability and Caregiver Support Groups
Staff
Aging Assistance For PYM Friends: What is Available and a Family Thank You
How to Apply: Aging Funds Available at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
AAGG and Greenleaf Granting Group clerks sat down Aging Support Coordinator, Sheila Sorkin, and Director of Grantmaking and Data, Joey Leroux to discuss the application process for funds to support Friends in need of financial assistance with their basic needs or to make it possible to live in retirement facilities, or to remain in their own homes.
[Read more…] about Aging Assistance For PYM Friends: What is Available and a Family Thank You
October 2024 | Joint Council Update
On Saturday, October 12th, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their first meeting in a new joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. A key feature in the joint format is the approval of minutes during the meeting. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.
Exploring PYM Connect: Features for Connection and Community
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is launching a new online community platform, PYM Connect, in January of 2025. PYM Connect is a secure and supportive virtual space to discuss, engage, and grow with PYM Friends. It allows participants to share updates and meaningful news, while also providing a virtual space to connect with other Friends within PYM who share similar ministries and leadings.
[Read more…] about Exploring PYM Connect: Features for Connection and Community
Staff Transitions: Chief Financial Officer & Director of Program and Religious Life
This month, we are posting job openings for two important positions that have been held by Friends who have been involved with PYM for decades. We are posting the Chief Financial Officer position, held by Linell McCurry for a dozen years, and the Director of Program & Religious Life position, which Melinda Wenner Bradley stepped into two years ago after serving as the Children’s Religious Life Coordinator since 2017. Linell and Melinda have both been pivotal in their own ways and will have a lasting impact on the capacity of PYM to connect Friends and meetings.
Chief Financial Officer
Linell manages the business and finance of PYM in a manner that takes care of the routine and big-picture responsibilities, addresses a constant need for reform, simplification, and clarification of our complex finances, and manages a steady stream of projects that often require institutional knowledge. We know from experience that it can take a good bit of time to hire for financial positions. For these reasons, we want to plan well for turnover in the CFO position, giving plenty of time for a search as well as for onboarding and training. We also want to take advantage of Linell’s long and deep knowledge of PYM, so we have developed a succession plan as follows:
- We will post the CFO position imminently and will accept applications until the position is filled.
- When the position is filled, we will plan for a healthy overlap to allow for onboarding and training as needed.
- When it’s time for Linell to step away from the daily CFO responsibilities, we will contract with her to continue to work on specific projects that are needed but that she does not have enough time for.
This plan allows us to prepare well for the transition in the position in a way that supports the yearly meeting, suits Linell’s interests, and keeps her close by.
Director of Program & Religious Life
This position was developed a few years ago to create a narrower portfolio than the previous Associate Secretary for Program & Religious Life. Melinda is the first incumbent in the role. Through the engagement and relationships nurtured between all the program and religious life staff and the body, the director is in a position to have a strong sense of how Spirit is moving through the yearly meeting community. The director combines that understanding with the discernment of the body, and collaboration with directors of communications, grantmaking & data, and development, to support meetings and ministries and nurture their interconnectedness.
While Melinda has been serving the yearly meeting in this role, she also attended seminary and graduated in May with a master’s degree in Ministry and Leadership. She is a co-founder of two volunteer-led Quaker organizations: Faith & Play Stories and the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative. Faith & Play has received a generous two-year grant from the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund. Starting in the early fall, Melinda will be the project director for “Finding Ourselves in the Story: Growing Faith for Friends.” Even though she will no longer be on PYM staff, her ministry will continue to deepen the roots of our religious society.
Following the Annual Sessions, Melinda will focus on supporting the planning for programs and events in the fall and leaving Program and Religious Life operations in good shape for the next director.
Meeting for Learning with Attention to Quakerism
Serving as a member of the yearly meeting staff includes ongoing learning as individuals and as a staff community. Staff meetings during any calendar year include collaboration and planning across departments, always with the Strategic Directions held at the center of our service to the yearly meeting. “Meetings for Learning” have included professional development topics and inclusion and belonging work together, and four times a year they are focused on Quakerism. The group of staff who plan these times actively listen for and collect topics of interest from colleagues. In May, our focus was on the testimonies in relationship with our lives and work. [Read more…] about Meeting for Learning with Attention to Quakerism
Monthly and Quarterly Meeting Leadership Gatherings
Three times each year, Friends in local and quarterly meeting leadership (clerks, assistant clerks, treasurers, committee clerks) gather online with the presiding clerk and General Secretary. The gatherings include timely announcements and shared conversation, and are one way that we connect across meetings in the yearly meeting. The May 2024 gatherings included several announcements to share back to meetings, and small group discussions around topics of interest. [Read more…] about Monthly and Quarterly Meeting Leadership Gatherings
Monthly and Quarterly Meeting Leadership Gatherings
Three times each year, Friends in local and quarterly meeting leadership (clerks, assistant clerks, treasurers, committee clerks) gather online with the presiding clerk and General Secretary. The gatherings include timely announcements and shared conversation, and are one way that we connect across meetings in the yearly meeting. The January 2024 gatherings included several announcements to share back to meetings, and small group discussions around topics of interest. [Read more…] about Monthly and Quarterly Meeting Leadership Gatherings
New Assistant Controller Joins PYM Finance Department
PYM welcomes Albert DeGregorio as our newest staff member! Al joins PYM’s finance department in the role of Assistant Controller. [Read more…] about New Assistant Controller Joins PYM Finance Department
ASMH Preservation Trust Minute of Appreciation for Wally Evans
Originally minuted on November 15, 2023
Wally Evans has served as a tour guide at Arch Street Meeting House for many years, coming on a weekly basis to share his knowledge about the building, Quakers and history with visitors. This outreach is at the heart of the mission of the Arch Street Meeting House Preservation Trust. Tourists who meet Wally likely realize that they encountered an expert tour guide. What they don’t know is that they just met the person who worked the hardest over the past decade to welcome them to the property, given to Quakers by William Penn, which tells the story of Quakerism to visitors from around the world.
Wally Evans is a founding member of the Board of the Arch Street Meeting House Preservation Trust, which held its first meeting on June 18, 2013. Because initial terms were staggered, ASMHPT has been able to benefit from Wally’s leadership on the Board for ten years. According to the by-laws, it is now time for him to rotate off the Board.
The Trust is successful today in large part to Wally’s thoughtful planning and implementation. At the Trust’s second meeting on July 16, 2013, Wally was appointed Clerk of the Board, a position he held until two years ago. He guided the Trust through the initial Strategic Plan, the Resource Development Plan, the Interpretive Plan, the Marketing and Communications Plan, and the Master Space Plan. For this work, he engaged with the SNAVE Foundation which provided substantial financial support. The installation of outdoor exhibits in 2021 was a high priority for Wally. New signage welcomes people onto the property and into the meetinghouse when it is open for visitors. Wally championed the idea that even when the building is closed, people who stroll the grounds can learn something about Quakers from the well-designed exterior exhibits.
For the past two years, Wally has served as Treasurer and a member of the Executive and Resource Development Committees. As Treasurer, Wally was instrumental in improving the budgeting and reporting process.
Wally guided the Trust in planning for a capital campaign that will preserve the National Historic Landmark building, including a modern electric HVAC system and a fire suppression system. Design for new interior exhibits is underway to further improve the visitor experience. Wally helped to select the campaign consultants, Partners for Sacred Places, who work with religious properties nationwide to help preserve buildings and strengthen service to their communities. Wally now co-clerks the Steering Committee for the capital campaign, a position he will continue after he concludes his board service.
The Board of the Arch Street Meeting House Preservation Trust minutes its deep appreciation to Wally Evans for his sustained support for the mission of the Trust.
