Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

PYM’s Friends Counseling Service Coordinator: Janaki Spickard Keeler

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Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is excited to announce the new Friends Counseling Service (FCS) Coordinator, Janaki Spickard Keeler. FCS brings forward a spiritually sensitive, clinical expertise to care for the mental health and wellness of individuals in the wider Quaker community.

The FCS Coordinator interacts with local Quaker communities, supports present counselors, recruits new counselors, helps promote the service, and attends events throughout the yearly meeting to speak on matters related to mental health and wellness.

[Read more…] about PYM’s Friends Counseling Service Coordinator: Janaki Spickard Keeler

Quakers Making a Difference: Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting Members Donate their Stimulus Checks

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COVID-19 has left many Americans in dire situations. With millions of people filing for unemployment, this pandemic has had a devastating effect on American workers struggling to survive.

Congress passed a $2 trillion stimulus package to help the American economy. It is hoped that stimulus checks recently distributed will help those struggling with sudden painful poverty most; however, for some people this is ‘found’ money – something they do not actually need.

[Read more…] about Quakers Making a Difference: Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting Members Donate their Stimulus Checks

Youth Programs Host Virtual Camp Swatara Gathering

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Young Friends and Middle School Friends gathered last weekend for an online version of our traditional Camp Swatara gathering. In addition to staples of our usual programs  —  worship sharing, business meeting, and committee time —  we got creative and reinvented some of the most treasured parts of the Swatara gathering for this digital platform. 

In lieu of the usual Saturday morning hike up the Appalachian Trail to the rock pile, we gathered in the morning for a group “hiking” game that we could all do from the comfort of our backyards and living rooms. Saturday night, the two youth programs came together again for a talent show and campfire song circle where musician Simon Purchase James led us in song.  [Read more…] about Youth Programs Host Virtual Camp Swatara Gathering

Emily Provance: Tools for Virtual Clerking

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Some 71 participants joined PYM’s Thursday April 23 virtual event to share and review tools for clerking Meeting for Business through Zoom. Convened by PYM and led by Emily Provance, the call included participation by computer, I pad, smart phone, and telephone.

During the presentation, participants benefited from Zoom chat, video breakout rooms focused on a set of Queries on clerking, and opportunities that were given for voice participation from those on the telephone. [Read more…] about Emily Provance: Tools for Virtual Clerking

Announcing Virtual Annual Sessions 2020 Speakers and Performers

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Letting Ourselves Be Known… through worship!

Marcelle Martin to ground virtual PYM Annual Sessions in worship

Marcelle Martin, a member of Swarthmore Meeting, has led workshops at retreat centers and Quaker meetings across the United States. She was the resident Quaker Studies teacher at Pendle Hill for four years and is a core teacher for the 9-month program, “Nurturing Faithfulness.” On her blog, A Whole Heart, she shares inspiration to help us be all that God has created us to be. She is the author of Our Life is Love: The Quaker Spiritual Journey and A Guide to Faithfulness Groups. She lives in Chester, PA with her husband, Terry. [Read more…] about Announcing Virtual Annual Sessions 2020 Speakers and Performers

Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge: Quakers Remain Important to World Peace, Economic and Climate Justice

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Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge is a Quaker South African politician and activist. She is currently in Philadelphia as the Friend in Residence at Haverford College. In 2008, she received an honorary degree from Haverford. She has served as South Africa’s deputy minister of defense and of health, during which time she challenged the denial of the HIV and AIDS crisis in her home country and deputy speaker of the National Assembly. She is also the founder and Executive Director of Embrace Dignity, a nonprofit campaigning for legal reform to abolish the exploitative system of prostitution and support women wanting to leave the sex industry.

[Read more…] about Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge: Quakers Remain Important to World Peace, Economic and Climate Justice

Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge: What Makes Us a Community is Shared Humanity

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Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge is a Quaker South African politician and activist. She was the deputy minister of defense from 1999 to 2004 and deputy minister of health from April 2004 to August 2007. She is currently in Philadelphia as the Friend in Residence at Haverford College. [Read more…] about Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge: What Makes Us a Community is Shared Humanity

Reflection on YAF Community Worship

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Join YAFS Thursdays at 7 pm for Community Worship!

At our 6th gathering, zoom windows begin to pop up, some zoom people are totally new, some you can recognize from other gatherings, some have individuals and some have groups of housemates. People greet each other and center in. This piece of technology is now the familiar door to our meeting house. Our facilitator this week, Zenaida, welcomes us into a worshipful community: [Read more…] about Reflection on YAF Community Worship

First Day Programs: What do you need?

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What do you need? 

A small and vital question to be asking one another in these days. What do families in our meetings, and the adults who have care of religious education programs for children and young people, need to support the spiritual lives children and young people?

What do you need to gather?

There is no “right way” to be gathering in this time, when the needs of Friends and our capacities to meet them are unique and sometimes changing: [Read more…] about First Day Programs: What do you need?

Quaker Scholarship for High School Students

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Scattergood Friends School, owned and operated by Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), has developed a Quaker Scholarship for 9th-11th graders that covers 75% of room, board, and tuition.

It’s designed for young Friends who are active in their monthly or yearly meeting and would like to continue learning in a community like they’ve experienced growing up among Friends. [Read more…] about Quaker Scholarship for High School Students

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