Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Youth Programs

Young Friends Christmas Gathering

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A lively group of Young Friends gathered at Woodstown Meeting in Woodstown, NJ for their annual Christmas Gathering, December 27th-30th. Two Young Friends led workshops for the community: an interactive performance about bravery and self-expression, and an exploration of gender identity that included decorating “genderbread” cookies. Young Friends participated in productive meetings for worship with a concern for business, shared deeply in worship sharing groups, and played a couple rowdy games of Wink. With an ice skating trip and a dance party celebration of two Young Friends’ birthdays, it was a busy and joyful gathering full of singing, laughter, and kazoos.

– Olivia Chalkley, Young Friends Program Facilitator

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Youth Programs Team Updates: New Staff and An Invitation

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New staff! The Youth Programs team is delighted to announce that Crystal Hershey has agreed to serve as the Children and Families Program Assistant. While Crystal is a new addition to our team, she is a familiar face in youth programs and the PYM community. 

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Quakers & the 09/2019 Global Climate Strike

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Today I was on campus at the Quaker Senior Community called the Hickman (West Chester, PA). This note is to share how uplifting & motivating it was to see the children from W.C. Friends School (our neighbor), leading our staff and residents into intergenerational Witness for Climate on the street today. I’d love to see photos of other Friends participating in this Global Movement today and in the coming week!

FGC Shares Children’s Resources from PYM Staff

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The September issue of “Vital Friends,” the e-newsletter from Friends General Conference (FGC), highlights “Religious Education Programming for Children.” Melinda Wenner Bradley, serving PYM as Youth Religious Life Coordinator, was asked to contribute to the issue.

FGC staff write, “Melinda’s work as a consultant and trainer for religious education programming has produced several worthwhile resources for Quaker parents and teachers. Here, we’ve included highlights of her work, beginning with a beautiful essay about her ministry.”

The essays and articles shared can be found — along with other great resources for children’s religious education programs — at this link.  They include pieces on fostering community, exploring vocal ministry, a lesson on being present and worship, and nurturing children’s spiritual lives.

See the PYM website page, “Writings on Religious Education: Practical and Prophetic” for more resources for welcoming and nurturing children, their families, and the people who support programs for youth in meeting communities.

2019 Annual Sessions – Children’s Epistle

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To Friends Everywhere,
We need to raise our voices when things are not right.
You have to know when things are not right..
This week Ollie tried to chase a chicken at Snipes Farm.
We watched Mulan for movie night.
We went to game night with Middle School Friends.
We played on a slip and slide, and always have friendship.
We also took pictures of our week, and here they are.
In Peace,
PYM Children
PS – It was also really fun break dancing with pushed learning!
(Thank Edy and Megan!)

2019 Annual Sessions – Young Friends Epistle

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Dear Friends, everywhere,

We the Young Friends of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting gathered together at The College of New Jersey located in Ewing, New Jersey from Wednesday, July 24​the ​, through Sunday, July 28​the ​, focusing on this year’s theme; “How do we center ourselves in trust and love?”

Throughout the week, the Young Friends were able to build a more unified and trusting group through a variety of activities. We started our week with a multi-generational gathering where we were able to connect with Friends on a more spiritual level through storytelling. In this activity, we had community members tell a spiritual story, that all Friends present appreciated. Following this, the Young Friends came together to discuss guidelines for this gathering that promoted a safe and loving environment for all Friends.

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Finding Faith, Practice, and Joy in Youth Programs at Sessions

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By Melinda Wenner Bradley, Youth Religious Life Coordinator

What does the intersection of intention and action look like among Friends? The programs planned for children, youth, and families at Annual Sessions, and our practices in the Quaker community of PYM Youth Programs, are among the possibilities!

However you attend Sessions — commuting or in residence, with a group of friends and family or on your own — the Youth Programs staff hope that you will leave this week with a sense of the participatory joy we feel in our work, and with an awareness that PYM youth return home with new tools, evolving questions, and renewed support for exploring faith and practice in their lives.

At our staff retreat last May, the Youth Programs team discerned and named five themes that feel vital both to guiding our planning for events, and to sharing spiritual practice tools we hope young Friends (and friends of Friends) will take into the world after participating in our programs.

As we finalized our planning for Annual Sessions, I was delighted (but not surprised) to find that what we had identified in our visioning is happening now in “real time” together in community. What’s shared here isn’t an all-inclusive list of what’s happening this week, but snapshots of where you might see our intention in action:

  • Quaker Community: Youth meeting for business is clerked by youth; at Sessions this includes discernment about writing epistles and planning for events in the year ahead.
  • Creative Spirituality: Spirit moves among us throughout Sessions, including in worship sharing groups and during our Sunday morning “worship experiment,” that gathers all youth for a final community worship.
  • Building Relationships: This is a central part of our Game Night, Talent Show, and the Family Neighborhood. Field trips to Snipes Farm and Mercer Meadows will extend community building during off campus programs, too.
  • Play and Joy: Everyone participates in this one throughout the week! We especially look forward to the Giant UNbirthday party, and our Slip and Slide play with PYM’s inflatable unicorn, Frank.
  • Stretch and Surrender: We’ll experience this in planned workshops with special guest Pushed Learning & Media, and our Artist in Residence Eric Berdis, and during all-ages worship with the body.

We hope Friends will also explore these five areas of focus at home in your local meeting communities in the coming year! They are applicable both in plans for youth programming and in how we move the intention to be a multigenerational faith community into action and practice. Interested in support for how to do this? Be in touch and let’s collaborate!

Our community of children, youth, and families this week is grounded by the amazing creativity, planning, and facilitation of the Annual Sessions Youth Team: Elizabeth Croce, Virginia DeWees, Colleen Hayes, Kimani Keaton, and Aeryn Luminkith. Stop them sometime and share a joyful, “thank you!”

 

 

Support Families with Young Children at Annual Sessions

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Do you carry a concern for the needs of parents with young children?

Do you yearn for more support for families to be in Quaker spaces?

Are you led to support families with young children attending Sessions?

Register to stay in the Family Neighborhood!

Volunteer to help set-up and support this space for Families!

The Family Neighborhood is a residential and social area at Annual Sessions designed to help meet the particular needs of families with children. Children at Annual Sessions participate in morning and evening program in the Fry group (child care for infants to age 4) and the K-5 Fox and Fisher groups. This year, the Family Neighborhood will be housed in a new space, Hausdoerffer Hall, which we’re affectionately calling, “Haus Home.” The first-floor lounge will be “home base” for Families at Sessions. The dormitory includes suites of rooms on the first floor that sleep up to six, with a bathroom and small kitchen in the suite. The first floor also has free laundry.

Through a mixture of structured opportunities and informal connection, the Family Neighborhood creates a warm space for caregivers and their families to form peer circles and establish mutually supportive relationships. There will be a Family Picnic and Meetup on the patio and backyard of “Haus Home” on Friday evening, July 26, for Families and Youth Program participants. Throughout Sessions, the Family Neighborhood lounge will be a place to meet, relax, play, and connect with friends. Afternoons at Sessions this year are designed to be more open — with options in community (workshops, worship sharing) and also relaxation and self-care (naps!). During the afternoon time, children and families will find art supplies, books, a bin of Legos in the lounge — and water play outside — for creative play and a space to “chill out” together with adult supervision.

When my children were small (they are now in MSF and Young Friends), we started the Family Neighborhood to support one another and be in community at Sessions. (It’s also a great example of sharing among Friends — the idea is adapted from what New England YM does at their Sessions.) Families could leave notes for each other and plan to meet for meals. Parents could share kid watching and be able to attend a workshop (or take a nap!). We would put our kids to bed at night and spend time talking, laughing, gathering in a wider Quaker family community than many of us experience in our local meetings. Those friendships are still a core of my experience in PYM.

We are seeking Friends who are led to help make the Family Neighborhood a safe, welcoming & nurturing space. If you are interested in contributing to our community at Annual Sessions in this way, please contact me! mwennerbradley@pym.org and 215-241-7171

Melinda Wenner Bradley, Youth Religious Life Coordinator

Childcare is a Priority

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Our wider yearly meeting community is made of many local meetings and worship groups across Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. We value the gifts, leadings, and ministry of everyone of every stripe! This includes the families and parents among us and their children.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting therefore commits to offering childcare as much as we are able at committee meetings, PYM-sponsored events, and even quarterly-meeting-sponsored events. By making childcare consistently available with no requirement for pre-registration, the hope is that families, parents, and children will feel they are welcomed to participate to whatever extent sparks joy!

We hope you’ll take a look at our how to guides section of the PYM website, especially the page for arranging childcare.

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