Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

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Friends Council on Education’s 90th Anniversary

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The Friends Council on Education (FCE) is celebrating its 90th Anniversary with events over a twelve-month period, from April 2021 to April 2022. The two founders Hadassah and Morris Leeds are pictured above.

Friends Council launched the celebration in April during their spring annual meeting. Their QuakerEd Talk series is a continuation of the commemoration. Throughout the year FCE is lifting up the voices of national leaders and individuals who have been influenced by Quaker education.  This exploration of the important issues of our time and the future of Quaker education has broad appeal and is open to all Friends, Friends educators, and members of the broader community.

[Read more…] about Friends Council on Education’s 90th Anniversary

Assist Afghan Refugee Resettlement

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PYM Quaker communities and individuals have asked how to help!

The recent events in Afghanistan have led to a dramatic uptick in the number of refugees who will need resettlement — a number that has reached crisis levels and requires unprecedented response.

Many meetings have contacted PYM for information about how they can collaborate with churches and communities to help. Resources and a video can be found below. [Read more…] about Assist Afghan Refugee Resettlement

Pastoral Care Resources for Individuals and Emergency Grants for Monthly Meetings

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The Hurricane Ida Storm damaged meeting properties and placed many Friends in our PYM Community in precarious situations. While no injuries have been reported, many meetings sustained multiple tree losses, flooding, and significant building damage.  A member of Plymouth Friends experienced damage to her home.  Upper Dublin Meeting had many trees fall in their driveway and burial grounds, with estimated damages to the meetinghouse and property of $60,000.  As of this date, many are involved in cleaning up in the areas devastated by the storm’s tornados and floods. [Read more…] about Pastoral Care Resources for Individuals and Emergency Grants for Monthly Meetings

Interview with Zachary Dutton: Love is What Allows Us to Let God Lead Us

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Zachary Dutton has been PYM’s Associate Secretary for Program and Religious Life since September 1, 2014. In these seven years he has been a leader on PYM staff. He also stewarded implementation of our seven strategic directions, and grappled with how best to meet a complex set of community needs with smaller staffing footprints. Overall, Zachary has been a facilitator of change and has focused attention on new issues.

[Read more…] about Interview with Zachary Dutton: Love is What Allows Us to Let God Lead Us

Minute of Thanks from Millville Monthly Meeting

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In March 2021, Millville Monthly Meeting received a grant from the Quaker Buildings & Programs granting group to address pressing issues with their historic meetinghouse. While not a requirement, grant recipients from time to time reach out to express their appreciation for support they have received. There are many difficult aspects of grantmaking, nothing more so than having to make hard decisions with limited funds available. Getting to celebrate successful projects like this one is a joy. PYM’s grantmaking is a community process; it’s PYM members that choose to serve on granting groups that enables PYM to continue to make grants on behalf of everyone in the yearly meeting. [Read more…] about Minute of Thanks from Millville Monthly Meeting

PYM Grants for Family Planning

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PYM’s Natalie Clifford Barney Fund provides grants to organizations providing family planning, specifically planned parenthood and birth control. Over the course of winter 2021, members of the Quaker Buildings & Programs granting group met several times to discern an impactful use of the funds today.

[Read more…] about PYM Grants for Family Planning

Building the Quaker Community We Want to Be

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The Youth Programs theme for the coming year, “Building the Quaker community we want to be,” is inspired by the hope that local meetings will consider the invitation from our Youth Programs to collaborate and use this theme in some way in your ministry with children and youth. Shared below are specific curriculum resources to support interest in thematic planning between our circles of spiritual community. [Read more…] about Building the Quaker Community We Want to Be

News from Glenthorne: A Quaker Guest House in England

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Terry Winterton is Friend in Residence at Glenthorne Guest House in the Lake District, England. He sent this update on Glenthorne’s reopening.

Every other year Friends Council on Education convenes a pilgrimage to “George Fox and Margaret Fell country” where Quakerism began. Friends stay at Glenthorne and enjoy the charm of Grasmere while they learn about Quaker history. An English guest house and Quaker center (a little like Pendle Hill) Glenthorne is a pleasure to stay at. It sits in the midst of mountains, in a Harry Potter like village, surrounded by walking trails, mountains and tarns (mountain lakes). [Read more…] about News from Glenthorne: A Quaker Guest House in England

Norval Reece: Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and Other Mountains (Like the Pandemic)

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With many thanks to Norval Reece of Newtown Monthly Meeting who wrote the following piece about his experience climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro following a Quaker assignment in India. Norval was at the Friends Centre in Delhi, sponsored by the AFSC and British Friends Service Council. He is a member of Newtown Meeting and previously published a version of this story in the Courier Times of Bucks County (PA).  

[Read more…] about Norval Reece: Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and Other Mountains (Like the Pandemic)

Merion Member Charles E. Hires: a Manufacturer of Root Beer

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The story below was previously published in the Merion Friends Meeting June 2021 Newsletter.  The article was written by Janet Frazer. We publish it here with thanks to Janet and Merion meeting. 

Charles E. Hires was a pharmacist, an active member of Merion Meeting in the early twentieth century and an amateur historian.

Hires started his root beer business in the 1870s, at a time when beer or hard cider was the typical drink at mealtime and alcohol consumption was increasing rapidly (it expanded more than five times over the last 35 years of the nineteenth century). Taverns/saloons were important venues for social and political gatherings and there were more of these institutions than churches, schools, libraries, hospitals, parks and theaters combined. At about the same time that drinking was increasing, the temperance movement took off for the second time, often calling for equal rights for women as well as reduced alcohol consumption. Under its well-known president, Frances Willard, the WCTU sponsored parades, speeches and demonstrations. The end of the 19th century witnessed both more drinking and more protests against it. [Read more…] about Merion Member Charles E. Hires: a Manufacturer of Root Beer

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