YF

Friends-

There is a missing young Friend from Easton Monthly Meeting in upstate New York. Jaliek Rainwalker has been missing since November 1. If you have any information about his whereabouts, please contact his parents.

Invitation to apply to join the Delegation of Young People attending the Nobel Peace Summit in Rome

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has been invited to send 8 young people (ages 18-23) to participate in this year’s Nobel Peace Summit in Rome, December 13-15, 2007. The meeting’s theme this year is The Next Generation of Peacemakers. There will be sessions with the Nobel laureates and interactive sessions with students in Colleges and Universities in Rome. This year’s Summit will likely include the participation of the Dalai Lama, Mohammed Younis (Grameen Bank), President Gorbachev, Betty Williams, Mairead Maguire and Shirin Ebadi and others. The Organizations who have received the Nobel Peace Prize will also be represented.

AFSC is fortunate to have resources from a donor to pay the expenses for the 8 young people attending (except for shopping or other incidentals).

AngelinaI feel really lucky to be alive and in community with Quakers right now, because I can see the glimmers of a resurgence and growing vitality, particularly among young adult Friends. This is true of FGC — with the Youth Ministries Committee and flourishing AYF programs at Gathering — but also individual yearly meetings. My own yearly meeting, Philadelphia, has had a fairly active young adult Friend group for more than two years (admittedly reincarnated from a much longer history). The February conference at Burlington brought together a lot of young adult Friends who are doing similar work all over the country.

All of this growth and good work in mind, I want to put forward yet another way that I think young adult Friends can be (and in many cases already are) working to build sustainable community among ourselves and the greater community of Friends: by being involved, as young adult Friends, in high school Quaker communities as Friendly Presences (chaperones) and workshop leaders.