Friends General Conference shares the following yearly meeting announcements that may be of interest to Friends in the United States and Canada.

Worship & Action on the Crisis in Palestine and Israel

Calling for Ceasefire: Israel-Palestine Briefing is today, October 25, at 6:30 p.m. (Eastern). This program is sponsored by Friends Committee on National Legislation. As the crisis in Israel and Palestine deepens following the attack by Hamas on Israel and Israel’s retaliatory violence, our voices are needed.

Meeting for Worship with Attention to Palestine and Israel is Friday, October 27 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Eastern). This is a time for Friends to come together in worship and solidarity over the tragic events and lives lost as a result of ongoing conflict. This program is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. Friends are encouraged to share this invitation with their local meeting, churches and members of the community.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has created a Yearly Meeting response to the Israel-Gaza conflict. This includes resources such as “How to talk to children about the violence in Israel and Gaza” (from NPR) and a timeline of Quaker involvement in the Middle East. 

Baltimore Yearly Meeting

Trauma Healing Funds are available for BIPOC Friends to to pursue a healing path that speaks to you. A prerequisite to apply is to view a recording of the Global Majority Caucus’s Trauma Journey Workshop. Friends who receive BYM trauma healing funds commit to join a circle of BYM Global Majority Friends to process together how the healing methods they choose have worked for them.

Retreat: Registration is now open for the BYM Women’s Retreat 2023. The retreat will be on October 21 and the theme is “Hope for an Inclusive Future.” This retreat is open to all women and non-binary people who are comfortable in a space that centers women. Location: Friends Community School in College Park, Maryland.

Save the Date: Fall Interim Meeting for BYM will be held at York Friends Meeting on November 11.

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Calling for ceasefire: FCNL has joined other Quaker organizations and more than 70 Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Arab-American, and other groups in calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Witnessing such immense violence and suffering can feel paralyzing. And yet, we have power through our actions to let our lives speak and show the way of peace.

Downwinders and Cancer Radiation: By the end of this week, negotiators will decide whether a bipartisan provision to extend and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) will be included in the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). To push this across the finish line, see the FCNL website.

Job Opportunity: FCNL is hiring several staff positions, including an economic justice policy & advocacy manager and IT administrator.

Friends Peace Teams

The workshop Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change will be November 11 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. (Eastern). The workshop is appropriate for high school students and adults. This workshop is hosted by Towards Right Relationship with Native Peoples.

Friends World Committee for Consultation

Registrations are now open for the FWCC World Plenary. The dates are August 5-12, 2024. All yearly meetings associated with FWCC are invited to send nominees, as are nominees of partner groups.

Lake Erie Yearly Meeting

Spiritual Companioning: LEYM Friends who are interested in the practice of Spiritual Companioning will gather online. Friends next meet on November 19, 2023 from  3:00 pm – 4:30 pm (Eastern). If you currently have a concern you’re sitting with or working on and would welcome and enjoy support with this work, please consider joining LEYM friends. For more information, contact Barbara LeSage (North Columbus, barbaralesage [at] hotmail.com), Cassie Cammann (Ann Arbor, cassie.cammann [at] gmail.com), Mark Hoover (Ann Arbor, mhoover [at] umich.edu), or Joann Neuroth (Red Cedar, jneuroth [at] gmail.com).

New England Yearly Meeting

Job Opening: Teen and Outreach Ministries Coordinator. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis beginning October 30, 2023.

New York Yearly Meeting

Budget Discussion: November 5 at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern). This is an opportunity to hear someone give a 10-15 minute presentation about the yearly meeting’s upcoming budget, and then have time to discuss the budget and ask questions. Members of the Budget Development Committee are hosting the discussion. To attend, fill out the very simple Virtual Interest Group registration form. You’ll receive an email reminder a day or two before the event with Zoom links.

Affinity Group: The Caregivers and Caretaking ARCH meetup group is an open and ongoing support group for Friends who are involved in any kind of caretaking. The date is Nov. 14 from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Eastern), and this workshop is via Zoom.. ARCH Coordinators Marna Herrity and Martha Gurvich will share facilitation and hold the space for the group.

Fall Sessions for NYYM will be December 1-3. Friends gather to worship, conduct business, and form a community together. This event will be online.

White Accountability: The Center for the Study of White American Culture Workshop has a White Accountability and Organizing workshop coming up soon. There are three Sessions: Nov. 2, Nov. 9, and  Nov. 16, from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). This live, interactive workshop is intended to give anti-racists of all racial identities some basic knowledge about why accountability is important and putting accountability into practice. Click here for the full workshop description. Register here.

Northern Yearly Meeting

Fall Interim Session for Northern Yearly Meeting at Milwaukee Friends’ Meetinghouse is coming up. Interim Session will be Nov. 3-5. Session is held both on Zoom and in-person. The deadline to register for overnight housing has passed, but daytime visitors and Zoom visitors are welcome.  Please note that there is a new website to receive more information about Sessions. It will include agenda details and reports very soon. For the password to reach the session website, contact Shel Gross: shelgross3 [at] gmail.com.

Pendle Hill

Workshop: A Liberatory Clerking Workshop will be at Pendle Hill November 17-19.

New Year Events: Pendle Hill will hold three different events to celebrate the New Year: The Inner Life of Music with Karl Middleman, Open Heart Peaceful Mind with Valerie Brown, and Singing in the New Year with Annie Patterson. All three events will culminate in an alcohol-free New Year’s Eve celebration.

Spring Term: Spaces are available in the 2024 Spring Term. This is a 10-week residential study program on Pendle Hill’s beautiful 24-acre campus. On November 11, Pendle Hill hosts an info session for Friends to learn more.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Workshop: The “How to Lobby” workshop is Oct. 30 at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern). Alicia McBride of the Friends Committee on National Legislation shares about lobbying. What is its place within the world of political advocacy? Joining Alicia is Deb Hejl from Gwynedd Meeting. Deb is the PhYM representative to Friends Committee on National Legislation. Registration required.  For questions, please contact Cecilia Filauro: cfilauro [at] pym.org.

End of Quaker Cloud: The UK-based Quaker Meetings Network (QMN), began in 2018 to provide a centralized system for Quaker meetings to create beautiful, modern websites. As the era of the FGC Quaker Cloud comes to a close, Quaker Meetings Network offers solutions and a free trial for meetings seeking alternative solutions here in the States. See Resources for Meeting Websites, written by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, to learn more.

Conference: Quaker Religious Education Collaborative’s 2023 Annual Conference will be November 3-5, 2023. It includes both online and onsite components. Gather with your world-wide community of practice, made up of more than 700 Quaker religious educators on six continents. Check out the full schedule for the weekend.

Contact Info: PhYM reminds member meetings to please update your Local Meeting Information as well as your Individual/Family Contact Information. This helps PhYM know how to reach meetings and individuals in the future.

Piedmont Friends

Workshop: Join Durham Friends Meeting for a forum on Climate and Money: How to Stop Funding Fossil Fuels on November 2nd, 7:00 p.m. (Note: Friends may want to confirm the time zone in which this event is held.) Jennie Ratcliffe, the author of Nothing Lowly in the Universe: An Integral Approach to the Ecological Crisis will speak to the spiritual ground of our concern about the climate crisis. Dale Evarts, formerly of EPA’s climate and international group and currently active in climate activism, will cover practical tips on how individuals and congregations can divest our financial assets. This workshops will be held via Zoom.

Powell House

Winter Solstice at Powell House: December 21, 2023, 4-8 p.m. (Eastern). This event is online or in person. We’ll get outside, with additional time spent in worship, a creative activity, hearing a story, sharing and listening within our group.

New Year’s: Powell House will ring in the New Year with a feast at “Quaker midnight” preceded by activities planned by participants. Previous years’ offerings have included cookie making, energy work, enneagrams, musical collaborations, tai chi, Pilates, a clay workshop, and a walk to Dorson’s Rock, among others.

Quaker Earthcare Witness

Advocacy on Quakers and COP 28: Quaker Earthcare Witness is partnering with two people to discuss global climate change. One is Frank Granshaw, an observer delegate to UN climate events. The second speaker is Lindsey Fielder Cook, Representative for Human Impacts of Climate Change at the Quaker United Nations Office. This event is Nov 2 at 2:00 pm (Eastern). The event is held via Zoom. Learn about the 28th Conference of the Parties, also called COP. This conference is vital to our world’s effort to bring governments and society together to respond to climate change.

---

These updates came from yearly meeting newsletters to which FGC is subscribed. To share updates from your yearly meeting or Quaker organization, please click the button below.