Beverly Ward serves as the co-clerk of Quaker Earthcare Witness's UN Working Group and as SEYM Secretary for Earthcare. She is a member and past clerk of Tampa Monthly Meeting and a member of the SEYM Earthcare Committee. Beverly has taught several courses at the University of South Florida where she also worked as a faculty member in a research center. Her related experience includes conducting research and providing technical assistance to communities, local state and federal agencies, including environmental and social justice. Among her publications and papers is Saving Ourselves: The Need For Knowledge Sharing and Other Technology Transfer Among the Islands and Nation-States of the American Mediterranean in Response to Climate Change and Other Extreme Events. She is a past member of the several National Academies of Science Transportation Research Board (TRB) committees and currently is the research coordinator for the TRB Environmental Justice Issues in Transportation Committee.

Songwriter, Folksinger, Storyteller, Multi-Instrumentalist, and Quaker John McCutcheon will be performing at Gathering for our Wednesday night all-ages concert. John's apprenticeship to many of the legendary figures of Appalachian music imbedded a love of not only home-made music, but a sense of community and rootedness. The result is music...whether traditional or from his huge catalog of original songs...with the profound mark of place, family, and strength. His commitment to grassroots political organizations has put him on the front lines of many of the issues important to communities and workers. It is in live performance that John feels most at home. People of every generation and background seem to feel at home in a concert hall when John McCutcheon takes the stage, with what critics describe as "little feats of magic," "breathtaking in their ease and grace...," and "like a conversation with an illuminating old friend."