April 2003

Looking Ahead

Young Adult Leadership Development Program

Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County

Peace Pals

Fallsington Library Celebrates 200th Birthday!

Buckingham Friends School Auction

Share an Evening of Good Vibes & Good Victuals, featuring the music of “Faith and Practice.”

Peace Vigil

Meetinghouse Needs Volunteers to Welcome Tourists

Wrightstown Friends Nursery School Auction

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Women’s and Girls Gathering

Volleyball Fundraiser

Nova - Network of Victim Assistance

The Peace Center’s Wine Tasting & Feast for the Senses

Poster Contest!!

The Bridge Film Festival at Brooklyn Friends School

Friends General Conference

Candlelight Peace Vigil

Snippets of News from the Quarter and Other Places

Quarterly Meeting

Bucks County Folk Song Society Spring Concert

Buckingham Peace Fair Committee

Friends of Washington Crossing Historic Park

American Friends Service Committee

The BQM Singing Grou

Midweek Worship

Pendle Hill Chorus

Doylestown Silent Vigil for Peace

Chandler Hall Organizers

Contacting the Coordinator

 

April 2003

4

Fri

6 pm.

Share an Evening of Good Vibes & Good Victuals! at Yardley Meeting

5

Sat

6:30

Buckingham Friends School Auction at Prallsville Mills, Stockton, NJ.

9

Wed

7:30

BQM Outreach Committee meets at Pennswood Village.

10

Thur

7:30

BQM Oversight Committee meets at Buckingham Meeting.

11-12

 

8 pm

George School - Dance Eclectic - Pieces Choreographed by students and Barbara Kibler.

11-13

 

 

Women’s Gathering on Spiritual Leadings at Burlington Meeting.

12

Sat

2 pm

Jonathan Sprout will give a concert at Fallsington Meeting.

12

Sat

7-11

Volleyball Fundraiser at George School.

16

Wed

11:30

Reunion: The 50th Anniversary of the Not Just Clothing Sale.

17

Thurs

9-10

Not Just Clothing Sale at Buckingham School.

26

Sat

6 pm

Wrightstown Friends Nursery School Auction.

Looking Ahead

May 17

Joint gathering on “Communicating, Encouraging, and Responding to Monthly Meetings

June 5-8

Fellowship of Reconciliation Facilitator Training at Kirkridge Center.

June 28-July 5 A.

Friends General Conference will be held at the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown, P

 

Young Adult Leadership Development Program

This program is a service-learning and spiritual enrichment opportunity for young people ages 18-24, June 15-August 3, 2003, at Pendlehill. Projects include individual and group service project, meaningful physical work, workshops by respected Friends on a wide range of related topics, room, board and a modest stipend provided. Contact Julian O’Reilly, ext. 129 or 1-610-566-4507

Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County

Call for Holiday Card Designs

Your painting could be featured as the 2003 Habitat for Humanity holiday card. Artwork for this year’s holiday card will be chosen in July by committee vote. Bring your original artwork to the Habitat office at 340 N. Broad St., Doylestown, on or before June 30. We will not consider submissions received after the deadline. If your work is selected, it becomes property of Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County and will be recognized as an in-kind donation. Artists whose artwork is not chosen will be contacted by mail and may collect their submission at the Habitat office. Get out your paintbrushes and show us what you’ve got! Info: 215-348-2204.

Peace Pals

This is it! We’re going to the Roller Rink in Frenchtown! We will meet at Wrightstown Meeting and then go up to Frenchtown. The rink opens at 7 pm. Cost is $5 for each person. The rink is wonderful and there is music playing. The rink provides the rollerskates. If you have your own rollerskates, bring them. Snack bar available. Bring $.

The date is Sat, April 19, 2003. Peace Pals begins at 6:30 pm. Parents will be needed to drive to the rink. Please come on time! We will return at 9:00 pm, give or take. You won’t need a permission form if you were there previously. If you’re coming for the first time, don’t forget to have your parent fill out the permission form.

Fallsington Library Celebrates 200th Birthday!

Jonathan Sprout, Bucks County’s own nationally acclaimed children’s singer-songwriter, will perform a concert at Fallsington Friends Meetinghouse on Saturday, April 12 at 2 pm. All proceeds from the concert will benefit the Fallsington Library Building Fund. Tickets are available at the Fallsington Library by calling 215-295-4449. Jonathan Sprout who is donating his services, has performed more than 3,500 children’s concerts across the United States during the twenty-three years he has lived in the Yardley-Morrisville area. Cost is $6 for adults and $4 for children. If not sold out, tickets will be available at the door. Seating is first come, first served.

Buckingham Friends School Auction

The auction will be at Prallsville Mills, Stockton, New Jersey. Many great and unique items for your bidding pleasure will be available. Some examples are sheep shearing lessons, trips, dinners, creative baskets, kids arts and crafts. Info: call 215-794-7491.

Share an Evening of Good Vibes & Good Victuals, featuring the music of “Faith and Practice.”

On April 4th, Yardley Meeting and Middleton Meeting invite you to share an evening of potluck supper at 6 pm. Music starts at 6:45 pm. The location is Yardley Friends Meetinghouse. Bring a covered dish or dessert to share. Drinks will be provided. “Faith and Practice” music includes blue grass, gospel, pop, blues, and all kinds of folk music. Info: 215-295-2545.

Peace Vigil

The Peace Vigil at the Liberty Bell that began in 1999 continues each First Day afternoon between 4-5 pm. This is a meeting for worship in the manner of Friends that lasts for an hour. Usually, it’s a handful of people. Last week, with a concerted effort, Friends from three states swelled the ranks to 60. John Andres Gallery, of Chestnut Hill Meeting articulates that this vigil is “for prayer, and for peace.” His reflections appear in Pendle Hill Pamphlet #358: Reflections from a Prayer Vigil for Peace.

Meetinghouse Needs Volunteers to Welcome Tourists

Philadelphia’s new Constitution Center will open July 4, 2003. We can only guess the impact it will have on the number of visitors to the Fourth and Arch Street Meetinghouse. We need you to help as volunteer guides.

Our Quaker heritage is a gift from the past that the tourists want to experience and explore. They treasure what it stands for: A way of life based on religious freedom, the founding of a nation, etc.

Tour guides and school groups are finding the Arch Street Meeting House a significant addition to their tour of Philadelphia. They don’t have to wait in long lines or go through metal detectors. They get to sit down and share in the dialogue. Last spring over 25,000 visitors came to the meetinghouse (over 1,000 on one day!).

he Quaker message needs to be told and Arch Street Visitors Program needs your help to do it. Call Sandy Sudofsky at 215-627-2667.

 Wrightstown Friends Nursery School Auction

This auction will be held at Wrightstown Friends Meeting on Saturday, April 26th, beginning at 6 pm. First will be a Silent Auction with items ranging from beautiful flowering plants, to handmade goods, kitchenware to gift baskets. The Live Auction follows with larger items available. We invite everyone to come and enjoy the evening with us to support the Wrightstown Friends Nursery School. We also need donations of goods and services. If you have a business, a skill, or just a nice lamp you don’t need anymore, we can use it! Call 215-968-3235.

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Taking Freedom for Granted?

Questions and Answers about the USA Patriot Act

Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. After passage of the USA Patriot Act, the Bush Administration has issued numerous other orders enhancing its powers to wage the “war on terrorism” with disregard for legislative or judicial oversight.

Under this rubric, the Administration’s encroachments on civil liberties can be continued forever. Under this structure Americans have no assurance that exercise of free speech of political dissent will not become prohibited conduct. What is FCNL doing? Actively participating in a coalition devoted to preserving and restoring privacy, resistance to a national I.D. card, to the world-wide data-mining system being developed by a Pentagon agency, to programs in which citizens would be asked to spy on other citizens. Info: 1-202-547-6000.

Women’s and Girls Gathering

This group annual retreat will be April 11-13, at Burlington Conference Center, NJ. The program is “Seeking Peace Inside and Out.” Included is Friday night Sweat Lodge, dancing, drumming, worship-sharing, and focus on Young Women’s Spiritual Leadings. For more info: mailto:melanied@pym.org or 215-241-7171.

Volleyball Fundraiser

2003 marks the twelfth consecutive year that George School students have been traveling to Managua, Nicaragua to serve our sister school, el Centro Educativo Nicaraguita. What began as a small private pre-school in Principal Rafaela Torres Ugarte’s own home has blossomed into a K-12 school housed in two buildings in Rafaela’s working class Managuan neighborhood. Many recent graduates of la Nicaraguita are now university students. We at George School can be proud of the role we have played in helping our sister school to flourish over the years as well. Every year we participate in a volleyball fundraiser for the benefit of La Nicaraguita. A dollar goes a long way in Nicaragua. It costs $12 a month for a student to attend La Nicaraguita. Quite a contrast to the average $3,000 a month at George School student pays! Consider making a tax deductible contribution to La Nicaraguita before our volleyball event on Saturday, April 12th. You can make your checks payable to “George School Nicaragua Fundraiser.” Thanks for your support! Molly Stephenson.

Nova - Network of Victim Assistance

Nova is seeking volunteers. You can help by being a hotline volunteer to support victims 24 hours a day. You can be a supervised visitation monitor to provide safety, security and support to children who are visiting with their non-custodial parent in a group setting. You can be an emergency room on-call volunteer to provide face-to-face support to victims of serious crime in area hospital emergency rooms. These issues are serious. Training is provided. Call Lydia at 215-348-5664.

The Peace Center’s Wine Tasting & Feast for the Senses

This event will be at Michener Art Museum on April 27th, from 4 to 7 pm. Hors D’oeuvres and desserts are provided by local caterers and restaurants. Taste wines selected and presented by a local wine connoisseur. Private tours of the galleries are also conducted. Reservations are required and available. Cost is $40 for Peace Center members and $45 for non-members. RSVP by April 17. Info: 215-750-7220. 

Poster Contest!!

Calling all artists, young and old! Get out your paints, pencils, crayons and markers. The Friends Workcamp Program is sponsoring a poster contest. Your artwork may become a tee shirt, bumper sticker or part of an art show. Create a two dimensional (flat) work of art that depicts the workcamp experience. Entries must be at least 8-1/2 by 11 inches. Entries must include on the back: name of artist, address, phone number, and Meeting affiliation (or “former workcamp participant”). There will be two first prizes of $100 each! One will be for contestants age 0-15, and for others 16-126. Send entries to: Poster Contest, Friends Workcamps, 1515 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102. Deadline is Friday, April, 2003. Info: call Judy Van Hoy at 215-241-7236 or mailto:JudyV@pym.org.

The Bridge Film Festival at Brooklyn Friends School

The Festival, a forum and competition open to middle and upper school students in Quaker schools worldwide. The festival is tied to Quaker values and Quaker school studies of integrity, non-violence, social conscience, and political justice. On Sat, May 11 at 6:30 pm, the festival will screen the 10 finalist films. Public invited. Tickets are $5. http://www.brooklynfriends.org/about/news-bridge5.html

Friends General Conference

June 28-July 5, 2003. The theme is “Coming to Peace.” Info: 215-561-1700 or http://www.fgcquaker.org/gathering

 

Candlelight Peace Vigil

The local peace Vigil was at State & Main Street in Doylestown on Sunday, March 16th. Everyone was given a candle. There was no noise. Even the cars moved slowly. Only one person was against this, and he finally moved on. Four hundred and fifty people were there! Info: http://www.globalvigil.org/

 

Snippets of News from the Quarter and Other Places

Quarterly Meeting

The next Quarterly Meeting will be at Southampton on May 18, 2003. Worship and Ministry will be on May 16, 2003, at Doylestown Meeting. More information coming up!

Bucks County Folk Song Society Spring Concert

Bucks County Folk Song Society Spring Concert will be at Newtown Presbyterian Church at Washington & Chancellor Sts. The date is April 26, 2003 at 7:30 pm. Lisa Wildman (Doylestown) will play (flute) folk music. Free will offering.

Buckingham Peace Fair Committee

Buckingham Peace Fair committee meets at Buckingham Meeting in April. Call Judy Kashoff at 215-766-7887 for info.

Friends of Washington Crossing Historic Park

The organization Friends of Washington Crossing Historic Park is looking for volunteers to man their gift shop. The park is open 9 am-5 pm and volunteers for various shifts are needed. Info: Karen Horvath at 215-493-4076.

American Friends Service Committee

American Friends Service Committee has a wealth of experience and knowledge regarding international development, economic justice, reconciliation, peacebuilding, prison reform, disaster relief and more. Call AFSC to ask about a program which would be good for your Meeting. For information: 215-241-7056.

The BQM Singing Grou

The BQM Singing Group will meet at Makefield Meeting on Wednesday, April 30th, at 7:30 pm. Bring a friend who sings! The Singing Group has been on-going for several years now, thanks to Jonathan Snipes.

Midweek Worship

Middletown Friends Meeting now has midweek Worship from 7-8 pm every Wednesday. The third Wednesday is Worship Sharing at 7 pm.

Pendle Hill Chorus

If you like to sing, join the Pendle Hill Chorus. It starts on Wed April 2, 7:30-9 pm. Performance is Wed, June 4. Schubert’s Mass in G major, and other short pieces. Info: call Jackie Coren, (George School), director, at 215-843-5254.

 

Doylestown Silent Vigil for Peace

Doylestown Meeting Friends continue their Silent Vigil for Peace at the corner of State & Main Streets, and invite members from other Meetings to participate as well. The Meeting has added the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons to the Peace Vigil Message. The Vigil is from 6 pm-7 pm every Tuesday.

Chandler Hall Organizers

 

April - Falls  
May - Makefield  
June - Middletown    

 

Contacting the Coordinator

 

Seekers clicking this link