May 2003

Looking Ahead

Pendle Hill Publications and Bookstore

PYM Support & Outreach Committee

Peace Pals Fun & Games Night

Newtown Friends School Welcomes a New Religious Life Coordinator

30th Annual Mercer Museum Folk Fest

Alaska Friends Conference Youth Exchange

Peace Vigil

Animal Tales with the Garden State Storytellers League

Meetinghouse Needs Volunteers to Welcome Tourists

Young Adult Leadership Development Program

Newtown Welcome Day

Communicating, Encouraging, and Responding to Monthly Meetings.

Quaker Eco-Witness

Quaker “Q.”

The Quaker School at Horsham

Wrightstown Meeting Spring Fair

Bucks County Choral Society Concert

Snippets of News from the Quarter and Other Places

BQM Worship and Ministry

Buckingham Peace Fair Committee

American Friends Service Committee Donations

Doylestown Parade on Memorial Day

Midweek Worship

Fallsington Friends Meeting Yard and Bake Sale

Camp Onas

Silent Vigil for Peace

Chandler Hall Worship Services

Contact the Coordinator

 

 

May 2003

3

Sat

9 AM

Budget and Nominating will be at Makefield Meeting

 Sun

2-4 PM

Animal Tales with the Garden State Storytellers League

2-4

Fri - Sun

 

The Cost of Racial Justice at Arch Street Meetinghouse

8

 Thurs

7:30

BQM Oversight Committee meets at Buckingham Meeting

9

Fri

8 PM

Concert at Our Lady of Czestochowa.  Ticket info: 215-598-6142

9 or 10

 

8 PM

George School Alumni Weekend.  Drama: Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid, Walton Center

10 

Sat

9 AM-4 PM

Wrightstown Meeting’s Spring Fair

10-11

Sat-Sun

 

30th Annual Mercer Museum Folk Fest

16

Fri

 6 PM

Worship and Ministry will meet at Doylestown Meeting.  Bring a dish to share.

17

 Sat

9:30 AM

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

17

Sat

 

Newtown Welcome Day on State Street

18

Sun

9-3:30

Bucks Quarterly Meeting will be at Southampton Meeting.

21

Wed

 7:30

Central Bucks Affinity Group meets at Doylestown United Methodist Church.

Looking Ahead

June 1

PYM Support & Outreach Committee at Quakertown, NJ

June 5-8

Fellowship of Reconciliation Facilitator Training at Kirkridge Center

June 28-July 5

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

                                      

Pendle Hill Publications and Bookstore

Check these out!  Call 1-610-566-4507

PYM Support & Outreach Committee

The program will be at Quakertown Meeting, NJ. It starts with Worship, followed by potluck supper, and business meeting.  Date is Sunday, June 1st, 11:30 AM. For more info: mailto:Dwmeaker@aol.com

Peace Pals Fun & Games Night

Come join us for a night of games and laughter.  We’ll start off with a crazy traveler relay followed by charades.  Then there will be time for Scrabble, Mancala, Quiddler, or some other game of your choice as well as a turn at churning the homemade ice cream.  Bring a favorite game, plus three of the following: hat or other headgear, football helmet, top hat, etc.  Also, a scarf or shawl, a shirt or jacket, a pair of pants or a skirt, a pair of gloves, a pair of shoes or boots or other footwear.  Please bring the largest size possible or a “one size fits all” size. The  date is Sat, May 17, 2003. Peace Pals begins at 7 PM.  Parent pickup is 9 PM.  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. 

Newtown Friends School Welcomes a New Religious Life Coordinator

Christie Duncan-Tessmer has recently joined the staff in the newly-created position of Religious Life Coordinator.  The need to create this position emerged as a result of the School’s strategic planning process.

30th Annual Mercer Museum Folk Fest

Traditional artisans make the skills and trades of early America come to life at the 30th annual Folk Fest.  Hours are 10 AM-6 PM Saturday, and 10 AM-5 PM Sunday.  Enjoy a fun day for the entire family with all-day live entertainment, costumed craft demonstrations, militia encampment, shopping and picnic foods. Admission for adults $8, $6 for youth (ages 6-17), free for children under age 6 and $20 for families.  Info: 215-345-0210.

Alaska Friends Conference Youth Exchange

The purpose of the exchange is for Young Friends to meet Young Friends from another Yearly Meeting, to learn about varying cultures and history, and to continue to build the Quaker Young Friends community begun in Alaska during the summer of 2002.  We will have fun as we make new friends, build on previous friendships, & meet others.

The exchange will begin on July 5.  Places to go include: Harpers Ferry, Adelphi, Maryland Mtg, Washington DC, Holocaust Museum, Smithsonian, & AFSC., workcamp in Philadelphia, New York City, Ocean, Cape Henlopen, and more.  Info: 1-610-468-6420.

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.

Animal Tales with the Garden State Storytellers League

Listen as members of the Garden State Storytellers League spin tales about our animal friends, and then visit the new exhibit, “Animals on the Loose,” for hands-on activities, from 2-4 PM, at the Mercer Museum.  Free with museum admission.  This is for children.  Date is May 4, 2003.

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!).

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

Young Adult Leadership Development Program

This program is a service-learning and spritual enrichment opportunity for young people ages 18-24, June 15 - August 3, 2003, at Pendle Hill.  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.

Newtown Welcome Day

Newtown will be alive with the sounds of music and laughter on Saturday, May 17th, when 120 members of the Newtown Business and Professional Association proudly sponsor the fourth annual Newtown Welcome Day,  promoted as the “street fair with flare.”  Activities include pony rides for children, entertainment with master of ceremonies, Will Rhodin of the Wilverines, 30 juried artists exhibiting their talent from watercolors, wood burning, oil painting, jewelry and country crafts. Rain date 18.

 

Communicating, Encouraging, and Responding to Monthly Meetings.

Standing Committees, Working Group Clerks, Regional Coordinators, and other interested people will want to be there!  Friends will meet at Arch Street and gather together at 9:30 AM.

Working with those groups under our care.

What are the criteria, methods and problems in laying down or creating working groups?  Is the establishing of budgets with working groups become easier?  Use of liaisons, what works and doesn’t work?  Communications, to and from.  What works?  Discernment, supervision.  What goes on?

Communicating, encouraging, and responding to Monthly Meetings.  What methods have been tried?  What methods have been successful?  Do Monthly Meetings and the PYM membership know and understand what you do?  To what extent is your work reliant on or respond to the needs of our members?

Quaker Eco-Witness

QEW and Phildelphia Yearly Meeting’s Environmental Working Group are beginning to promote an on-going Consultation within the Society of Friends to foster increased discernment and witness about economic policy in an ecological context.  In order to energize and focus the Consultation, there will be a Gathering of invited Friends at Pendle Hill from June 13-15, 2003. Call Ed Dreby at 1-609 261-8190 or Pendle Hill at 1-800-742-3150, ext 2.

Quaker “Q.”

Bucks Quarterly Outreach Committee has developed a Beautiful Silver Charm/Pendant/Pin in the form of a Quaker “Q.”

Our hope is that if someone who is not a Quaker sees it, while you are wearing it, and asks you about it, you can then start a conversation about Quakerism.  The cost is $45.00 for each.

Name:___________________________________________

Meeting:_________________________________________

Address:_________________________________________

Phone:___________________________________________

Number ordered ($45.00 for each): Charm___Pin__          

Forward all orders to Kellie Schlussel-Edens

443 Osborne Ave.  Morrisville, PA 19067

Info: call 215-428-0196 or mailto:visualdiva@yahoo.com

The Quaker School at Horsham

The students at the Quaker School at Horsham held a skate-a-thon in the month of February to raise money to support Iraqi refugees.  The students raised over $1400 that will be used to purchase such items as soap, band aids, toothbrushes, and shampoo for health kits for displaced Iraqis, an AFSC project.  This is the third annual student skate-a-thon event.  Proceeds from previous events went to help Afghani refugees and victims of earthquakes in India and El Salvador.

Wrightstown Meeting Spring Fair

Wrightstown Meeting is once again holding its annual Spring Fair on Sat, May 10th, from 9 AM-4 PM.  Artisans and Crafters will be displaying and selling their goods as well as vendors with collectables.  Spring plants in time for Mother’s Day.  Stop by the bake goods table for some homemade delights.  Activities and Crafts available for children; lots of food and drinks for everyone.  The Bucks County Folk Song Society will be providing live entertainment during the lunchtime hours.

Bucks County Choral Society Concert

The concert is on May 9th, 8 PM, at Our Lady of  Czestochowa National Shrine in Doylestown.  Acclaimed organist Ann Elise Smoot will be featured in a program of French masterworks for chorus, organ, and brass.  The choir sings one of the most transcendent works in Maurice Durufle beloved “Requiem.”  Ticket Info: 215-598-6142.

Snippets of News from the Quarter and Other Places

BQM Worship and Ministry

BQM Worship and Ministry will meet at Doylestown Meeting at 6:00 PM.  Please bring a covered dish to share.  Beverages will be provided.  Afterward, there will be Worship and a speaker.  Info: Gretta Stone, 215-345-0575. 

Buckingham Peace Fair Committee

Buckingham Peace Fair committee meets at Buckingham Meeting in May.  The Peace Fair planning Committee always welcomes interested friends.  All are welcome.  Call Judy Kashoff at 215-766-7887 for info.  

American Friends Service Committee Donations

Needed: 4 bars of soap, 1 plastic bottle of shampoo (in plastic bag), 1 tube of toothpaste, 4 adult-size toothbrushes (in packaging), 1 hairbrush, 1 wide-tooth comb, 1 finger nail clipper, 1 box of adhesive bandages (minimum 40, assorted preferred).  Donors are encouraged to include $5 for each kit to help pay shipping costs.  Send to AFSC, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102-1479.

Doylestown Parade on Memorial Day

Plumstead Meeting will walk with a Peace banner in the Doylestown Parade.  Children and adults from everywhere are invited to walk with Plumstead Meeting.  Other Peace Churches will also be there. Time: 9:30 AM. 

Midweek Worship

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

Fallsington Friends Meeting Yard and Bake Sale

Fallsington Friends Meeting is having a yard sale & a bake sale on Saturday, May 10th, from 8 AM ‘til noon, rain or shine.  This is your chance to get a great cake or pie or cookies!  Yard sale items range from the mundane to the extraordinary.

Camp Onas

Camp Onas is looking for some Boys.  Camp Onas, the Quaker camp in Bucks County has a few spots available for boys in the first session, July 22-July 5.  Register know for a fun-filled two weeks session.  Call Sue at 1-610-847-5858.  Don’t delay.  These spots will go fast.

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. The BQM Singing Group

The BQM Singing Group will meet at Makefield Meeting on Wednesday, May 29th, at 7:30  PM. 

Chandler Hall Worship Services

May - Makefield  
June - Middletown  
August - Newtown      

Contact the Coordinator