Newtown Meeting New Phone Number
Doylestown Friends Peace Committee
Meetinghouse Needs Volunteers to Welcome Tourists
American Friends Service Committee Donations
Chandler Hall Worship Services Organizers
Friends Committee on National Legislation Washington Newsletter.
The Emerging Majority - Progressive American Radio
Snippets of News from the Quarter and Other Places
One-Day Quaker Couple Enrichment Retreat
Meeting for Worship is at Pennswood Village
Penndel Food Pantries in Dire Need
AUGUST 2003 |
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8 |
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Concert & Singalong with Annie and Peter Blood-Patterson at Pendle Hill 1-600-566-4507 |
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9 |
Sat |
9-3pm |
Annual Gathering of Oversight Committee Members at Uwchlan Monthly Meeting. |
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13 |
Wed |
7:30 |
Nonviolent Peaceforce Affinity Group meets at Doylestown United Methodist Church. |
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13-17 |
Wed-Sun |
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Grange Fair at Middletown Grange. |
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14 |
Thurs |
7:30 |
BQM Oversight Committee at Buckingham Meeting. |
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15 |
Fri |
6:30 |
Worship and Ministry will be at Falls Meeting. Bring a dish to share. |
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17 |
Sun |
9-3 |
Bucks Quarterly Meeting at Wrightstown Meeting. |
Looking Ahead |
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Sept 8 1:30pm
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Chandler Hall Auxiliary Meeting at Makefield Meeting |
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Sept 20 11-4 |
4th Annual Peace Fair at Buckingham Meeting & Buckingham Friends School. |
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Sept 20
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Mule barge ride to benefit Friends Home and Village, New Hope, PA |
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Sept 27 |
Horsham Meeting celebrates the 200th Anniversary of the Meetinghouse this year. |
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Oct 4 |
A One-Day Quaker Couples Enrichment Retreat at Buckingham Meeting. Deadline Sept 12. |
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Oct 19 |
Kathy Kelly and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton will speak about Iraq at George School. |
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Dec 27, 2003 - Jan 1, 2004 |
Young Friends (14-20) YouthQuake Estes Park, Colorado. Info: 215-241-7222. |
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215-968-1655.
The members of Newtown Friends Meeting, Newtown, PA, at their Meeting for Worship and Business, July 2, 2003, adopted a "minute" or position statement opposing legalizing slot machine gambling in Pennsylvania.
Slot machines at Pennsylvania racetracks is a key feature of Governor Ed Rendell's plan to increase funding for education and reduce the dependence of public schools on local real estate taxes in the Commonwealth.
The Friends statement, released by Meeting Clerk Bill Heinemann of Newtown, said: "Public debate in Pennsylvania on the subject of slot machine gambling at racetracks is too much focused on economic issues. While we support creative ways to increase funding to education and lower property taxes, we feel that the cost to our community will be to high."
Bucks County, home to Philadelphia Park, will suffer more than most communities the ills associated with gambling. The people who are least able to afford the loss of money are often the most susceptible to gambling, and slot machine gambling, and slot machine gambling is thought to be the most addictive form. Older citizens and families with children in our local community are likely to suffer substantial losses. If the income from slot machine gambling will be large enough to make a difference in the state budget, individual citizens will have lost a lot of money. A community is built on working together to solve problems. Gambling does not solve problems for either individuals or the community but brings problems to us all.
Looking for something different to do during the dog days of summer? This is evening of live music, shade-grown coffee, and friends. Relax with your friends while listening to local musicians. Bring your own coffee mug. Bring a blanket or lawn chair, as we'll be outside, weather permitting. Date: Aug 16, Sat, 7-9pm. Fee: $5.00/adult. Pre-register by August 11th. Also, tickets available at the door.
Friends General Conference
QuakerBooks of FGC is a full service bookstore. You can order any book from FGC by phone, mail, e-mail or directly from the website. Items in the catalog and on the web are almost always in stock and are shipped within 24 hours. Also, you can order any book in print and many out of print and they will be sent to you in 2-3 weeks. There is a button on the homepage that allows you to special order books directly from the FGC website, http://www.quakerbooks.org/ or order by phone or email. Currently most orders are shipped out within one business day of the time we receive your order. Info: 1-800-966-4556.
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.
The committee is planning the following in Doylestown for Wed, Aug 6 (Hiroshima Day). Paper cranes will be made in Meeting on the three previous Sundays, and will be handed out on various corners in Doylestown from 6:30-7:30pm. The initial meeting place will be at the corner of State & Main. Last year there was a similar event which was very successful. Afterwards a PBS video made in 1995 featuring Peter Jennings on the reasons for dropping the bomb on Hiroshima will be shown at the Doylestown Meetinghouse. In view of the current policies on nuclear weapons it seems that information on these events should be spread as widely as possible throughout the area.
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.
Please join us if you can. A group of us with similar concerns are welcoming others to join us for an evening of peace related conversation. All are welcome to bring your hand crafts, your bills to pay - anything you would normally do with your hands on a Tuesday evening - or just spend the time with us, dialoguing about ways to direct our common energies toward our community, and the world at 7pm. Childcare is available. Friends will meet on the second Tuesday of each month at Quakertown Friends Meeting, Rt 579 & White Bridge Road, Quakertown, NJ 08868. Call for directions: 1-908-537-2719
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.
Horsham Meeting is celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Meetinghouse this year. On Sept 27th the Meeting will be having a "Country Fair". We are doing this as Outreach and also to help the Quaker School at Horsham raise funds for the new school building they are planning to build. This is an invitation to members and attenders of your Meeting to rent space for the Flea Market part of the Country Fair. Cost of renting a table is $5 and 10 percent of money received for the sale of items to be donated to the School's Building Fund. Activities include singing group "Faith & Practice," tours of the Meetinghouse & more.
July -
Newtown
August - Solebury
September - Southampton
Water-borne illness continues to be Iraq's most lethal killer and is even more widespread after the recent war. The American Friends Service Committee is providing material and funds for water purification in Iraq. The AFSC delivered a portable water treatment plant into Iraq before the U.S. invasion, with another one waiting for safe passage to be delivered. AFSC is paying to have wells drilled and lined in the countryside to keep depleted uranium, a by-product of US weaponry, from leaching into the water. This is being done with the Islamic Relief Agency. This is ongoing and will be expanded to address the immense need for safer water. Contribution? Info: 215-241-7000.
Call 215-561-1700
Vita has Volunteer Opportunities: If you are over 21 and are able to approach others with a non-judgmental attitude, you can help a Bucks County adult in the community or the criminal justice system improve reading and writing skills, learn English as a Second Language (ESL), prepare for the GED, or learn decision making skills. No teaching or foreign language experience necessary. Volunteer tutor trainings, which begin in September, are interactive and provide the necessary information and techniques. To register, call 215-345-8322.
The War on the Budget: Undermining the Common Good.
As the military assault on Iraq got underway in March, President Bush and his allies in Congress were already advancing on another battle front: the federal budget. While everyone was distracted by the Iraq war, the Administration charged ahead with a budget plan that would build a global U.S. military colossus, and, at the same time, would ultimately force cutbacks for most of other discretionary federal programs. The costs of the expanding "war on terror," soaring military spending, and huge tax cuts, combined with a stagnant economy and the rapidly rising costs of Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, will likely plunge the federal government into a fiscal crisis in the years ahead, undermining its capacity to advance the common good.
Who is winning the budget battle?
So far, the President, his allies in Congress, military contractors, and the wealthiest households in the U.S. are winning big at everyone else's expense. The top 10 percent of households by income will receive almost 70 percent of the tax cut benefits, according to Citizens for Tax Justice. Middle income tax payers will have to assume a greater share of the tax burden, and the costs of future budget cuts will likely weigh most heavily on those who can least afford it - the disadvantaged, the unemployed and the working poor, the elderly, and future generations.
Be part of The Emerging Majority every Friday between 1 and 2 PM on WBNW am 1120 and WPLM am 1390 (Boston). Ben and Dennis Tafoya were members of Doylestown Meeting. Their new show aims to create an on air community for people who are passionate about economic democracy, peaceful foreign policy and human rights. Info: 1-617-953-2530.
BQM Singing Group will meet at Makefield Meeting on Wed, August 27 at 7:30 pm. Dave Kashoff will play the piano.
A One-Day Quaker Couple Enrichment Retreat led by Jacob and Gretta Stone. Date is Saturday, October 4, 2003, at Buckingham Friends Meeting. What Happens in a Quaker Couple Enrichment workshop? The Quaker Couple Enrichment program is a relaxed, enjoyable experience. It is not therapy, counseling, or an encounter group. It is for couples who have a serious commitment to each other and wish to strenghthen and deepen their relationship in a Quaker context. Quaker Couple Enrichment programs are open to any committed couple, regardless of age, marital status, gender orientation or membership in a Friends Meeting. This one-day retreat will introduce couples to key concepts, provide an opportunity to learn and practice skills, and point the way to other possibilities for enriching your relationship. Info: 215-345-0575 or email at mailto:jds210@voicenet.com
Meeting for Worship is at Pennswood Village every first day morning at 10:30 am at Barclay Lounge. We would like other Friends in Bucks Quarter to join with us in Worship.
Middletown Friends Meeting at Langhorne now has midweek Worship from 7-8 pm every Wednesday. The third Wednesday is Worship Sharing at 7pm.
Buckingham Peace Fair committee meets at Buckingham Meeting. Call Judy Kashoff at 215-766-7887 for info.
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 6pm-7pm every Tuesday.
Food pantry in dire need of donations for the Penndel Food Pantry which is part of the Bucks County Housing Group. Call 215-752-8422.
The Bucks County Housing Group also administers the Doylestown Food Pantry, call 215-345-1492.
In Upper Bucks the Milford Square Food Pantry, call 215-538-9383. Needed are personal cleaning supplies, canned fruit, vegetables, meats, pasta, peanut butter, etc. Donations: The Advance, 203 S State St at Stockberger or call 215-968-2244.