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Volume 32
Number 1 |
SPARK
15 Rutherford Place
New York, NY 10003 |
January 2001 |
SPARK (ISSN 00240591)
New York Yearly Meeting News
Published five times a year: January,
March, May, September, November
By New York Yearly Meeting,
Religious Society of Friends,
15 Rutherford Place
New York, NY 10003
212-673-5750
newyorkym@earthlink.net
Editorial Board: Publications Committee
Editor: Helen Garay Toppins
SPARK deadlines are the first of the month preceding the publication month.
Permission is granted to reprint
any article, provided Spark is acknowledged as the source.
New York
Yearly Meeting Staff
Paul Busby paul@nyym.org
Barbara Heizman
Helen Garay Toppins
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Representative Meeting met at Fifteenth Street Meeting House,
December 2-3, 2000, hosted by New York Quarterly Meeting. The roll call was
responded to by 151 Friends.
General Services
Mary Williams (Bulls Head-Oswego) presented the Treasurer's
report, which covered expenses through November 15 ($296,931) and income to
November 19 ($317,716).
For the Financial Services Committee, Stanley Zarowin
(Brooklyn) presented the 2001 budget. The figures for the transition fund had
been reduced to $20,000, staff travel was reduced to $4,000, and staff salaries
were increased to $83,000. After clarifications, the budget and regional shares
were approved. The following nominations were read and approved: to the
Committee on the Expenditure of the H.H. Mosher Fund, Norma Ellis, and to the
Religious Education Committee, Emma Fleck and Rick Townsend.
The following resignations were accepted: Ad Hoc Committee on
the Function of the Yearly Meeting, Ann Davidson (Farmington); Audit Committee,
Alice and Philip Gilbert (Manhasset); Disability Concerns Committee, Frederick
Dettmer (Purchase); FGC Representatives, Philip Gilbert (Manhasset) and Mary
Ellen Singsen (Scarsdale); Powell House, Johnathan Berry (Purchase); William
Penn House, Alice and Philip Gilbert (Manhasset); New Jersey Council of
Churches, Elizabeth and Lewis Hoskins (Shrewsbury); World Ministries Committee,
Elizabeth and Lewis Hoskins.
For the Personnel Committee, John Bishop (Saratoga) proposed
that staff appointments be for two year terms instead of one year. After
considerable discussion, it was approved that current and future staff
appointments would be for an indefinite term as long as the arrangement is
satisfactory to both the Yearly Meeting and staff. Three Friends stood aside.
Nurture
The Powell House youth directors, Michael Clark and Christine
DeRoller, were introduced by Julia Giordano (Fifteenth Street). They spoke
briefly about their first months at Powell House.
Miriam Swartz (Housatonic) and Thor Rodin (Ithaca) reported on
the FWCC Triennial in July 2000. Both spoke about the impact that worshiping and
working with a group of Friends from many parts of the world had on them.
Witness
Anita Paul (Schenectady) presented the Sharing Fund goal of
$79,450, which was accepted.
She reported that the coordinating committee, in cooperation
with AFSC, will be mailing information to meetings about Indian land claims in
New York State. The committee will be making available a sum of $3,000 to help
regional and monthly meetings to forward their own witness work for a one year
period starting July 1. See page 6 for details.
Rosa Packard (Purchase) and Susan Bingham (Montclair) reported
on Carolyn Keys' (Montclair) work in Burundi. Carolyn went to Burundi October 1
with a travel minute prepared by Montclair Meeting and endorsed by All Friends
Regional Meeting and New York Yearly Meeting. In Burundi, Carolyn and others are
to work on trauma healing and reconciliation. The work is based in Burundi
Yearly Meeting facilities. Further information can be gotten from Rosa Packard.
James O'Barr (Philipstown Worship Group) asked Friends to
consider the following statement which had been approved by the Witness
Coordinating Committee:
New York Yearly Meeting agrees to become a covenanting
denomination on behalf of farm workers with the New York Rural and Migrant
Ministry. Rural and Migrant Ministry advocates for and supports the efforts of
migrant and seasonal farm workers as they seek dignity, justice, a fair return
for their labor, and equal protection under the law as workers.
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Friends approved the statement and asked the Nominating
Committee to propose the name of a representative to the New York Rural and
Migrant Ministry. Witness Coordinating Committee has agreed to contribute to
this ministry from its budget.
The Epistle of Burundi Yearly Meeting was read. This was a good
preparation for the report on the activities of Carolyn Keys later in the
sessions.
A memorial for Alfred E. Bahret (Poughkeepsie) was read and
Friends responded in the time of worship. The memorial will be sent to the
Yearly Meeting archives.
Joseph Vlaskamp, Brooklyn Meeting
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Young Friends presented a minute at the 20th FWCC Triennial
proposing a vision of another World Gathering of Young Friends. The minute also
noted a "particular desire for improving the networks of young Friends in North
America." Yearly Meetings are encouraged to appoint younger representatives to
FWCC and to other Quaker organizations so that informal gatherings of young
Friends can take place at future events and to facilitate the full participation
of young adults within the Religious Society of Friends as a whole.
Committees are being formed to prepare the way for the proposed
World gathering. Meetings are asked to suggest names of young Friends, 18-35.,
who may be interested in participating in this project. Contact WGYF c/o Gwen
Erikson, 309 S. Tremont Drive, Greensboro NC 27403; wgyf2003@yahoo.com.
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Yes!
The combined efforts of the yearly meeting's office staff, the
Committee to Revise Faith and Practice, the computer-typesetter, a totally
selfless volunteer proofreader (me), and the printers, are producing a 12-point
print edition of Faith and Practice, the yearly meeting's book of
discipline, due in February.
The previous recent editions have been in 10-point type, the
same as the Yearbook, and some Friends have complained! By e-mail,
letters, telephone, and stoney silence the yearly meeting office got word that
the print on this book that has received rave reviews from Long Island to
Singapore and Kenya had to be enlarged for folks to get the solid spiritual
worth couched in the words.
We are doing it! And you can have the fruits of this work for
the remarkably low special for you discounted price of $6.50, $5.00
for ten or more, prepaid includes postage. (All orders should be prepaid.)
And spiritual worth it is! Beginning with a sharply exact table
of contents and ending with a ne plus ultra newly revised index, this
Faith and Practice will knock your spiritual socks off. Read about
standing in the way, what overseers must do for a Friends' wedding, how early
Friends were hustled out of New Amsterdam practically as soon as they landed
(well, actually, this is in a different book).
And it can be on your shelf, by your bed, or in your lap. Just
order today. Waste no time. Write your check to New York Yearly Meeting and mail
it to 15 Rutherford Place, New York NY 10003-3705. Now.
You won't regret it.
John L. P. Maynard, 15th Street Meeting
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For much of the day there has been a light snow falling. The
sky is gray, and there's an atmosphere of enveloping quietness that invites
reflection, prayer, and a turning inward.
I find myself drawn into communion with those I love, both near
and far, as well as with those whose lives in some way seem to intersect with
mine through news of their circumstances or conditions. I call a friend in
Kansas I've not spoken with in some time; I pray for a Friend who recently
suffered a heart attack, and for the family of a young woman in a neighboring
town who died in childbirth; I hold close those who can find little reason for
hope even as much of the world bustles about in preparation for the coming
holidays. I give thanks for the blessings of my life.
My thoughts turn to our December Representative Meeting last
weekend, as they have many times during the week. Our meeting for worship with
attention to business on Seventh Day was especially favored, alive with a
palpable feeling of being gathered.
And while one item of business on First Day gave rise to a fair
amount of discussion, taking more time than anticipated, there remained a
corporate recognition of the meeting for business as a time of holy activity and
engagement. As one Friend remarked afterward, "It's not about getting through
the agenda, it's about the manner in which we conduct our business and
come to unity."
Given my newness in the role of clerk of the Yearly Meeting,
I'd like to share some of what I experienced some learnings that I am just
this week beginning to put into words.
First, I experienced as never before the degree and depth of
movement of the Holy Spirit in the meeting for business; how we each one
of us are like pistons and cylinders fueled by the Spirit, rising and
descending, in turn, as led. I learned anew, in this setting, that the clerk can
trust that God can and does speak through any one of us, and that she doesn't
need to know everything (although, hopefully, she'll keep learning)! In our
meeting for business we are about practicing the presence of God in community,
and so it is our sacred responsibility to hold and uphold one another as we each
do our part.
We come to Representative Meeting with a willingness to be
open, to be teachable, to listen, and to learn. We may be reached in a
conversation over lunch or in a committee meeting. We may be moved to witness by
the discussion and decision that our Yearly Meeting become a covenanting
denomination with New York Rural and Migrant Ministry. We may rise to offer
prayer in response to the reading of a memorial minute, or to request the prayer
of the wider faith community as we face a medical procedure or answer a call to
healing work in Burundi.
Whatever name we may give to our corporate faith experience
the blessed community, a gathered people, the body of Christ when we
meet together to practice the presence, and are graced with the experience of
the Divine, we know it's Real.
I am grateful to a Friend from New Jersey who sent me the
following prayer the week prior to Representative Meeting. It speaks deeply and
powerfully to me of the spirit in which we are to come and take part in our
meetings for worship and business.
Teach Me to Listen
Teach me to listen, O God,
to those nearest me,
my family, my friends, my coworkers.
Help me to be aware that
no matter what words I hear,
the message is
"Accept the person I am. Listen to me."
Teach me to listen, my caring God,
to those far from me
the whisper of the hopeless.
the pleas of the forgotten.
the cry of the anguished.
Teach me to listen, O God my Mother,
to myself.
Help me to be less afraid
to trust the voice inside
in the deepest part of me.
Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit,
for your voice
in busyness and in boredom,
in certainty and in doubt,
in noise and in silence.
Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen
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Adapted by John Veltri SJ from Hearts on Fire--Praying
with the Jesuits)
Linda B. Chidsey, NYYM Clerk
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We return thanks to our mother,
the earth which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams,
which supply us with water
We return thanks to all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the cure to
our diseases.
We return thanks to the corn, and to her
sisters,
the beans and the squashes, which give us life.
We return thanks to the bushes and trees,
which provide us with fruit.
We return thanks to the wind,
which, moving in the air, has banished diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars,
which have given to us their light when he sun was gone.
We return thanks to our grandfather He-no,
that he has protected his grandchildren
from witches and reptiles, and has given to us his rain.
We return thanks to the sun,
that he has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in whom is embodied all goodness,
and who directs all things for the good of his children.
Back to contents
The Earlham School of Religion's new distributive education
program now has a name! We're calling the program ESR Access. It's pretty
exciting to be reviewing courses for 2001-02 and realizing that some of them
will be off-campus and others on-line. The goal is to eventually have the whole
M.Div/M. Min program available through this format for students who can't pick
up and move to Richmond, IN.
The four extension site locations will be: California (Whittier
or Orange Grove Meeting), Hartford, CT (West Hartford Meeting), Marshalltown, IA
(Marshalltown Friends Church), and Greensboro, NC (First Friends Meeting).
Off campus courses will be offered simultaneously at the four
extension sites.
We are hoping everyone interested in starting this new program
can orient in Richmond, IN August 2001 for the two week intensive/gateway segment offered by Stephanie Ford, Visiting Associate Professor
of Spirituality.
Admission procedures will remain the same.
If you have additional questions please contact me at
axtelsu@earlham.edu; 800-432-1377.
Sue Axtell
Director Recruitment and Admissions ESR
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If you would like a copy of Earlham President Doug Bennett's
opening college convocation address from August 30, 2000, entitled "The Idea of
a Quaker College," please call us at 765-983-1211 and we will send you a copy.
The address may also be viewed on the Web at www.earlham.edu/~pres (look under
speeches and memos).
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As everyone probably knows by now, the New York Yearly Meeting
Web site, www.nyym.org, continues to provide information on our Yearly Meeting
for Friends and inquirers around the world.
Those with Web-browsing capability can go to our site and find
the NYYM calendar; committees' work; education, with links to Friends schools;
NYYM Epistles; Faith and Practice; Leadings (material describing
leadings); monthly and regional meetings; publications (at this time, only parts
of the Handbook; we will be posting other publications in the near future);
Spark; State of the Society reports; and links to many other Friends'
sites.
Yearly Meeting committee clerks are encouraged to send their
minutes to the NYYM office for posting on the Web. You may either mail them or,
better, e-mail them to paul@nyym.org. The Committees section of the Web site is
the only one that requires a password. The password is "margaret fell" (without
the quotation marks).
Paul Busby, NYYM Staff
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The Northeast Regional Gathering will be held in New
York State in June 2001. For details and registration information contact
Valerie Matthews, PO Box 595, Nyack NY 10960; valpal@hotmail.com.
Quaker Peace Roundtable will be held April 6 to 8, 2001,
at State College Friends Meeting in Pennsylvania. Endorsed by Baltimore Yearly
Meeting and Upper Susquehanna Quarterly Meeting of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
the Roundtable features noted Quaker speakers, workshops, worship, music, and
fellowship. Details from Quaker Peace Roundtable, c/o State College Friends
Meeting, 611 E. Prospect Avenue, State College PA 16801; qpr@quaker.org;
www.quaker.org/apr.
Quakers Uniting in Publications (QUIP) will hold their
annual meeting March 22-25, 2001, at Pendle Hill in Wallingford, Pennsylvania.
For information call Bruce Hawkins, Promotion Clerk, 61 Henshaw Avenue,
Northampton MA 01060; bhawkins@science.smith.edu; or visit their Web site at
http://www.quaker.org/quip.
Friends Association for Higher Education's annual
conference is scheduled for June 14-17, 2001, at Guilford College in Greensboro,
North Carolina. The conference theme is Living and Learning in Community. The
deadline for proposals for the conference is January 26, 2001. Send them to
Barbara Dixson at English Department, UWSP, Stevens Point, WI 54481 or
bdixson@uwsp.edu.
The American Friends Service Committee is sponsoring an
exhibit of the German Historical Museum, Berlin, titled Quiet Helpers
Quaker Service in Postwar Germany. For further information about the exhibit or
how to get it to your area, call 1-888-588-2372 ext. 3.
The Odyssey Cable Television Network has produced a
series titled The Believers. One of the four one-hour biographies in the series
is of George Fox. The press release says the biography is presented as a
documentary "enhanced by dramatic portrayals filmed on location." The series
premieres January 2001.
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The major project of the last few years was arranging for and
then completing the transfer of the records and miscellaneous manuscripts of all
the meetings within New York Yearly Meeting. These original materials begin in
the seventeenth century and continue to the present and are a major source for
Quaker history. The deposit also includes the records of Genesee Yearly Meeting
and New York State. In addition to the minutes and other meeting records, this
collection includes pamphlets, photographs, minutes of related organizations
(literary societies, charities, etc.), personal letters, and a variety of
miscellaneous manuscripts covering over three hundred years of Quaker
activities. The first two shipments arrived in two tractor-trailer loads and
fill over 1,160 linear feet of shelf space. Additional smaller deposits continue
to arrive periodically.
Particular strengths in the New York Yearly Meeting archives
include information about Quaker involvement with Native Americans, antislavery,
peace, and the Orthodox/Hicksite schism. Nineteenth-century New York Friends
worked for prison reform, improved treatment of the mentally ill, charity for
the poor, temperance, and better public education.
The agreement of transfer was for all the local meeting records
to be microfilmed with copies deposited in New York Public Library, New York State Library (Albany), SUNY (Buffalo), and Rutgers
University Libraries. New York Yearly Meeting provided $20,000 for microfilming;
in addition the Rochester Area Community Foundation provided $10,000. Major
additional gifts for the filming came from Howard Hallowell, Philip L. and Alice
H. Gilbert, Agnes Turner, and Howard S. Turner. We have now microfilmed all the
records alphabetically through the letter M and expect to complete the project
in the next few years. We are grateful that New York Yearly Meeting also is
providing an annual stipend to support the care and maintenance of its records.
Following a policy we use with the meetings of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, the
Friends Historical Library is a depository with New York Yearly Meeting
retaining ownership of its minutes. Both parties see placing the records as a
permanent arrangement.
We believe the transfer of these records will work to the
benefit of New York Yearly Meeting as well as the Friends Historical Library.
New York Yearly Meeting no longer must maintain and staff the Haviland Records
Room, an increasingly difficult and expensive task, and having complete
microfilm copies means Friends will continue to have these archives accessible.
Special thanks go to Alson Van Wagner, Jane Rittenhouse Smiley, Elizabeth Moger,
Mary Ellen Chijioke, and the members of the Records Committee of New York Yearly
Meeting for all the work involved in bringing this project to completion.
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College, 500 College
Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081-1399; 610-328-8497; 610-690-5728.
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The People Called Quakers, Records of Long Island Friends,
1671-1703 will be published by Empire State Books and Hofstra University in
fall 2000.
Long Island Quaker communities were among the first in America,
antedating William Penn's "Holy Experiment" in Pennsylvania by more than a
generation. These records include the earliest surviving Quaker minute in
America. That May 23, 1671, minute refers to meetings in Oyster Bay, Matinecock,
and at the "wood edge" (Westbury). This first published transcription of these
early records is from John Cox Jr's 1898 copy of the minutes more complete
today than the original, which is now in Friends Historical Library of
Swarthmore College. The minutes have been edited to make the records accessible
to modern readers while retaining the flavor of the seventeenth-century
document. The appendices provided additional information, including entries from
George Fox's diary on his 1672 visit to Long Island and Henry Onderdonk's 1878
history.
Elizabeth H. Moger, keeper of the records at the Haviland
Records Room from 1978 to 1997, has written a foreword. The introduction is by
Mildred Murphy DeRiggi, a historian with the Nassau County Museum Services,
whose doctoral dissertation was "Quakerism on Long Island: The First Fifty
Years, 1657-1707." The editor, Natalie A. Naylor, is a Hofstra University
professor emerita who has edited several publications for the Long Island
Studies Institute, which she directed from 1985 to 2000.
This book will be available in both paperback and hardcover
editions. Illustrated and indexed, it will be about 160 pages. The price has not
yet been set. For information, contact the Long Island Studies Institute,
Hofstra University, West Campus Library, 619 Fultom Avenue, Hempstead NY 11549;
LISI@hofstra.edu; 516-463-6411; fax 516-463-6441.
This and other Long Island Studies Institute books can be
ordered from the Weathervane Shop of the Suffolk County Historical Society, 300
W. Main Street, Riverhead NY 11901; 631-727-2881; fax 631-727-3467;
histsoc@suffolk.lib.ny.us; or Heart of the Lakes Publishing, Box 299, Interlaken
NY 14847; 607-532-4997; fax 607-532-4684, or HLPbooks@aol.com. Schools,
libraries, and bookstores can purchase from the Long Island Studies Institute.
Back to contents
Pendle Hill invites you to a religious education weekend,
Preparing the Way: Writing, Developing, and Using Quaker Curricula, April 6-8,
2001 at Pendle Hill.
Are you looking for ways to engage children, youth, and adults
in First Day School? Together we will reflect upon the philosophy and theology
behind Quaker curricula through presentations, small and large group activities,
games and game creation, journaling, and worship and sharing.
Marsha Holliday will share with us how to evaluate, write,
administer, and use curricula. Marsha, a member of Langley Hill Monthly Meeting,
recently published a high school/adult curriculum, Silent Worship and Quaker
Values: An Introduction.
Robin Wells, currently the First Day School Coordinator for
Asheville Monthly Meeting (NC), will show us how to create games that support
FDS curriculum..
For more information contact Michael Gibson, FGC. 1216 Arch
Street, 2B, Philadelphia PA 19107; 215-561-1700; michaelg@fgcquaker.org
Back to contents
At the Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting's intergenerational fun
day November 4 at Boughton Place in Highland, there were 38 Friends, ranging in
age from 4 to their late 70s. Each of the five meetings represented contributed
something to the program.
There were: a peace quilt and many folded cranes made by
children of New Paltz Meeting; a song and a poem by Valita Durkin of Cornwall
Meeting; the reading of a script of a puppet show (Beth and Ginny Prenot of
Bulls Head-Oswego Meeting); instruction in how to make envelopes from the
pictures on old calendars (Nina Hrechka of Catskill Meeting); a get-acquainted
game led by Marguerite Matthews of Catskill Meeting; a story told by Kerttu
Barnett of New Paltz Meeting; Quaker "BINGO" led by Rachel Ruth of Poughkeepsie
Meeting; singing led by Luc Ried of New Paltz Meeting; a nature walk along the
Highland Trail led by Tom Durkin of Cornwall Meeting; and a tasty potluck lunch.
Viola Hathaway, Poughkeepsie Meeting
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The Religious Education Committee of New York Yearly Meeting
has discerned that some First-Day school teachers and parents are struggling
with the question What canst thou say? when it comes to articulating their
beliefs about "the divine." In an effort to help such Friends, we are willing to
visit regions, quarters, and monthly meetings to explore this and other related
questions in weekend workshops entitled Parents as Resident Theologians,
facilitated by Renee-Noelle Felice, clerk of our committee.
Renee-Noelle's ministry, Stories of the Spirit, includes living
history performances and stories from a variety of religious and spiritual
traditions, as well as workshops on storytelling, and she is also available to
work with planning committees to create an evening, afternoon, or full weekend
storytelling event suited to your Meeting's special needs.
For further information, or to request a visitation, please
call or e-mail Renee-Noelle.
We hope to hear from you.
In the Light,
The Religious Education Committee
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The Quaker testimonies of peace, simplicity, and equality are
all linked to the way we interact with Earth. As Friends, we are
concerned with teaching our children alternatives to the
greed-based consumerist social climate. Mennonite Central Committee has produced
Trek: Venture into a World of Enough, a guide to discussions of how we
lead our lives. Trek is available from Alternatives for Simple Living, Box 2728,
Sioux City IA 51106; 800-821-6153; www.simpleliving.org.
Right Sharing of World Resources has also produced the
Education Resources Annotated Bibliography. This is a guide to
- printed resources, including activities, curricula,
study-and-reflection guides, brochures, pamphlets, and posters
- videos
- electronic resources, including those used online and others
to be downloaded
- organizations
The bibliography is available from RSWR, 3960 Winding Way,
Cincinnati OH 45229-1950; 513-281-4401; e-mail: rswr@earthlink.net; Web site:
www.home.earthlink.net/~rswr.
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The Friends Historical Association is planning its spring
outing as an overnight tour the weekend of May 5 and 6, 2001, to visit Quaker
meeting houses in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Our gathering place will be State
College Meeting which very graciously is acting as our host. Upon our arrival
by charter bus or private cars we will visit several meeting houses
in the county, including historic Bellefonte, the county seat. In the late 1700s
there was a virtual migration of Friends to Centre County where they farmed,
built meeting houses and then, for whatever reasons, moved on to western
Pennsylvania and Ohio. Elwood Way, a member of State College Meeting, is writing
up this history and will be our tour guide, for which he is well qualified. The
Ways were one of the early Quaker families, but one that remained in the area,
farming and raising fruit today the Way Fruit Farm.
Bus passengers will be picked up at two locations, where cars
may be parked overnight: 7:30 A.M. at the Arch Street Meeting House in
Philadelphia, and at 8:30 A.M. at Kendal Retirement Community near Kennett
Square. Following our afternoon tour and a bit of rest at our motel
we will gather at State College Meeting House (611 E. Prospect Avenue) for a
covered-dish dinner.
Don Yoder, a member of Haverford Meeting and former Professor
of Folk Culture at the University of Pennsylvania, will address the group after
dinner on Saturday evening. His family roots lie in the early meetings which we
will have visited earlier in the day. Sunday morning we will attend meeting for
worship at Pennsdale Meeting (Quaker Church Road, 0.5 mi. off Rt. 180, Halls
Stanton exit, near Lycoming Mall) on our return. We should be back by mid- to
late afternoon.
Reservations will be made on a first- come-first-served basis.
The cost will be about $100 per person, which breaks down as follows: bus, $40;
motel, $45 (queen-sized bed) or $55 (double); plus breakfast, lunches, and a
modest donation for dinner. For those sharing a room, the cost will be less.
Those interested in attending should contact the FHA Office at
the Haverford College Quaker Connection. Bus and motel reservations must in
before April 2, and a check will be required to hold your spot. Phone:
610-896-1161; e-mail: FHA@haverford.edu. The FHA Office will handle all bus and
motel reservations, and coordinate dinner reservations with State College
Meeting. Those who will be traveling by car should contact FHA to make
reservations for the dinner and motel.
All are welcome!
Elizabeth H. Moger, Former Keeper of the Records
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The Elizabeth Ann Bogert Memorial Fund, administered by Friends
World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas, makes annual grants
of up to $1,000 for the study or practice of Christian mysticism.
Recent grants awarded by overseers of the fund were given for:
development of curriculum for a spiritual formation model of youth ministry;
travel expenses to attend an international conference on the mystical teachings
of St. Julie Billiart; studies of the mysticism of Elizabeth Underhill, Rufus
Jones, and Kawani Shinsui; writing a handbook for leading workshops in
contemplative prayer; a pilgrimage to Taize, an ecumenical Christian community
in France.
Individuals wishing to apply for grants in 2001 should send
seven copies of their proposal to co-secretaries of the Bogert Fund, Vinton
Deming and Michelina Deming, at the address below. Two or three individuals who
know the applicant and are familiar with the project should be asked to send
letters of reference directly to the co-secretaries as well.
Proposals need to include a description of the project, the
specific amount requested, how the grant money will be used, other sources of
funding, and plans for communicating the results to others. Recipients are asked
to send a progress report within a year. Proposals and references are due by
March 1, 2001. Grants will be awarded May 2001.
For additional information on the Bogert Fund contact Vinton
and Michelina Deming, 4818 Warrington Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19143;
215-727-4376; vintdem@juno.com.
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United Nations Office
The Quaker UN Office is looking for two interns from September
2001 through August 2002. Interns follow disarmament, human rights, economic
justice, development, environment, women and children, indigenous people,
refugees, and regional issues at the UN; research/write articles and briefing
papers; arrange/attend UN and other meetings; assist with office administration.
Candidates must be college graduates or have equivalent experience, demonstrate
interest in international affairs and a commitment to Friends' principles; and
possess good writing/computer skills. Stipend and medical coverage offered. For
information and application form write: Quaker UN Office, 777 UN Plaza, New York
NY 10017; qunony@pipeline.com; or check our Web site at www.quno.org. Deadline
for submitting application and references is February 9, 2001.
Associate Secretary
FWCC World Office, London, UK, is seeking an Associate
Secretary for the World Office to begin in mid-2002. Notices will go to yearly
meetings and Friends' periodicals. Interested Friends may contact Elizabeth Duke
at FWCC, 4 Byng Place, London WC1E7JH, UK, phone +44 020 0497; fax +44 020 7383
4644; e-mail: elizabethd@fwcc.quaker.org to request an application.
Executive Secretary
Wilmington Yearly Meeting, located on the Wilmington College
Campus in Wilmington, Ohio, near Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus, will accept
applications for the position of executive secretary until February 1, 2001. The
position will be available August 1, 2001. Wilmington Yearly Meeting consists of
32 meetings located in southwest Ohio and eastern Tennessee. For a more detailed
job description, contact Pat Hackney, Search Committee Recording Clerk,
Wilmington Yearly Meeting, 251 Ludovic Street, Pyle Box 1194, Wilmington OH
45177; 937-382-2491.
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Friends General Conference will hold the 2001 Gathering of
Friends at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, June 30-July 7, 2001. The theme
is Stillness: Surrounding, Sustaining, Strengthening.
"While often associated with the silence of a gathered meeting,
we can experience stillness at any moment and in any place," explains Gathering
co-clerk Karen Stewart of Durham (NC) Meeting. "In these hurried times, however,
our awareness of the Divine can all too easily slip away."
Co-clerk Bob Fetter of Roanoke (VA) Meeting adds, "We hope that
at the Gathering in 2001 we will come together and find our way individually and
corporately into the experience of stillness as we worship, play, celebrate,
sing, and work together. We hope that each of us will feel surrounded,
sustained, and strengthened by the Spirit and that we will carry that sense of
blessed stillness with us as we return to our daily lives."
The experience of the divine stillness is central to the core
of all activities this year and especially so in all of the opportunities for
worship at the gathering. Opportunities will include opening and closing all
gathering meetings for worship, daily outdoor worship, Bible study, a memorial
meeting for all Friends who have passed since last Gathering, and an all
Gathering meeting for healing. The Silent Center will be open to those wishing
to immerse themselves in the surrounding, sustaining and strengthening of the
stillness. Workshops will be grounded in worship, with topics to include
spirituality, Quaker faith and practice, issues of peace and justice, and
personal growth.
Steve Curwood, Quaker host of NPR's Living on Earth, will begin
the week's evening programs on Sunday night. On Monday, Friend Ann Riggs will
share insights into the importance of the spiritual practice of stillness in the
midst of a busy and often stressful life.
Later in the week, Stan Becker, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, will
describe his personal and corporate discernment process in traveling among
Friends with a concern for rapid population growth. Executive Secretary of
Friends Committee on National Legislation, Joe Volk, will issue a call for
Friends to become more active in witnessing in Washington. Interest groups,
offering attenders a variety of options, will be offered on Thursday evening.
Virginia folksingers Robin and Linda Williams will perform in
an all Gathering concert on Tuesday, July 3. This group is a frequent guest on
Prairie Home Companion, and will combine old favorites with original folk
tunes for all ages.
Junior Gathering Young Friends will explore stillness in the
midst of worship, games, arts, music, and much more. High schoolers may expect
to experience a loving spiritual community composed of friendship and zany
antics. Adult Young Friends is a community that provides an intimate space
within the Gathering for post high school age Friends to live and have fun
together while exploring their spirituality and roles as adult Quakers.
Music making and singing will abound. Yoga, contra dancing,
folk dancing, and other movement opportunities will occur throughout the
Gathering. Friends creativity will be displayed, performed, and celebrated again
this year in the Lemonade Art Gallery. This week-long multimedia exhibition will
feature new Quaker painting, photography, sculpture, fiber art, and other works.
The Gathering Store will offer a unique collection of books, First Day School
materials, tapes, Gathering and FGC merchandise, and handcrafted consignment
items.
Located in the New River Valley, Virginia Tech will provide a
variety of accommodations, including single and double rooms, with and without
air conditioning. Camping will be available on campus, and the Donaldson-Brown
hotel is located adjacent to the Student Center. Blacksburg is served by Roanoke
Regional Airport, which is less than an hour away.
Scholarships and workgrants are available to help make
Gathering affordable. First time attenders scholarships match grants from
monthly
and yearly meetings. General scholarships assist families and
individuals with the expense of room/board and registration.
Detailed information about the Gathering will be available in
the Advance Program, which is mailed to all Friends on yearly meeting lists in
March. You may also request one by contacting Friends General Conference at 1216
Arch Street, 2B, Philadelphia PA 19107; 215-561-1700; gathering@fgcquaker.org;
or visit our Web site at www.fgcquaker.org/gathering/.
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About seven months after Rochester Friends moved into our new
meetinghouse, the hospitality committee was meeting in the community room on a
Saturday morning. When the phone rang, I briefly considered letting the call go
to the voice mail, but instead I picked up. It was a person from Food Not Bombs,
a small grassroots advocacy group for the homeless. They were looking for an
indoor space for the winter to provide their weekly meal and food pick-up for
Rochester's homeless and low-income people.
As then-clerk Ken Maher said at the time, this request for
space was a gift, an opportunity for outreach, presenting itself at our
doorstep. Friends decided to let the group use the meetinghouse's kitchen and
community room, first on a trial basis, then for the remainder of the winter.
Not only was the space provided, but several friends helped out each week.
The Food Not Bombs opportunity is only one example of the many
openings that have come with our new meetinghouse. In the year and a half since
we moved in, the look of the faces worshiping has changed almost as dramatically
as the building itself. Each week brings new people, including many new families
with children. All this new life is the fulfillment of the promise of a spring
day in March 1999 when we first moved into the renovated commercial building on
the eastern edge of downtown Rochester.
Rochester Friends have easily settled into the inspiring new
space they now call home. The meeting room is larger than the one in the
previous meetinghouse on Westminster Road. Now, guests who visit for weddings,
memorial services, and other special events can all fit in the meeting room.
Children have ample space as well, and Friends no longer elbow each other when
gathering for potlucks. The meeting room is bright, with light from skylights
and windows brightening the room even on Rochester's many cloudy days.
Unexpected Challenges
But, believe it or not, all that light is not always welcome.
When the hot summer sun streams in, the meeting room gets warm enough to have
Friends discussing whether we need air conditioning. This has led to several
heartfelt discussions about the cost of air conditioning and the desire to make
the room comfortable for all, even in the heat of summer. We have not yet come
to clearness on this and are still experimenting with different potential
solutions.
That isn't the only unexpected challenge of the new
meetinghouse. We have struggled with whether to allow alcohol use at gatherings
such as weddings in the meetinghouse. We have decided to let requests for
alcohol use be decided on an individual basis by the Committee for Ministry and
Oversight.
The growing number of children has been a joy, but also a
growing edge. We are working on how to ensure children feel welcome; how to make
sure they are able to contribute to the life of the meeting and that their
contributions are valued; how to minimize the very normal noise and activity
during meeting for worship; how to welcome children into worship.
History
The roots of our new meetinghouse grow deep in Rochester's
history. Rochester Meeting began in the early 1800s when two of the first five
houses of worship in the city were Friends' meetings. However, all Friends
meetings in the county were laid down in the early 20th century. Our present
meeting was reborn in the 1930s and 1940s. Today, Rochester Meeting has about
100 adult members. Attendance for First Day worship ranges from thirty to eighty
people. There is an active religious education program for adults and the
burgeoning number of children, including an intergenerational activity once a
month.
Rochester Friends have been talking about building a new
meetinghouse since 1961, almost immediately after moving into their previous
home on Westminster Road. Although that building is an elegant century-old home,
meeting records show that just a few years after buying it from neighboring St.
Paul Episcopal Church, a long range meetinghouse planning committee took a look
at whether the house was adequate. Two other times through the years, in 1973
and 1978, committees again examined the concerns with the Westminster
meetinghouse. Each time, Friends decided that the house's benefits, including
its rich woodwork and design, made it worth staying.
Still, the concerns lingered. As beautiful as it is, the house
has high maintenance costs and is inaccessible for people with mobility
difficulties. Over the years, Friends grappled with options to fix the house,
including investing in architectural plans for handicapped accessibility. But no
one in the meeting wanted to alter the grand structure of the building. So in
1993, an ad hoc committee began the process once again, and this time Friends
were clear it was time to move.
With that decision made, Friends wrestled with what they wanted
in a new meetinghouse. City or suburb? Build new or renovate? Inevitably, these
discussions turned to questions of Rochester Friends' place in the greater
Rochester area. Many business and threshing meetings took place as Friends
struggled to answer.
Several options were easily and quickly dismissed. One, a
collaboration with a private elementary school near downtown Rochester, looked
promising. Friends and representatives from the school worked together for
months exploring the possibility and slowly moving ahead. That option, however,
fell through and Rochester Friends were once again looking for a home. That home
was found in the industrial building at 84 Scio Street about a mile from the
Westminster meetinghouse. What was once a plumbing contractor's offices and
supply center now holds a 32 x 35 meeting room; a 26 x 60 community room and
kitchen (to be used for potlucks, dancing, and other gatherings); religious
education classrooms; nursery; library; office space; and a caretaker's
apartment.
Libby Stewart, Rochester Meeting's historian, discovered that
the oldest part of the brick building dates back to the 1850s with many
additions through the years. Friends have preserved much of the brick interior
walls. The meetinghouse is now completely handicapped accessible. It has a new
pyramid roof, a new staircase, and a new interior configuration since most
non-weight- bearing walls were removed.
A capital campaign among Rochester Friends and friends and
relatives of Friends raised nearly $300,000 in contributions and pledges. In
addition, the FGC Meetinghouse Fund helped with a $60,000 mortgage. There was
also plenty of "sweat equity" with Friends giving up their Saturdays and
weeknights to do such jobs as clean, prepare surfaces, lay tile, and clean some
more. With the expertise of meeting member and builder Ted First, we were able
to act as our own general contractor. Remarkably, this major undertaking took
only eight months from the first
demolition to our first worship in March 1999. This move put
Rochester Friends on the leading edge of a renaissance of Rochester's East End
cultural district, which includes the Eastman School of Music and the Eastman
Theatre. The first new housing units in central Rochester in thirty years are
now complete. The 77 units are right behind the meetinghouse. Other new
construction is also taking place.
Meanwhile, the growth within the meeting continues both
in the numbers of those who come to worship each week and in spiritual growth as
we seek clearness on the many issues before us.
Mary Kay Glazer, Rochester Monthly Meeting
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A large shipment of winter clothing and shoes, collected by
Poughkeepsie Friends Meeting, began its long journey on September 11 from
Poughkeepsie to needy Ukrainian children and teenagers.
It all started with colorful wool hats for children, knitted by
Poughkeepsie Meeting's Grete Carpenter. These, along with other woolens given by
members and attenders, have been used for several years to decorate the December
"Mitten Tree." The items were sent each January to needy children at Native
American reservations. Then, in 1998 and 1999, they were sent to Pereyaslav,
Ukraine, a city about Poughkeepsie's size, near Kiev. Poughkeepsie Friends were
in correspondence with Nadyezhda (Nadya) Ivanovna Spassenko, who had moved in
1995 to her father's ancestral home, Pereyaslav, and who for many years had been
a member of Cornwall Meeting and active in the Yearly Meeting. Because of
Nadyezhda's strong ties to the Social Services Department in Pereyaslav, she was
able to see to it that the hats were given to the neediest children. Last year
Poughkeepsie Meeting received a number of pictures and thank-you letters from
the children, translated by Nadyezhda.
Then the hats expanded not into millions of hats, but
into 696 pounds of shoes and warm winter clothing. Poughkeepsie Friends
collected these secondhand items all summer, and raised money at a July 22 Ice
Cream Social for shipping costs.
Donations came from many sources. Several schools contributed
items abandoned in school lockers in June. A thrift shop run by the United
Methodist Church gave two large bags of shoes and boots. Poughkeepsie Friends
and their friends went through their closets to find many pounds of the warm
woolens, down-filled jackets, boots, and shoes that are so much needed in
Pereyaslav, where the temperature can go well below zero Fahrenheit.
After distributing the knitted caps to children in December
1999, Nadyezhda wrote that there were some 2,000 children in the city dependent
on the Social Services Department and that many of them were still wearing cheap
summer sandals in the winter because "there simply weren't enough pairs of shoes
or boots in their families to go around." The humanitarian "aid" received in the
Ukraine gets sold by dealers, she wrote, and the families of the 2,000 needy
children cannot afford it, as "the dealers often charge even more for the used
stuff than what one can buy new junk for." Poughkeepsie Meeting learned that the
AFSC does not send clothes to the Ukraine because of its lack, so far, of a
reliable distribution channel. Poughkeepsie Friends are confident that
Nadyezhda, whom they have know for years, will see to it that the clothing and
shoes are given, not sold, to those most in need.
Shipment by sea takes time, but Nadyezhda wrote that the boxes
were all received before Thanksgiving and that "Your shipment of clothing is
causing a small sensation here in Pereyaslav . . . These clothes are warming the
hearts and souls as well as bodies. This truly is right sharing."
Friends in other meetings, who heard about this project at
Yearly Meeting and through other publicity, have shown interest in having their
meetings help too. The need is too great to be met by one or two meetings. But
before collecting any clothes, interested persons should communicate with
Nadyezhda Ivanovna Spassenko. The best way to reach her is by e-mail at
nadyezhda@spassenko.relc.com. Richard Hathaway can also
help with advice about shipping and can furnish shipping labels in Ukrainian
characters.
Dick Hathaway, Poughkeepsie Meeting
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After being a member of the Society for over sixty years, this
past year I realized personally for the first time what it meant to be a
practicing member of the world family of Quakers. I am most grateful to NYYM for
this enriching experience and shall never forget it.
It happened this past summer at the Twentieth Triennial of the
Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) at Geneva Point Center, New
Hampshire. I was pleased to serve as a representative from NYYM to the triennial
gathering, which is the world business meeting of the FWCC. The words of George
Fox
Let all nations hear the Word by sound or writing. Spare no
place, spare not tongue nor pen, but be obedient to the Lord God and go through
the world and be valiant for the Truth upon earth. . . .
assumed a new and special significance for me as I lived and
worked in the peaceable kingdom on the shore of Lake Winnepesaukee with 260
other representatives and observers from over 40 countries. We sought to seek
justice in an unjust world and to find new ways of working together through the
Spirit which lives in each one of us regardless of what country we live in, what
language we speak, or what culture we practice.
The location was a church-based camp and conference center with
simple buildings set among trees around an open green space. We literally ate,
slept, worshiped and celebrated nonstop for a week with Friends from all over
the world. It was indeed a spirit-broadening experience. All meetings were
officially conducted in three languages, English, Spanish, and French, although
many other European and African tongues and dialects were heard all around.
Costumes varied from western sports attire to elegant colorful gowns and
headdresses.
It was truly a gathering, "called to listen, gathered to seek,
and sent forth to serve." The meeting was committed to openness and to learning
from Quakers of other traditions of worship, theology, language, and culture. We
gathered to review what has been done worldwide in our name and to consider
future tasks and programs as we shared in the life and concerns of Friends from
many other countries, cultures, and ways of life.
Together we sought God's unity, not the will of the majority,
nor of the vocal minority, nor only that of the western world. I felt I bore a
special responsibility for Friends on a global basis. After a week of reports,
proposals, and actions, I experienced a new sense of listening, thinking, and
doing in much broader dimensions than before.
The theme of the Twentieth Triennial, Friends: "A people to
listen, gathered to seek, sent forth to serve," gave focus to the three aspects
of our relationship as a people to God. Aware of God's presence, we listen for
the still small voice. Strengthened by community, we look for Divine
guidance. We then find and test the leadings to go into the
world to be God's hands.
I learned one phrase in Swahili from my cabin mate used by
Friends to help make a start in reaching out to Friends who do not speak
English: "Amani-Kiswahili" (Peace).
I left the triennial feeling and hoping the experience will
help me do a better job in bringing spiritual enrichment and wider understanding
of the world community of Quakers to my friends, my family, my monthly, and our
yearly meeting.
Thor Rhodin, Ithaca Meeting
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Some of the Philadelphia Area Mexico Summer Participants from
the year 2000 are organizing a celebration to commemorate over 60 years of AFSC
summer projects in Mexico. This year's participants will reflect upon their
project Youth for Peace and Sustainable Community: Semilleros de Futuros, and
will tell the story of the campaign to save the women's restaurant cooperative
El Comedor Popular: La Flor del Cafe, in Xilitla, San Louis Potosi.
The event is on Sunday, February 4, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the
University of Pennsylvania Museum, 33rd and Spruce Sts., Philadelphia. Tickets
range from a suggested donation of $10 for low income and students to $50 for
program sustainers.
Past participants who cannot attend should send a paragraph of
memories and the year in which they participated, to be posted at the event.
Also, please RSVP and send names of friends from your year who would want to be
notified of the reunion.
Mexico Summer Programs, AFSC, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA
19102; 215-241-7295; mexsummer@afsc.org
Tax-deductible donations to go toward the continuation of the
project and the restaurant cooperative are welcome.
Lincoln Ellis
Latin American and Caribbean Dept.
American Friends Service Committee
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In late August, about nineteen Friends took part in the
Ministry of Mediation training at Powell House, provided by the Lombard
Mennonite Peace Center (LMPC). The training is based on II Corinthians 5:18,
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has
given us the ministry of reconciliation."
LMPC provides resources "on a diverse range of peace and
justice concerns, from biblical foundations for peacemaking, to conflict
resolution skills for the family, the church, the workplace, and the community,"
according to their Web site, www.lmpeacecenter.org. They are "called upon to
help those caught in difficult conflict to find reconciliation and healing by
offering mediation services for individuals, churches, and other organizations."
The training at Powell House was specifically oriented toward
Friends and Friends meetings. Richard Blackburn, the leader, guided us through
the mediation process, first with theory and principles of mediation, then later
by having us roleplay various conflict situations, with some of us acting as the
people with a dispute and others acting as the mediators.
Friends and meetings interested in mediation are invited to
contact Joe Vlaskamp,* clerk of the NYYM Committee on Ministry and Counsel.
*NOTE: Joe Vlaskamp died suddenly January 19, 2001. The acting clerk of the Coordinating Committee on Ministry and Counsel is Ann Davidson.
Paul Busby, Fifteenth Street
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The Witness Coordinating Committee of the New York Yearly
Meeting is making available about $3,000 to support monthly and regional meeting
witness activities. This amount has been set aside in the Witness Activities
Fund for the express purpose of helping with local witness activities which are
not part of the Witness Section's normal committee work.
Monthly and regional meetings which wish to receive some of
this support funding should consider their requests with Friendly care. If
possible, it would be advisable to season the request in a business meeting, and
develop a minute requesting a specific amount for a specific purpose. Requests
should be sent to the Witness Coordinating Committee no later than May 17, so
that they may be considered at the committee's midyear meeting, Recipients will
be notified by July 1, 2001.
The Witness Coordinating Committee will be sending more
detailed information and an application form to each monthly and regional
meeting in the ear future.
The Witness Activity Fund is part of the Yearly Meeting's
Sharing Fund, which is supported entirely by voluntary contributions.
John Bishop, Saratoga Meeting
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Funding is now available for organizations working against the
death penalty through the Tides Death Penalty Mobilization Fund.
Facilitated by the Tides Foundation, this new grantmaking
initiative is an annual fund that awards grants of $5,000 or less. Grants will
be awarded to local, regional, or national organizations for projects focusing
on anti-death penalty work but cannot be used for general operating expenses.
Initial grants are expected to be awarded this fall.
Proposals should be sent by e-mail (klee@tides.org) and should
be one to two pages in length and include the organization's mission and contact
information, collaborative partners, a project description and project budget,
the amount requested, other sources of funding for the project, and
documentation of nonprofit status or fiscal sponsorship.
For more information, contact Kathleen W. Lee, Program Officer,
Tides Foundation, The Presidio, P.O. Box 29903, San Francisco CA 94129-0903;
415-561-6349.
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"Voices from Inside," a collection of several original, one-act
plays and poems written by men at Sing Sing in the scriptwriting workshop
(organized by Katherine Vockins), will be presented on January 13, 14, 20, 21.
The location is the Herbert Newman Theater of the YM-YWHA of Northern
Westchester, 600 Bear Ridge Road in Pleasantville. Tickets are $18, with a $5
discount for seniors and students. To order tickets, call 914-741-0333, ext.
626.
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When children of prisoners in New York
State go to visit their parents, they must often spend many
long hours traveling to the prison. The AFSC Families of Prisoners Project has
designed kits for these children, to give them positive activities and help
reduce their stress on the long bus ride.
Each kit must be put into a clear 10-by-11-inch freezer bag. To
ensure that each child's kit is the same, they must each contain:
- 1 pen
- 2 unsharpened pencils with erasers
- 1 small pencil sharpener
- 1 fun pad or activity book, no larger than 8 by 10 inches
- 1 small box crayons
- 1 small book to read, no larger than 8 by 9 inches.
Send your kits to AFSC, 821 Euclid Av., Syracuse NY 13210.
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I have seen a convicted murderer come into a room and receive
hugs from everyone in the room. I have seen the barriers of color, class,
education, and "previous condition of servitude" erased. I have seen two people
agree to disagree, and continue to love each other. Of course, this will not
seem surprising to most people who are open to Transforming Power. It happens
frequently in the AVP community.
Nowhere is this more true than in Landing Strip. Landing Strip
is a support group for people who took AVP workshops in prison and those who
facilitate in prisons. Members of the AVP family had dreamed for years of having
some sort of place in which people coming out of prison could continue their
participation in AVP while they made the incredibly difficult transition to
freedom.
Back in the early '90s, AVP outside facilitators Paddy Lane and
Florence McNeil became very concerned about what was happening to AVPers who
were getting out of prison. They learned from prerelease counselors that the
first 90 days were crucial to success. At the same time, several prisoners who
were about to be released from Sing Sing wanted to continue AVP in the streets.
In April 1994 in New York City, ex-prisoners Jim Forgione, Aaron McBride, Robert
Smith, and Pete Bell got together with Paddy, Florence, and facilitator Paul
Busby, and this dream finally gave birth to Landing Strip.
In the words of Safety Valve Sal, "Landing Strip to me was a
lighthouse full of air traffic controllers who helped me get my wheels back on
the ground after circling the prison airfields for 25 years."
We still have dreams, of halfway houses, job referrals,
educational opportunities, housing, and other things that would help AVP
graduates stay out of the revolving door of the prison-industrial complex.
What we have at this time is a support group that meets twice a
month. Why do people come to Landing Strip? Members say, "I know I'm not going
to get clothes; I'm not going to get housing; I'm not going to get a job. I know
I'm going to get cookies and a snack and a token to get home if I need it."
Landing strip is a network; it's not just going to meetings. The Landing Strip
is there every day. Landing Strip is the AVP family. Landing Strip is the one
place where ex-prisoners are welcome and can feel safe. They can talk about
prison and the transition experience that family and friends really don't
understand.
Reality Robert says, "Landing Strip is a place where my past
convictions are not the emphasis as my transitional efforts."
Members share their experience, strength, and hope (to borrow a
phrase from Recovery groups), encourage one another, cry with one another, and
most of all, perhaps, help one another to keep their priorities straight.
Landing Strip tends to be a drop-in situation. Ex-prisoners show up when they
need someone to talk to. It is a place where people can help each other and talk
to people who have been through it.
"Landing strip is a place where you can come to identify with
situations about coming out of prison to help you adjust to the transition back
to society." is the way Positive Pete expresses it.
What do Landing Strip members say about successful transition?
"Patience," says one. "Preparation, preparation, preparation," says another.
"First remorse, deep introspection of who you really are, ongoing self-esteem,"
says a third. Another finds that "family, a lot of love and support, and just
not forgetting where you came from and what you've been through" are the key
elements.
Life is hard in jail, but ex-offenders frequently run into so
many roadblocks that they find life on the outside even harder. Rejected for
jobs, rejected for housing, rejected by families. Sometimes ex-prisoners become
so discouraged that they are ready to "throw a brick" (that is, throw a brick
through a store window to get arrested and get sent back to prison for a parole
violation). Landing Strip is a place to come to talk about these problems. I
know of situations in which a Landing Strip member lovingly helped another to
make the right decision, the decision that kept the other from going back to
prison.
Ex-prisoners want to give back. They especially want to work
with youth to keep them from making the mistakes they made themselves. Last
summer, two Landing Strip members, along with a community facilitator, led a
remarkable workshop that helped to resolve a violent incident between two youth
groups. Fourteen young people were facing charges that could result in one to
three years in jail. All of those involved in the conflict attended the same
workshop. After the positive results in the workshop, the charges were dropped.
How do I start a Landing Strip in my area?
- You need a small core group of outside facilitators and
ex-prisoners who are committed to the process. It helps to have one or two
ex-prisoners who have been through the transition experience.
- Network with prison coordinators to let them know about the
program. Get the word out to your inside facilitators and workshop graduates.
Most importantly, get home addresses and phone numbers of prisoners before they
get out. Then call them; don't expect them to call you.
- Don't expect ex-prisoners to attend consistently. They are
often overwhelmed by the problems they face. They will come when they need it.
- Don't expect the same sense of community as in a workshop. A
network of caring will develop but it is more informal.
Paul Busby, AVP-New York City
and other Landing Strip folk
What Landing Strip Means to Me
AVP has had a tremendous impact on my life, On the inside, I
lived a very sheltered, antisocial life. I just wanted to keep to myself and do
my bid; I was reluctant to get involved in many of the programs. Anyway, my
friend Kevin bugged me for the longest time to take my Basic and for the sake of
getting him off my back, I took the Basic.
AVP became a way of life for me. I got a sense of "realness"
from the workshops. To be around all those "hardened criminals" and watch them
open up about the issues in their life and break down and cry really touched me.
It got to the point where AVP became a "source of strength" for me. I looked
forward to the workshops and dreaded their conclusions. I am big on community
and family values, and have received a sense of both from my workshops. I view
my fellow AVPers as "family" I had the opportunity to choose. AVP has made me a
better person, and I'm proud to be part of something so caring . . . something
so real.
As for Landing Strip; it's the only place I feel comfortable
being myself. It has given me the opportunity to connect with family that knows
exactly what I'm going through. Landing Strip has been a provider of workshops,
a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and above all else "unconditional love."
Delightful Dwayne Walker
AVP-New York City
Other Voices from Landing Strip . . .
What needs does Landing Strip meet?
"I guess it's a place I can go to realign myself."
"Emotionally it's like you could have the family who have been
there all the time for you but there's some issues you need to talk to other
people that's been in prison. . . . It helps a lot just to have someone to talk
to. . . someone who has been there before."
What keeps you involved?
"AVP is like my family. . . . The encouragement I get from the
people and the principles, that's what keeps me involved."
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The September issue of Quaker Life focuses on Friends
and prison ministry. The prison ministry of New York Yearly Meeting is
highlighted in the lead article by Ben Richmond on "Friends Share Their Faith in
Prison." The issue also includes stories by prisoners on their experience of
Quaker faith in prison, some taken from Inside/Outside.
Copies are available from Quaker Life, 101 Quaker Hill
Drive, Richmond IN 47374 or on the Web at www.fum.org/QL for $2 single copies;
$1 in multiples of 10 or more.
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The United States is not at war, so why should we be concerned
about the draft? If Friends do not participate in the military, why should we be
concerned with military counseling? Of course, these are rhetorical questions. We know, for instance, that young men are required
by law to register for the draft when they reach their eighteenth birthday. We
know that the military dehumanizes young people. We know that recruiters are
salespeople, with quotas, and that the military machine is more interested in garnering recruits than in the well-being of their young
"customers." We know that once these people are in the military, they find the
reality of martial life far different from the rosy existence they were led to
expect. Above all, we are aware that the military has one purpose: taking human
life.
Friends have always been opposed to war and the military.
Friends have historically provided draft and military counseling. Quaker House,
in Fayetteville, NC, "stands in opposition to the violence and prejudice that
exist in our society, offering a peaceful, life affirming presence in the midst
of several of the largest military bases in the country. Quaker House staff work
for change through education, advocacy, caring, and counseling." They received
more than 2,000 calls during 1999. They get calls from 11 states in the South
and Midwest, but not from our area.
Quaker House is affiliated with the GI Rights Network, a
coalition of organizations that provide information on rights, discharges,
conscientious objection, and helping absent-without-leave servicemembers return
and get a legal discharge. In addition, Since April, Kaushaliya Esmonde and her
husband, Phil, have been visiting prisoners held under medium and maximum
security in the Camp Lejeune marine base brig. As one nonprisoner at Camp
Lejeune said, "You are the only visitors they get who don't have an agenda." The
specific counseling work of Quaker House is laid aside during these visits, but
the Quaker House witness to those struggling within the military system is very
much present.
Quaker House has produced a 30-minute video that shows
different aspects of their 31-year peace witness. The video premiered at FGC and
is available from Quaker House, 223 Hillside Ave., Fayetteville NC 28301. For
further information about Quaker House, go to www.quakerhouse.org or write to
them at the address above.
The GI Rights Network, of which Quaker House is an affiliate,
maintains a toll-free hotline, 800-394-9544. People in our Yearly Meeting area
who call this number will be connected with the National Interreligious Service
Board for Conscientious Objectors (NISBCO).
NISBCO, an association supported by more than 35 religious
bodies, was formed in 1940 to defend and extend the rights of conscientious
objectors to war. NISBCO provides counseling and legal services to conscientious
objectors, military personnel, seekers of political asylum, and conscientious
objectors seeking naturalization as U.S. citizens. The organization also
provides legal support and advocacy services to conscientious objectors in Latin
America and other regions of the world.
NISBCO's office is at 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington DC
20009; 202-483-2220; www.nibsco.org. The toll-free number for those seeking
counseling is 800-379-2679.
The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) is
another well-known draft- and military-counseling group. CCCO was founded in
1948 "to protect and promote the rights of conscientious objectors to war." In
addition to draft counseling, CCCO's goals include "demilitarizing our schools
and communities, improving conditions for military personnel who
come to realize their objections to war, and eliminating the
Selective Service System." They work with those in the military who face racist,
sexist, or homophobic harassment.
CCCO can be reached at 1515 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA 19192;
215-563-8787; www.objector.org. Those seeking counseling can call the toll-free
number of the GI Rights Network, given above.
Paul Busby, Fifteenth Street Meeting
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This column is prepared from information about membership
received from the local meeting recorders.
NEW MEMBERS
Bowen Alpern--Scarsdale
Ruth Bohorguez--Conscience Bay
Janice Cameron--Somerset Hills
Gavin and Grace Coulthurst--Somerset Hills
Larry King --Orchard Park
Sally Lawson--Fredonia
Eileen McGee --Purchase
Kathryn Slining Hanes--Central Finger Lakes
Karen, Anna, Helen, and Laurel Staab--Purchase
Rebecca, Rick, Eli, Kylie, and Kaziah White--
Purchase
MARRIAGES
Martha Gurvich, member of Wilton and Ty Griese,
member of Westbury, on October 7, 2000, under the care of Wilton Meeting.
Jennifer Murphy, member of Brooklyn and Jonathan
Chapman--on September 16, 2000, under the care of Brooklyn Meeting.
DEATHS
Jean Elizabeth Billings, member of Easton, on November
27, 2000.
Cynthia Ann Haskins Culley, member of Alfred, on
November 20, 2000.
Anna Belle Kerr, member of Collins Friends Meeting, on
November 23, 2000.
Greta Lake, member of Flushing, on November 10, 2000.
Frank Lyman, Jr., member of Purchase, on November 17,
2000.
Ruth Badgley Sheldon, member of Poughkeepsie, on
December 1, 2000.
William E. Taber, member of Collins Friends Meeting, on
November 9, 2000.
Francenia Towle, member of Scarsdale, on October 20,
2000.
Ursula Warren, member of Alfred, on August 31, 2000.
TRANSFERS
Christine (Spee), Jens, Caleb, Lucas, and Natalie Braun--
to Old Chatham from Wilton
Jane Ruth Egloff--to Buffalo from Orchard Park
Mary Jo Grundle--to Orchard Park from Twin City Friends
(Minnesota YM)
Christopher Henderson--to Brooklyn from Central
Philadelphia (PYM)
Carol King--to Orchard Park from Buffalo
Patricia and Annette LaRocco--to Ridgewood from
Moorestown (PYM)
Micahel Adam Reale--to Flushing from York (Great Britain
Yearly Meeting)
Harlan Sexton--to Scarsdale from Princeton (PYM)
S. Jean Smith--to Manhattan from 15th Street
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Help me, God, to slow down, to be silent, so I can hear You and do Your will and not mine.
Marian Wright Edelman
from Guide My Feet
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