In this year’s Fall issue of the The Tote Bag: PYM Religious Education and Family Resources newsletter you’ll find events and resources to support getting ready for children and youth programs in meetings, including programs on welcome and safety for adults who serve religious education programs. Also shared below are ideas for celebrating our world family of Friends with World Quaker Day on October 1st and the upcoming 400th birthday of George Fox. The Anti-racism Learning & Action section of the newsletter focuses this time on Native Justice and recommended books that center Native American voices.
[Read more…] about Religious Education Resources & Events Fall 2023
Friends Who Care For Youth
PYM Youth Programs Welcomed Spring with a Series of Weekend Events
PYM Youth Programs welcomed Spring with a series of weekend events that included young people of all ages! We’re excited for our upcoming Annual Sessions July 26-30th. Be sure to stay connected for news about Fall programs for children, youth, and families!
[Read more…] about PYM Youth Programs Welcomed Spring with a Series of Weekend Events
Winter Youth Programs: City & Camp!
PYM Youth Programs have been busy connecting in-person! Two recent programs included a trip to Washington DC for older youth and a Family Overnight for children and families.
The weekend of January 27-29, ten Young Friends (high school) and Middle School Friends from three local meetings traveled to Washington DC with Friendly Presences (adult volunteer chaperones) and Youth Program staff to spend the weekend building friendships, learning more about African American history, and reflecting on how to be agents of change in our world. The group stayed at Friends Place on Capitol Hill, a Quaker learning center and guesthouse. The trip was conceived by the youth from Lancaster Monthly Meeting, who wanted to visit DC and meet other Quaker youth. They collaborated with staff from the yearly meeting Youth Program to organize the itinerary, plan programming, and invite other youth from around the Yearly Meeting.
[Read more…] about Winter Youth Programs: City & Camp!
Religious Education Resources & Events for Winter 2023
Onward into the new year and new opportunities to learn and grow together in our Yearly Meeting in 2023! Two of those opportunities focus on intergenerational worship and Bible study. We have so much to learn from one another in our approaches to these topics, and the PYM “Worship & Care Package” is one way we will explore new possibilities together. Friends who support religious education in our meetings are a community of practice; let’s consider about how we might accompany one another in the next year, sharing the ways that children, young people, and their families are part of our meeting communities. [Read more…] about Religious Education Resources & Events for Winter 2023
New Youth Engagement Coordinator
It’s a joy to announce that Kristin Simmons has accepted the position of Youth Engagement Coordinator for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. She will begin serving in this full-time position in mid-January. Many Friends will know Kristin in her current position as Middle School Friends Co-Facilitator. This shift in roles allows her to expand opportunities to be in relationship with meetings and support the ministry of children, youth, and family programs alongside colleagues on the Community Engagement staff.
Tuition Aid for Quaker Children in PYM Friends Schools
The Yearly Meeting’s Quaker Education Granting Group reminds meetings and families that local meeting members’ children who are applying to or attending Friends schools are eligible to apply for educational support for the 2023-24 school year. Funding for all grants comes from the National Friends Education Fund and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting endowment income from the Jonathan Rhoads Fund and other PYM education endowments. [Read more…] about Tuition Aid for Quaker Children in PYM Friends Schools
Rethinking “First Day School”
On Thursday, September 29, Friends gathered online for a presentation and discussion exploring the roots of Quaker religious education and our condition in meetings today. PYM Participants were joined by Friends from meetings across the US (all the way to Hawaii) and Costa Rica, to “rethink” the way we approach children’s religious education in meetings. Is it time to release a scholastic, lesson-based model focused only on Sunday morning?
Queries anchored both small group and whole group discussion and themes that emerged included: sharing about intergenerational programs, including youth in activism and witness, and understanding religious education as the responsibility of the whole meeting. It was an inspiring conversation! [Read more…] about Rethinking “First Day School”
Ujima Friends Sewing for Africa
Since 2019, members of the Ujima Friends Peace Center have partnered with Sankofa Artisan Guild to make reusable, environmentally friendly menstrual pads, pouches, and under garments for African girls’ whose educations are compromised due to “period poverty.” The group, now known as the PanAfrican Sisterhood Health Initiative (PASHI), is led by a group of Black Women elders most of who are community workers, keepers of the culture, educators, activists, counselors and lovers of the arts. The Friends Foundation on Aging supports funding for the project. [Read more…] about Ujima Friends Sewing for Africa
Young Friends Support the Peace Fair
A small but enthusiastic contingent of Young Friends helped make the Bucks Quarter Peace Fair, on September 17, a great success. The Peace Fair brings dozens of nonprofits doing work aligned with Quaker values to a wider audience, along with craft vendors, live music, a book sale, kids’ games and a range of food offerings. Starting the day bright and early, before the opening of the Fair, the Young Friends helped set up vendor booths, unloading the vendors’ materials and putting up tents to keep things moving swiftly. [Read more…] about Young Friends Support the Peace Fair
Giant Children’s Meeting: What’s Next?
In the Fall of 2020, as children returned to school online and many meetings settled into hosting worship on Zoom, the question of how to support religious education programs and community for children and families in meetings was on many minds. Local meetings did amazing things in the depth of the pandemic — care packages, calls and notes to young Friends and their families, outdoor programs when possible — even online Christmas pageants! The PYM Children & Families program was also experimenting, and Giant Children’s Meeting was born from both necessity and hope. Now we’re ready to discern what’s next for creating children and their families in our wider PYM community. [Read more…] about Giant Children’s Meeting: What’s Next?
