We experience the Spirit within and among us. Our lives, our witness,
our connection to spirit is what makes up the yearly
meeting. Here are the latest stories of this community in action.
Post a story of your own or visit the archive.
This summer, Third Haven Friends Meeting is hosting two sessions of a summer nature and mindfulness camp. The camp weeks are part of an effort both to support families in the meeting and reach out to families in the surrounding community. During the first week of the camp in June, …
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Lori Sinitzky as the incoming Young Friends Program Facilitator. The search committee conducted interviews with three finalists from a strong candidate pool, and were in unity to bring this recommendation forward to the General Secretary, who joyfully accepted the committee’s recommendation with …
Members of the Administrative, Nominating and Quaker Life Councils received an update regarding the Staff Voice Policy on July 14th at their joint meeting. The update is shared here for all Friends. This policy was formally adopted in November 2017, following a discernment process involving all members of the staff …
The Indian committee honored and fortunate to have the opportunity to present an exciting and moving work of art to the Quaker community and beyond. The Indian Committee is supporting a performance of Tatanka vs. the Black Snake by Coopdanza, Inc. We felt it was within our guidelines to not …
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is hosting 30+ engaging workshops (on Faith, poverty, the Middle East, music and peace, art, medicine, education, gardening, government, inclusion, poetry, art, Quaker practice, Resource Friends, Collaboratives, Indigenous peoples, Aging, History and more) at Annual Sessions 2018! Workshops are a wonderful opportunity for meeting members/attenders to extend …
Our new version of Faith & Practice is currently in production. You can order a copy for yourself, or place a bulk order for your Meeting that you can pick up at PYM offices in the Friends Center. Order Now! Mail Orders to your home or meeting will be handled by the FGC …
At the 2018 Annual Sessions this year, there will be a booth during free time and dinner time on Thursday and Friday where Resource Friends will be available to talk with you about their work and what they might be able to support for you and your meeting. They will …
Friends in Fellowship at Sessions Our season of compelling Friends in Fellowship lecture events ended this May, but we will be offering seven Fellowship Workshop events this July at Annual Sessions, on July 26, 27 and 28 at the College of New Jersey. You can attend any of the 30+ Thursday, …
Chicken salad, rhubarb and, of course, strawberry shortcake and hand-dipped ice cream. For 126 years, the Quakers at Woodstown Friends Meeting have been serving up platefuls of this traditional fare at their annual Strawberry Supper. The proceeds always go to a charitable cause which could be scholarships for local students …
Date for Memorial–Saturday, July 21 at 10:00 A memorial service for Penny will be held Saturday, July 21 at Germantown Monthly Meeting, 47 W. Coulter Street, Philadelphia, PA 19144. The service will begin at 10 AM. Contributions in her name can be made to the Kelly School Library Fund; c/o Germantown Monthly …
“Can we go home this summer?” “What do you mean?” “Can we go to PYM Sessions?” This was the conversation I had with my then-10 year old, a few summers ago after our family moved to New York. Going to PYM Annual Sessions felt, for him, like going home — …
Something significant & sobering is happening in Montgomery, Alabama (MGM). PYM can participate in the reckoning MGM is going through. Montgomery was a hub for warehousing & auctioning of enslaved persons. It is now recognizing that history with the Legacy Museum: Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, & a ten minute walk …
Dear Friends, We are sad to report that our beloved clerk, Penny Colgan-Davis, passed away quietly in her sleep, last night. Penny has been many places and done many things in a life of service to others as she followed divine leadings. A mentor, career teacher, school director, principal, head …
If we are proud of our heritage of opposition to slavery, we have no choice but to take a stand on mass incarceration. Last spring Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting passed a minute in opposition to mass incarceration. As one step in bringing that minute to life, to test the role …
Members and attenders of Westtown and other Monthly Meetings joined several hundred in West Chester on June 9th to publicly witness on behalf of our neighbors facing the dangers of new pipelines snaking their way through Chester and Delaware counties designed to carry high risk liquefied gas pipelines. The Mariner …
The 39th Annual Nanticoke Lenape Powwow held on the Salem County Fairgrounds June 9th and 10th may now enter into history. Pow-Wow, from the Wampanoag Indian word “pauwau,” refers to a gathering, conducted by a holy man/ medicine man, to heal the souls and bodies for his people. In western …
On May 16, 2018, Fran Sheldon (Providence Meeting) and Paul Sheldon (Lansdowne Meeting) participated in a Demand the Ban action in Philadelphia to demand that Senator Toomey co-sponsor Senate Bill 2095 that bans the sale of assault weapons. As part of a group of thirty-three individuals who had previously received …
On Saturday, May 19, Abington Friends juniors, Margaret Silbaugh and Lily Ehsani, dressed in the clothes of a Quaker bride and groom circa 1850. In the Merion Friends meetinghouse, they repeated their vows to each other before a congregation of visitors in modern dress. The wedding of Leonard Brenton and …
Green Street Meeting’s Quaker Social Change Ministry group in support of EMIR Healing Center is having a “Fill a Bookbag” drive to gather school supplies for 85 children participating in the center’s programs this year. EMIR stands for “Every Murder is Real.” The center, in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, …
Over the past several years, three monthly meetings in Philadelphia–Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia (Arch Street), Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, and now Germantown Monthly Meeting–have joined a broad-based interfaith coalition founded in 2011 under the name Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild, or POWER. POWER, affiliated at the …