How has your meeting been changing?
Providence Friends Meeting has seen an increase in the attendance of families with children. As a result, the Religious Education Committee and Child Care Committee joined together to plan and provide programming for school age children and child care for younger children. While the attendance is small, the rewards are great. At the same time, many in our membership are getting older, which has provided the opportunity to develop new plans and strategies to improve physical access to the Meetinghouse. A sprint was formed and is guiding an upgrade to one of the two restrooms. The use of Zoom for hybrid meeting for worship has continued solidly since 2021, an outgrowth of the 2020 COVID epidemic. Zoom usage has made participation in Meeting activities more accessible for older members as well as those struggling with medical challenges and/or living out of state.
A concerted effort has been made to preserve our historic properties and resources, such as the oversight Providence provides to Middletown Preparative Meeting and seasonal care for Sandy Bank Burial Ground. Regular maintenance is done on the main active graveyard behind the Providence meetinghouse, including proactive landscaping and repairs to the surrounding wall. Providence Meeting celebrated its 340th Anniversary in October 2024 with areas for folks to explore including the solar ground array, the Chimes for Justice (a collaboration with the Media Providence Friends School), the Salem Oak descendent on the front lawn, the underground room, the burial site of Graceanna Lewis, and the historical connection to the Thomas Minshall house, a house with Quaker roots that is designated as the oldest house in Media.
While maintaining our core traditions, Providence Meeting is also trying to be a better steward in harnessing and administering our resources. Providence has no paid employees, and all general operations of the Meeting are handled by volunteers.
When there is a specialized need for outside, certified contractors to address specific needs in lighting, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and tree work, Providence makes thoughtful plans and selections based on research from committees and sprint groups to ensure that all critical work meets or exceeds current codes.
In alignment with the corporate witness of PYM to address climate change, the Meeting’s Property Committee, working in collaboration with the Landscape Committee and Climate Crisis Committee, is leading the way for the parking lot area to have additional outdoor lighting for evening events that is DarkSky compliant with less environmental impact.
In support of the corporate witness of PYM to address racism, Providence has been steadily building capacity in reaching out to and connecting with local organizations that share similar values of peace and social justice. Prior to this time period and continuing into the present day, some members of Providence have served on the boards of local organizations, including the Interfaith Council of Southeast Delaware County, and other local faith and environmental groups. The Meeting hosted a presentation by representatives of AFSC on the situation in Gaza, and several members have been actively participating in silent vigils hosted by the Meeting while others have attended hybrid sessions offered by PYM and Pendle Hill.
Members have volunteered their time, increased their efforts, and been in attendance at programs and events that benefit the wider community, including the Annual MLK Hall of Fame event at First Church Media, the Media Fellowship House 80th Anniversary event, and the Media Branch NAACP 100th Anniversary event. And beginning in April, the Meeting will begin its third year of collaboration with the Borough of Media to provide educational programs in the adjacent Thomas Minshall House.
While Providence continues its education and advocacy via its Racial Justice committee, the Meeting also approved the establishment of a Reparations Committee to explore ways in which the Meeting can take action to mitigate the devastating impact and legacy of slavery and discrimination that continues to adversely impact our community and country today. The Meeting provided seed money for this work, and members donated additional monies in support. Members of the new committee have been in dialogue with community members, organizations and other faith communities to expand the
efforts. Providence also approved a Land Acknowledgement Statement that was read at the 340th Anniversary Celebration with plans for the statement to be an ongoing living presence in the life of the meeting.
In addition, during the past year, some Providence Friends started attending County Council meetings to represent a responsible and ethical part of our community that sees local government as a potential partner, not an adversary, with our input and support.
And in January 2025, Providence applied for official recognition as an Underground Railroad site by the National Park Service Pathways to Freedom program, a recognition which Darby Friends Meeting was awarded in 2023.
Where are you headed in the next few years?
Providence Friends Meeting anticipates it will continue to offer weekly worship along with a variety of events and activities that will bring together F/friends of varied interests, backgrounds, and ages to be in community.
Providence will continue to seek to update and enhance its vehicles for communication, such as our e-newsletter and website. We hope to continue to offer an active Facebook page through which we reach a broader audience, informing them that local Quakers continue to be active members of our community, and our country in general.
One aspect that Providence will continue to preserve, share, and build upon is its rich history of social activism and activists such as abolitionist and suffragette Graceanna Lewis, and Executive Secretary of ASFC Clarence Pickett –
– both of whom are buried at Providence. Providence will continue to seek to demonstrate to the broader community that Providence Friends are still active in the fight for peace, justice, and the environment by making our presence known. Providence Quakers are not merely relics of the past from 1684 when the Meeting was founded. As active members of the Meeting community and the wider community beyond Media, Providence Friends will seek to ‘let our lives speak’.
Please share any triumphs or troubles you have had regarding the climate witness.
The solar ground array that was installed and activated in the fall of 2023 has yielded many benefits beyond being the source of clean electricity for the Meeting. Providence has hosted visits by folks from various Meetings who were interested in learning more about the array, and members of the Climate Crisis Committee have made presentations in other settings and submitted an article for inclusion in the Eco-Justice Collaborative newsletter.
In addition, the Climate Crisis Committee hosted two presentations by the Delaware County Office of Sustainability – one held in the local Media library in the autumn on the topic of Zero Waste and one held in the meetinghouse in late winter where a review of the entire Delaware County Sustainability Plan was presented. Both events were attended by many Meeting members and community members.
The meetinghouse has (almost) discontinued the use of single use plastics, and has an active compost bucket always in place in the kitchen alongside a recycling bin. The Climate Crisis Committee has presented several sessions for folks to learn ways to mend clothing and other items through the format of a Repair Cafe. Attendees learned skills to mend rips and tears in knitted sweaters and articles of clothing, add decorative embroidery to upgrade older garments, use ironing tricks to hem or repair items, and even fix headphones!
Recently, members of the Landscape Committee and Climate Crisis Committee joined together to provide an exploratory hands-on nature ‘walk’ on the meeting grounds, guiding folks in learning about soil health and the interrelationships between plants, trees, soils, insects, and more. The hope is to offer more interactive outdoor sessions in the future.
