Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Quaker Aging Resources

A Junior Project on Aging and Intergenerational Relationships | Quaker Aging Resources

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Joey Szpilczak served on the Quaker Aging Resources Support Group which provided insight to the Friends Foundation for the Aging funded project to Reimagine Quaker Aging Resources.  The group helped her celebrate her 17th birthday!

My name is Joey Szpilczak, and I am a current junior at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My junior project began with a hope to give back to my community by working with different organizations and individuals, including Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and an art therapist in UPenn’s Radiation Oncology Department, as well as through an independent project creating creative kits for a rehabilitation hospital and memory center.
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Introducing Reimagined Quaker Aging Resources

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In 2025, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) was granted funds by Friends Foundation for the Aging to reimagine Quaker Aging Resources (QAR). The intent was to improve the work done 15 years ago in creating the website, while providing greater visibility and use.

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Quakers Playing Monopoly

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I spoke with Diana Brose, member of Woodbury Monthly Meeting who shared a fun, family and Quaker community story about the game of Monopoly and Quakers involvement in its development. When Diana’s grandparents both taught at a Quaker school in Atlantic City, NJ they lived a low-income lifestyle. Their daughter was born in 1925 who was Diana’s mother. Since housing was so expensive, they spent their summers traveling in an old jalopy cross country visiting friends. Diana’s grandfather was a friend of Paul Cope, a Quaker who was co-owner of Hotel Morton, a Quaker owned family-oriented hotel.

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PYM Explained • A Resource on How Meetings, Friends, Ministries, and Structures Link

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Each part of PYM Explained provides how the yearly meeting lives as one connected body and leads into what comes next. This virtual version is shared so Friends are able to interact with it for easy research and finding.

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Support & Resources for Caregivers

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Following my participation at Haverford Quarterly Meeting in January, I spoke with Friends Winnie Shaw Hope, who spent many years as a Special Education teacher and as a Social Worker, and Meg Lytton, a retired Family Medicine physician. In 2023, Haverford Quarter made a concerted effort to reach out to caregivers. They identified a need that many caregivers have emotional and financial concerns with great differences. Their goal was to “insert into people’s consciousness” the needs of caregivers, themselves. [Read more…] about Support & Resources for Caregivers

Third Haven Helps Members and Attenders Navigate Life Stages as Friends

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A meeting with Lorraine Claggett, member of the Third Haven Friends Meeting Pastoral Care Committee, during fellowship at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions opened many doors to learning about dedication, creativity, and outreach to the meeting’s aging Friends. Connecting with Dona Sorce, past Clerk of the Pastoral Care Committee was also enlightening. Several years ago, the meeting recognized many members were over the age of 50.  Subsequently, the group invited George Schaefer, a member of Abington Meeting who previously served Philadelphia Yearly Meeting from 2009 to 2022 as Care and Aging Coordinator, to discuss PYM’s resources for aging Friends.  We recently connected with Pastoral Care Committee members Bill Schauer, Terry Thomas-Primer, and Dee Rein to learn more about their efforts. [Read more…] about Third Haven Helps Members and Attenders Navigate Life Stages as Friends

Concord Quarter Working Group Offers Resources and Support for Aging Friends

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Concord Quarterly Meeting of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting consists of 8 Meetings: Birmingham, Concord, Goshen, Middletown, West Chester, Westtown, Willistown and Wilmington. Included in Concord’s October 2016 newsletter was an article authored by Pam Leland, the executive director of The Hickman who wrote about the New York Yearly Meeting program – ARCH (Aging, Resources, Consultation, Help). The article inspired members of Concord Quarterly Meeting to create their own group meeting around mutual interest in aging issues. The initial group of 11 began meeting in May of 2017. By June of 2017, the group was led by their first Clerk, Rich Ailes and officially became known as the Concord Quarter Working Group on Aging. [Read more…] about Concord Quarter Working Group Offers Resources and Support for Aging Friends

Quaker Spotlight: A Woman of Note

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As we began our interview with Demie Kurz, a long-time member of the Religious Society of Friends and retired professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, who also co-directed the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies program, we were immediately impressed with her flow of conversation and emphasis on the history of Quaker women. Nowadays, Demie Kurz spends her time in retirement writing a book on parenting, written from a sociological perspective. This is her story. [Read more…] about Quaker Spotlight: A Woman of Note

History & Vision of Quaker Aging Resources

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PYM’s Aging Support Coordinator, Sheila Sorkin, invites you to participate in an important survey on the Quaker Aging Resources website. The vision for this project may still hold true; however, we will value your input in discerning the future of this valuable website.

New York and Philadelphia Yearly Meetings of Friends (Quakers), through generous funding from Friends Foundation for the Aging and the Thomas Scattergood Foundation, collaborated to develop Quaker Aging Resources (QAR). The project was designed over 13 years ago to assist Meetings and individuals in responding to the needs of aging Friends including age related changes, chronic illness or disability. The resources are intended to uphold a culture of care for the body, mind, spirit and community of the individual, which is consistent with our Quaker faith, and address the following needs: [Read more…] about History & Vision of Quaker Aging Resources

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