The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) has released their 2021 Report to Yearly Meetings. Many Friends within LEYM have been active on FCNL Advocacy Teams or via participation in some of FCNL’s ongoing events series. This report includes some of the highlights of this year’s work, made possible by the advocacy, engagement, and financial support of Friends. You can learn more about the legislative impact of FCNL’s work at www.fcnl.org/impact.
Spring Bulletin Submissions Due May 15
MAY 15, 2021: DUE DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS TO LEYM SPRING BULLETIN
Please send articles, essays, reports or artwork for Lake Erie Yearly Meeting’s Spring 2021Bulletin to the editors, Jeff Cooper and Peggy Daub, by Saturday, May 15, 2021 (send to bulletinleym@gmail.com)
This issue will provide information about Annual Meeting – the program, schedule, workshops, etc. Remember, those sessions will again be virtual, from Wednesday, July 28, through Sunday, August 1.
We want to help disseminate items reflecting the business of the Yearly Meeting, as well as reports on activities in monthly meetings or worship groups. Individual contributions such as essays, poetry, or artwork are also welcome.
Query: How has the last year affected the spiritual journey of you or your meeting?
AFSC to Offer New Youth Opportunities
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is developing an exciting new program for young Quakers and Quaker college students and alumni, ages 18-25. To help them develop this program, AFSC is inviting young Quakers and current and former students from Quaker colleges to participate in an upcoming Zoom focus group on either May 11 or May 12 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
If you or someone you know is interested, please complete this brief questionnaire so AFSC can make sure they have a diversity of viewpoints. Participants will receive an honorarium for their time.
Spring Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting
Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting spring business meeting will be from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturday, May 15, 2021, via Zoom (see below for link). In addition to business items, Friends will hear updates from the Michigan Friends Center and the Michigan Quakers for Environmental Action. To add an item to the agenda, please contact one of our Co-Clerks, Deb Wickering (wickedeb@aquinas.edu) or Elliott Brannon (esbrannon@gmail.com). We hope to see you there.
Agenda
- Query related to Environment and Sustainability (Elliott Brannon)
- Roll call (Elliott Brannon)
- Previous Meeting’s Minutes (Elliott Brannon)
- Reflections on Mid-winter gathering (Deb Wickering)
- Report on Called Meeting for Friends School in Detroit (Joseph Mills)
- Treasurer Report and Budget
- Nominating Committee
- Michigan Friends Center Update (Richard Tucker)
- Michigan Quakers for Environmental Action: (Peggy Daub, Phil Volk and/or Richard Tucker)
- GPQM moving forward
Zoom information: https://umich.zoom.us/j/91769618384 | Meeting ID: 917 6961 8384
GPQM Newsletter and Facebook group
You will notice that we have attached our Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting newsletter to this post. Please share it far and wide!
As we explore ways of keeping Friends connected throughout GPQM, we have begun a newsletter that is distributed in pdf format four times per year, as well as a Facebook group. Perhaps you have news to share with other Meetings and Worship Groups in GPQM, or you would like to invite Friends to an upcoming event. Send your news to April Allison at (gpqmcommunications@gmail.com) and we will spread the word though Facebook and/or this periodic newsletter. We hope to hear from you.
Quaker House at Chautauqua ready for 2021 Season
Sue Tannehill is sharing the good news that the new Quaker house at Chautauqua is ready for the 2021 Chautauqua Season. She writes:
Dear Quakers and other interested F/friends,
It is with great joy that we are now accepting requests to stay at Quaker House at Chautauqua for the 2021 season!! Please note all visitors must be fully vaccinated and we will maintain a 50% occupancy to insure distancing guidelines.
To register, please go to the new website and click on the “staying” button. Print the registration form and mail it to the address listed on the form. Be sure to read the House Guidelines first.
ALL are welcome on Sunday for Meeting for worship at 9:30 There is no admission fee on Sunday, so please come and worship with us in our (almost ready) new home!
We can’t wait to meet you and share this welcoming new space on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institution.
Check out the website and our Facebook page for pictures and regular updates.
Sue Tannehill
Communications
QHCHQ Steering committee
Register for April 2-3 Representative Meeting
The 2021 LEYM Representative Meeting will be held online this year, beginning on the evening of Friday April 2 (for the Executive Committee), followed by the broader gathering of Friends on Saturday, April 3 from 10am to 3pm.
This year we will be hearing from the ad hoc Visioning Committee on their work considering an updated structure for LEYM. It will be a great opportunity to provide feedback that will be helpful to the Yearly Meeting. Registration for the 2021 Representative Meeting (no cost) can be found at the Representative Meeting page, along with additional meeting-related documents when they become available.
AFSC April Workshop Series for Friends
The American Friends Service Committee invites you to join them for a week of events and workshops on the occasion of AFSC’s 2021 annual meeting, a virtual program exploring different dimensions of “Making New Worlds: Pursuing Peace with Justice,” from Sunday, April 11 through Thursday, April 15, 2021.
In six workshops, one panel presentation, and one plenary address AFSC will explore questions including: What does it mean to dismantle systems to create justice? What is the Quaker historical perspective on working for liberation, and what is the vision of contemporary Quaker organizers? How is AFSC working to end injustice and the institutions that perpetuate it—and create alternatives based on care and a solidarity economy?
We will explore approaches to working toward peace with justice and ways that AFSC and Quakers are striving to build new worlds. Workshops and programming: Join AFSC for one or two sessions or attend the whole program!
The program will begin on Sunday, April 11 at 7 p.m. ET with a panel presentation, “Quakers, AFSC, and abolition: Then and Now,” featuring historians Marcus Rediker and Katharine Grebner and contemporary Quaker abolitionists.
Workshops will be offered throughout the week, as listed below:
Monday, April 12, 8 p.m. ET: FreeThemAll: How we are living into the call to free folks in the context of COVID-19 and beyond. Presenters: Adriana Jasso, Demetrius Titus, Layne Mullett.
Tuesday, April 13, 8 p.m. ET: Pursuing freedom for Palestine: A campaign for Palestinian children’s rights. Presenters: Jennifer Bing and Zeina Hutchison.
Wednesday, April 14, 4 p.m. ET: Global migrant justice: Manifesting the joint Quaker statement. Presenters: Kristin Kumpf, Marianne Elias, Pauline Muchina, and global migration staff.
Wednesday, April 14, 8 p.m. ET: Restorative Justice: What does it look like/feel like in our communities? Presenter: Fatimeh Khan.
Thursday, April 15, 1:30 p.m. ET: Making new worlds: Creating a society based on care and a solidarity economy…what to divest from/what to invest in? Presenters: Rick Wilson, Dov Baum, and Grace Kindeke.
Nyle Fort will conclude the program with a plenary session on Thursday, April 15 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. ET. Nyle Fort is a minister, activist, and scholar based in Newark, NJ. He has worked in education, criminal justice, and youth development for over a decade and is a lead trainer at Momentum, an activist incubator that builds large-scale social movements in the United States and around the world.
During these sessions discover AFSC’s work, ways you can join them, and hear from historians and wise activists about the contemporary challenges for justice and how we can pursue it together.
Read more about the program and register for each event here.
Possibilities of Peace Education Event in May 2021
Are you a teacher, youth worker, young adult, volunteer, parent/carer interested in peace education? Would you like to meet people from across Europe and beyond, share practice and ways to strengthen the call for peace education?
The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) and Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW) invite you to their conference “The Possibilities of Peace Education: Evidence and Opportunities“, which will take place online in the afternoons of 20-21-22 May 2021.
The aim of the conference is to explore how education can sow the seeds of sustainable peace and heal divisions in post-conflict settings, drawing inspiration from a long Quaker tradition of peace education work. We will also discuss how Peace Education could become mainstreamed in EU and national policies at a time of increased polarisation.
Further information is available on the provisional programme.
QCEA will send the Zoom link closer to the conference date.
Make sure to RSVP by April 30 if you are interested in participating. Do not hesitate to contact Pamela Nzabampema at QCEA pamela.nzabampema@qcea.org if you have any questions or need any support. More details on the project are available at this link.
RSVP HERE
FCNL Opportunities for Young Adults
The Friends Committee on National Legislation has opportunities for young adults to work for peace and justice.
Advocacy Corps
Young adults (19-30 years old) lead local grassroots campaigns to influence members of Congress. Participants receive a financial stipend and commit to 25 hours a month for 10 months plus a 10-day immersive training in community organizing, media outreach, and lobbying.
Application Deadline: April 12, 2021
Program: August 2021-May 2022
Young Fellows Program
FCNL Young Fellows work as full-time staff members of FCNL for 11 months. Benefits include salary (meets DC living wage standard), health care, paid vacation, and sick leave.
Application Deadline: February 15, 2021
Program: August 2021-July 2022
Summer Internships
FCNL summer interns are introduced to federal policy, grassroots organizing, and nonprofit management. The experience is ideal for undergraduate or college‐age participants. Stipend included.
Application Deadline: March 26, 2021
Program: June-July 2021
Spring Lobby Weekend
Join hundred of young adults as they gather for four days to learn advocacy skills and lobby on national legislation to address police violence.
Program: March 20-23, 2021
For applications, visit fcnl.org/youngadult
Questions? Contact Larissa Gil Sanhueza, Young Adult Advocacy Coordinator – Larissa@fcnl.org
Winter Bulletin Now Available
The Winter LEYM Bulletin is now available here as a pdf. It includes a Clerk’s Message from Jo Posti, an introduction to the Visioning Committee report that will be the focus of Representative Meeting (virtual, April 3), a preview of Paula Palmer’s keynote address at this summer’s Annual Meeting, a request for Annual Meeting workshop proposals, LEYM’s Epistle from 2020, news from Monthly Meetings and other Quaker organizations, and more.
You can always find current and back issues at the Bulletin Page.