Quaker Call to Action Update

3 August 2023
Categories: Action, Events and Opportunities, News

The Quaker Call to Action group has issued an update and Alert and ask that Friends consider taking action in ways that they are moved to. An upcoming September 28 Zoom call will feature words from Parker Palmer. Here’s the latest announcement from the group.

Update, July 2023

The Urgent Call Steering Committee continues to hold our country’s challenging political environment in prayer. As we anticipate the 2024 election season, we have just issued an Updated Call To Action to the Religious Society of Friends. You can find it and download it here. The original Urgent Call continues to be a vital message. Please consider our updated pleas for action and distribute this email and Updated Call To Action widely for discernment by meetings and individual Friends.

We are committed to continuing our work for truth and democracy through the 2024 elections. We will be organizing periodic National Zoom Calls for Friends to come together for encouragement, learning, and support.

The first such call will be held on September 28, 2023, 7-9 pm EDT. We are thrilled that Parker Palmer will open this National Call with a message: “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Love, Truth, Justice & the Work of We the People.” You can register for the September 28 National Zoom Call, as well as future calls and training sessions, on our website.

Even though the polarization, promulgation of lies, and threats of violence that permeate our country’s public discourse are disheartening, and even frightening at times, let us continue to hold to our deep faith in the Light and to notice and affirm the Light wherever and whenever we see it. As Friends we nurture hope, trust, and joy through our worship and work together.

Yours in faith,

The Urgent Call Steering Committee

Marian Beane, Bruce Birchard, Sam Caldwell, Gretchen Castle, Mary Ellen McNish, Diane Randall, Jim Waddington, and Michael Wajda, clerk.

No religious dictator will save the world; no giant figure of heroic size will stalk across the stage of history today, as a new Messiah. But in simple, humble imperfect people like you and me wells up the springs of hope. –Thomas Kelly, The Eternal Promise, “Where Are the Springs of Hope?” 1939_

GPQM Upcoming Events

3 August 2023
Categories: Events and Opportunities, Friends Center, GPQM

Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting is hosting some upcoming events that Friends may wish to participate in.

WORSHIP IN BATTLE CREEK, SUNDAY, AUGUST 6:
All are invited to Worship with Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting at our annual summer gathering to remember the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
Sunday, August 6, 11am, at historic Quaker Park, Battle Creek (63 Groveland Street, corner of Fremont). Picnic lunch to follow. Please bring a lawn chair or blanket and a dish to share. Lemonade and water will be provided, and a porta-john will be available.

FALL MEETING AT MICHIGAN FRIENDS CENTER & ZOOM, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16:

Save the date: The Fall Gathering of Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting will take place on
Saturday, September 16, at Michigan Friends Center (Chelsea, Michigan).
After business meeting in the morning, there will be an afternoon gathering with Friends Lake Community and an elder from the Anishinaabe community when the land and water at this site will be blessed and we will acknowledge generations of Anishinaabe people in this region and our intentions of stewardship.
More information and a schedule will be available soon.

Golden Rule Peace Boat visits Ohio and Michigan

1 August 2023
Categories: Events and Opportunities, News, Peace and Justice

In 1958, Quaker anti-nuclear weapons activists were arrested to stop the Golden Rule from sailing to obstruct atmospheric U.S. nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Resulting protests lead to the passage of the 1963 Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, halting atmospheric testing. The Golden Rule and her crew inspired the later actions by the ships of Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds. A short film about the boat’s history entitled Making Waves was shown at this year’s annual meeting along with a visit and discussion with Skip Oliver from Veterans for Peace.

The 34-foot wooden ketch is sailing on a 15-month voyage around the “Great Loop” of the central, southern and eastern United States, making 100 ports-of-call to raise awareness about the growing danger of nuclear war and to build support for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The Golden Rule is a national project of Veterans For Peace, which owns the boat.

Schedule of Events in Our Region

On August 4, the sailboat is visiting Erie PA (Wolverine Park Marina) and then it departs for Cleveland OH (Aug 5-8) where numerous public opportunities have been arranged (contact Don Bryant/Francis Chiappa, clevelandpeaceaction@gmail.com, 440-703-0215). The sailboat will be in Toledo (Aug 10-13, Promenade Park Portside Dock 5 or 6, bottom of Jefferson Ave), again with many events planned. After that, beginning on August 13th, the Peace Boat enters Michigan, visiting Detroit, docking at Milliken State Park & Harbor, 1900 Atwater Street, next to Aretha Franklin Amphitheater. In addition to Detroit, public events have been arranged for Ann Arbor and Lansing (at Red Cedar Meeting House!). See image below for additional details.

To see the full schedule of planned events and to track the Golden Rule in real time, visit the Veterans for Peace Golden Rule Project website. To find out how you can help the project or make a donation, visit the Donate and Help page.

Summer LEYM-wide Worship Opportunity

28 June 2023
Categories: Events and Opportunities, News

Ministry and Nurture Committee is offering a chance to worship, by Zoom, with other members of LEYM on Wednesday evening, July 26, 2023 at 7:00 pm.

Please enter in worship and join us as we gather virtually. Connect with Friends from across the region like we did in Ashland at Annual Meeting. There will be time for brief announcements after rise of Meeting.

Here’s the Zoom Link. Meeting ID: 813 4304 9993 Passcode: 419099

Light shining through grove of pine trees

Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting Gathers on May 20th

10 May 2023
Categories: Events and Opportunities, GPQM, News

It’s almost here! On Saturday, May 20, Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting will gather in person at Ann Arbor Friends Meeting house for our Spring Quarterly Meeting. Hospitality will start at 9:30. Business begins at 10:00 a.m., with a presentation by Friend Brad Shaw at noon. BRING A BAGGED LUNCH if you need one.

The business meeting and presentation will be available hybrid. Friends are encouraged to sign in just before 10 a.m., so they don’t miss out on anything. The Zoom link can be requested from gpqmcommunications@gmail.com.

Agenda

  • Query related to stewardship of resources: How do I simplify my needs, making decisions that balance self-sufficiency and fair sharing of resources?
  • Roll call
  • Approval of minutes
  • Treasury report
  • Finance Committee
  • Nominating Committee
  • Friends Center report
  • Michigan Quakers for Environmental Action
  • Announcements
  • Break
  • Presentation: Brad Shaw, Red Cedar Friends: “Lessons from Quaker History: Activism within the Socioeconomic Realities of the Status Quo”

Detroit Friends Have a New Meeting House!

27 April 2023
Categories: Monthly Mtgs, News

Dear Friends,
The members and attenders of the Detroit Friends Meeting are excited to announce that after ten years of being on a relocation journey, a way opened in Fourth Month! We have a new spiritual home! We purchased an existing building at 19309 Greenfield Road in the City of Detroit. We are hoping to begin renovations immediately and move into the building in the early summer.

We are pleased with the building’s location and potential to provide service to the neighboring community, while giving us an opportunity to attract new attenders. However, the building will require extensive renovations over a two-year period. We anticipate being able to purchase and renovate the building with our original fundraising goal. Many in our meeting felt a level of comfort that repurposing along with the planned use of energy efficient materials and equipment will have less impact on the environment. That said, these efficiency upgrades are not a luxury. Repurposing the building with new energy saving measures is a necessity to drive down operating costs, enabling us to maintain the building within our existing annual budget of approximately $18,000 a year. Also, in Detroit, water and sewage bills are based on impermeable space like parking lots, so removing most of the existing parking lot to create a permeable surface with rain gardens is a cost saving reduction as well. Our fundraising efforts will continue over the next year to meet our anticipated needs for renovations and additional costs.

Various committees are beginning to work on the physical acknowledgment of the land, ways to serve the community, creating a welcoming space for those in the community, fundraising, and hiring minority contractors and companies to complete many of the major renovations needed.

We want to express our deepest gratitude to Lake Erie Yearly Meeting, monthly meetings, and individuals within our LEYM faith community for your generosity, support, and encouragement that has been instrumental in helping us reach this point.

Our main vision and commitment to ensure that an active and engaged Quaker presence will continue in the City of Detroit for future generations to benefit from… has now become a reality!

We welcome each one of you to visit our new meeting house in the near future. We are full of gratitude for each one of you who helped make this possible. We have felt your loving care from miles away.

If you would like more information about the new meeting house, please feel free to contact a member of the Development Committee. Kevin Howley, khowley@aol.com, Peter Dale, PeterDale67@gmail.com, Mark Michener, michman@comcast.net, or Sharon Ottenbreit, sharonottenbreit@gmail.com

Akron FM Minute on Abolition of the Death Penalty

18 April 2023
Categories: Action, Monthly Mtgs, News, Peace and Justice

Akron Friends Meeting adopted a Minute on the Abolition of the Death Penalty at their April 16, 2023 Business Meeting and asked that it might be shared with other Friends, especially those in Ohio where abolition legislation is being considered. In addition using to the direct link above, you can find the Minute over at the LEYM Resources for Peace and Justice page alongside other sample minutes.

We note that Lake Erie Yearly Meeting has previously minuted their opposition to the Death Penalty and encourages Friends to press the case for abolition (see LEYM 2007 minute here).

Spring LEYM Bulletin Now Available

29 March 2023
Categories: Bulletin, Events and Opportunities

The Spring LEYM Bulletin, which provides much information and registration materials for the 2023 Annual Meeting, is now available online (see leym.org/leym-bulletins/) and in the mail to meetings and worship groups. Please note that the registration deadline for Annual Meeting is May 10, and the gathering will take place at Ashland University, in Ashland, Ohio, June 15-18. We hope to see many of you there!

Scholarship Funds Available – Deadline extended

29 March 2023
Categories: Events and Opportunities

Scholarship Funds for Attending Quaker Colleges and Universities or for Quaker Organizational Internships/Fellowships

LEYM is committed to supporting young adult Friends who choose to attend Quaker colleges and universities for their undergraduate education, and for individuals who will be participating in a post-secondary internship or fellowship for a Quaker organization. LEYM has created an annual budget line item that can be used to support students who meet all of the following criteria:

  • Applicant participates in the life of a monthly meeting or worship group that is a member of LEYM.
  • Applicant is attending a member institution of the Friends Association for Higher Education as a degree-seeking student or is participating in a post-secondary internship or fellowship for a Quaker organization such as Quaker Voluntary Service, Friends Committee on National Legislation, American Friends Service Committee, Quaker United Nations Office, or Quaker Experiential Service and Training.
  • Applicant will be a student or intern/fellow during the school year following disbursement.

For consideration, applicants must send the LEYM treasurer the following:

  • Letter from their monthly meeting clerk or worship group convener affirming their support and sharing how the applicant has participated in Quaker life, such as participation within their faith community or with Quaker camps or organizations.
  • Proof of registration at one of the institutions listed above. This can be a print-out of their class registration or letter from the registrar.
  • Address of office that check should be sent to, along with student ID number or any additional information the treasurer should include when sending the check to the institution. In the case of an internship, the check will be sent directly to the student to offset living expenses.

Deadline: Normally the application deadline is March 1, but for 2023, deadline has been extended to April 30, 2023. All materials should be received by the treasurer by that date. All eligible applicants will be considered with the line item in LEYM’s budget being evenly divided among them. If there are no applicants during a particular year, the funds can roll over and will be made available in subsequent years. Applicants may apply for each year of enrollment or internship. The maximum scholarship per recipient per year is $2000. Materials can be sent to: Tom Kangas, Treasurer, 3641 Weston Place, Columbus, OH 43214 or emailed to LEYMTreasurer@gmail.com.

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