Newsletter next week

Greg will be back as newsletter editor next week. Be sure to use our new newsletter email address in order to get your item in.

Thank you to Canterbury Fair Volunteers and Request for Feedback

The Outreach Committee thanks volunteers for their extended participation in the Canterbury Fair event. Gifting your precious fair-weather summertime weekend hours was very appreciated and the event was a great success! The children’s sock puppet activity was very popular, and a steady stream of young puppet-makers joined us to “upcycle” many donated socks into charming puppets. Thanks to all who helped with this positive activity for children.

A short public event is being planned for World Quaker Day on October 2nd in Pittsfield, and any feedback about your experience at the Canterbury Fair is welcome, including what new interaction, service, display or information could be offered. The focus will include Friends' history, location of active meetings worldwide, and current Friends' activity. More about this will be described in upcoming newsletters.

Stories of Our Spiritual Journeys

Join M&C outside after meeting for worship for stories about our spiritual journeys. We'll start on July 31st - bring a chair, your coffee, and your open heart.

YRE - Summer Activities with Children on Sundays

We are hoping that Summer will bring some children to our Meeting and are preparing for their arrival. We will offer supervised play for any children that come and will need YRE Helpers for that purpose. This will happen inside or outside as the children and weather dictate. In the Fall we will also need helpers for the teachers when First Day School begins again. If you would like to help with this wonderful work, please reach out to Elaine and she will help you complete the vetting process so that your name can be added to the schedule.

Communicating with Christine Imbiti

Linda Bennett of Friends of Kenya Rising recently sent a lovely letter from Christine Imbiti, the young woman we have sponsored for many years. The YRE Committee and YRE students are working on a response to Christine. Because the easiest way to communicate with her now is by email, we are hoping to have a printed letter to Christine available for Friends to sign and perhaps share a note of encouragement, which we will then scan and send to her via email. More information will be shared soon.

Devastating Fire at Lindi School in Nairobi

On 24 July, the Lindi School run by Friends in Nairobi's Kibera slum was destroyed by fire. Please consider donating to the emergency response fund.

JJ Smith suggests that Friends in our Meeting be aware of this need and the good work done by Kenyan Quakers, and consider supporting their efforts to respond to a devastating loss. While the school building is a complete loss, there was no loss of life and the fire did not spread beyond the school compound. The fire destroyed all books, school supplies, kitchen equipment, and furnishings.

Ruth Heath shares the following message about the Lindi School:

This is of special importance to me and our Meeting because in October 2002 we were visited by a young family raising funds to be FUM missionaries in western Kenya. They had (as a family) attended the July 2002 Triennial in Nairobi and witnessed the terrible poverty in the slum and the complete lack of supplies at the school. When their two girls (8 and 10 years old) told our young people about the complete lack of school supplies and the precarious state of the Kibera Friends School in its rented space, the elementary age class organized fundraising and raised $2500 to send to the Kibera school to purchase property. The 4-week unit on Kenya that was ending on the week of the serendipitous (and surprise) visit by these FUM missionaries became a 3-month service project. And it culminated in me being asked by NH Quakers Brian and Darcy Drayton to visit Kenya with them in 2003 as they delivered the money and school supplies they had collected (Darcy had also attended the Triennial). This trip was very pivotal in my own spiritual life and I know that this service project deeply affected the children in the Meeting (and we had a lot of fun with it also).

Knowing the history of our Meeting's involvement with the Kibera Friends School, I encourage you to consider whether you might join me in donating to the FUM emergency response fund. You can contribute online at https://www.friendsunitedmeeting.org/global-ministries/solidarity-fund or mail a check to Friends United Meeting, Solidarity Fund, 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond, IN 47374. Read more at : https://www.friendsunitedmeeting.org/news-blog (first two articles are about the school and fire).

AFSC - Wabanaki Project

Sara Smith passes this information along:

Kay Carter sends this note to Vassalboro Quarter:

As many know, Daryle and I have volunteered with the American Friends Service Committee Wabanaki Program for quite some time. We have been pleased to support the work of the program which is focused on Wabanaki youth empowerment. Sienna Dana, the program coordinator, has developed a new initiative focused on hygiene kits for young people. Attached is a poster about the program and in her words, ways that individuals can help. I pass the information on in case anyone is inspired to support this work that Sienna is doing. Thanks, Kay

In Sienna's words: I want to say Thank You for taking the time to read through our flyer! As you see within the flyer; we at the American Friends Service Committee’s (AFSC) Wabanaki Program have started a trial run for the hygiene kits. I have set up a small section at the Sipayik* Boys & Girls Club for youth to go in discretely and get any items they may need. I started this May 27, 2022 and since then I have had to refill those items 3 different times now! This has been a wonderful success already. We are asking for donations of goods or monies (if comfortable sending) to support the efforts to build these hygiene kits.

Quaker World Map from FWCC

World Quaker Day is coming up on October 2, and we're excited to participate with pictures of us worshipping with others, along with a map of Quakers around the World. See attached document for more information.

Rokeby Museum

Heidi Babb writes: If you're traveling in Vermont this summer you may enjoy a visit to the Rokeby Museum (their recent newsletter is attached). From 1793 to 1961, Rokeby was home to four generations of Robinsons — a remarkable family of Quakers, farmers, abolitionists, artists, and authors. Today, the Robinson family’s home is a National Historic Landmark, designated for its exceptional Underground Railroad history. Telling those stories is at the center of the Museum’s mission, which is to “connect visitors with the human experience of the Underground Railroad and with the lives of the Robinsons, who lived on and farmed this land for nearly 200 years.” Guided by Rachel Gilpin and Rowland Thomas Robinson’s commitment to speaking truth to power, today’s Rokeby is committed to serving as a center for the exploration and discussion of contemporary social justice issues. See their Newsletter here.

Are you wanting information from past announcements and newsletters?

Visit this page on our web site: Past Announcements and Newsletters

Are you wanting to donate to Concord Monthly Meeting?

Visit this page on our web site for more information: Donations