1/01/10 Concord Quarterly Meeting newsletter - January
10/01/09 Concord Quarterly Meeting newsletter - October
07/01/09 Concord Quarterly Meeting newsletter - July
04/07/09 Concord Quarterly Meeting newsletter - April
01/04/09 Concord Quarterly Meeting newsletter - January
10/04/08 Concord Quarterly Meeting newsletter - October

General Announcements

Hi Everyone,

Click here for the five-year summary of the activities of the Coordinator. Please review and distribute it widely at your meetings. We will be discussing the work I have done and look to the future on May 31st at 7:30 at The Hickman. All are encouraged to attend.

Please call me or Ellen Simmons if you have any questions.

Blessings, Beth

Beth Lawn
Concord Quarter Coordinator
concordquarter@verizon.net
610.872.1522

Hi Everyone,

Click here for the minutes from the meeting held on Sunday 5/31 to review the coordinator position and set goals. Please distribute in your meetings and to anyone else you think may want to see them. Any questions please contact
Ellen Simmons as I will be away on vacation for the next 2 weeks.

Blessings, Beth

Beth Lawn
Concord Quarter Coordinator
concordquarter@verizon.net
610.872.1522

Coatesville's fire victims

It is hoped that friends will be able to help Coatesville's fire victims. The donations point person in Coatesville is Daniel D. Wagner at DanielDWagner@Comcast.net. The following are recommended ways to send much needed aid:

MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS: (the most important right now, and the simplest on both ends)

** Citadel Federal Credit Union, 3030 Zinn Road, Thorndale, PA 19372. Make checks payable to "Minister's Alliance of Coatesville". Write "Relief Fund" on the memo.

or

** American Red Cross, earmarked for Coatesville relief.

FURNITURE/HOUSEHOLD ITEMS:  ** A needs list for furniture and household items is available from Keith Wilburn from Olivet Methodist Church. Keith can be contacted at 610-716-6999 or KJWilburn@hotmail.com.

FOOD:  ** Send gift cards from the ACME to Doris Span, 526 Colfax Street, Coatesville, PA 19320. (She heads up the Coatesville food bank, which was the first arson victim.)

CLOTHING:  ** NO! They have a lot.

Faith & Play now Available!

Greetings!

I’m very pleased to let you know that Faith & Play, a Quaker adaptation of the Godly Play® method, is now available through QuakerBooks of FGC. Friends General Conference, in cooperation with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, also just launched a visually enticing website full of tips and information about Faith & Play and Godly Play® here.

Faith & Play and Godly Play® have been the principal vehicles for teaching First Day School at my meeting for several years. I have become a strong advocate for the method for several reasons:

• Faith & Play very strongly emphasizes the primacy of the internal and spiritual experience of the children who hear the stories. I have heard the children who have participated in the sessions at Goshen Monthly Meeting go deep, and it’s clear they are exploring their own spiritual lives, individually and together. I haven't seen this happen with such depth in other contexts and I’ve taught First Day School for years.
• The program has contributed significantly to the childrens’ sense of their connections with one another. The children who have participated in First Day School have become a real spiritual community, caring for one another tenderly, with grace and true appreciation.
• I believe the method to be a very appropriate method developmentally because even before Faith & Play, my son would often ask us to leave the room so that he could ‘tell a story.’ He takes his animals and figures and makes up stories on his own that are very like the Faith & Play and Godly Play® stories. Simon and the other children at meeting are getting exposed to the Biblical and Quaker basis for our faith, and I am happy that he will have a set of stories, and a way of practice that he can strongly identify as ‘Quaker.’
• I love the open ended ‘wondering’ questions that allow the children to find their own meaning in the stories, revealing treasures I sometimes wouldn’t notice without the children’s reflections.
• I really appreciate that Faith & Play, with Godly Play®, is a whole program to which the meeting commits resources and energy - in other meetings that I’ve attended, the approach to First Day School has been piecemeal, without a conceptual center to hold it together. I love that Faith & Play offers a predictable method for children to explore the seminal stories of our faith, and create spiritual connections with one another.

I believe Faith & Play can provide a rich spiritual foundation for a meeting’s First Day School program. Find out more by visiting the website. In order to implement, Faith & Play well, it’s quite important for at least one person in your meeting to receive training in the method. FGC, with Pendle Hill, will be offering a training in May entitled “Playing in the Light.” To learn more, see the flyer here.

Blessings,

Lucy Duncan
QuakerBooks

To Friends Meetings in Pennsylvania:

This is a follow-up of a previous email I sent you. The good news is that the “Making Peace with the World” Documentary Project has earned nearly 25% of it's goal of $10,000 in order for the photographic/journalistic part of the project to be carried out. The second part of the good news is that this was accomplished in a little over a month's time! We are now aiming for the 50% mark. If you'd like to help, please pledge as little as $1 or $5 (very affordable) on web site, www.thepoint.com. To pledge for the “Making Peace with the World” photo documentary, once you access The Point's home page, enter the keyword "Peace" in the upper right corner and then click on search. Also, please provide assistance for this project by forwarding this email to those you know who might be interested in it. In these days of war and terrorism, and during the Holiday season when we pray for “peace on earth and good will towards men” it is especially important to support projects such as this aimed at peace. Thanks for your help with keeping grass-roots idealism alive!

Here's Richard description of the project: “I will photograph Peace Corps volunteers working on their projects, living in their communities, and living their day-to-day lives. I will travel to two countries in each region where Peace Corps volunteers currently serve. I will make an honest record of what it means to be a Peace Corps volunteer, and show the world why the Peace Corps exists and how it is working to change the world. This documentary project will create a portrait of Peace Corps that will illustrate the diversity of volunteers as well as the diversity of the peoples served. The photos will be published as a book with essays to provide perspective and promote the goals of Peace Corps. Help me to use my talents and abilities to document the positive accomplishments of Peace Corps.” Please visit www.thepoint.com:80/campaigns/making-peace-with-the-world to support the documentary project.”

Furthermore, I'd like to let you know that I have Richard's Power Point presentation and am available (with advance notice) to give the program to civic organizations, clubs and churches in the Philadelphia area. The presentation about his project is complete with photos of Peace Corps volunteers from Jamaica, Belize and Panama. All that needs to be supplied is a computer projector and a screen (or a white wall). If it's a very small group, you might be able to view it straight on the laptop, but a projector would make the presentation much better. I am located in the South Jersey area and am willing to travel but may need help with travel expenses if the distance is far.

Sincerely,

Martha Windisch, Richard's sister and fund raising assistant for “Making Peace with the World”

Job Posting for Social Workers

Our PYM Aging Granting Group is looking for Quakers who are licensed & insured social workers — especially in southern New Jersey, Delaware, & Maryland — to be paid as consultants to make occasional home assessment visits to elderly Friends living in their own homes. We cannot predict when such Friends will require these visits, but this is a paid professional service offered on an as-needed basis. Interested Friends should send their resumes to:

PYM Aging Granting Group
c/o Phil Mullen (215/241-7235 or philm@pym.org)
1515 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA 19102