We welcome all to worship with us
Damos la bienvenida a todos para adorar con nosotros en la Reunión de Amigos (Los Cuáqueros) de Richmond.
You are welcome here.
Special Dates for Meeting for Worship at The Clearing in May & June
For the months of May and June, we will have meeting for worship at The Clearing on the second Sunday of the month. These dates are May 11 and June 8. On July 6, the regular worship schedule of first Sundays will resume through October.
Reading Between the Lines, May 4
The Adult Spiritual Education Committee will host a one-hour Reading Between the Lines (formerly known as Bible Workbench) on May 4, 2025, from 9-10 am through Zoom. We will discuss John 19: 1-14: moorings during mourning; eventual recognitions of new forms; casting nets in new directions; unforeseen abundances; the intimacy and tenderness of sharing a meal, especially after great change. The facilitator will send the Zoom link through the Newslist a couple of days before our conversation.
Announcements from RE
Welcome, new families! Please complete a registration for each child if you have not already done so. This allows us to keep your child safe here at Meeting and send monthly updates about what’s happening in our Religious Education program. Forms can be found on the table under the main bulletin board or you may connect with Elizabeth Price (402-990-0010 thelotusgarden@gmail.com).
Playground Policy: Now that the weather is warming, we want to remind families of our playground policy and rise of Meeting procedures. At the rise of Meeting, all children (ages PreK-17) are returned by teachers to parents in the meeting room. The parents may then dismiss their own children at their discretion to play on the playground with the understanding that there will be no supervision provided by RE volunteers.
Workshop Postponed: Due to circumstances beyond the control of the RE committee and the speaker, the workshop “Growing in Anti-Racism with Children in Meeting, Family & Our Lives” on April 26 has been postponed until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused those wishing to attend. Our intention is to spend the coming months improving the offering and making it accessible to everyone later this year.
Faith & Play Doorperson Workshop: “Are you ready?”
April 30th, 7:00 pm on Zoom
The doorperson is not an “assistant teacher,” but rather holds care “for the whole room” in a role more like an elder. This workshop will prepare Friends to support their children’s program in the doorperson role, from greeting to response time.
More information can be found at this link: https://quakerfaithandplay.org/workshop-series-winter-spring-2025/
Register at the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcof-yhqD0oHtPfz3S8jZBq-yM538CwIt4H#/registration
Spring Retreat
RE is planning programming for Saturday and Sunday mornings at The Clearing during Spring retreat, May 23-25. We encourage families to attend! You may attend Saturday only, Saturday/Sunday without an overnight stay, or camp overnight and attend both days!
Summer Committee-Led Lessons begin June 15th and continue until August 31st. For those unfamiliar with our summer routine, each Sunday, a committee presents children with an experience related to the work of that committee. It’s a fantastic way for children to learn about the role of committees in our Meeting life.
Kids Need Camp!
The Spark newsletter to the BYM Camp families contains the following: A Letter to Campers
The directors of our camps have a letter written directly to your children. Here’s what they want to make all campers hear from them before camp starts:
To all our fabulous campers new and returning (and to all of those wonderful staff and volunteers too!)
Our friends, I’m sure you’ve noticed that we are in a hard time in our country, a time where lots of people are being judged and excluded and treated badly. That weighs heavily on our hearts and it makes us more excited than ever to create a community with you this summer where each of us can be fully welcomed and belong. So we wanted to get a jump start on reminding you now that in just a few short months, we can’t wait to welcome you!
We can’t wait to welcome you and your family if you have been in this country since your grandparents, grandparents, grandparents, or if you’ve just arrived, or if your ancestors were the first humans who ever lived here. We can’t wait to welcome all the things you want to share about that family: the languages you speak, your favorite comfort food, the funny inside jokes you have, the pet name your aunty calls you.
We can’t wait to welcome all our boys and girls (no matter who someone said they were when they were first born) and all our campers who aren’t boys or girls! We are excited for you to show up just as you are with all of the fun quirks and special sauce that make you you. We trust you when you say who you are. And we love creating lots of space for you to still be figuring that out too.
At camp we know that every group of people is equally full of goodness or “Light” even though we are not all the same. By respecting each other's differences (and being open to the places we might be more similar than we thought!) we can learn from each other and have fun in new ways. We are excited for you to bring all the things you’ve learned from whoever your people are.
At camp we want to celebrate the awesomeness that comes in bodies of all different shapes and sizes, and in minds of all different types and styles. We all challenge ourselves to do new things, knowing that what is hard for one person might be easy for another and vice versa. But all of us bring gifts to the community that only we can bring and the community wouldn’t be the same without each one of us.
Because of all that, we are excited to welcome you, each one of you, and all parts of you. We can’t wait for the community you will help us create together!
With so much love,
The BYM Camp Directors:
Dyresha (CQC), Brick (OQC), Hope (SQC), Rosie, and Jesse (TA)
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How to help
See: bymcamps.org
- Encourage kids aged 9-14 to sign up for camp. There is a sliding-scale for registration fees and RFM has additional scholarships available. Encourage your non-Quaker friends to sign up their kids too!
- If your child is already signed up, you can earn $200 by referring other kids who sign up for camp.
- Sign up for Spring Work Days. The one at Shiloh Quaker Camp is the first Saturday in May.
- Donate to BYM Camps scholarships or to RFM scholarships.
- Ask how else you can help: Anna Best and Al Best are the RFM contacts.