by Web Posts | Aug 19, 2026 | Activity, AFSC, Current, Earthcare, Quaker Earthcare Witness
Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) Global Day of Action: Saturday, September 19, 8:45 to Noon
Worship made visible: head, heart, hands & voices
Join the collaboration of QEW, Sierra Club Falls of the James Group & AFSC Love as Action for a local trash cleanup (location coming!) including breakfast snacks and a short meeting for worship!
A QEW Day of Action – twice yearly in Fall and Spring – envisions Meetings creating a locally organized community event where Friends choose an action that fits its own land, gifts, needs, and community and gather in love, listen to the Spirit, care for the land and one another, and let our worship be visible.
Why do humble actions as a community? This Day of Action is a way for Friends to:
- Bring communities together through shared labor, laughter, sweat, and love.
- Make Earthcare visible as a living Quaker witness.
- Invite neighbors, youth, families, and seekers into meaningful action.
- Deepen the spiritual connection between worship and ecological repair.
- Connect spiritually across time zones and share our stories around the world.
More information is forthcoming from Barb Adams and Diane Bowden.
Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) is a network of Friends (Quakers) in North America working on Earthcare concerns. We work to inspire Spirit-led action toward ecological sustainability and environmental justice and a spiritual transformation in our relationships with each other and the natural world. As all our communities are being impacted more and more by the climate crisis, we feel an urgent leading to share our witness.
by Diane Bowden | Jul 23, 2026 | Activity, AFSC, Immigration, Racial Justice Team, Social justice
Diane Bowden, RFM’s liaison to the American Friends Service Committee, will inform the community on recent actions of the AFSC during a program at 9:30 am on August 16 in the community room. Among the questions to be addressed: What is AFSC doing regarding the immigration crisis? How might we as a community be helpful? All are welcome to attend. The Race and Racial Justice Team, sponsors of the event, will provide coffee and muffins.
by Diane Bowden | Jun 23, 2026 | Activity, AFSC, Gaza, Israel, Peace and Social Concerns, Social justice
With thanks to Steve Chase for his May 3 presentation on AFSC’s position on apartheid in Israel/Palestine, the Peace & Social Concerns Committee recommends that Meeting consider endorsing the Apartheid-Free Pledge below.
However, since this merits more explanation, and we anticipate some discussion within our meeting, before asking for approval and acceptance of the Pledge, we encourage Friends to attend the following:
- Information Session on the Pledge, Community Room, Saturday June 27, 10:30-11:30am
- Threshing Session on the Pledge, blended, in-person and via Zoom, Saturday July 25, 4-5:30
The Pledge:
WE AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people;
WE OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression; and
WE DECLARE ourselves an apartheid-free community and to that end,
WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.
After due consideration by Meeting, the Committee anticipates bringing this to Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business in September.
by Diane Bowden | May 19, 2026 | Activity, AFSC, Social justice
Please join us for “Love as Action—Richmond.” This one-hour silent witness will be held on Sunday, June 14, at 1 pm in the median of Monument Ave between Commonwealth Ave and Westmoreland St. The action is publicly posted on the AFSC website and RFM social media, and all are welcome. If you plan to join us, please register: https://www.mobilize.us/afsc/event/956948/
Please bring a chair or blanket to sit on, water and a snack, a hat and sunscreen, maybe a hand fan, and prepare for an hour of silent protest. We have many signs ready for you as a result of our poster party last Sunday. The Visibility Team will have ice, water, lemonade, and snacks available under the canopy.
This action is in the median of Monument Avenue, a wide two-lane residential street with left turn lanes. Be careful and aware when crossing the street. If you decide to walk from the meetinghouse, please use Westmoreland St because there is a pedestrian crossing at both Patterson Ave and Monument Ave.
Parking is on the street, with side streets suggested. There are shade trees but be aware that a portion of the median is in the sun. The forecast for tomorrow is 94 degrees and humid.
Contact Beth Morrison to arrange for a ride from the meetinghouse to Monument Ave. Contact Diane Bowden with questions or for more information.
by Diane Bowden | Apr 7, 2026 | Activity, AFSC, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Peace and Social Concerns, Social justice
Don’t miss the rescheduled May 3 discernment workshop on joining the Apartheid-Free Communities Coalition, to be held at Richmond Friends Meeting, in person and online.
An ice storm bumped our guest speaker from the February schedule, but now, fresh back from Israel/Palestine, Steve Chase will speak to Friends about nurturing a sustainable peace by ending our complicity with the US-backed system of apartheid in Palestine … how Quakers can work nonviolently and effectively for peace, justice, and equality for all Palestinians and Jewish Israelis.
On First Day, May 3rd, Steve will speak at 1:00, with ample time for questions and discussion. This will follow the usual 11:00 am worship, then snacks and finger food, at the Richmond Meetinghouse, 4500 Kensington Ave., Richmond 23221. Or all are invited to attend virtually at this zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84881595048?pwd=Wty8zKfYpVh8iBVeuD5oCrotOp20H2.1
Steve Chase is a long-time Quaker activist, educator, and writer. He is a member Friends Meeting of Washington and is FMW’s Liaison to the American Friends Service Committee. In 2017, he began his public ministry on seeking a just peace in Israel/Palestine with the publication of his Pendle Hill pamphlet #445, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions? A Quaker Zionist Rethinks Palestinian Rights.
by Diane Bowden | Nov 11, 2025 | AFSC, Business Meeting, Gaza, Minuted Decisions, Peace and Social Concerns
Richmond Friends Meeting endorsed the statement on genocide in Gaza at Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business on November 16, 2025. The statement available at this link -- Quaker organizations discern genocide is occurring in Gaza and urge courageous action.
by Diane Bowden | Dec 13, 2024 | Adult Spiritual Education, AFSC, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Earthcare, FCNL, Quaker House
The Fourth and final session of Quakerism 101 will be held at the Meetinghouse on January 26 at 9:30 am.
Topic --"Quakers in the Wider World."
Kelly Kennedy will facilitate beginning with a PowerPoint including maps of Quakers in Virginia, the nation, and worldwide. With the help of three Friends with deep experience in organizations such as Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Friends General Conference, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and Friends in Unity with Nature, we'll look at how Quaker values drive their work and their outcomes.
Bring your coffee and join us Sunday January 26, at 9:30 in the Community Room. Childcare will be provided at 9:15.
by Diane Bowden | Jan 19, 2023 | AFSC, Announcement, Earthcare, FCNL, Peace and Social Concerns
There is so much happening in the realm of social justice, environment, and world emergencies.
How to keep informed and act according to our Quaker values? The following organizations can help you take timely steps to address various issues. Subscribe to get their updates.
- American Friends Service Committee: https://www.afsc.org/about-us
- Friends Committee on National Legislation: https://www.fcnl.org/
- Virginia Interfaith Center on Public Policy: https://www.virginiainterfaithcenter.org
- Virginia Interfaith Power & Light: https://vaipl.org
“The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine light within each person, (they) nurture the seeds of change and the respect for human life to fundamentally transform our societies and institutions. (They) work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge
injustice, and build peace.” They offer several workshops to increase our knowledge and develop skills to act.
In addition to these activities, they work directly with populations in need.
FCNL seeks a world free of war and the threat of war, a society with equity and justice for all and a community
where every person’s potential may be fulfilled. They lobby members of our national legislatures on issues
related to Middle East and Iran, Nuclear Weapons, Peacebuilding, US wars and militarism, gun violence
prevention, Just Immigration, Justice Reforms and Native Americans. They will keep you up to date on
upcoming legislation so you can communicate with your legislators most effectively.
Richmond Friends Meeting is affiliated with Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), a non- partisan coalition of 25,000 members, including 750 houses of worship, 1,000 clergy of all faiths, and people of goodwill, ten chapters (and growing!), many partner and affiliate organizations, most of the judicatory leaders in the state, and activists in every House and Senate district in Virginia, all working for a more just society.” Just as FCNL helps us make our efforts effective on a national level, VICPP helps keep us informed about current legislation initiatives.
RFM supports Virginia Interfaith Power and Light (VAIPL), a local branch of national organization which is dedicated to bringing together faith communities to “mobilize a religious response to climate changes through energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energies." Similar to the other organizations they can help keep you reliably informed on current legislation and local initiatives.