by Diane Bowden | Feb 15, 2026 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, BYM Camps
Richmond Meeting is one of 40 Monthly Meetings that make up the community of Friends known as Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM). BYM is made up of Meetings in most of Virginia, DC, and Maryland, as well as parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We hold our week-long Annual Sessions once a year in the summer along with several one-day Interim Meetings throughout the year to do business together.
Most recently, we had a called Interim Meeting on January 31 to finish some vital time-sensitive business. There were just two items on the agenda. The first was to approve the 2026 budget. This was achieved in a relatively short amount of time.
The second item was a return of the report from the BYM Quaker Camps Governance Study Group. The report and its associated proposal for restructuring our camps’ governance was presented with an apology for the previous Interim Meeting in November when the proposal was presented without appearing to have addressed concerns raised at threshing sessions and without responding to concerns raised in the face of the Meeting. Those concerns were then addressed. The Yearly Meeting was able to then approve the minute for the Yearly Meeting to create an LLC, owned by the Yearly Meeting, to be called BYM Quaker Camps LLC, and that the study group continue working through the next Interim Meeting to assist with the creation of the initial Board of Directors and to draft a resource manual on matters to be considered by the new board.
by Diane Bowden | Apr 14, 2025 | Activity, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, BYM Camps, Children and Religious Education
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.
by Diane Bowden | Jan 19, 2025 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, BYM Camps, Children and Religious Education
BYM Camp registration is open. Financial assistance is available. Please contact Anna Best or Shannon Garrett with questions. You may also visit bymcamps.org for more information. If you know of a child who may enjoy attending camp, RE encourages you to engage with families directly.
by Diane Bowden | Jan 21, 2021 | Announcement, Archive, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, BYM Camps, COVID-19
BYM Camp Registration opened on January 15 at 7 pm! There are still slots at all of the camps and we encourage all 9-17 year-olds to attend one of our three residential camps or Teen Adventure. https://bymcamps.org/
This year the BYM Camping Program Committee has dramatically changed our fee structure this year in hopes of making camp more accessible to all who want to attend. As you probably saw in the 2020 Firecircle (https://t.e2ma.net/click/kaj8ki/06ak7t/kq3apkc) there is a new sliding scale fee structure for campers this year. CPC has long sought ways to provide the BYM camping experience to a wider range of kids regardless of their ability to afford the full cost of camp. The sliding scale gives each family the opportunity to choose a fee which fits their budget.
In years past RFM and other monthly meetings have sponsored campers from their monthly meeting by paying either full or part of the cost of camp. This has allowed campers from families with limited financial means to experience Quaker camp. With the new fee schedule, some campers will pay the full cost of camp, some will attend for less, and others may pay in excess of the full amount. But to make sure camp expenses are met with this sliding fee scale, the CPC is asking monthly meetings to consider making scholarship money used in the past to sponsor individual campers a contribution directly to the camping program. Individuals are also encouraged to donate if able, using a one time or monthly contribution to the camping program.
https://www.bym-rsf.org/giving/give-to-bym-camps.html
If you have questions, please call Anna Best or Brooke Davis who currently serve on CPC. Brian Massey, our new Camping Program Manager, would also be glad to talk with folks who have questions about the registration system, as well as how the sliding scale and work grants could help their children, grandchildren or other kids attend camp this summer.