Intermountain Yearly Meeting News & Events

News Flash for Saturday 4-11 ||Business Meeting, Registration, Fun Volunteers

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 16:56:19 GMT

Friends, Saturday March 18 at 10:00 MDT and 9:00 AZ time, IMYM is holding an online Meeting for Worship for Business. Two very important topics will be discussed: 1. The proposal for the IMYM Children, Youth, and Families Coordinator, and 2. Possible changes to how IMYM does business – are changes to the structure of Representatives Committee in order? Please check your email box for more details including documents in advance and the Zoom link.

Registration continues to be very close. It must seem like the goal posts keep moving. The details that support an effective registration experience for the IMYM community and administration involve a lot of details. Some of these details are outside of IMYM’s control and thus we have had to wait; some are improvement efforts to make registration easier and a better experience. We hope to have registration open by the 17^th. An email will go out to the IMYM community as soon as registration is ready. Updates will be made to the Annual Gathering pages very soon that will reveal program details associated with this year’s theme: Connecting in Joy Across All Ages. You can read the Clerk’s call to Annual Gathering HERE.

Fun Volunteers. Bronwen Hillman, a contractor on our Tech Team, is hard at work improving our document storage, handling, and retrieval. She needs volunteers! One job involves getting to know the historical IMYM through our archived documents. These documents need important attention: correct naming, for example; putting them into correct folders, and more. You can do this work at home on your own computer. If you like history and IMYM, and can spare some time to help on this project please email: assistant@imym.org and put VOLUNTEER in the subject line – you will be glad you did!

2026-03-07 Things to know

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:28:18 GMT

2026-03-07

The Annual Gathering Program Group is hard at work; the program and schedule are nearly ready – details will follow shortly.

Representatives Committee meets Saturday, 3/7, TODAY, 9:30 – 11:00, by Zoom. Mark your calendars now for two more scheduled meetings: May 2 and June 17 – both by Zoom.

IMYM is searching for a teacher for Children’s Yearly Meeting – on-site at Durango’s Fort Lewis College Annual Gathering. To qualify, at a minimum, pass a background check, have experience providing Quaker activities and learning for young children. If you want to learn more, email adminclerk@imym.org

IMYM Business Meetings April 18 and May 30 – detail will follow – now is a good time to mark your calendar. These are important meetings and your input is needed.

New Mexico Regional Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business: 18 April 4-5:30 p.m. on-line. Links to be posted shortly.

Are you interested in participating in an IMYM sponsored blog and/or discussion group on spiritual transformation experiences? If you are, send a brief email to adminclerk@imym.org .

Arizona Half Yearly Meeting (AHYM) is coming right up in Pima, March 27, 28, 29. Barry Crossno is the speaker, in person. The theme: The Experience of the Meeting. Registration and more information is HERE

Colorado Regional Meeting Spring Gathering, hosted by Fort Collins Meeting, Sunday April 26 @ 10 a.m. More details are on the Boulder Friends website: Announcements, news, events

Finance Committee meets March 13 (Friday) at 3:30 Mountain Standard Time (4:30 for everyone else) by Zoom .

Volunteers Welcomed and Needed – time commitment flexible – work from home! Communications Improvements – Bronwen Hillman, our contractor working on cleaning up and organizing our documens, needs help correctly naming documents and other easy task that can be done from your computer. If you are interested in being part of a small group performing an important service to our communication, please contact assistant@imym.org

Document & Communications – you may run into surprises – as things are moving . . . It is pretty much inevitable that with a system that grew as large and disorganized as ours, organizing it for accurate and efficient use would take time and cause some disruptions. That has happened. Apologies. The disruptions will not last long – even less time the more volunteers who can work with Bronwen to accomplish important tasks.

IMYM’s Paula Palmer co-authored an article in Friends Journal:

A Homecoming for the Arapaho and Cheyenne. You can read the article here: https://www.friendsjournal.org/a-homecoming-for-the-arapaho-and-cheyenne/

In service to the Light and You.

NEWS BRIEF

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 23:47:39 GMT

Friends, there are several items in this issue. Please click HERE to view. You won't want to miss some of these opportunities, and we do not want to miss your input!

In service - Larry Newton, Administrative Clerk

Discerning a New Program that can touch us all - and more news

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:37:27 GMT

Children, Youth and Family Program Coordinator - For several months the Coordinating Committee has been discerning inputs from many Friends about the needs of Children, Youth and Families - especially young families. Members have reached out to other yearly meetings for perspective and success stories. Now a proposal is ready. The Coordinating Committee asks that everyone read the proposal, talk about it - especially within their meetings, and know that the proposal is on the agenda for the January Representatives Committee Meeting. Please read the proposal HERE.

Non-Violence Training Update:

The weekend of December 13 and 14 there were Nonviolence Training events in Salt Lake City and Moab, Utah, led by David Wells, a member of Tempe Meeting. David reports that he counted 18 as participants at each location.

Charlene Weir reports that in Salt Lake the program started with Compassionate Listening and ended with role play covering different situations. They focused a lot on how to control yourself so as to de-escalate as opposed to escalating any situation/confrontation. Two Quakers drove 4 hours from St. George to attend. The training was well received. The event also served the Salt Lake Monthly Meeting needs to form connections with like-minded community members.

We hope to hear more about the training in Moab.

Connecting in Joy Across All Ages - The program group is meeting weekly - stay tuned!

Annual Gathering 2026 Theme Announced!

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 23:09:31 GMT

Connecting in joy across all ages

Dear Friends – Above is the theme for Annual Gathering 2026.

The Program Group discerned across several meetings. They took into account the input gathered from three listening sessions held by Zoom in December about Annual Gathering 2026. Click three vertical dots up and to the left to READ MORE.

A sense of unity and enthusiasm rose for this theme – and we hope that it will for you too.

Watch for updates as the program begins to take shape.

Now, plan to attend. Be sure your calendar is marked for June 17 – 21 at Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO.

Early days camping starts on the 14th.

More details will be sent as they develop.

News Brief 12/13/2025

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 15:06:44 GMT

Annual Gathering - Date Change - Mark Your Calendars: Friends, the new dates for the 2026 Gathering are June 17-21. More information will follow in the weeks ahead. Now is the time to update your calendars.

Annual Gathering Update: The program is being discerned by the Program Group, clerked by Penny Thron-Weber. Listening Sessions - open to all in the IMYM community - were held in early December by Zoom. Many theme and program ideas were shared. Discernment is in process. If you have questions or suggestions, or a desire to contribute, even in a small way, please send an email to Penny Thron-Weber.

Annual Assessments and Pay-as-Led Monthly Meetings - now is the time to respond to the annual assessment request. The Assessment amount is unchanged from last year; pay as led contributions at this time are to assist IMYM with operations expenses. An email has been sent to all Monthly Meeting Clerks and Treasurers. Please be sure your Meeting's checks is mailed to Treasurer - IMYM, Post Office Box 2114, Flagstaff, Arizona 86004 as soon as possible.

Have skills and background working with children? Available during Annual Gathering 6/17-21? - Paid Contractor Opportunity: Is there someone in your Meeting who works with children who might be interested in five days at the Annual Gathering in Durango, CO with the Yearly Meeting kids? Elizabeth Freyman has done this for three years and her term is over. E-mail RepComClerk@imym.org for information or interest.

Possible new contractor position is in discernment by the Coordinating Committee: At the January 24 Representatives Committee meeting we will consider descriptions of an IMYM Next Generation program, its program coordinator, and fundraising being developed by the Coordinating Committee in consultation with the Next Gen Working Group and the Finance Committee. We plan to send you a draft of this proposal next month so you have time to review and discuss it with your meeting in January.

Representative's Committee Dates: Sat Jan 24, 2026 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM (Mountain Time) by Zoom. Links will be emailed closer to the date of the meeting. Mark your calendars now - lots will be discussed and discerned.

Monthly Meeting Clerks Important Resource: A Support Group for IMYM Monthly Meeting Clerks, hosted by Ministry and Council. The next Zoom Support Meeting will be January 27. People with questions could contact Vickie Aldrich.

Non-Violence Training: David Wells from Tempe Monthly Meeting will be giving nonviolence to Friends and others in those communities training in Salt Lake City and Moab, Utah soon . Non-violence training is one of the items recommended by the Way Forward Group to support our communities in the Intermountain West.
The trainings will cover:

What is Violence/What is Nonviolence?
Listening
Working with your local immigrant community
What’s your target?, What’s your objective? Who’s your intended audience?
Bystander Training
Peacekeepers training
Preparing for possible arrest and risking arrest.

If your meeting would like Dave to come to you to provide training, contact him at makedemocracywork@gmail.com. So far, meetings have been collaborating and are paying for his transportation.

Thoughts on Building an IMYM Intervisitation Program (Exploration Phase)

Rob Pierson – 29.Nov.2025

Vision: We see an IMYM community where Friends recognize and share their spiritual call and gifts across the region. We see Meetings making known their spiritual needs and longings, welcoming visits from traveling Friends. We see intervisitation providing mutual encouragement and building up of both individual Friends and Meetings across the Intermountain west.

Near Term Goals:

Kick-start - Let’s get things going
Discovery – What do Meetings need? What Friends are called to this work?

Principles:

Keep It Simple
Experiment – feel our way forward – try stuff, listen, learn

Roles:

Rob Pierson will gather interested folk, instigate, see what arises, convene a huddle
Intervisitation Huddle (does not exist yet! not anything formal!) gathers Friends willing to explore what can be done; see “Potential Initial Tasks” list below.
Coordinating Committee helps with practical details, like announcements
Program Committee includes “Intervisitation Exploration” session in annual gathering

This program is coming and still being formed. If you are interested, contact Rob Pierson.

501c3 update - IMYM filed for 501c3 status October 21, 2025 following approval . 501c3 is not necessary for tax exempt status for IMYM.ORG. Donors, except for those restricted in their donations to 501c3 organizations, may claim tax exemptions for their donations to IMYM.ORG (please check with your own tax advisor); some donors requiring 501c3 status may approve donations based on the filing date. As of December 12, 2025, the government taxing authorities have yet to issue IMYM an approval letter or any response beyond acknowledging the filing and requesting our patience with their backlog of work.

If you have items for IMYM's News Brief, send them to: AdminClerk@imym.org

Invitation to Annual Gathering Planning Meetings

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:56:41 GMT

Invitation to Annual Gathering Planning Meetings

Dear Friends,

It is time to move ahead with the planning of our 2026 IMYM Annual Gathering which we plan for June 10 to 14. We want to include you in the planning. We are looking forward to a gathering that is structured in much the same way it was last year. In early December we will begin to explore what we want our theme to be and perhaps what speakers or presenters we want to have.

Our current plan is for members of the IMYM Coordinating Committee to facilitate these sessions because we do not have a Gathering Clerk. In the event that we do not have a clerk for the Gathering, we are confident that we can have a simple gathering which will nurture us, build community and perhaps provide insight, inspiration and ideas on how to respond to the challenges we are experiencing in the world today.

We have chosen the following dates and times to meet with everyone in the yearly meeting who would like to take part in choosing our theme

Saturday, December 6 at 10 - 11:30 am MST
Monday, Dec 8, 6:30 - 8:00 MST
Thursday, Dec 11, 7:30 - 9:00 MST

We have set multiple times because different people will have different schedules and we want to hear from the greatest variety of people we can. Please attend any or all the sessions that you would like to and are able to. If some of the same people attend multiple times, we may be able to build on what was done at the previous meeting.

Links for these meetings will be sent out closer to the time. We look forward to seeing you.

In service,

Bruce Thron-Weber,
Presiding Clerk

If you have any questions or need support, please email support@imym.org, or clerk@imym.org.

IMYM News Brief 10-31-2025

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 02:34:39 GMT

Communication may open the seeds of imagining and growing the culture of a more active IMYM and a healthier world. – Larry Newton, Musings – 2025

Coordinating Committee was on retreat this past weekend (October 24-26, 2025), hosted by Albuquerque Meeting. It was a time of building shared clarity about the call (or the charge) of the Committee. In addition, much time was spent on these topics: Youth and Family Coordinator, Communications, Annual Gathering 2026, Connecting Friends, and Nominations and Structure. These topics were lifted up, with calls for action, by the Way Forward Working Group’s report recommendations, accepted at Annual Gathering Business Meeting 2024. Read the Report HERE. Watch for more news as the Committee follows through with its discernment and invites more IMYM community participation on these important topics. [Members: Bruce Thron-Weber, DeAnne Butterfield, Larry Newton, Elizabeth Freyman, Sara Keeney, and Jane Kroesen]

To read all of this News Brief Click HERE

Online conversation, hosted by Western Friend on 10/26

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 20:46:09 GMT

Online conversation, hosted by Western Friend on 10/26

Announcing an online conversation:

Among Western Friends: What a new attender needs to know

October 26, 2025 at 3 pm Pacific/4 pm Mountain Daylight Time.

If you’re new to a Quaker meeting, have you puzzled over Friends subculture, with questions such as:
∙   How is this different from the church where I grew up, or the ones I’ve heard stories about?
∙   What else does a meeting do besides sit in silence?
∙   If I have an idea or a need, whom should I ask?
∙   When do I speak up in worship or a conversation?
∙   What is the Quaker language: Clearness, Unity, Threshing?
∙   Is there some core belief or practice that’s essential?

If you want to involve new attenders with your local meeting, what do they want and need to know? When should you invite them to lunch, or to meeting for business? What’s a good book or pamphlet to offer? If a Friend has experience in some other region, what are the differences for these versions of Quakerism?

Quakers will gather from across the West to hear reflections from a panel of new comers, including Lou Glowacki, Mary Ward, David Westmoreland and Jerilyn Winstead. Lively interchange will continue in small groups and with the larger body.

Register here.

IMYM 2025 - End of Summer Newsletter

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 16:52:26 GMT

Hello Friends,

It's time for the IMYM Newsletter: End-of-Summer 2025. This edition offers highlights from Annual Gathering, messages from our clerks, and ways to stay connected with Friends in the months ahead.

Click HERE to read a PDF version OR for an online version, scroll down.

Beloved community, may we continue on faithfully, gathered in courage and care.

In the Light,

Intermountain Yearly Meeting

**If the visual newsletter looks "too big" on your screen, scroll to the bottom and click the two "expanding arrows" icon on the bottom right hand corner.**

IMYM - End-of-Summer Newsletter 2025 by erinbates1204

Statements of Conscience

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 18:25:57 GMT

On May 31, Intermountain Yearly Meeting had an online business meeting to consider 5 statements of conscience, most of which were submitted by constituent monthly meetings. With a few changes, these statements were enthusiastically approved by 60 Friends and they are attached to this email. Two Friends stood aside because they were concerned that their meetings had not had the opportunity to review the statements before our meeting on May 31. The statements cover: Religious Freedom and Immigrant Rights, Middle East Violence, Resistance to Oppressive Federal Actions, Faith Guiding our Witness, and Action on Climate Change.

Read the approved statements HERE.

Call to the September 13, 2025 IMYM ONLINE Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 21:20:30 GMT

On Sept 13, 2025, 10 am to noon, MDT, Intermountain Yearly Meeting will have an online meeting for worship with a concern for business. Please put this on your calendar and plan to attend. I look forward to a great turnout for this meeting similar to what we have had for our first two online business meetings. The Zoom link and documents in advance will be sent later.

At this business meeting, I have agreed with the Coordinating Committee to explore how Spirit is leading the Intermountain Yearly Meeting to serve us all and our local meetings. We have heard the desire on the part of meetings and individuals to have a more vibrant presence of youth and young adults in our local and regional meetings and annual gatherings. The possibility of hiring a Youth/Next Gen Coordinator could be part of this discussion.

We hear that more personal connection between meetings and individuals, opportunities to build community and to learn more about Quaker spirituality and service in the current day are wanted. I want to hear what you see IMYM contributing to this.

The assumption has always been that we will have an annual gathering. When that assumption was first developed, the only way to meet was in-person. Now we can meet nearly anytime online. The pandemic decreased Friends' connection with the yearly meeting. How do these things change what we want to do?

One tool in helping us to accomplish these things is our budget. On September 13, after discussing program possibilities, I expect that we will provide you with a budget with broad outlines which we will together make more specific in a future meeting(s). This is because the sharing that we begin on Sept 13 will be followed by discernment through Fall Queries in order to get a clearer picture of our program priorities. A business or representatives committee meeting in December or January will make additional decisions about how to use our resources.

Also on the agenda for September 13 will be some nominations for approval and other more defined items.

Please join us for this discernment.

Learn History of Colorado's Ute Tribes

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 20:07:00 GMT

Learn History of Colorado's Ute Tribes

IMYM Friends meet for our annual gathering in Durango, just a short ways from the Ute Mountain Ute reservation and the Southern Ute reservation. If you'd like to learn about the history of the Ute tribes in Colorado, watch this PBS Colorado Experience documentary film:

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxcSB-2qBoEiVPyBT9f6emZ3mPwtx0ZghQ?si=U1zjpawCVVpybmef

FGC Update on Immigration Litigation

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 18:04:01 GMT

Dear Central Committee Members & Observers:

Injunction denied-- The hearing on our litigation was last Friday and I learned a few minutes ago that our request for an injunction was denied. ICE will not be barred from conducting enforcement operations in places of worship while our lawsuit continues through the court system. You can learn more about the reasons why below:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/federal-judge-refuses-block-immigration-enforcement-operations-houses-rcna200918

https://anabaptistworld.org/judge-refuses-to-block-immigration-enforcement-operations-in-places-of-worship/#:~:text=a%20preliminary%20injunction.-,Mennonite%20Church%20USA%20et%20al.%20v.%20United%20States%20Department%20of,raids%20in%20places%20of%20worship.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-will-not-curb-immigration-enforcement-places-worship-2025-04-11/

What you will see in the articles is that the judge largely found the potential harms to our communities were speculative, since there have been few actual ICE raids at houses of worship so far. Fear, declines the number of people attending worship and receiving social services (reported as very significant at some locations), and the diversion of resources to deal with potential ICE enforcement actions are not sufficient at this time to demonstrate harm. This is a different outcome than the first litigation brought by the Quakers of BYM, PhlYM, NEYM, Cooperative Baptists and Sikhs where at least a narrow injunction was granted.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-judge-immigration-arrests-places-of-worship-quakers-baptists-sikhs/

The injunction being denied does not mean the case is over. This was just the injunction request. However, it is still very troubling and leaves Meeting Houses outside of BYM, PhlYM and NEYM vulnerable along with the churches and synagogues of our faith partners. At the moment, I have not been advised as to the implications of this for the larger case and I have been advised, in general, not to speculate. I do want to emphasize that the legal team that represents us was extremely well prepared and presented what seemed like a strong case. I am grateful to our legal team. I'm also grateful to our faith partners in the litigation who showed up in numbers for the hearing. The benches that were available were just about full.

Regardless of this particular outcome, it is important that we stood up and that we continue to stand up every chance we get. Standing up potentially slows the erosion of the rule of law. Every action matters.

Next Steps— Our legal team is examining where to take this next. I imagine we will have new guidance from them in the next week or so.

Concerning Lobbying-- While our primary concern is the litigation, we are also part of an effort to encourage the adoption of the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, H.R. 1061. If passed, this would essentially make the old sensitive locations rules into a law, which would be much stronger protection for our houses of worship than simply restoring the old administrative rules. Like the rescinded rules, this act would also protect hospitals and schools.

From the plaintiff participants, several of us volunteered to lobby congressional and senatorial offices about H.R. 1061. I spent last Thursday with Mennonite, Presbyterian, Evangelical Lutheran and several other denominational and interfaith leaders going from office to office on the Hill. This was arranged for us by Jim Simpson from the Center on Faith & Justice at Georgetown. They are partners of ICAP who are fighting the litigation for us. FCNL provided space for our initial briefings before we started lobbying. Gratitude to FCNL.

We visited both Democratic and Republican offices. We were received openly by all offices. We were advised by multiple offices that the passage of this bill is unlikely in the current climate-- even though some Republicans support some aspects of the bill. I will also share that some congressional staffers asked us as people of faith to hold all congressional staffers with compassion, regardless of party, during this stressful and difficult time. There was also a strong request from one congressional office that, as faith leaders, we need to help mobilize our churches and synagogues to oppose not only ICE enforcement efforts but the overall erosion of civil rights. There was enormous concern openly named that things are getting worse quickly.

After the hearing on Friday, the assembled faith leaders talked about continued interfaith cooperation. I would say there were 40-50 of us in the room from the 27 plaintiff organizations. There were enormous concerns about immigration, the erosion of the rule of law, and specific negative actions like reductions in SNAP benefits and food aid to food banks. While we did not have time to forge a framework for continued cooperation, there was general agreement that we need to cooperate going forward. As Friends, in conjunction with FCNL and AFSC, we need to talk about what this could look like.

Concerning the Vigil-- The prayer vigil that was held the night before the hearing at National City Christian Church in Washington, DC was very special. I'm not sure how many people were in person. I would imagine at least 200. Online I was told there were more than 1600 attenders. Part of what the vigil demonstrated was not simply support for the litigation, but the need so many of us felt to ground ourselves, during a really challenging time, in the core of our faith traditions. The theme for the night was "We Need Each Other." It was hopeful to experience the solidarity of so many faith communities joined together around our shared understanding that our faiths require us to stand up for human rights and human dignity.

Thank you all for your support and solidarity as we continue to try respond faithfully in these unprecedented times.

Prayerfully,

Barry Crossno (He/Him)

General Secretary

Friends General Conference

1216 Arch St. #2B

Philadelphia, PA 19107

Office Hours: Eastern Time Zone: M-F 9-5pm

(215) 561-1700 x3003

www.FGCquaker.org

QVC Seeks Executive Director

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 18:00:40 GMT

Quaker Voluntary Service is looking for our next Executive Director and we would love your help. I'd be very appreciative if you could spend time considering who in your circles is a potential applicant.

One of the wonders of Quakerism is the emphasis on seeing one anothers' gifts and naming those gifts. Most people I know in leadership were nudged into applying by someone who saw their gifts. I'm sure you have experienced this over the years.

So, please, if you can, consider if there are Friends for whom the Quaker Voluntary Service Executive Director position might be the right next step, and let them know you see their gifts!

Additionally, if you have access to listservs or bodies of Friends who might have interest, please pass this along.

I'm including here a blurb about the position:

Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) is now accepting applications for a new Executive Director. You would be a great fit for this position if you believe Quaker spirituality has something to offer social justice movements and young adults; you have interest and skills at administration and financial management; and you have experience working with nonprofit structures, including board collaboration and staff supervision and management. See the full job description at https://quakervoluntaryservice.org/employment/.

How to apply: Email a cover letter and resume to the QVS Board Executive Director Search Committee, at ExecSearch@quakervoluntaryservice.org. Interviews will be scheduled on a rolling basis as applications arrive, with priority given to applications received by April 15, 2025. Desired start date is July 1, 2025, but can be flexible for the right candidate.

M&C Hosts MM Clerk Zoom Gathering

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 16:52:12 GMT

Hello Friends,

Ministry and Counsel invites monthly meeting clerks of Intermountain Yearly Meeting to a Zoom gathering to share our challenges and joys as clerks of our Monthly Meetings. We are aware that several Meetings are now doing creative clerk arrangements and we would be happy to talk about how that is going as well. If there is interest, we would consider making this a recurrent event.

Also, Ministry and Counsel is always available if your Meeting is facing a challenge that would benefit from discernment outside of your own community.

The event will take place Tuesday April 29 at 7 pm (Mountain daylight saving) 6 (Arizona time). Here is the Zoom link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85910517514?pwd=gaG4VNdpakL8pioZPeb62I5bFrIJg5.1

Meeting ID: 859 1051 7514

Passcode: 843218

---

One tap mobile

+17193594580,,85910517514#,,,,*843218# US

If you have questions or need assistance please contact: m-and-c-committee@imym.org

Looking forward to meeting with all of you!

IMYM Winter Newsletter 2024

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:58:15 GMT

Dear Friends,

It's time for the IMYM Winter Newsletter 2024: A Message of Hope and News to the IMYM Community. IMYM has been and is on the move. As you read further in this Newsletter you will see some of the results of this progress. Following the lead given by members of the IMYM community to the Way Forward Group, new focus, energy, and initiatives are underway. A leading came clear for IMYM to become a greater year-round resource to all Quakers and Meetings in the Intermountain region. IMYM is you - it is all of us, responding to the Light, to be the Quakers we are called to be at this time. Read on Friends, to see the unfolding progress and learn how YOU can join these spirit-led efforts.

CLICK HERE to read the PDF version of the IMYM Winter Newsletter 2024.

Welcome, Caitlin Churchill, Western Friend's New Editor

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 19:11:25 GMT

Your Western Friend Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Caitlin Churchill will be our new Editor/Executive Director, starting on January 1, 2025.

Check out this article to learn more about Caitlin and her visions for Western Friend.

https://westernfriend.org/news/welcome-caitlin-churchill-our-new-editor/

Toward Truth and Healing: How Churches Face Accountability for their Indian Boarding Schools

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 18:54:43 GMT

Toward Truth and Healing: How Churches Face Accountability for their Indian Boarding Schools

Many Christian church denominations operated Indian boarding schools during the 19th and early 20th centuries, in collaboration with the federal government’s policy of forced assimilation. Now they are re-examining the roles they played, the harms that were done to Native American families and nations, and the ongoing impacts in Native communities today. Representatives of Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Quaker faith communities will share how they are conducting research and approaching questions of accountability, apology, reparations, and healing.

Sunday, November 10, 8-9:30pm ET; 7-8:30pm CT; 6-7:30pm MT; 5-6:30pm PT

Image is Wounded Yellow Robe, Henry Standing Bear and Chauncy Yellow Robe: Lakota boys before and after they entered school in 1883 and three years later.

Santa Fe Monthly Meeting Middle East Minute

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 18:42:32 GMT

Santa Fe Monthly Meeting Middle East Minute

October 27, 2024

“The Middle East conflict is escalating quickly and the United States needs to use the leverage we have to bring peace. We must win a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon while ensuring a broader regional war does not break out between Iran and Israel.Friends, FCNL and the USA need to focus on stopping new offensive weapons going to Israel. Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza, has invaded Lebanon, and there is a risk of full-blown war between Israel and Iran.”

Summer Newsletter 2024

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 21:08:53 GMT

Friends,

IMYM sends you end-of-summer greetings with the Summer Newsletter. As we move into the next season let us remember the encouraging quote from Socrates: "The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

Link to a PDF version of the Summer Newsletter is HERE (or simply scroll through this issue below by clicking anywhere on the right hand side of the image to advance to the next page).

Signing off in the light.

2024 IMYM Summer Newsletter

Alaska Native artifacts returned to Kake as Quakers continue reparations

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 22:30:56 GMT

Dear Friends,

See this update about Alaska Friends' growing relationship with the Kake community. Last year Alaska Quakers raised $92,000 for construction of a community healing center in Kake, where Friends had operated a mission and provided teachers for a day school in the early 1900s. They have been building relationships with the community over the past few years, and now a descendant of one of the Quaker teachers has returned some objects that she had inherited to Kake . I'm wondering if other Quakers will find items that have come to them from family members who taught at the other Quaker schools. Last year a Quaker in Wabash IN returned several pairs of moccasins that she found among her grandfather's belongings. He had served as superintendent of White's Manual Labor Institute, a Quaker-operated boarding school for Native children. In our conversations with Friends about Quakers' role in the forced assimilation of Native children, let's raise this question. - Paula Palmer

https://alaskabeacon.com/2024/08/09/alaska-native-artifacts-returned-to-kake-as-quakers-continue-reparations/?emci=c6a1e4e9-d656-ef11-991a-6045bddbfc4b&emdi=bcd121d7-2057-ef11-991a-6045bddbfc4b&ceid=558953

How did an out-of-state white guy win over a rural Colorado college with a dark, racist past? Ask Fort Lewis’s outgoing president.

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 03:40:52 GMT

Tom Stritikus says Indigenous reconciliation efforts have been “most profound and important work” of his career

By ELIZABETH HERNANDEZ

Tom Stritikus, a white guy from out of state who talks a mile a minute, in the summer of 2018 took the helm of a rural southern Colorado college with a significant Native American student body and an institutional history of Indigenous oppression and cultural genocide.

It was a nuanced task, with the potential for distrust and risk of amplifying a more palatable, revisionist history of Fort Lewis College’s past as an Indian boarding school. But Indigenous tribal leaders, students and staff say Stritikus chose a different path.

Under Stritikus’s leadership, Durango’s Fort Lewis College confronted its brutal past and welcomed a future of healing and reconciliation that wasn’t always easy but was honest.

“He wasn’t shying away from it even though it was such a dark history,” said Ernest House, a Ute Mountain Ute Tribe member who sits on Fort Lewis’s Board of Trustees. “He wanted to be sure to get it right.”

Now, after nearly six years as Fort Lewis College’s president, Stritikus is heading west, where he’ll serve as the head of Occidental College, a four-year liberal arts school in Los Angeles.

Stritikus, 54, leaves behind a transformed higher education institution with people and policies in place to ensure the commitment to acknowledging old wounds while working toward a thriving future continues.

“The reconciliation work we have done is the most profound and important work I’ve done in my professional career,” Stritikus said in an interview with The Denver Post last week. “This was us as an institution having an obligation to tell the truth and figure out what that truth meant for our history going forward.”

“He genuinely cares”

Stritikus, the son of Greek immigrants, grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was a first-generation college student who finished high school just as his father earned a GED.

The importance of education was always drilled into him, Stritikus said.

“It’s sort of that immigrant thing,” he said.

Stritikus earned his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley in language, literacy and culture. His scholarly work examined the impact of bilingual education policy and teacher practice on the academic lives of Latino and Asian immigrants.

Early in his career, Stritikus became an educator with Teach For America in Baltimore. That experience had the young teacher ruminating about how schools met the needs of students of color.

“I developed a sense of what happens when schools don’t rise to the tremendous set of resources that students should have,” Stritikus said. “It put a fire in my belly of trying to do the right thing by students and having a lot of drive to do so because the consequences of getting that wrong are pretty grave.”

Stritikus took what he saw as a teacher and, from 2014 to 2018, applied it to his work as deputy director of education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he helped build a strategy to improve education in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Around that time, House served on the search committee for Fort Lewis’s new president and remembers combing through more than a hundred applicants. He wondered whether this guy from Seattle would fit well in Durango. When he met Stritikus in person, House was impressed by his interest in the Indigenous roots of the college.

“What I did know coming in was it felt like Fort Lewis was a very important national story that the world didn’t know about,” Stritikus said.

Before starting as president in 2018, Stritikus visited the nearby Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute tribes to ask how Fort Lewis could be a better partner.

“I said, ‘Hey, I get you’ve seen this movie before,'” Stritikus said. “‘Fast-talking white guy comes in, and this movie doesn’t turn out very well for you. But I’m going to come back.'”

Stritikus turned to House and other Indigenous leaders on campus for advice on how best to engage with the tribes.

“He moves at one speed, and that’s 100-plus miles an hour,” House said. “What I was always a little bit concerned about was, are we going to be able to slow him down a bit?”

House, who previously served as the executive director for the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, advised Stritikus to be present for meetings with tribal leaders without sneaking glances at phones or watches.

“With some great advice from (Dr. Heather Shotten, the school’s vice president for diversity affairs) and Ernest House, I was able to show up in those relationships in a way that was authentic and hear what they had to say,” Stritikus said. “This can’t be a one-and-done thing. If I were giving advice to a white leader… you have to keep going back and building authentic relationships.”

Stritikus worked on projects to benefit the Native community, including a program to tackle the shortage of Indigenous nurses while bolstering rural health care in the Four Corners region. He abolished administrative parking spots, so when students complained about having to park far away, he could join them in outrage. He made it a requirement to have a Native American tribal member on the college’s Board of Trustees.

Delving into Fort Lewis’s dark past

Stritikus felt distrust among the administration and faculty at the beginning of his tenure. The new president sat down with the faculty and asked for honest feedback.

A Fort Lewis alum-turned-chemistry-professor, Joslynn Lee, sent Stritikus an email about what it meant to be an Indigenous student on campus and walk past a commemoration to the college’s Indian boarding school that glossed over the atrocities and inaccurately portrayed the former boarding school as a “happy” place.

Lee was the nudge the campus needed, Stritikus said, to form a committee to work on examining the history of the college and move toward reconciliation. The exhibit came down in 2021 in a powerful ceremony. Reconciliation work continues.

Not long after, 215 unmarked graves were discovered by Canada’s Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, sparking a search among North American tribes and researchers for marked or unmarked gravesites holding the remains of Indigenous children.

That 2021 discovery prompted U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native cabinet member in American history, to launch a full review of this country’s own legacy of Native American boarding schools, which forcefully assimilated Indigenous children and stripped them of their culture.

Fort Lewis, under Stritikus’s leadership, was all in on reviewing its own legacy.

In October, the college was included in a 139-page report by State Archaeologist Holly Norton and History Colorado that illustrated the experiences of Native children who at times were kidnapped and coerced into schools like the former Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School and woefully mistreated.

The research, which focused on the years 1880 to 1920, identified 31 Native students who died at the Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School. A bygone cemetery at the former Fort Lewis site in Hesperus is believed to have nearly 50 children buried in it, according to an archaeological investigation, with another 30 to 100 burials, or more, potentially associated with students at the boarding school.

Stritikus said he had a high-level understanding of the history of the boarding school when he started working at Fort Lewis, but only after talking to the community did he learn how decades of intergenerational trauma have impacted the Native students and staff on his campus.

The report, he said, was a painful but necessary read.

Watching the now-thriving Native American population on Fort Lewis’s campus — accounting for nearly 30% of the student body — absorb the heaviness of that report, Stritikus said, was among the hardest parts of its release. He and other campus leaders made sure there were resources for students processing their ancestors’ trauma.

Stritikus kept showing up — and inviting others in.

Manuel Heart, chairman of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, said Stritikus always invited him to big events on campus and reached out to partner on different initiatives. Heart has been to Stritikus’s house and met his family.

“He’s really open,” Heart said. “He’s honest. We built a good relationship, and I consider him a good friend of mine.”

Brittany Bitsilly, who is Diné from the Navajo Nation, is the student body president at Fort Lewis College.

“I know for a fact he genuinely cares,” Bitsilly said.

How does she know? Well, Stritikus has cooked Greek food for Bitsilly and other student government leaders in his home with his family. He shows up to their student government meetings to listen and pops up at events all around campus. Just last weekend, Stritikus and Bitsilly ran a campus 5K to honor the lives of children lost in the Indian boarding school era.

“He’s everywhere,” Bitsilly said. “It’s refreshing to see the leader of a campus who cares this much. It means the world.”

“This is a great job”

When tribal leaders felt comfortable enough to tease him, Stritikus said, he knew he’d made it.

Not everything was jokes and public appearances, though. When dealing with such painful topics, conversations between Stritikus and Indigenous leaders, students and staff have inevitably turned somber and, at times, critical.

It’s important to Stritikus to listen to critiques without jumping to defensiveness. “You realize that no matter if it stung or not, there’s probably a good deal of truth to it,” he said.

Sometimes, Stritikus said, students, staff and community members said he wasn’t doing enough, fast enough, well enough.

“As leaders, we can and should expect critique all the time,” he said.

While Durango has filled Stritikus’s cup, he’s a city guy at heart and, as his May departure looms, he looks forward to working and living in Los Angeles.

Whoever fills Stritikus’ shoes has a lot of listening to do if they plan to succeed, he said.

“My advice to the successor is just go listen to this community,” Stritikus said. “The Durango community is an incredible community. The Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute — just go and sit and listen to see what they want. Sit and listen to our students. They know so much.”

Bitsilly and other Fort Lewis students are rooting for a BIPOC president, she said. Chairman Heart said he wants a president who will partner with the tribes authentically.

“I saw so much potential at Fort Lewis because of the commitment to faculty and diversity in students,” Stritikus said. “I also realized a lot of that potential was not being realized at the time I walked in the door. I’m proud that, over the six years, we started to realize a great deal of that potential. I think there is a great deal of that potential left to actualize at Fort Lewis. This is a great job.”

Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories and Photos

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 03:34:40 GMT

Anna Baltzer is back—Jewish-American activist who has long helped Quaker meetings learn about Palestine and then take action. We are invited to see and discuss her film, Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories and Photos,” next Wednesday, April 24, 7-8:00 pm MT, to see how we may share the Fact of Occupation with our meetings. Hosts will be friends from the Boulder FCC church, as part of their “Crisis in Gaza” series. After the film, Anna, a Boulder native, just back from Palestine, is scheduled to tell how she has arranged for photographers to catch ongoing interactions between settlers and Palestinians.

To join the Zoom Meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86892880708?pwd=b1d6U1hZSFZ3UTZTVk5SRHI3N2FzZz09

Meeting ID: 868 9288 0708

Passcode: 151610

Invite others from your meeting to join.

Update on LandBack to Nisenan tribe

Sat, 23 Mar 2024 22:26:31 GMT

03/23/2024

From the IMYM Peace & Social Justice Roundtable:

Please read an important update on LandBack to Nisenan tribe posted below.

If you want to learn more about about the Nisenan LandBack project, please watch the ZOOM recording of the March 23rd, 2024 IMYM Peace & Social Justice Roundtable here.

CHIRP-Woolman Q&A

(Updated 3/6/24)

1) In addition to Quaker Meetings, individual Friends, and friends of Friends, are there other contributors that have committed major support for this initiative, that will help ensure that the fundraising goals are reached? Can these sources be identified and shared with the rest of us for our information? (We do know about and are sharing the recent $565,00 contribution). CHIRP’s campaign is going out far and there are many sectors of the community amplifying and donating. Woolman’s Executive Director Jennifer Dickey (with her husband Andrew Huang) and Woolman board member Alexa Hauser have donated over $20k each. CHIRP's Board president Julie Baker (with her husband Richard) donated $5k, as did Nia Impact Capital in the East Bay. There have been a few other $5k and $10k donations, though some have asked to remain anonymous. There are a few local businesses and clubs who have donated in the $500 range. Beyond community contributions, CHIRP is still in conversations with Foundations and potential major donors and will keep sharing as there are solid commitments made such as the $565k commitment recently shared.

2) What is the actual sale price and how was that figure arrived at? What are the anticipated improvements that will be needed once the land transfer happens? (In other words, what is the $1.5million based on?)

The total fundraising goal of the campaign is $2.4 million. The $1.5 million figure is the portion _{CHIRP hopes to have raised by April 4}^th. The $2.4 million includes the purchase price of the land/buildings (which is confidential); water/sewage system inspections, associated fees and upgrades; housing inspections, permitting and compliance; infrastructure inspections to shift from propane to electric; and a six-year endowment for insurance, maintenance, and upgrades.

3) What happens if the $1.5 million goal isn’t met by April 4? Can the escrow period be extended? Can the price be lowered? Is there a contingency plan?

_{April 4}^th is not a hard deadline - so long as CHIRP is certain it can raise the funds prior to April 4th, CHIRP will continue to fundraise beyond that date. Escrow goes another 30 days beyond that - that's just the date that the $75k deposit CHIRP made is no longer refundable. If mutually agreed, escrow extensions are possible for either party to meet its contingencies for the sale. It is not known at this time whether an escrow extension will be needed or agreed to. Contingency plans are under discussion but are confidential in nature, at least while CHIRP and Woolman are in contract.

4) When is the total $2.4 million due?

The portion of the $2.4 million that is the purchase price will be due upon close of escrow. There is not a due date for the remainder. Beyond purchase price, CHIRP is raising funds for needed repairs and an operating endowment (more in answer to question #5) and these are things CHIRP will handle as CHIRP has the funds for them, in the order of timing needed for each issue. At some point CHIRP will end the GoFundMe campaign and move to grants for the things that will need more funding than CHIRP would attempt to raise while including community donations.

5) Is there any specific information on how the $2.4 million will be used? More specific than is on the website?

There will be more on this on CHIRP’s website soon. The $2.4 million will be used for the following: purchase price of the land; water/sewage system inspections, associated fees and upgrades; housing inspections, permitting and compliance; infrastructure inspections to shift from propane to electric; six year endowment for insurance, maintenance, and upgrades.

6) Is there a public statement that we can cite about the casino question? (Unfortunately this keeps coming up.)

CHIRP asked the Woolman Board to amend the sale agreement to add a deed restriction prohibiting casino gaming on the land forever by any person or entity. CHIRP did this because the casino question keeps coming up here too. The purchase contract was amended, the deed restriction executed, and it was recorded on 2/26/2024 at the County Recorder's Office in the chain of title. It is a public document.

7) What happens to the money raised by CHIRP if the totals are not reached by the deadline (as it is or as it might be extended), and the transaction does not close, whether for that or any other reason? In particular, would money from individual donors be refunded, or offered to be refunded?

The CHIRP Board has adopted a resolution directing that the funds raised in this campaign be dedicated to creating a tribal homeland. So if the Woolman trasaction does not close escrow, the funds will remain in a segregated account dedicated to a tribal homeland, and will not be used for any other purpose. CHIRP’s GoFundMe site states: “NOTE: All funds raised for purchasing the Woolman land, will be applied exclusively for the identification and purchase of a property that fits the needs identifiedby the Tribe, should the Woolman land purchase fall through for any reason.” CHIRP’s legal counsel Frank Lawrence is not aware of any discussion about refunding donations if escrow doesn’t close, but he will pass the question along to the CHIRP Board to discuss.

Arizona Half Yearly Meeting - Spring Session - Register Today

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 17:24:58 GMT

REGSITER AT: https://ahym-registration.pmm.life/

Announcing an Adult RE opportunity

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 17:52:46 GMT

Dear Friends,

Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC) and Friends Peace Teams bring you:

The last of three Quaker Adult Religious Education evenings:

Essential Quaker Structures as an Ecology of Practice

March 11, 2024 at 7:00pm Eastern US/Canada time

You must register, if you have not already done so, at:

https://quakerrecollaborative.org/walking-friend-practice-group

You’re encouraged to read pages 45-58 in Walking in the World as a Friend or watch the Videos on YouTube.

You may order the book at CourageousGifts.com or download a copy from the QREC link where you register.

At the YouTube link, you can find an 8-minute overview video called Ecology of Practice: Essential Quaker Structures. There are also individual videos on each topic covered: Quaker Worship; Spiritual Companions; Monthly Meeting; Meetings of Ministers, Stewards, or Witnesses; and Faith and Practice.

In faith,

Nadine Hoover

Buffalo Friends Meeting, NYYM

Friends Peace Teams

Beth Collea

Wellesley Friends Meeting, NEYM

Quaker Religious Education Collaborative

Nadine Hoover, Clerk, FPT Peace Ministries
PeaceMinistries@friendspeaceteams.org
+1-607-542-9029 WA or +1-607-587-9111 US Eastern
Friends Peace Teams, 1001 Park Ave, St Louis, MO 63104
friendspeaceteams.org

IMYM Spring Newsletter 2024

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 03:50:01 GMT

Hello Friends,

Hot off the presses is our IMYM Spring Newsletter 2024!!
Click HERE (or on the photo below) to open a PDF and follow along with the latest news and updates from our region and beyond.

If you need any assistance please contact online@imym.org.

Resource list for thinking about the violence in Gaza

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 02:22:17 GMT

The Peace and Social Justice Committee of Friends Meeting at Cambridge, responding to calls heard for information and action suggestions, offers this resource list. Feel free to suggest other resources. Questions to skipschiel@gmail.com.

Resource list for thinking about the violence in Gaza (human beings at our worst) and what we can do about it (human beings at our potential best)

Selected and organized by Skip Schiel

Information

Light in Gaza, Writings Under Fire, by authors currently in or from Gaza—published by Haymarket Books, organized by the American Friends Service Committee, electronic version currently free (audio book avail in March 2024)

Democracy Now, news broadcast, daily TV/radio Monday thru Friday

Mondoweiss, reliable US-based news source focused on Israel-Palestine, podcast

United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), trustable, daily on-the-ground reports

B’Tselem, Israeli Human Rights Organization in the Occupied Territories

Jewish Currents, “a magazine committed to the rich tradition of thought, activism, and culture on the Jewish left and the left more broadly“

Palestine Portal, news, much of it faith-based

Organizations

Jewish Voice for Peace, anti-Zionist, nonviolent, non-antisemitic activist organization (not necessary to be Jewish)

If Not Now Movement (primarily for Jews and their allies)

Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA)

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine-Boston area rallies and information about water-related topics

Advocacy

Legislators-call for an immediate ceasefire (or permanent?)

Jewish Voice for Peace tools and daily “Power Half-Hours” to foster advocacy
AFSC Action Hour – Ceasefire Now Every Friday at 12 p.m. ET/ 9 a.m. PT

Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

Media-writeletters to the editors, comments, etc

Discuss with family, friends, and your communities (like Friends Meeting Cambridge)

Attend and organize rallies, marches, vigils, etc

Join campaigns by the AFSC-Gaza Unlocked and Apartheid Free Congregations and Communities

Visit the region (West Bank and Israel, Gaza perhaps in the future)

Online (and later, onsite) tours with Eyewitness Palestine

Onsite tours with Americans for Peace Now/Mejdi Tours (March 4 - 13, 2024, registration deadline: January 10, 2024)

Tree of Life Educational Foundation (FOSNA)

Memorial Travel Fund from Quakers Advocating Justice for Palestine

FMC actions

TBD: Another session about Gaza on either December 31 or January 7, both Sundays-check FMC announcements for details

Write a minute or statement (examples from AFSC and other Quaker organizations, New England Yearly Meeting, Wellesley Meeting,Northeast Kingdom letter to the editor

For further background

Quakers in Israel-Palestine Time Line

Promised Land: the Jewish Museum of the Palestinian Experience(online and a free traveling exhibit)

Born in Gaza(available on Netflix)

Connecting with the Enemy, a Century of Palestinian-Israeli Joint Nonviolence, by Sheila Katz

Tracing Homelands, Israel, Palestine, and the Claims of Belonging, growing up during the Nakba of 1948 as a Jewish Israeli, by Linda Dittmar
Skip Schiel’s blog and website

Other Quaker organizations focused on Palestine-Israel

Quakers Advocating Justice for Palestine (QAJP)

Israel-Palestine Resource Group in New England Yearly Meeting (IPRG)-

Quaker Palestine Israel Network (QPIN)

Occupied West Bank

Al Jazeera (latest analysis and information, also about Gaza)

Amnesty International (background information)

Of Land and Bread, produced by B’tselem, available on Kanopy

Donations

Many of the organizations listed above accept donations and are reputable and effective.

QUAKERS in BOLIVIA

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 20:01:50 GMT

QUAKERS in BOLIVIA

CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPACT and ADAPTATION

“The ecological and climate crisis is, at its heart, a spiritual and moral crisis.” - Dr. Jennie Ratcliff

Travel to beautiful Bolivia and learn about the impacts of climate change on the land. See how Bolivians are adapting to meet these rapid and significant changes. Visit impacted areas to meet and exchange ideas with local climate change activists and former BQEF students working in communities vulnerable to climate change.

Come learn about Bolivia’s history and culture, from the pre-Inca traditions to the emergence of its plurinational state. Visit those who have dramatically improved their lives and communities with the

educational support of the Bolivian Quaker Education Fund (BQEF). Make warm personal connections with fellow travelers and Bolivian Friends.

Our study focus will be grounded in the work of U.S. Quaker Dr. Jennie Ratcliffe, author of Nothing Lowly in the Universe: An Integral Approach to the Ecological Crisis and Integrity, Ecology, and Community.

Drawing on Quaker testimonies and wisdom from other traditions and visionaries, the texts explore the spiritual principles that underpin an integrated deep ecology. Weaving these principles into discussions throughout the trip, we will explore attainable paths to long-term sustainability and a more peaceful and just world.

During the tour, we will travel to cities including Tiwanaku, Sorata, Copacabana, and Amacari, with the trip ending back in La Paz.

Cost: 14 nights, breakfasts, all travel, site entry and guide fees, flight from Sucre to La paz, $2,200.

For more information, please fill out this expression of interest questionnaire and we will send you the application forms. If you have any questions please contact our registrar Jim Morgan +1(412) 535-2078

(EST), qst.bolivia@gmail.com.

Registration due March 15th, 2024

Mid-Week Online Worship for the IMYM Community

Sat, 06 Jan 2024 02:16:10 GMT

The Worship and Ministry Committee of Albuquerque Monthly Meeting invites you to attend our twice-a-month online Meetings for Worship, held on the first and third Wednesdays from 7:00 to 8:20 pm. Be sure to use the correct Zoom link as they are different from one another.

ZOOM IN:
1st Wednesday link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89750287720?pwd=eE9tREVBM1ZJSXVXKzU5WTMrNXUrZz09

3rd Wednesday link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85195820625?pwd=WDQxYW90V20zTXREZnYzSlpuVWlyZz09

We are inviting members and attenders from meetings within IMYM to join us, for the dual purposes of spiritual deepening and to foster fellowship beyond just the annual gathering. Please feel free to forward this email to Friends who might be interested in attending.

The format of this meeting is as follows: unprogrammed worship for one hour (7:00-8:00 pm) and then introductions, sharing of joys and sorrows, brief announcements, and time for fellowship. We request that you enter the meeting in silence. The first person to open the link will begin expectant worship. Participants will automatically be muted as they join. Please unmute only to give vocal ministry and then re-mute during the first hour.

Should you need help during the meeting, use Chat to send a direct message to the Host, who can be found under the Participant tab. Please avoid use of the chat for any other purpose during the worship hour, as many find it distracting.

Contact Henry Selters (505-985-4981) or Lynn Huxtable (505-688-2583) with any questions. We hope to see you there!

QuakerSpeak: The Lasting Trauma of Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 02:16:36 GMT

https://quakerspeak.com/video/the-lasting-trauma-of-quaker-indigenous-boarding-schools/

“Most Quakers still don’t know our history as participants in this enterprise of forced assimilation of Native people,” Paula Palmer says. “So the first thing that we have to do is learn the truth.”

In this video, Paula discusses Friends’ role in the traumas inflicted on the indigenous peoples of North America since the arrival of European colonists—particularly in the administration of boarding schools where Native children were forced to abandon their heritage and embrace the ways of White Christian culture, where they would never be truly accepted as equals.

Although it’s easy to “shake our fingers” at previous generations, Paula warns us that retroactive judgment isn’t enough—Quakers today need to hold themselves accountable as well. “As we think about work that we do today as Friends,” she says, “we need to examine our own attitudes and make sure that ways that we are trying to do good in the world are not also coming out of a sense of superiority.”

IMYM Fall Newsletter 2023

Sat, 18 Nov 2023 02:18:22 GMT

Hello Friends,

Hot off the presses is our IMYM Fall Newsletter 2023!!
Click HERE (or on the photo below) to open a PDF and follow along with the latest news and updates from our region and beyond.

If you need any assistance please contact online@imym.org.

Article in the Durango Herald about the 2023 Annual Gathering

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 01:20:58 GMT

Check out this article published in the Durango Herald about the 2023 Annual Gathering https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/quakers-from-four-corners-states-gather-in-durango/.