FGC Newsletters: April 2020
Each month, FGC distributes up to three monthly digital newsletters to share updates and information about FGC, QuakerBooks, and the FGC Gathering. Below is the introductory text and links to our April 2020 newsletters for friends.
Vital Friends
Dear Friend,
It has been so encouraging to read your stories of holding worship online and helping your neighborhoods adjust to a new way of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. As FGC’s social media manager, I’ve read your comments and enjoyed pictures of your meeting’s early attempts at holding Meeting for Worship through Zoom (with some furry family members taking part!), the unique ways to pass the time you’ve stumbled upon (like Oliver’s Lego rendering of his Quaker meeting above), and your stories of lending a hand (more on that later in this newsletter).
I’m also aware that this is a time of grieving for many Friends. Our lives have been touched by sadness and uncertainty – over jobs lost, graduation ceremonies and weddings cancelled, and loved ones who have fallen ill with the COVID-19 virus. Many Friends were also saddened by our decision to cancel the FGC Gathering as an in-person event. While we are in the process of reorganizing our week of shared spiritual nurturing and community into an online experience, our hearts are with Friends for whom this is the only time of the year when they can meet, hug, and spend time with the Quakers they love. I hope you’ll join me in making space for these feelings of grief alongside the resiliency you have expressed through acts of kindness and self-care. As a popular mantra I’ve seen making the rounds on social media goes: “It’s okay not to be okay right now.”
In our newsletter below, I’ve highlighted a few of the resources we’ve shared on FGC’s COVID-19 web page that I believe would be most helpful for Friends like you, navigating the uncertainty ahead. It’s also the month we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and we’ve got activities and websites by Friends and other faith-led organizations committed to protecting our natural resources and leading more sustainable lives. Keep scrolling for information about opportunities from the Ministry on Racism Program, an invitation to worship and share your ideas for a virtual Gathering with the Gathering team, an update from the Institutional Assessment Implementation Committee, and an interview with Amirah Fadhlina, our Ministry on Racism Support Specialist from 2018 to 2019.
Thanks for reading, and keep the Friendly stories coming on social media or to my email inbox.
In the Light,
Marta Rusek
Communications Manager for FGC
P.S. The FGC office in Philadelphia, PA is closed, but my colleagues and I are still nurturing the spiritual lives of Friends as we work from home. Since we’re not at the office, our mail is a little delayed right now (and we still very much need the support of Friends like you), so I encourage you to become an active donor by giving online here.
In this issue:
- Highlights from FGC’s COVID-19 Web Resource
- Activities and Books to Celebrate 50 Years of Earth Day
- Opportunities from the Ministry on Racism Program
- What’s Next for the FGC Gathering
- FGC’s Anti-Racism Ministry: April 2020 Update
- A Friendly Conversation with Amirah Fadhlina
- How Friends Are Helping During COVID-19
- Coming Soon: Listening Deeply, Living Faithfully – FGC’s Annual Report
Book Musings
Dear Friend,
Community matters now more than ever as we face COVID-19. Quakers all over the United States and throughout the world are finding ways to share their compassion and connect in love and faith. Friends isolated at home join online in amazingly close meetings for worship. Our FGC committees and staff meet via Zoom as they continue to bring Light to the world. Friends take flowers and food to neighbors who can’t go outside. And here at QuakerBooks we continue to send your family or Meeting books, hoping to bring comfort in this time of fear, grief, and loss.
In the Light,
Audrey Greenhall, Manager of QuakerBooks
AudreyG@FGCQuaker.org
In This Issue:
- Grief and Loss
- New and Noteworthy – What Miss Mitchell Saw; The Resistors
- Friends Journal Picks for April 2020
- Adapting First Day School
- Discounted Books – One and Done Collection
- 10% discount on orders over $100