Deborah Cooper shared with former Quaker Aging Resources intern, Joey Szpilczak, sharing a reflection on a Quaker-led humanitarian effort during the Bosnian War.

In the following video, Dee Rein shares their experience caring for a loved one using resources and also on holding a memorial service at their meeting. Dee continues to advocate for community-led care, recommending the structured group approach found in the book Share the Care.

Today, large tech companies don’t just dominate the returns of major stock indices; they also dominate discussions about ethical uses of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI). From 2022-2025, the seven largest tech companies collectively accounted for more than half of the returns of the S&P 500. But big tech companies have also made headlines through their contracts with the US Department of Defense (DoD), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and state-owned entities in Russia and China.

Background

Given Friends Fiduciary’s role as an investor in several of these companies, we have closely followed these developments for years, with growing concern. For example, in 2019 and 2020, we co-filed shareholder resolutions with Amazon regarding the company’s facial recognition technology. We believed products being sold to immigration and law enforcement agencies risked inequitable application and mass surveillance. In June 2020, recognizing the human rights and business risks of these applications, the company declared a moratorium on its sale of facial recognition technology to these agencies, a moratorium which was extended indefinitely in 2021. Since that time, we have continued to file surveillance-related shareholder resolutions with Amazon, growing our focus in recent years to include the company’s oversight of the risks of potential AI misuse, including in ways that could support authoritarian governance, lethal autonomous weapons, mass surveillance, or censorship.

In January of this year, we shared an update about our current approach to conflict as investors and advocates. This approach remains focused on the conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRAs) of Russa and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, China and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and US borders, immigration enforcement, and risk of government misuse of AI for violence or mass surveillance. We are currently engaging with ten of the world’s largest tech companies around the risks posed by these issues and CAHRA; more details can be found below.

Peace Testimony Convening

In 2024, we convened a group of sixteen Friends from a diversity of geographical, professional, and Quaker faith backgrounds, including those with ties to yearly meetings around the country, FGC, FUM, other Friends churches, organizations like FCNL and AFSC, Friends educational institutions, and several Friends with deep investment experience. We asked for discernment around weaponized technology specifically, and together we threshed questions around the nature of the peace testimony, the relative merits of investment screening and corporate engagement, and factors such as company intent vs impact.

This Peace Testimony Convening gave us a rich array of perspectives on complex challenges. Perhaps the most important sense of the convening was that Friends Fiduciary’s role gives us a unique opportunity to promote change by advocating for Quaker values with those in positions of power. After further discernment with Friends Fiduciary’s Peace Testimony Working Group, Investment Committee, and Board of Directors, we updated our investment guidelines in 2025 to formally create space for a third way when faced with difficult decisions about investment vs screening: a commitment “to engage in dialogue to gain clarity and make the case for change, or to exclude investments if or when the possibility of productive, long-term dialogue does not feel present.”

Engaging with Big Tech

In 2026, among the approximately fifty corporate engagements we are able to carry at one time, Friends Fiduciary is engaging ten of the world’s largest tech companies: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, Oracle, Texas Instruments, Dell, IBM, Salesforce and PayPal. Each of these engagements is different. For example, this year we co-filed a shareholder proposal at Alphabet (aka Google) focused on data privacy and the risk of data access and misuse by government actors, including the company’s Project Nimbus contract with the Israeli government, which, based on reporting, could contravene Alphabet’s commitments not to violate the legal rights of others, pursue invasive purposes, or cause physical harm.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has engaged with us in ongoing dialogue and shown responsiveness to our concerns about making sure use of the company’s products aligns with its human rights policies. Texas Instruments has likewise come to the table with Friends Fiduciary over several years, refining their human rights policies and working to prevent the diversion of their semiconductors into Russian weapons used against civilian targets in Ukraine.

At PayPal, we co-filed a shareholder proposal this year urging the company to provide its services equally in CAHRA including Israel and Palestine, where reporting indicates Palestinians have been denied PayPal accounts—unequal treatment that risks hindering economic development and critical reconstruction efforts.

For the many other companies with whom we are already in dialogue or still maneuvering to enter conversations with the right people, we must often choose not to publicize details of those engagements, to ensure we preserve expectations of confidentiality and good-faith collaboration. That said, we will do everything we can to update our constituents on the progress of this work.

Investment Screening

Our investment screening is a multi-layered process with room for discernment at every stage. We use standard industry data to screen manufacturers of weapons and weapons components, companies whose businesses focus on fossil fuels, operators of for-profit prisons, gambling operations or lotteries, and those that produce alcohol or tobacco.

We also combine a range of public and investor-specific data sources to “score” companies, seeking those that perform better on peace and community (primarily social factors), simplicity and stewardship (primarily environmental factors), and integrity and equality (primarily governance, disclosure and DEI factors). At this stage some additional companies may not qualify for investment; for instance, Meta Platforms scores so poorly in key areas such as corporate governance, data privacy, and oversight that it faces frequent regulatory scrutiny and litigation risk, and we do not invest in the company. Other companies excluded by our multiple layers of screening and discernment specifically due to their involvement in weapons and conflict include Palantir, Caterpillar, Berkshire Hathaway, General Electric, RTX (Raytheon), Boeing, Lockheed Martin and more.

All of our investment screening decisions allow for discernment. We do not invest in a company simply because of its size or inclusion in a particular stock index, without also applying our screening and making space for discernment. This discernment might include staff, our Investment Committee, or a subcommittee of both. Friends Fiduciary’s Investment Committee members have decades of collective investment experience, and like the rest of our board they are also Friends guided in this work by our testimonies.

Balancing Engagement and Screening

Many Friends feel corporate engagement is critical in bearing witness to our testimonies, while others are focused on investment screening. Friends Fiduciary acknowledges and communicates openly about this tension. As one Friends Fiduciary board director recently put it:

FFC’s approach is to engage these [big tech] companies directly, believing dialogue can shift behavior over time. That process is often slow, and if it proves unproductive, FFC may ultimately divest. As with all Quaker processes, it is possible to disagree about the speed and outcome of such an approach, but let us do so in good faith.

Divestment campaigns have historically made important contributions to public awareness on issues like South African apartheid and fossil fuel emissions, helping, over decades, to stigmatize these issues in the public consciousness. But markets are highly efficient, and as research has shown, even these prominent divestment campaigns—unlike boycotts—have not had a financial impact on targeted companies.

In evaluating screening, therefore, the potential for impact is a vital decision point for Friends Fiduciary. Most companies would rather see us walk away than use their time and resources in engaging difficult questions with us. In an era where voices are being suppressed and even silenced, shareholder engagement is how we ensure Friends’ voices are still heard loud and clear in the corporate world.

We choose screening in the case of a weapons company that we cannot expect to repudiate its core business model. Likewise for fossil fuel companies, which have shown a decades-long unwillingness to drive a sustainable energy transition. But to write off all big tech companies in this moment—with so much in the balance—risks becoming a tragic missed opportunity. So as long as we believe an opportunity for meaningful change is present, we may discern our most faithful step is to remain engaged.

Where We Go from Here

As investors and as Friends, we are committed to continuing revelation. Friends Fiduciary recognizes the opportunity to share more detailed information about our work with constituents. In the months ahead, as we roll out a new web site and client portal, we will prioritize communication and ease of access to more information about what we do and how we do it. We commit to share updates as these changes are made, and to thoughtfully consider all feedback we receive.

We also have eleven staff. By comparison, well-known Quaker advocacy organizations like FCNL and AFSC have dozens, or even hundreds, of employees. Also unlike other Friends organizations, we are investors first and foremost—with a fiduciary responsibility to hundreds of Quaker institutions that rely on competitive investment returns to support their ministry. We hold this responsibility close, alongside our mission to strive for the more just and sustainable economy that aligns with Quaker values. As the same board member noted:

I’ve been impressed by how seriously both staff and board take their dual responsibility: managing investors’ financial assets while investing them ethically. Everyone involved is deeply committed to the organization’s mission on both a personal and professional level. There’s also a genuine dedication to listening to and engaging respectfully with FFC’s Quaker constituencies.

Continuing revelation also means that our corporate engagement and investment screening are constantly evolving. We do not make permanent decisions to invest in or screen a company. If we feel we have lost our ability to have any impact on a company with whom we have deep concerns, we may choose to discontinue investing.

Finally, we regularly revisit our product mix to consider how we can better serve Friends organizations with investment solutions that meet their financial and values-aligned needs. Today, for instance, we are working toward an investment product that would focus on balancing financial returns with direct, community-level impact, forgoing the public markets in favor of alternative companies and initiatives that prioritize specific, positive social or environmental impacts.

When I became Friends Fiduciary’s Executive Director in 2024, Friends Fiduciary was 125 years old. Our board chair at the time was incredibly supportive, and incredibly clear: my job is to make sure we’re around for another for 125 years. That’s the time horizon we’re thinking about at Friends Fiduciary. As investors and as F/friends, we look forward to partnering with you to make a long-term impact at your organizations, in the economy, and in the world.

Young Friends Epistle
Sunday July 26th, 2026

This year Young Friends gathered nine times. At Peace Fair in September, we helped set up and run games. In October, we gathered at Arch Street Meeting House for the Climate Thread Gathering, where we joined conversations about how to make meeting more sustainable.

In November, we came to continuing sessions and joined in the PYM community. In January, we convened at Haverford Meeting for intergenerational fun at the religious education thread event, and welcomed Lilly as the new YF facilitator. In February, we gathered at Lancaster to plan our quilt mural event, which we hosted at Germantown Monthly Meeting the next month. Many Friends from across generations attended. In April, we had an egg hunt at Greene Street Meeting, and in May, we convened at Swatara for Caln Quarter.

Our group grew in size and friendship throughout the year, enabled by overnight fun.  Though we were sad to say goodbye to 3 graduating Young Friends in May, and to our facilitator Lilly after Annual Sessions, we look forward to welcoming MSFs aging into the program, and we hope to continue to build the Young Friends program this coming year.

Paul Burkander, who grew up attending Yardley Friends Meeting, and Kri Burkander, who grew up attending Doylestown Friends Meeting, are helping organize a reunion for former Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Young Friends at Camp Onas Friday, October 9 – Monday, October 12. Today, they attend Mountain View Friends Meeting in Denver, Colorado.

“We didn’t light this fire,” Paul said. “In a way, it was handed down to us. A couple years ago, some other folks had suggested the same thing, but COVID completely derailed it. We just picked it up and ran with it because it really felt urgent in this time, with what’s going on in the world.”
As an adult, Kri began attending some Philadelphia Yearly Meeting events again. She noticed something different.

“I would show up at these events, conferences, Annual Sessions, and our people weren’t there. And that was really kind of surprising and sad to me. Like, where are we? There were so many of us. There were 80–100 kids at our retreats.”

The reunion is an opportunity to reconnect with those former Young Friends.

“We’re still here, we’re still around, but we’re not all connected to yearly or local meetings, and we’re trying to figure out: Is there a way to bring folks back into that work? Does it resonate for folks? Is our work somewhere else?”

For Paul, Young Friends gave many people a community that was difficult to replace.

“For a lot of us, like, we had this amazing container that held our community, and leaving high school was like having that container break. And, like, so many of us, you hear this phrase: It was like you fell off a cliff. You suddenly lost the connection to that community.”
“It’s the bedrock of my values and how I treat people,” Paul said. “These were grown-ups who trusted us to make our own policies, who trusted us, who allowed us to make mistakes and learn and grow.”

Kri shared, “In my work life, I was trained on this model of working with young people. And I’m learning this approach, and I’m like, this is what they did in Quaker youth programming. This is why it worked! It was like finding the blueprint to the house I grew up in.”
The reunion is about more than remembering the past, but a call to action.

“A lot of the folks that we are still in touch with are doing good work,” Kri said. “They’re involved in important work, like community organizing and mobilization. And they bring that knowledge.”

She hopes the weekend creates space for people to learn from one another.

“We all have these different skill sets that we’ve acquired through our adult lives since we were all together. That Young Friends experience set us on a path of wanting to make a difference in the world. And many of us have done this in various ways. So we want to pull folks back together to learn, like, where have our lives taken us, and how can we learn from each other to be stronger together to make change?”

The weekend will include worship sharing, worship, speakers, cooking together, and a talent show.

“I’m looking forward to the hugs,” Kri said. “I’m expecting a lot of tears. I think a lot of folks are really excited to see these folks that were so important in each other’s lives.”

Paul is looking forward to something, too.

“As a kid, I learned in these get-togethers how to truly be me. As an adult, there have been so many layers put on top of that. My thing is: How close to that real me am I gonna get in this moment? Can I get back to that joy, that magic, that spark that came from just feeling like I can be me?”

Paul and Kri hope the reunion is co-created with the people who attend.

“We’re wanting to do this with the community and create what the community wants it to be,” Kri said.

Paul added, “Come help us. Come be part of this. Come build with us.”

Friends can register for this gathering by following this link: https://www.pym.org/event/1990s-young-friends-reunion/

Blessings, f/Friends throughout the world from the 346th Annual Sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. We were embraced as family by Cheyney University, the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the United States, which was founded as an act of reparation by Friend, Richard Humphreys. In this time when we are so horrified by the cruelty we’re witnessing in our country, to be so Held as beloved guests by these neighbors is a balm.

Much of our work & play were hybrid & allowed us to be in community with f/Friends who couldn’t join us in person.

Our opening keynote speaker, Clinton Pettus, a former faculty member at & president of Cheyney, set the tone by emphasizing who we are, beyond our appearances or demographics, rather than what we are. He encouraged us to see beyond what we can see with our eyes & to look at each other’s essence. “So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Romans 12:5  (ESV) He also reminded us that our way, as Friends, is to preach what we practice rather than practice what we preach & brought our theme, “Members One of Another” to life by saying “if you want to go far, go together.”

Our Clerk invited us to join in our work, with open minds & open hearts & in that spirit we united, even though we did not always come to unity. But who are we when we can not unite over an issue? Although we can’t see it we are still traveling together.

Our Friday keynote speaker, Christy Randazzo, continued the motif of our connectedness “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” Isaiah 11:1 (ESV) Our connection, Members One of Another, was grounded in our Worship which we carried with us through our engagement during our workshops, our intergenerational fun, & our renewed joy in being together. And as we continue to strive through our imperfections, as Christy Randazzo reminded us, we are hope.

For a decade, Tara Rubinstein has served Philadelphia Yearly Meeting by coordinating Annual and Continuing Sessions, Thread Gatherings, and other events held online and in person. Her work has included schedules, spaces, technology, registration, and the many details needed for Friends to participate.

Many Friends have come to know Tara through these gatherings and through her service to PYM. As she ends her time on staff, she has shared reflections on the past decade and what comes next.

Q: In the past years you have been at PYM, can you name some of the things you’ve most enjoyed?

In the early years of my time here, staff had an annual chili cooking competition. I happen to have an excellent chili recipe and won the competition as a brand new staff person. It’s the only time I’ve ever entered or won something like that, so it was very memorable! I was awarded a golden dinosaur as a prize.

I’ve also loved hiking the rock pile at Camp Swatara with the youth programs, dressing up in coordinated rainbow outfits with the rest of the set up crew for Annual Sessions, and of course, getting to know so many wonderful Friends on staff and in the PYM community.

Q: What about the things you were most proud of while working at PYM?

I am most proud of stewarding our Annual Sessions program out of the pandemic shutdown and into a new era of hybrid programming. I remember when we had never offered hybrid programs before and had to figure it all out from scratch. That was a huge undertaking, especially for someone like me who has never been particularly technology-minded.

In the years since, we have continued to experiment with different program formats. We have tried a regional model for Continuing Sessions, with local meetings hosting gatherings at the same time, and returned to all-online or all-in-person programs. Through each approach, we have tried to meet Friends where they want to be.

Q: Having done this job for so many years, what would you say you mostly do? What is the daily work like? What skills and gifts most matter?

On paper, this job involves a lot of logistics, including coordinating site visits, ordering materials, arranging catering, and handling many other details. But I think the heart of the job is listening to what Friends say about their needs and concerns.

As Sessions and Events Coordinator, I might hear Friends say, “We’re worried about the future of our historic buildings,” and help plan an event about caring for buildings and burial grounds. Or I might hear Friends say, “We want to go deeper with worship at our meeting,” and help organize a thread gathering on religious education.

Listening, making connections, and building relationships are at the center of doing this job well.

Q: What do you hope people remember about your contribution to PYM?

I have loved this job, and I love PYM. But it is no secret that I believe major changes are needed to the model of Annual Sessions. We are in a new era, and the old model of a week of business and programs in the middle of summer is no longer working.

I believe the Quaker message matters more than ever. People are seeking community, spiritual relevance, moral clarity, and transparent leadership, all of which are central to Quaker faith and practice.

Annual Sessions was once the event people anticipated most each year. It no longer holds that same place, but it could again. I hope Friends will remember that I spoke plainly about the need for bold change and did what I could to move us in that direction.

Q: What has changed about you or your career while working at PYM?

I never expected to be part of the PYM staff for a full decade. My first role was a 15-month, part-time position as Middle School Friends Coordinator. I was a single mother with a three-year-old, starting my own business, and looking for work to fill the gaps. I have held several roles here over the years, and each time, I thought it would be temporary. But I kept getting drawn back in.

My next chapter is full-time work as a therapist, with a focus on teenagers, parents, and spiritual seekers. I am thrilled to take on this meaningful work. But I realized the other day that this will be the first time in my adult life when no part of my work is centered on spiritual community.

I will miss colleagues with whom I could laugh until we cried over ideas that were both absurd and well-meaning, such as my plan to get a pair of goats that would rotate among meetings, purchase a “Quaker fun bus,” or start a TikTok channel for Quaker humor. I will miss having worship and discernment at the center of my experience with colleagues. I will miss knowing that my spiritual life is welcome in my professional role.

And I will miss you. So many Friends I have met over the years have become part of my community. I trust this is not the end of our friendships, but I will miss the ways we have been connected through this work.

My time here has changed me. I have learned so much and grown in many ways. Thank you, all of you.

And…onward!

Tara will continue her role till August 18, 2026. Friends are invited to connect with Tara, through email, at trubinstein@pym.org if they would like to send well wishes

Photo of Edy Nolan (left) and Tara Rubinstein (right) at Annual Sessions 2026.

To All Friends Everywhere.

We greet you warmly and open this epistle with a part of the vision statement of Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC):

Ours is a Quaker faith community committed to justice, liberation, and the full affirmation of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. We honor the divine Light in all humans and nurture a deep well of faith that sustains courageous witness in the world. We gather to listen deeply to the Spirit, to one another, and to the spoken and unspoken messages that rise among us.

Through direct experience of the Light, we seek spiritual refreshment, fellowship, and the bonds of love that we discover in our shared differences. We affirm loving, Spirit-led sexuality and gender expression as powerful, Divinely bestowed gifts. Guided by this sense of sacred queerness, we reclaim faith as a source of power and resistance, embodying a living testimony of inclusion, equality, and deep, nourishing love.

We came together at the University of Vermont during the Friends General Conference Gathering July 7-12, 2026. In 2024 at Gathering at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, we sat in discernment over the future of the organization. We listened deeply to one another, worshiped together, felt the profound love that has always been the hallmark of FLGBTQC. Over the last year a “Steering Committee” has been working together to examine next steps. They engaged the community in a lengthy survey that asked hard questions including the possibility that FLGBTQC should be laid down. It’s noteworthy that seven times as many people responded to the survey than had in 2022 and there was an overwhelming desire to revitalize the organization. From the Steering Committee four sub-committees were formed: the Reconnecting Subcommittee, the Rebooting Subcommittee, the Revisioning Subcommittee and the ReGathering Subcommittee. Friends did great, creative work including three online threshing sessions.

We are delighted to report that FLGBTQC is alive and revitalized, stronger than ever in spirit. Themes of gratitude were abundant in our Meetings for Worship and our Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business were spirit led. We have clerks, a working Nominating Committee, and Friends joining all the committees: Ministry and Counsel, Online Presence and Tech, Finance and Fundraising. It was very moving to be together in our hybrid format. A Friend wrote: “Being in a room of queer folks of all generations is incredibly meaningful.”

Humor was evident in our work together. Our co-clerk kept referring to doing an agenda review as a gender review! And to the Rebooting Subcommittee as the Rebooting Commootee. We accomplished a lot in our Business Meetings this week because we were so present with each other and Spirit and trusted in the work of our committee. The Rebooting Subcommittee determined that groups.io might better serve our online needs and over 100 Friends have tested this online platform. Hoots and hollers of gratitude were heard as we approved going forward with groups.io as the platform for our communication, a place where we may know each other deeply and honestly. We further approved the 5-year road map proposed for first stabilizing our structure, then expanding our capacities online and with regional gatherings, and finally bringing our online and in-person community together. There are already two regional gatherings in the works for 2027 and the possibility of a national mid-year hybrid gathering in 2028 Infused in all our work is attention to accessibility for all. We seek the participation of people of all generations to serve FLGBTQC in leadership roles.

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has had a long witness supporting LGBTQ+ rights, spiritual gifts and equality. Now, in a time of mounting backlash and rising discrimination against transgender people, four Yearly Meetings within Quakerism have named transgender Friends to prominent roles. FLGBTQC sends these Friends our care and support in their new roles and blessings for their service. We also send our care and support to transgender people in all places. We continue, as always, to pray and work for a world where each person’s dignity is honored and each person’s spiritual gifts and talents are nurtured by their communities unconditionally.

On behalf of Friends for Lesbian Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Concerns,

John Skinner and Karen Lightner, co-clerks
clerks@flgbtqc.org
http://flgbtqc.org

They were being asked to share and explore important, often sensitive topics related to their meetings with other PYM Friends, so it was inevitable that problems would be brought forward for the group to address together.

Is my meeting the only one facing these issues?

Are my challenges even worth bringing up?

What if there’s nothing I can do?

However, thanks to the hard work of our staff and the enthusiastic participation of those in attendance, these concerns melted away.

The first session on Finance & Property began with a moment of silent worship, followed by introductions and the sharing of several queries from PYM staff. After another moment of silent reflection, Friends started speaking up, and a robust conversation ensued.

This was just one of the meetings of the Friends Experiment. This past June, PYM staff facilitated 6 gatherings, bringing together almost 100 Friends to discuss important topics relevant to their meetings.

These topics included Children’s Religious Education, Finance & Property, Pastoral Care, Spiritual Action, Adult Religious Education, and Event Planning & Promotion.

No matter the topic, Friends brought forward insights and questions central to the life of their spiritual communities.

Whether it was asking about how to responsibly care for burial grounds, sharing how one can find whimsy even during hard times, or passing along resources for children’s religious education, those in attendance contributed to in-depth conversations that went beyond their individual meetings.

Following each gathering, PYM staff gathered resources and information to share with the wider body, laying the groundwork for future gatherings and ensuring our staff have the knowledge and connections they need to serve and support the yearly meeting.

One Friend reflected,

“There was a palpable sense of hope and gratitude, and a willingness to stick to the topic, going deeper as we each and all felt led.  The time was well used.  It’s great to see many aspects of PYM moving forward in substantial ways.”

The hard work of PYM staff and volunteers, when combined with the contributions of everyone who participated in the Friends Experiment, is ensuring that no Friends need feel like they are facing their meeting’s challenges alone.

Under the theme Finding Your Rhythm, the weekend offers opportunities for worship, reflection, community building, music, recreation, and fun in an intergenerational setting.

Held at Crystal Lake Camp among the forests, hills, and farmland of northcentral Pennsylvania, the Fall Family Gathering brings together a Spirit-filled community, primarily from northeastern and northcentral Pennsylvania. Participants can take part in organized activities, spend time in nature, renew connections with old friends, meet new people, and enjoy a relaxed setting that offers space for both community and individual reflection.

Why This Gathering Matters

Whether you are a Friend attending for the first time or returning after many years, participants are invited into a community that values friendship, reflection, and time spent together in a beautiful natural setting.

The Fall Family Gathering serves as an opportunity to strengthen connections across the widely dispersed meetings of Upper Susquehanna Quarterly Meeting and invites other meetings to take part. The weekend is a space for worship, conversation, creativity, and rest while welcoming people of all ages and backgrounds to be in community.

Highlights

• Keynote presentation by Penn State educator Lisa Silvestri on building community.
• “Finding Your Song” improvisational music workshops and drum circle led by Tim Simmons.
• Reflective forest walk led by Beth Jones before meeting for worship on Sunday morning.
• Intergenerational craft workshop led by Holly Foy.
• Upper Susquehanna Quarterly Meeting will hold their business meeting for members and attenders of the quarter.
• Crystal Lake Camp is situated on a pristine natural lake surrounded by hundreds of acres of Pennsylvania woodland.

“The query during our planning sessions this year has been, ‘How can we best work together to develop a joyful, fruitful, rejuvenating, Spirit-filled gathering?’ It’s been a very cooperative and productive time together, so we hope that everyone who comes will feel each of those things. And it’s such a beautiful place!” said Andrea Henley Heyn, member of the Fall Family Gathering Planning Committee.

Registration Information
Registration is now open. Weekend registration includes lodging, meals, and programming.

Early registration rates are available through August 15:
• $75 per adult
• $45 per child

After August 15, rates increase to:
• $85 per adult
• $55 per child

Saturday-only registration is available for:
• $35 before August 15 and $40 after August 15 for adults
• $25 before August 15 and $30 after August 15 for children

Scholarships are available. Registration closes September 14, and housing assignments will be made after September 20.

Registration is available at:

https://secure.qgiv.com/for/uppersusquehannafallfamilygathering/event/gather2026

For more information, contact Andrea Henley Heyn at andreahenleyheyn@gmail.com.

Friends planning a monthly or quarterly meeting event are welcome to contact Isaac Garrison at igarrison@pym.org for support writing a press release. Additional guidance, details, and next steps are available.